The Boston City Council is moving forward with plans to create a department dedicated to the eradication of rodents, headed by a rat czar that would be tasked with looking into different methods of slaughter.

An ordinance filed by City Councilor Ed Flynn was referred to the powerful government operations committee on Wednesday, representing forward movement in a process that last year focused mainly on community feedback.

“Pest control is critical to our residents’ quality of life, as rats and rodents are not only a nuisance, but they also impact public health, the safety of our neighborhoods, the maintenance of our properties,” Flynn said at the City Council meeting, explaining that the proposed pest control office would be focused on “innovative” ways to eliminate the city’s rat and mice infestation.

Put bluntly, the department would be focused on killing rats, with a so-called rat czar taking the lead on researching and carrying out the best methods of extermination, Flynn told the Herald Thursday.

He said there was a “huge increase in mice and rats throughout Boston” during the pandemic, a problem that continues to affect “almost every neighborhood.”

The proposed new office would be modeled after the pest-control operation in New York City, which appointed its first rat czar last April, a position the Big Apple advertised as being targeted toward “bloodthirsty” applicants with “killer instincts” who could commit to the “wholesale slaughter of rats,” the Associated Press reported.

New York hired anti-rat activist Kathleen Corradi for the $155,000 position, and Flynn has stated that he envisions Boston’s rat leader as having similar responsibilities, such as coordinating with local government, business and community organizations to come up with different ways to kill rodents.

He’s spoken with Corradi about New York’s pest-control operation, and with Mayor Michelle Wu about the creation of such an office in Boston. Flynn said the mayor’s office has been supportive of the proposal, an assertion that lines up with what Wu said last spring when she described the rat czar position as an “important idea.”

Related Articles

‘Why Roxbury? Try Wellesley!’ Cass rec center turned over to migrants

Boston City Council finally approves $13M anti-terror grant … but not without some drama

Boston youth track club displaced by Logan migrants closing on deal to use Reggie Lewis Center

‘Those concerns are justified’: Boston Logan migrants ready to move into Roxbury rec center

Boston Logan migrants displace youth track club as Roxbury recreation facility turns into overflow site

Wu said, however, that it may take a back-seat to the city’s ongoing pest-control strategies, that include revamping its trash-removal operations to eliminate the rodents’ food source, rather than continuing with an ineffective prior approach of setting traps where residents had complained rats were present.

Last week, Councilors Sharon Durkan, Gabriela Coletta and Ruthzee Louijeune, the body’s president, co-sponsored a hearing order to discuss trash collection in Boston. The measure, also referred to a committee, described waste management as “foundational to public health, pest control and the quality of life” for residents.

Flynn said he’s been working closely with Councilors Coletta and Liz Breadon on the proposed pest-control office, which would streamline extermination operations carried out today by a number of city departments, including inspectional services, water and sewer and public works.