City impound lot nearly complete, other updates at Council meeting

The impound yard at the City Shop in Malta is nearly complete, so those who have junkers and clunkers sitting on public streets might soon find their vehicles with stickers warning them of impending impounding if not moved.

"The impound yard is just about done," Malta Public Works Director Jim Truelove said. "We just have the one (impounded car) right now because I don't want to waste the space (storing it in the City Shop.)"

Director Truelove's proclamation came at the Tuesday night Malta City Council meeting, the final gathering of June. The following morning, Malta Mayor John Demarais went out to the City Shop to have a quick look at the chain-link impound yard which just had rolling gates applied.

"This will do just fine," Mayor Demarais said.

The City of Malta's impound yard was first brought up at the May 14 meeting and then approved for construction at the May 30 meeting. Mayor Demarais said at the meeting he was approached by a former resident of Malta who asked him "what happened to my clean little town?"

At that meeting, a 50x20 (or thereabouts) impound yard was approved for construction with an approximate price tag of $2,500. The City of Malta plans to hold on to the junked cars in the impound lot for as long as the State of Montana law deems necessary before sending the clunkers to the junkyard with the hopes that the money made from scrap will pay for the initial towing fee of the vehicles.

During Director Truelove's bi-weekly report, he also said that one City garbage truck that had been out of commission was back in working order, good news, but added that now another one is on the fritz, bad news. Later in the meeting, the Council approved a final resolution that allows angle parking in several locations around town and during his report, Director Truelove said that stripes will be laid and all the work updating the new parking will be complete soon. Mayor Demarais asked if anyone at the meeting had heard anything from residents or business owners, good or bad, about the parking changes since the last meeting and no one had any news to share.

Mayor Demarais told the Council that Helena Sand and Gravel (HSG) was in town recently for a walk-through of the work they did on City streets in the summers of 2016 and 2017 during the seemingly never-ending water project. He said there were three places around town that needed to be fixed by HSG immediately as they were public safety issues ... a deadline of July 13 was given to the construction company. Mayor Demarais said there are many more fixes HSG will need to make and those fixes will not cost the City "a single nickel."

Director Truelove said that the Municipal Pool's new chlorinator has been installed at the pool and is more cost efficient and effective than the last.

"It is crystal clear and looking great," Mayor Demarais said of the pool.

"The chlorinator is a large part of that," Director Truelove added. "I had one glitch yesterday, so besides that and a kid throwing up in the pool, it's going well up there."

A final bit of City maintenance talk at the meeting focused on a large hole near the Malta VFW Club on South 1st Street West. Mayor Demarais said that a few street candles had been put in the hole to warn motorists of the danger, but said they keep getting stolen.

"I've heard that people take them and put light bulbs in the top to turn them into lamps," Mayor Demarais said, puzzled.

Director Truelove said that the pothole in front of the VFW Club would be taken care of.