R90-91 AUTHORIZING AGREEMENT - SOULES BIRD REPELLENT COMPANY

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� . MEMORANDIIM T0: norable Mayor and City Council Members FROM: urt Schroeder , Neighborhood Standards Administrator DATE: � June 21 , 1990 SIIBJECT: Contract Agreement for Bird Removal and Control in the Elms Neighborhood. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Attached for your approval is an Agreement with the Soules Bird Repellent Company for bird removal and control in the Elms Neighborhood for the period 7/ 1/90-6/30/91 . Although Mr. Soules ' methods had been investigated prior to our earlier recommendation to implement the "scare" program spon- sored by the USDA Department of Animal Damage Control , we have only recently received the information and guarantees we felt were necessary to make an Agreement with the Soules Bird Repel- lent Company a viable alternative to the "scare" program. While Mr . Soules methods are secret , he is willing to now guarantee in writing that no chemicals will be used in his program to remove birds from the Elms . Mr . Soules has also now agreed to a firm contract price of $6 , 000 . 00 and has agreed that if his program fails , the city will not have to pay him a cent . We have also been able to obtain and investigate references for Mr . Soules (aside from the Decatur powntown Council) , includ- ing Edwardsville and Bloomington , Illinois . All of these references indicate outstanding, effective performance by Mr . ' Soules , and recommend him highly. Bloomington is particularly noteworthy as a reference as its bird problem involved several thousand pigeons and an estimated 50 , 000-75 , 000 starlings in its downtown area . The Bloomington bird problem has basically been eliminated since 1986 , and Mr . Soules is still being used there in a maintenance capacity. We have met with Elms Neighborhood representatives and dis- cussed with them our concerns about the "scare" program including fire hazards (from M-80 charges shot into trees) , possible damage to windows from noise and shotgun blank cartridges , and staffing problems (many auxiliary police are not shotgun certified so a large number of regular officers would have to be used) . We have also had the neighborhood representatives meet with Mr . Soules to discuss his methods and ask him questions concerning bird removal in the Elms . The neighborhood representatives are agreeable to trying the Soules method this summer , and as the Agreement indi- cates , will have an important say as to whether or not Mr . Soules is paid for his bird removal services .