Potholes addressed at Council Meeting

The Malta City Council held its meeting this past Tuesday, February 23, at 5:00 pm in the City Hall. The council started the meeting by approving the minutes of the last meeting, followed by approving the agenda for the meeting. Both were voted on and unanimously passed.

They then went on to review the audit committee for payment of claims and to approve the January 2021 payroll. Both motioned to approve and seconded.

The head of the Department of Public Works, Jim Truelove, then went on to give his report. He stated that the department had deployed two semi-permanent "Dip" street signs on Front Street, starting at the Bank of Malta going east to the location of where the old Napa building was.

He added that there may be a need for another sign closer to First Avenue as there is some sinking there as well. He stated that this sinking is in the lanes where water work was done a couple years ago. He also said that the matter would need to be taken care of this spring.

Truelove said that they have the new speed limit signs that are to be put up on the Eastern end of Second Street; as soon as they can pound the signs into the ground, they would be up.

He said that the pool house is coming along. The cold weather slowed work down a little, but they are back to work on it now. He reported that the Montana Department of Transportation is planning on doing work on highway 191 South of Malta, but that it is in the works for 2022-23 and that things can change quite a bit between now and then. The City Crew is looking to patch up some of the intersections around town that are breaking up and they are working on an issue with the lagoon blowers right now. He would update the council with more information as he gets it.

City Clerk Lorie Bond then gave her report. She stated that the new phone system has been put in for the City Hall. They are all learning the system which isn't too much different than their old system.

One big thing is that there will be an answering service that will have an option for information on Trafton Park. Bond said that there are always calls over weekends to get reservations for the park. The new system will be able to tell callers that there are no reservations; it is five dollars a night in the honor box, and that there is potable water in the bathrooms. With the new phone system, people will be able to call directly into Parks and Recreation.

The council then went on to new business. They voted and passed the Highway 2 Association 2021 Membership Dues, voted and passed the choice of MMIA Employee Benefit Plan, and did not pass an application for the Great West Engineering contract for the Trafton Lift Station Technical Memorandum and SRF because the Malta Department of Public Works has the parts to repair it.

According to Truelove, "it will be a solid repair for the foreseeable future."