Meeting held to discuss pool's future

A special meeting hosted by the City of Malta was held on Monday night to discuss the future of the City Pool and it seems as though the facility has received a reprieve and will continue to operate for the foreseeable future.

A total of 72 citizens from across Phillips County were in attendance for the meeting and after 70 minutes of discussion, the Malta City Council has tentatively arrived at an option that will extend the 60-year-old pool’s life for two to three years. Also, of the 70 people in attendance, 20 people signed their names to help form a committee to start raising funds to either help maintain the current pool or perhaps build a new one down the road.

After many hours of research by Council members, Malta Mayor Shyla Jones, Malta Public Works Director Jim Truelove and PhillCo Economic Growth Council Executive Director Ashley Stuart, the life-line for one of the oldest, non-private pools in the state will include three new pool heaters, new gas lines, new sand for the current filtration service, a new chlorine system, a new external pool vacuum and new battery for the pool’s vacuum. Mayor Jones said that some of the steps listed could take place this year and some next. The price tag on this alternative is estimated to be around $31,500 (the City Council meets again on Tuesday, July 12, to further discuss this option, after this week’s PCN has gone to print. Look for a complete recap of Tuesday night’s meeting next week in the PCN.)

The newest issues with the pool are a result of an inspector from the State of Montana telling the City that the pool’s current boiler failed inspection. The City searched both locally and in bigger cities to hire a plumber to fix the boiler, but no one was willing to attempt the work because of the boiler’s age and the liability issues that could have followed. A new boiler would cost somewhere between $40,000 and $50,000. The news at the meeting was that if the new heaters and other items are put into place (at the estimated $31,500-price tag) the pool will no longer need a boiler and some of the clarity issues at the pool could also be solved in the short term.

The short-term fix, however, would not fix other problems at the pool – including chipping of concrete around the pool’s edges and the outdated bathrooms which aren’t handicap accessible – so the first steps to start a fund rasing foundation were taken following the meeting as around 20 people signed their names to help with the foundation.

The ideas of starting to raise funds, find grants for and where in town a new pool would be located was discussed. Mayor Jones informed the audience that a new pool, the same size as the current, with new surrounding facilities would cost around $1.6 to 1.8 million dollars. She said that the Community Fund – set up due to the closure of the Zortman and Landusky Mines – currently has $1 million, but whether that money could be used for a pool is yet unknown. The topic of a future proposed tax bond was also discussed, both at the City and County level for a tax increase proposal, but those would be voted on by City and/or County residents and such a bond proposal could not happen for this November’s elections.

The idea of doing away with the pool altogether was slightly talked about at the meeting – this plan would include a large “splash park” instead – but was quickly batted down by audience members.

The majority of citizens who spoke at the meeting commented on how important it is to have a public pool in the County and several spoke of losing loved ones who drowned in local canals. One woman said that living in the country, away from large bodies of water, gives little chance for many rural children to learn to swim and, again, stressed the importance of a community pool.

Malta City Council member Bonnie Wiederrick echoed those sentiments and asked all Phillips County residents to get involved in assuring a pool is in the county's future.

"We have to start now,” she said. “It has to be now. Some way or another, we have to get the County involved in this. The pool is 60-years-old… we (the City of Malta) will get it fixed, but it has to be all of us. I want it to be everybody.”