Joann Gilbert keeps a wooden planter box filled with cracked corn in the front yard of her Old Town home to feed the deer.
As an animal lover, she started doing so at her Prentiss Street home a couple years ago when a deer with a broken leg was in the area.
Now, she and her barrel of corn are at the center of a lawsuit that alleges she’s “exacerbating” a rampant rodent infestation.
The city of Old Town argues Gilbert’s property is providing food for rats, a lawsuit filed Oct. 10 in Penobscot County District Court said. The lawsuit also names Alan Gilbert as a resident of the property.
Joann Gilbert fears the city is using her as a scapegoat in its fight against the years-long rat infestation that has plagued Old Town. While she acknowledges that she received previous violations and did not stop feeding the deer, she contends there are other properties in the city that are more likely to be the source of the ongoing problem.
“They’re worried about rats,” Gilbert said. “There are no rats.”
The rats do exist in that area and other neighborhoods, Old Town’s Code Enforcement Officer David Russell said. The city has spent years trying to solve the issue and the lawsuit is a last ditch effort after multiple attempts to force Gilbert to stop leaving the corn out failed.
The city wants the court to find that the Gilberts violated a city ordinance and force her to remove the barrel of corn. The city also wants the Gilberts to pay a per-day fine for the violation. The lawsuit does not list an amount, but Maine law sets the maximum fine at $5,000 total.
The first violation was issued to Gilbert on June 2, 2022, with another on Aug. 11 of that year, the lawsuit said. The city issued a cease and desist June 20, but there was no change to the behavior, according to the lawsuit.
Old Town spends about $20,000 a year paying Modern Pest Control to set traps in neighborhoods, storm water lines and sewer lines, Russell said.
The city sent out letters to some Old Town neighborhoods in June 2022, reminding residents of the city laws that prohibit open compost piles and chickens to help prevent rats. That letter did not go to Gilbert’s neighborhood, Russell said.
Most property owners fixed their compliance issues when those letters were sent out. When Russell finds other properties not in compliance, most people fix the issues.
The occasional rat was a problem in 2019 in Old Town, but the issue escalated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Resident Dave Oliver killed about 60 rats within the first five months of 2022, he said previously.
Now, Oliver has spent nearly $20,000, both on pest control and rat-proofing his house, he said Wednesday. He pays $140 a month for pest control at his house and another $140 a month for the same at his parents’ house, also in Old Town.
Gilbert said she tries to keep her yard clean. It looks nicer than others in town, she said, especially compared with some houses with multiple broken-down vehicles and trash in the yard.
The planter full of corn is surrounded by smaller planters, mostly filled with rosemary plants. She has two straw bales against the front of her house, with a pumpkin sitting atop each. The straw bales provide a sheltered area for her two outdoor cats in the winter, she said.
Gilbert is leaving “large amounts of food outside and creating large, uncontained compost piles,” the lawsuit said. However there are no compost piles, Russell said.
“A significant number of rats and rodents continue to be attracted to the food sources,” the lawsuit said.
No compost piles were visible at the Gilberts’ residence on Friday.
Why Old Town is picking on her and not other homeowners is something she doesn’t understand, Gilbert said as she choked up.
“If they want to fine me for some corn in the yard, I guess that’s the way it’s gonna be,” Gilbert said.
The lawsuit is a small-scale change for a large-scale problem, said Oliver, whose parents live about a half-mile from Gilbert. Sandy Oliver, Dave’s mother, believes her rat problems are caused by a different nearby property and agrees no one should have to live with rats and the issues they cause.
“We’re never gonna be able to eradicate [the rats],” Russell said. “Rats have been here long before we were but … we’re trying to get them as best we can.”
Residents shouldn’t just accept the status quo and should keep pushing for changes and fixes until the city gets it, Dave Oliver said. There has to be a better solution, he said.
Gilbert is on a fixed income through Social Security and has a mortgage for her house. She said she doesn’t have the money to spare for an attorney and will represent herself in court.
A hearing is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Nov. 16.