Council Reports that Pool House is Almost Ready

Malta City Council held its bi-weekly meeting on Tuesday, April 27, at 5:00 p.m. in the Malta City Hall.

Mayor John Demarais and council members James Sintler, William Hicks, Bonnie Wiederrick, and David Rummel were in attendance. Along with Director of Public Works Jim Truelove.

The meeting started with Mayor Demarais informing the council that he had put his name in for re-election as Mayor of Malta.

He then asked the council to approve the minutes from the last meeting, approve the agenda for the nights’ meeting, and to approve the payment of claim checks. All of these were motioned, seconded and motions carried unanimously.

Public Works Director (PWD) Jim Truelove then gave his report to the council.

PWD Truelove reported to the council that the inside of the pool-house was almost complete. The crew is doing some touch-up work and painting and they are waiting on one partition door to get here. It has been ordered. In the next couple of weeks, the outside will be pressure-washed and painted. And then they can get on to the pool itself.

Councilmen Rummel and Sintler said that they had been in there to see the work and that it looks really good in there.

Truelove then reported that he had received the outfall pipe that he had ordered for the work east of the highway south of town and that it had been put in by Bishop Building Supply.

PWD reported that a furnace is on order for the Women’s Club House. The ducting in the house was under-sized and has to be corrected.

Mayor Demarais added that there are a few bats in there and that he would build a bat house to take care of that problem.

Truelove also said that a couple of gaps between the chimney and the house would be filled in and that Mayor Demarais would build a temporary cap for the chimney that can easily be removed when the fireplace was to be used.

Truelove also suggested that the chimney should be cleaned.

PWD reported that the street sweeper and the blade will continue to be out on the streets and alleys.

He then reported that repairs have been done on the Trafton Lift Station. Pump three has been fixed and pump one will be worked on and should be done by the next council meeting.

Truelove reports that there is paving being done on the Third Street intersection. Demarais stated that he had been asked by a number of people when work would be done on the Stretch’s corner. Truelove said that the plan right now is to work on the Stockman’s corner next, to have that done well before the car show, and then to get to work on the Stretch’s corner.

Truelove then said that the mosquito truck would be taken to Glasgow on Thursday, April 29, for calibration and that he had ordered another pallet of the same kind of spray that they had used last year, stating that that kind seemed to work really well.

He also reported that the water would be turned on in Trafton Park on Wednesday, April 28, but not in the bathroom yet.

Councilman Sintler asked Truelove if there was going to be a citywide clean-up this year. Truelove said there would be, it’s just a matter of getting it scheduled and that it would run for an entire week.

Truelove was asked about emptying the cardboard out of the city bin, and he said that the crew had started doing that.

It was stated that a few citizens have been throwing their garbage in there rather than taking it to the dump. A few suggestions were made on how to deal with this problem, but nothing was decided at this time.

City Clerk/Treasurer Lorie Bond then gave her report to the council.

She handed out the current check register, current shut off list and the revenue and expenditures actual vs. budget reports.

Bond stated that this last time, there were three shut-offs and all three are now back on.

Bond then reported that Jane Ereaux called and said that the stagecoach would be back in town on Saturday, May 22.

Bond stated that there have been a couple of groups of kids in the gym without adults. She had talked to the kids and informed them that their key-fobs would be deactivated until their parents talked to City Hall.

She also reported that a cooler had been left on the stage containing adult beverages after Swishfest. The owners of the cooler had been contacted. The council will be looking to update the lease agreement used for City Hall to be more specific on certain areas.

Mayor Demarais stated that the Fire Chief has been working on getting all businesses to have address numbers on the outside of the buildings and that PWD should be working on getting all street signs replaced.

The council then moved on to old business.

The Great West Engineering – Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for the City of Malta.

Mayor Demarais said that he feels it would be a good idea to have a current CIP on hand to make grant requests much easier. The last one done for the city of Malta was in 2002. It is suggested to be done every 10 years. The cost of the CIP is $30,000, half of which would be paid by a grant. He then put it to the council for a decision.

The council members discussed it for a time. Statements of, “We already know what needs to be worked on.” And, “We just can’t afford it right now”, were heard along with, “We need to have some type of plan in place.”

A motion was made to put it to a vote for approval of having a CIP done. The motion was seconded and the vote was one for and three against, with council members Rummel, Wiederrick and Hicks voting against and councilmen Sintler voting for it.

It was also requested to have a note made to have the CIP report put into next years’ budget.

The council then moved on to new business.

A street closure application by First State Bank was made for the Car Show. It was approved and passed unanimously.

Participation in the SFY 2021 City Park Rest Area Program was put to vote and passed unanimously.

An out-of-town garbage pickup request was put in by Christy Scoggins for 311 South 9th Street West. This was voted on and passed unanimously.

Lastly, there were a couple of requests made by PhillCo that were tabled until the next meeting to allow the city attorney time to look them over.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:58.

The next Council Meeting will be held on May 11, in City Hall at 5:00 p.m.