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After weeks of too many questions and too few
answers, Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen decided that it was time for action. He proposed an emergency ordinance Monday to
terminate the city’s contract with James Soules, known as the
“Bird Whisperer.” The freshman alderman was confident that his
fellow aldermen would support him. The 85-year-old Soules, who owns Decatur-based Bird
Repellent Co., is considered a bird-removal expert. His company was awarded
a two-year, $164,000 contract in late 2006 to rid downtown of feathered
pests. Because his methods are a closely guarded secret, Soules has come
under fire from some aldermen, including Theilen. But when the ordinance came up for debate at
Monday’s meeting of the public-affairs and safety committee, two
other freshman council members — Ward 7 Ald. Debbie Cimarossa and
Ward 9 Ald. Steve Dove — voted no, splitting the committee’s
vote 2-2 and delaying full council action until at least Jan. 22.
“A couple of people I was counting on
didn’t talk to me before making a decision,” Theilen says. Dove says he voted against the emergency ordinance
after receiving phone calls from constituents and downtown business owners
who believe that Soules’ bird-eradication services are working.
Because Soules’ contract is paid through downtown tax-increment
financing, Dove says, those business owners should have the final say on
whether the contract is terminated. However, Dove now says that he should have voted
differently to move the issue along. Victoria Clemons, executive director of Downtown
Springfield Inc., says it was a “grassroots” effort by downtown
business owners that influenced the aldermen’s decision Monday. In an
e-mail sent on Friday, Jan. 4, Clemons informed downtown business owners
and individuals of the proposed ordinance and encouraged them to contact
their aldermen if they believed that Soules’ contract should be kept
in place until it expired. “They want to stick with what is currently
working,” Clemons says. “We made our constituency aware of what
was on the table, and they responded.”
Clemons also said that a city employee, whom she
would not name, told her that city personnel would not continue
bird-dropping removal if Soules’ contract was revoked. “We’re not pro- or anti-Bird Whisperer in
any way; we just want to have some bird-eradication program in
place,” she says. Theilen says he has offered to introduce another
ordinance that would place the bird-removal work up for open bidding and is
unsure why it was insinuated to Clemons that the emergency ordinance would
result in a complete loss of services. Several aldermen have questioned Soules extensively
in the past few weeks — especially with regard to his
“secret” procedures, asking whether he is using firearms or
poison to get rid of starlings and pigeons — but the contract does
not require Soules to disclose his methods to the city or aldermen. Soules claims to have acquired his lifelong disdain
for birds when he was attacked by an eagle as a little boy [see R.L. Nave,
“Fowl play,” April 26, 2007].
Contact Amanda Robert at arobert@illinoistimes.com
This article appears in Jan 3-9, 2008.
