Brown in as new Public Works Director

James Brown was recently named Public Works Director for the City of Malta and with a few weeks under his belt while wearing the new hat, he seems to be right at home.

That is probably due, in large part, to the fact that Brown has already worked for the works team for almost a quarter century before taking over the top spot. Brown has worked for the city of Malta for 23 and a half years. When he started with the Public Works Department he specialized in water and sewer projects, which still holds true to this day. He didn't know much about water and sewer topics at the time, but quickly got his certification in both areas. He said his aspirations at the time of his hiring with the Public Works were pretty simple.

"I was just happy to get a job with benefits," Brown quipped.

Prior to working for the city of Malta, Brown held jobs at Ezzie's Wholesale and Union Road Construction. Brown was born and raised in Malta, went to high school here and upon graduation attended college at Havre Northern where he studied trades within auto body. Following college graduation he joined a road construction team, where he "worked for years" earning a living across the state of Montana before returning to his hometown.

"I had a son here and I was a single parent," Brown said. "So I came back here and started working for Ezzie until the city job came up and I jumped on it."

With about two weeks on the job, new Malta City Works Director can best sum up his new position in one word, "busy."

"I'm kind of doing what I used to do as the shop foreman," Brown said. "And what I am doing now is taking water tests, sewer test and trying to keep the guys lined-out."

Brown's staff is made up of nine people. He said that former Public Works Director John Demarais left big shoes behind to fill, but that Demarais also prepared him well to take over duties as the man in charge. Brown said that he has seen some wild things take place in Malta during his tenure with Public Works and recalled one incident in particular in which involved a furry creature he wanted no part of.

"I once got a call in the middle of the night about a badger," Brown said. "Dispatch called and said that there was a badger loose. I tried to find him, but couldn't, thank God. The whole time I was looking for him I was thinking, what I am going to do with him when I do. I suppose I would have just tried to scare him out of town."

One of Brown's top priorities for the city is maintaining the sewers. The day that Brown came into the PCN to give this interview was the day after the torrential rain that hit town last Thursday afternoon when water was coming down like cats and dogs. Brown said that all the sewers held up, though some of the pumps had to work overtime.

"The main sewer pumps put in a lot of work," Brown said. "The water got into the manholes whether we liked it or not. That was just a lot of water."

Going forward, Brown said that one of the big projects he and the Public Works team is looking forward to conducting is replacing a lot of the old water lines throughout town. He said that funding for the project is currently being sought out, but added it is high time that these challenges be tackled.

"Malta's infrastructure is fairly old," he said. "We have been around awhile. We are lucky because the pipes in our town are in fair shape, I wouldn't say 'good,' because of the age. So we need to keep up with it all the time."

Brown added that the project would also include replacing fire hydrants and valves around town. He said there are various locations about town where plumbing is running every which way, pipes laid down in the 1920's and 30's before there was i zoning for that type of construction.

Like his predecessor as Public Works Director (Demarais recently retired after 30 years on the job,) Brown thinks that he will hold the position well into the future and partly thanked technology for that fact.

"I have no plans about retirement right now," he said. "Since I've gotten here, things have gotten a lot easier. With the advancement of equipment and just the knowledge we obtain when we do things like Water School each year are invaluable."