LEWISTON — Mayor Robert Macdonald wants to convene a city health committee of officials and health professionals to tackle Lewiston’s lead problem.

“One thing we are going to do here, we are going to go after landlords,” Macdonald said. “I need to find out a bit more about this, but I understand that there are some that have been under order to clean up and they have not (done it). So let’s see if we can put some teeth into this, and let’s see if we can go right after them.”

Macdonald made his comments at the end of the City Council’s Tuesday meeting in response to stories Sunday in the Sun Journal that told of downtown Lewiston physicians treating 23 children with elevated blood lead levels so far in 2016, compared to 22 in all of 2015 and 25 in 2014.

Macdonald said that would not stand.

“You have these kids coming to our schools that are getting poisoned,” Macdonald said. “We are condemning them for the rest of their lives — that’s not going to happen.”

Macdonald said he’s spoken with local housing officials, state health officials and even the office of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to figure out what he can do.

He wants his new health committee to begin meeting next week to come up with solutions, which could include targeting federal Section 8 housing payments to landlords with lead problems.

He’d like to see decisive action by the end of the summer.

“I would propose that right after Labor Day, the ax falls,” Macdonald said. “They either clean their apartments up, or we’re going after them.”

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