There’s no way of knowing for sure whether the city has a rat problem.

Ward 2 Councilman Jeremy Rix said Monday he continues to get calls from constituents of rat sightings – although he didn’t want to define how many, where rats are being seen or identify businesses he said could be possible sources of the problem.

Residents had no qualms of highlighting the problem, however.

Four Ward 2 residents complained of the problem during the public comment portion of Monday’s Council meeting. One resident, Edward Collins, said he had trapped 12 rats in the past three weeks. Collins said he has spotted the rodents near restaurant and apartment building dumpsters.

But, on the other hand, the Department of Public Works reports a decline in the number of calls to about two a week, compared to the multiple of complaints after the news media first covered the story about rats in Norwood more than a month ago. Are fewer calls a result of fewer rats, less publicity or awareness that the administration doesn’t plan to extend its effort to exterminate rats to private property?

“We will not bait or put traps on private property,” Department of Public Works Director Richard Crenca said Tuesday.

He said that policy was adopted after discussions with the mayor and City Solicitor Peter Ruggiero, the concern being the liability the city would face should a child or pet become sick or die because of the poison. The position of the city has been to offer suggestions to lessen the problem, including the removal of food sources such as bird feeders and securing garbage. He also recommended cleaning up after pets, as rats eat feces.

Crenca said the department has been setting out bait and traps on public property. He said traps were set near the now closed Aldrich Junior High School in response to reports of rats there. But even use of poison on public property concerns Crenca. He has referred complaints of rat sightings at Holliman and Norwood Schools to the school department.

“I’m very nervous about [using poison near] schools,” he said. “If it was up to me, I wouldn’t put out bait at all, but we have a responsibility to respond to this.”

Rix said he is “very happy” to the responses of the city’s division of property maintenance and the state Health Department. Without naming the restaurant where a dumpster was a problem, he said, the condition was corrected. He said some businesses have been more than cooperative and gone a step further by offering to have their exterminator assist abutting residents.

“I’m concerned about protecting the reputation of the neighborhood,” Rix answered when asked why he would not name locations where rats were seen.

On July 17 the City Council unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by Rix requesting that the city issue a request for proposals (RFP) for rodent extermination services. The resolution reads that the city has only one person licensed to handle rodent control and addressing the problem requires more than one person, “because each homeowner must be contacted before poison near a home.”

The mayor did not sign the resolution, and at this time Crenca has no intention of going on private property to trap rats.