Malta City Council hears of more sewer problems

At the Tuesday night City Council meeting in Malta, Board Members once again heard from a city resident who had her sewer back up into her home’s basement.

“We had number five last Sunday night,” she said.

Malta Mayor Shyla Jones reported that the Public Works team flushed the sewer on the previous Wednesday. Public Works Director James Brown said that the crew will continue to flush the sewers and that this week Phil Henderson was going to assist the Works Team by running a video camera down the portion of the sewer line that continues to back up.

“If we find that roots are causing the problems, we have a couple of tools we can use,” Brown added.

Councilman David Rummel said that he had talked with members of the Phillips County Hospital about the problem. At an earlier City Council meeting, a few Malta residents said they felt the problem with the plugged sewers was a result of items being flushed at the hospital that shouldn’t be. Councilman Rummel said the hospital asked to see anything that may be causing the problem in an attempt to isolate the items and figure if they are infact being flushed at the hospital.

Brown said that he would share any finding with the Phillips County Hospital.

Department of Public Works News

During Tuesday night’s Department of Public Works portion of the Malta City Council Meeting, Public Works Director Brown told the council that though his crew is in the “slow part of the year” that the Works Team has been fixing picnic tables, placing Christmas banners and lights around town and have been doing the aforementioned sewer jetting. He also said last week both garbage trucks were on the mend.

“We borrowed a truck from Harlem for one day,” Brown said.

Brown said that one of the two trucks – the newer one – is back in operation and that the old one has some worn out cogs on the arm that picks up the garbage cans.

“We are working on getting that fixed,” Brown added.

Brown asked that City Works employee Jim Truelove be sent to Swimming Pool School and the council approved the request. Truelove – who lives a stone’s throw away from the City Pool – will go to school during the beginning of January in Billings.

Brown will still be in charge of the pool.

Mayor Jones said she received calls from several businesses on the south side of Front Street asking if she could do something about the ice that had accumulated in the area. Director Brown said that Luke Brown was quickly on the scene to add sand to the area.

“He did a really good job,” Jones added.

City Clerk News

During the City Clerk portion of Tuesday night’s meeting, City Clerk and Treasure Lorie Bond informed the council that she received an $800 check for a water bill that gone unpaid and shutoff since last November.

The Next Malta City Council Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 23 at 7 p.m.