Following an investigation conducted by the Chautauqua County Department of Health and Human Services, the Board of Health declared the former Farmers Mill property at 118 Kendrick St. a “public health nuisance” at a special meeting Monday. Subsequently, the board issued an order to Farmers Mill to address the abatement of the infestation.

Representatives of Farmers Mill are set to be served “as soon as possible,” county officials said. Farmers Mills representatives have 24 hours from the time of being served to respond to the county’s order.

Christine Schuyler, director of health and human services, noted her concern for a rat’s breeding cycle of seven to eight weeks and implications of not addressing the situation quickly.

“We really don’t want hundreds, if not thousands, of rats dispersing to the residents around there,” Schuyler said.

A rodent pictured Monday at the former Farmers Mill facility in Sherman. The county Health Board declared the property a "public health nuisance." P-J photo by Jordan W. Patterson

County officials did not estimate how many rats were seen on the property.

The investigation of the facility was conducted by Austin Wellman, county public health sanitarian. He visited the Sherman facility on Oct. 1 and Oct. 9. On the second visit, a Farmers Mill secretary provided access to Wellman, Greg Gormely, village zoning officer.

During the visit of the property, Wellman said there were living and dead rats observed on the interior and exterior of the building.

“It was this old four-story mill with lots of feed on the floor and real dusty and, I mean, rats just flying around,” Wellman said detailing his investigation. “We had flashlights in the walls and you could see (the rats) gnawing in the walls. They didn’t care about us being there at all. They were just having a free-for-all throughout. It was kind of nerve-racking.”

Gormely noted that at one point he saw 15 rats appear from beneath a stair case within the mill.

Wellman and Gormely also spoke to the sheer amount of dairy feed and grain that was left behind upon Farmers Mill closing its doors in May. The two attributed the amount of feed as the reason the rats have been able to survive and reproduce. A pile of feed, described by Wellman as being in the amount of “what a dump truck would dump,” was also present on the exterior of the mill on the property.

The building, at the time, had several “holes and access points for rodents,” Wellman said. On Monday, while The Post-Journal was photographing the site, a rodent was visible from the road entering and exiting an access point of the facility.

Wellman said it appeared that an attempt by Farmers Mill staff previously was made to abate the infestation.

Sherman Village Board members first discussed the issue at a July meeting. At the board’s September meeting, members were told the issue was “urgent” to preventing a “serious problem.”

In the county’s order, issued Monday, Farmers Mill representatives can either agree to address the abatement on their own or agree to allow the county to proceed with its own abatement. If Farmers Mill officials elect to handle ridding the facility of rats, they have until Nov. 11 for a complete abatement.

Monday’s meeting also provided representatives of the former dairy-feed supplier the opportunity to address board of health members. However, no one attended the meeting to speak on behalf of the company.

If the order is not addressed, Schuyler said the county still has jurisdiction to take action regarding the infestation. Schuyler said county officials have reached out to the Erie County Department of Health for guidance in dealing with such a large rat population. However, county officials cannot act until the representatives from Farmers Mill have been served with the order.