AUGUSTA, Maine — For months, tenants in Augusta say they’ve been forced to live with bed bugs.
Now, city leaders there are finding out first-hand about the problem, after the pests were discovered right in City Hall.
Bed bugs were found inside the General Assistance Office of the Augusta City Center. That office has since been relocated after exterminators came in Wednesday.
After Augusta’s general assistance administrator spotted a bug on her desk and taped it there, an exterminator confirmed it was a bed bug. They also brought in a bed bug-detecting dog, who confirmed the bloodsucking bugs were not only in her office, but two more.
The problem is not just at City Hall. Bed bug infestations were recently discovered at two boarding houses. Randy Gaboury said the bugs kept him from sleeping.
“I have been bitten every single night. I’ll wake up and there’ll be one on me with a bite swelling up and it’s gross,” Gaboury said. “I don’t even sleep at night.”
The bed bugs are so bad, Augusta city councilors recently adopted an emergency ordinance. It requires tenants to promptly notify landlords of bed bugs. It also requires landlords to submit a decontamination plan to the city within days.
An exterminator has fumigated the city offices where bed bugs were found. City leaders believe that should take care of the problem, at least at City Hall.
It will be several days before employees can move back into the downstairs General Assistance Office, hopefully bed-bug free.