Board OKs $1.35-M Modular Lab For Department of Mosquito Control

DIAS CREEK – Recent rains have filled a myriad of mosquito breeding places in Cape May County. To stay ahead of the diseases those insects carry, and to monitor where they are in the county is the job of the Cape May County Department of Mosquito Control headquartered on Route 47.
To continue to perform its tasks into the future, freeholders May 14 awarded a $1.35-million contract for a new modular biosafety Level 3 laboratory to Certek, a Raleigh, N.C. builder of modular biodefense research laboratories.
The firm specializes in self-contained laboratories that are custom made for customers domestic and foreign in government and the private sector, according to its website.
Asked by Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton about the laboratory prior to the vote to award the contract department director Dr. Peter Bosak replied, “I have a whole list of issues with the present lab.”
“It would not pay to have it fixed,” said Bosak. That’s because the lab is within the headquarters and “was never meant to be the lab it is or hoped to be.”
Over time, he noted, the lab has been altered to bring it up to code, but said it could not pass a Level 3 test, and would instead have to be operated as a Level 2 facility.
Bosak cited the increasing number of insect-borne diseases that have infiltrated the nation.
“One way to handle that is to have this laboratory,” Bosak said.
He cited an agreement with the New Jersey Mosquito Control Commission that has the department doing surveillance and testing for it. That agreement brings in $90,000 annually, he said.
Bosak pointed to the state lab’s inability in the spring of 2018.
“We did all that testing for a month, and essentially saved the (state) Mosquito Control Commission from any setbacks,” Bosak added.
“We are the only lab in the state to test for mosquito-borne viruses,” Bosak said.
For the Purchasing Department, Allison Hansen told the board Certek was the lone bidder. She noted that the county would perform site work at the Dias Creek facility and that the lab’s completion was expected in February or March 2020. The lab would be paid from a bond, Hansen said.