From hiring a rat czar to suggesting new trash bins and policies, the Boston City Council proposed several new rat mitigation initiatives at its meeting on Wednesday.

City Councilor Erin Murphy proposed following in New York City’s footsteps by creating an office dedicated to Boston’s rodent problem led by a “rat czar,” a suggestion that has been brought up and discussed previously but never enacted.

“As things get worse, we have to think of new ways to tackle it. I think it’s time to discuss if a rat czar would focus in on the needs the residents uplift every day to us,” Councilor Murphy said.

According to a Tufts University six-year study , most rats in Boston carry the leptospirosis bacteria that can infect humans and cause flu-like symptoms or, in rare cases, multi-organ fai

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