If you have been bitten by more mosquitoes than usual this year or bitten by them in locations where they did not bite previously, you can blame it, at least in part, on power struggles and short staffing at the Indian River County Mosquito Control District.
Problems began in 2025 or earlier, but it has been downright chaotic at district headquarters this year, with high employee turnover and tense contract negotiations with the district’s now-former executive director that ended in a stalemate and caused one of three commissioners to resign in frustration.
This week, there is a new commissioner, Tom Lowther, appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 8 to serve out the rest of Matt Erpenbeck’s four-year term. Erpenbeck resigned on Feb. 6.
On May 26, there will also be a new executive director, Isik Unlu, chosen from a field of 31 applicants by a committee put together by the two commissioners who remained after Erpenbeck’s resignation, Janice Broda and Anna Kirkland. Unlu replaces Sherry Burroughs, who was hired in 2020 to replace longtime executive director Doug Carlson, who retired after 42 years at the agency.
It remains to be seen if the conflict and turmoil at the small but essential agency will settle down now that Lowther and Unlu have come on board.
“Unfortunately, there’s been a lot of politics in this little bitty Indian River Mosquito Control District,” said Lowther, a fourth-generation county resident and owner of Thomas S. Lowther Funeral Home and Crematory. “This should be fairly easy stuff, but when you bring [personal] politics into it, it gets ugly. And that’s what’s happened over the past few years.”
The Mosquito Control District is funded by property taxes. With a budget of just $11.9 million this year and a staff of only about 35, it doesn’t usually draw a lot of attention or press coverage. The service it provides is taken for granted. But modern life on the barrier island would not be possible without it.
Indian River County once was part of a much larger Mosquito County, aptly named after its most numerous inhabitants, the buzzing, blood-sucking pests that leave itchy welts and transmit deadly diseases. According to various historical accounts, mosquitoes were sometimes so thick on the barrier island that early settlers had to take care not to inhale mouthfuls when breathing.
Beginning in 1925, mosquito control districts in Florida battled to reduce or eradicate the mosquito menace, gradually gaining ground with evolving techniques and technologies. By the late 20th century the pests had been substantially suppressed, making outdoor activities along the coast much safer and more enjoyable.
But the mosquitoes – there are 40 to 50 species in Indian River County – have made a comeback.
“We had more service requests last year than ever before, especially along the Indian River Lagoon,” Broda said. The number of adult mosquitoes in the salt marshes has grown “out of control” due to lack of treatment to kill mosquito larva, she added, noting that some of the pests have migrated outside the marsh areas as far away as Fellsmere.
While there have been more than a few tense moments at board meetings in the past couple of years, along with lots of grumbling from employees, things came to a head last fall when Burroughs’ five-year contract was about to end and commissioners could not agree about whether or not to renew it.
Erpenbeck wanted to renew the contract unchanged for another five years. But Broda and Kirkland were not happy with some of the terms of the contract and wanted to renegotiate it, instead. The three could not agree and, at the Sept. 9 regular meeting, voted to table the item until the next meeting on Oct. 14.
But the contract required the board to provide 90 days’ written notice in order to cancel it, and Oct. 14 fell within that 90-day window. If the board did nothing, the contract would automatically renew in its existing form.
Broda called a special meeting for Oct. 10 to deal with the matter. Erpenbeck, who chaired the board at the time, was scheduled to be out of town and could not attend. At that meeting, Kirkland and Broda temporarily appointed Broda as chair and Kirkland as vice chair for the meeting and voted not to extend the contract and attempt to renegotiate a new one with Burroughs.
Erpenbeck filed a complaint against Broda on Dec. 4 with the Florida Commission on Ethics, alleging that she violated state law when she scheduled and ran the Oct. 10 meeting.
Erpenbeck resigned from the board on Feb. 6, 2026, and the Commission on Ethics dismissed his complaint against Broda on March 6.
Meanwhile, Broda and Kirkland attempted to negotiate with Burroughs. Instead of a five-year contract, they offered two years. They removed a clause that guaranteed Burroughs 15 weeks severance pay if she was terminated. Instead, she was offered up to six weeks’ severance, the same as other employees.
“As of last year, we are a 100-year-old agency,” Kirkland said. “We never needed a contract with any employee before. The severance was upside-down, too – usually you get more severance the longer you are employed. I had a really big problem with that.”
Kirkland and Broda also had concerns about transparency and communications with Burroughs, who reduced coastal department staff. There was also a large turnover of employees, which left a gap in manpower needed for proper treatment of mosquito larvae, resulting in the explosion of salt marsh mosquitoes that now stray far inland.
As a result, the salt marshes now need to be sprayed with adulticides – the chemicals used to treat mosquitoes after they’ve matured – instead of milder chemicals that kill larvae. The aerated chemicals can drift in the wind and end up in the lagoon, harming marine plants and animals, Broda said.
“Those concerns were never effectively addressed [under Burroughs],” Broda said.
Employees have been quitting in greater numbers, with some complaining about the work culture under Burroughs. Right now, there are three open positions – Impoundment Operator, Seasonal Larvicide Inspector and Coastal Inspector I.
Kirkland said she had at least a dozen employees contact her directly with their concerns about how Burroughs was running the district. “With just 35 employees, a lot of turnover is a problem. It started five years ago and just didn’t stop,” she said. “Before, we had tenured employees with 10, 15, 20 years of service.”
Negotiations with Burroughs ended in an impasse and she left. She is being paid a total of $45,067.65 severance in biweekly payments over the next 15 weeks.
Remaining staff have stepped up since Burroughs departed and worked hard to get mosquitoes under control, said Broda, who has served on the board continually since she was first elected in 1992. “I’m very hopeful that over time the district will regain control of the salt marsh mosquitos,” Broda said, “I believe the district is headed in the right direction now.”
“I’m going to do my best to keep politics out of it, count to 10 and be professional to do what’s best for the district and moving forward,” said Lowther, who served on the board once before, from 2014-2022, and was a county commissioner from 2002-2006. He resigned from his district job in 2022 to take another run at the county commission but lost to former county sheriff Deryl Loar.
Kirkland has a positive outlook, too, and says she is excited for the future of the district. “[Not renewing Burroughs’ contract] was a difficult decision, but our focus has to be on what’s best for the district. The new director is excellent. Her communication is excellent. Her experience is excellent. The whole atmosphere in the building is better.”
Isik Unlu’s most recent position was as Research Entomologist at St. Tammany Parish Mosquito Abatement in Slidell, Louisiana. She will begin work on May 26, working remotely first from her home in Louisiana until her children finish the school year. After that, she will move to Indian River County, with the District providing up to $10,000 for moving expenses.
Her two-year contract pays $165,000 per year and she will have a 90-day introductory period, during which the district can choose to terminate her employment without notice and without severance pay.
