Zoning, parks and more at City Council

At the final Malta City Council meeting, held last week, an update on the gopher problems in city parks, a change in how zoning permits will be handled in the future and a report from the Parks and Recreation Board were all presented to council members.

A change in the way which the City of Malta will deal with building permits, as there is no longer a certified City Building Inspector on staff, was decided upon at a previous City Council Meeting. Mayor Shyla Jones said that in the past, zoning permits were based on a percentage of the building project. She said County Attorney Dan O’Brien is working on a new resolution on how fees will be charged in the future.

“Any new construction, whether it is a house, a garage, a carport, a storage shed, anything that is new construction will be $100 for a permit,” she said. “On fence permits, if it is a replace, we might wave the fee.”

Mayor Jones said that City would still be allowed to assure that people are using construction materials which are up to code as far as the State of Montana is concerned. Commercial building, as has always been the case, will still have to go through the state.

“But people need to make sure they know their contractor and make sure that they are licensed,” said Mayor Jones. “Because that is who you will have to go back on if something goes wrong.”

Malta Public Works Director Jim Truelove let the council know that they recently completed a dig and replacement near a home on Hillcrest. He said gopher poisoning has started in Trafton Park, but was put on hold at River View Park until after the Malta Rotary Easter Egg Hunt. Mayor Jones reiterated that City Works members will patrol the parks to remove dead rodents on a daily basis and signage has been hung near the parks to alert the public of the poisoning.

“We are also covering each hole as the poison is put in place,” she said. “But it is a three-time-over poison so people really need to watch their animals and keep them on leashes.”

Malta Parks and Recreation President Laura Pankratz gave her first report to the city council and said the main focus of the group thus far is refurbishing the dugouts near the baseball field at Trafton Park.

“They haven’t been taken care of very well, so that is where we are going to start,” she said.

She said that on Earth Day, Friday, April 22nd, a park clean-up day will be held in and around Malta between 3 and 5 p.m. She added that the next day, April 23rd as well as the 30th, a group will be hosting two soccer clinics at Murray Field for area youth after the Parks and Rec Board heard several requests for such an event. The clinics will begin at 10 a.m.

Pankratz added that the Parks and Rec Board’s future projects include, they hope, converting the old ice skating rink into a BMX (non-motorized) Skills Course.

During the public comment section of the night’s meeting, a Malta citizen brought a picture of a rusted out speed limit sign (from 3rd Street) and asked if the City could repaint or replace it. Director Trulelove said he would take care of the weathered sign.

Mayor Jones also reported that one Public Works employee had put in his two weeks notice and added that the City will soon start to advertise for at least one, if not two, position openings on the works team.