City Council Hears Reports, Evicts Campers

Malta City Council met in chambers Tuesday, August 9th with various items on the agenda. Following opening rituals, the minutes from the previous meeting, the agenda, claim warrants, payroll, and checks were approved.

In opening remarks, Public Works Director Jim Truelove reported two campers had taken up residency in Trafton Park and had been evicted. The campers then set up on an empty lot in town, which resulted in their being evicted by the land owner after the City requested their removal and a copy of the city ordinance was provided.

Truelove reported the pool had passed its yearly inspection, and that the pool would be closing on Saturday, August 13th. The Pool Manager would be at the next meeting with the end-of-season report.

PWD reported that Liquid Engineering had inspected the water tanks, “the big (450,000 gallon tank) had a good report and the smaller tank had a few remarks.” He was still waiting to hear back from the insurance adjuster about the replacement of the damaged bathroom at Trafton. It was this reporter’s misstatement that the restrooms were going to cost $100,000 and an apology was expressed to the Council. Truelove was asked to check on the sprinklers at St. Mary’s as parts of the lawn were brown.

Clerk Bond presented Council with the July financials including the current check register, current shutoff list, July overtime, vacation, and sick leave reports. Clerk Bond and the council agreed upon 10 a.m. Monday the 15th as the time for a budget work meeting.

Mayor Demarais informed the Council that Councilperson Wiederrick had “completed painting the office in the northeast corner of the Event Center”, which will be used for the new DES Coordinator. The Mayor also reported that work had started on the Trafton Lift Station Project.

Under public comment, Mayor Demarais called on Patty Patterson and Justin McMillan, Right Away Agents from the Montana Department of Transportation. Mr. McMillan reported on the 9.5 mile Hwy 191 project from South Alkali Creek to 9th St. South in Malta. The new highway would have twelve foot driving lanes, six-foot shoulders, and an eight-foot walking/biking trail on the west side of the highway, and twelve-foot turning lanes were needed. Mr. McMillan informed the Council how much right away MDT would be obtained from the Malta Event Center parking lot and the MBIDD Property.

Ms. Patterson stated, “the project has been in the works for +/- 15 years.” They are hoping to let the project out for bids around November 1st. With the hopes of starting next spring, they are also hoping it will be completed in one season.

In other business, the Council approved an Application for a Street in front of the Mint on Friday and Saturday, August 19 & 20th, from 7 pm to 1:30 am. The Council also voted to approve an Application for a Street Dance, to close 1st Ave, between Front Street and 2nd St. E in front of the Lucky Bullet on Sept. 24th.

Mayor Demarais presented Council with Resolution 1318 – Compliance Officer. After discussion Councilperson, Hicks moved to table the Resolution until the next meeting so the requested changes could be made, with the motion passed unanimously.

Closing out the meeting Mayor Demarais presented the Council with a letter from the Senior Citizen Board about the condition of the sidewalk between the Sr. Center and the VFW. The Mayor questioned Kari Hould, secretary of the Sr. Citizen Board about sections of the letter quoting him for saying something he has no memory of ever saying. The Mayor stated that it was not the City’s responsibility to repair business sidewalks. Following, a lengthy discussion was held on what would cause the cement to heave.

The next meeting of the Council is Tuesday, August 23rd at 5 pm.