Malta City Council meeting recap

Among the discussion at last Tuesday night’s Malta City Council meeting were installation of permanent speeds bumps in town, public hearing on Phase II of the City’s planned water project, street closures for upcoming events and the construction of a splash park near the City Pool.

Malta Mayor Shyla Jones said that the temporary speeds bumps that were placed on 6th Street and 2nd Avenue last year will be replaced with permanent bumps. She said Rocky Mummey, from Mummey Asphalt, will be installing the speed bumps and they will run from gutter to gutter on the street. She said the bumps will be beveled in way which will allow for the public Works Crew to easily plow over once the snow flies next winter.

“And then we are going to install temporary (bumps) in some other spots, but we have to order some more signage first,” Mayor Jones said. “I’ve actually been asked by people to put them all over town, but we can’t afford that right now.”

She said the tentative plans for the temporary speeds bumps is to install them in high-traffic areas where children converge such as the Malta Boys and Girls Club and Head Start.

The public hearing portions of the night’s meeting including an environmental assessment for the Phase II of the water project as well as a public hearing for the Treasure State Endowment for TSEP, also in conjunction with the water project. Back in the regular meeting, Resolution 1200 for the environmental assessment, 1201 for the Treasure State Endowment and 1203 for phase II for the preliminary engineering report were all voted on and passed.

We also found out that we qualify for CDBG funds because our poverty level (in Malta) has increased,” Mayor Jones said. “Our poverty level is at 55-percent.”

She added that if the City qualifies for all the grants requested for Phase II of the water project, at their maximum, the City of Malta would only be on the hook for only $100,000 of the total cost of the project.

The City of Malta also received two requests for street closures in the coming weeks, the first for the Run for Heaven’s Sake, Malta Edition. The 5K run will take place on Sunday, May 15, starting at 8:45 a.m. The course will take runners in and out of parts of Malta that day and the street closure request was granted.

The second street closure request was for the First State Bank Car Show on Saturday, June 4. That requests was also granted.

The City of Malta has been looking into installing a splash park near the City Pool for the last couple of years, and if all goes according to plan, construction on the project could start by next spring. Mayor Jones said the City has placed money from Gas tax money to pay for the project. The site the City is looking at for the splash park is east of the current swimming pool in the grass field near Malta Public Work’s Director Jim Truelove’s home, between the pool and the alley. State law doesn’t allow for a splash park near the pool because it needs to be fenced off and have its own building to house pumps. Total cost for the park is about $125,000.

Mayor Jones said four solar LED lights have been installed near the footbridge of Hill Crest Park and depending on how bright they are, some more may be added in the future.

Mayor Jones said that more discussion on the increase in water rates – which will include a rate hike on garbage rates – was discussed and soon the City will start to advertise for public hearings on the topic.

In the last bit of news from the night, Mayor Jones thanked the many youth groups who spent the afternoon on Earth Day – Friday, April 22 – who traveled to and cleaned in Trafton Park and around many of the Malta Trails.

“They did a really nice job and we are fortunate to have so many of these groups in the area,” she said.