Saddle Club barn to come down, City and PhillCo discuss old airport land

A nearly two hour Malta City Council meeting last Tuesday included talks on what “economic development” in Phillips County looks like and a decision to tear down a barn that has stood in the county since World War II was reached.

A packed council room at Malta City Hall – some in attendance left over from a housing study discussion hosted by the engineering firm KLJ -- were mostly awaiting the new business portion of the night’s agenda which boasted seven different items including the City of Malta contract with PhillCo Economic Growth Council and the Phillips County Saddle Club.

The discussion with the Saddle Club concerned what to do with the club’s old horse barn. Members of the club said the building is in disrepair and has become unusable. The Saddle Club members wondered if the City of Malta wanted to take the building over or, perhaps, give it to another group to relocate it.

“I did visit with some of the former, elderly Saddle Club people who, some of them still ride and some don’t, who have ties and a passion to (the barn) because they used to do fund raising for it,” Malta Mayor Shyla Jones said. “None of them want to take it over.”

A member of the Saddle Club said that the building has become more expensive to maintain than the funds received to rent stalls in the barn to horse owners. They said the building has electric issues, the roof needs to be replaced – which would cost several thousand dollars – and it floods each winter. Both the Saddle Club and the City of Malta stated they have done their due diligence in finding someone to remove the barn and refurbish it for their own needs, but no one has taken the offer.

After nearly a 25-minute discussion, Councilman David Rummel made a motion to tear down the barn.

“At first, I didn’t want to because I kept horses there in the 60s and the 70s and it has sentimental values,” Councilman Rummel said. “But I have been down there a bunch … it looks like a huge liability.”

The motion passed with a 4-0 vote of the City Council members.

Any lumber that is usable will be sold to an outside firm, the concrete will go – it is hoped – to the Malta Irrigation District and the rest of the unusable materials will be put in the Malta landfill. No exact timetable was given for the teardown.

The discussion with the PhillCo at the night’s meeting concerned a 99-years lease the group has with the City of Malta at the old airport. The City of Malta is concerned that there is little to no economic development or growth occurring at the property as is stipulated in the contract.

The old airport is in the midst of a Superfund Clean Up through Montana DEQ. PhillCo and the City of Malta were both under the impression that once the clean-up is complete that the site will come off the Super Fund list. Mayor Jones recently received word from DEQ that even after the clean-up, though the land will get a letter stating the site has been cleaned, as long as traces of chemicals being removed remain (which will be the case) that the site will remain on the list.

“I thought it would come off the list,” Mayor Jones said, “but no … so the clean-up isn’t what you are thinking it is because it isn’t what I thought it was, by any means.”

The meeting, at times, became quarrelsome between the City and PhillCo as the discussions continued. The discussion including how members of the Phillips County Motor Sport’s group was treated years ago by PhillCo and the use of some of the old airport land being rented to private entities rather than businesses.

In the end, cooler heads prevailed and both groups agreed, for the time being, to work together and for there to be better communication going forward between PhillCo and the City of Malta. The City Council ultimately took no action on the matter leaving the possibility for future talks about the land.