A Summit Hill council member says the presence of rats in Summit Hill is because some residents are not properly placing their trash in receptacles at curbside for collection.

Karen Ruzicka said all garbage should be placed inside a container for collection, as specified in a 2009 borough ordinance.

She said she spoke to five other people who feel the same, but she didn’t identify them.

Ruzicka said she drove through the town days before trash pickup and found that individuals had garbage at the curb.

Mayor Jeffrey Szczecina said several residents have been cited for their inappropriate method of placing trash curbside. Police Chief Todd Woodward said four or five citations were given and an additional four or five warnings were issued.

Police will continue monitoring the matter.

Borough resident Michael Alabovitz, a former councilman, said the ordinance says garbage should be placed curbside no more than 24 hours before pickup. The trash is collected on a Monday.

He said animals, such as bears and raccoons, can get into the trash even if they’re in receptacles.

He didn’t think receptacles were necessary for all trash, but that people should be more conscious about their garbage.

“It’s hard to legislate common sense and courtesy,” he said.

Another borough resident, David Hiles, said a problem he sees with rat encroachment is that people let food items outdoors.

He said a resident in Summit Hill found a nest of rats on their property. That resident was found to have several bowls of food on his porch because they were feeding feral cats. These bowls of food attracted the rodents.

In another matter involving animals, Patricia Allen told council that a dog, being walked by a woman, attacked her dog twice. She had a bandaged finger and said she had part of her finger ripped off defending her dog. “I’m afraid to walk out of my property,” she said in the complaint about the dog, reportedly owned by a resident on Hazard Street.

She said she is scared to let her granddaughter play outdoors.

Allen said the incidents happened in the vicinity of the Heritage Center.

Woodward said a complaint was forwarded to the state dog warden, but that Allen was not interested in filing charges. He said if charges were pursued, he could possibly go to a judge for an order to have the dog euthanized. “If we would charge the owner, we could possibly get a case of a dangerous animal,” he said.

Allen said she will talk to the dog warden about the possibility of filing charges, but presently she is interested in pursuing civil litigation. “I usually don’t trust the system,” she said.