TIFTON — In a split decision, the city council has approved its mosquito control initiative.

Council members voted 3-2 during their March 17 meeting to approve a budget amendment enlisting Astro Exterminating services of Valdosta to conduct a monthly spraying program, voting in opposition to a motion from councilman Lester Cromer to deny the initiative.

Under this program, Astro will conduct a spraying of every street on a monthly basis for eight months, for around $3,000 a month, to cut down on the city’s mosquito population.

The city council has been discussing this program since early February, where a decision on its approval was postponed due to concerns from resident Michelle Powers about the dangers the chemicals used in the spraying would pose to the community’s wildlife and ecosystems.

Jake Wells, a representative of Astro, asserted at the city’s workshop meeting earlier this month that the exterminating company would be conducting their spraying in the evening so as not to harm pollinators or bother residents, and insisted that the service the city would receive would be no different from what the city had been provided through the county’s spraying program some years ago.

Powers continued to protest the program up to the council’s most recent meeting, where she expressed confusion over why the local mosquito population was suddenly an issue after five years of not employing a mosquito control initiative.

Cromer and councilman Josh Reynolds supported her opposition to the program, voting to deny the amendment, but were overruled by council members Michael Franks and M. Jay Hall and mayor Julie Smith voting in favor.