Cardboard, Bus Barn talk at Malta City Council meeting

Though the cardboard woes continue for the City of Malta, it looks as though things are going to be a little easier with the purchase of the old IGA Bestway cardboard bailer.

During last Tuesday night's Malta City Council meeting, Malta Public Works Director Jim Truelove informed the Council that the City had recently purchased the old IGA bailer after the bailer that had been in use for years at the Old Airport in Malta up and died. Though a new motor was purchased for the Airport Bailer, it still didn't work, and Director Truelove said a quick trip past the Cardboard Corral situated behind the Malta Opportunities Inc., (MOI) building shows just how much cardboard MOI retrieves and without a bailer and how quickly the refuse piles up. Director Truelove said that while the cardboard was not being bailed, it was necessary to start putting some of it in the City Dump, which is not cost effective.

"We've got cardboard all over the place and it is a big mess," Malta Mayor John Demarais added.

Director Truelove said the inoperable bailer isn't down because of electrical issues, but rather a problem with the hydraulics, and Mayor Demarais said that Dodson's Caleb Best would soon be to Malta to look at the unit to see if it could be fixed.

Director Truelove told the Council that the Garbage Truck Unit 35 was back in operation and the garbage truck that was in use by the Public Works Team in its absence, a loaner from the City of Harlem, has been returned.

During New Business, Jim Fauth, who sits on the Phillips Transit Authority Board (and for full disclosure, so does this reporter) talked to the Transit's Bus Barn Committee about how they are seeking to build a bus barn behind The Phillips County Hospital and Family Clinic. He said that a grant is being applied for by the Phillips Transit Authority's Betty Hasler for $225,000 to build the Bus Barn which would keep the fleet of busses out of the cold in the winter months. Part of a successful grant would be the Transit Authority coming up with $45,500 of in-kind money, some of which could be donated work. Fauth asked the City Council to consider donating Public Works Crew time in digging trenches for water and electric to the proposed barn for the in-kind money. The Council approved the proposal 4-0.