Headaches for Malta City Council concerning construction continue

The new news on construction projects around the City of Malta was mostly bleak during last Tuesday night’s Council Meeting.

The projects in question on the night included the water improvement project which tore the city street’s apart last summer and Superfund Cleanup at the old Airport south of town.

“We have two projects that are backwards and upside down,” Malta Mayor Shyla Jones said at one point at the four-hour meeting.

During the final council meeting in February, Mayor Jones informed the council that Superfund Cleanup at the old airport in Malta isn’t going to be completed as previously planned. She said that though the City of Malta was told the price tag of the project on three different occasions, the engineering firm — NewFields —quoted prices from 2012 (instead of 2015) leaving the project short on funds. At the February meeting, Mayor Jones said the firm was seeking an additional $28-to-$32,000 to finish the project. At last Tuesday night’s meeting, the price changed once again.

“Now they want $41,990.52 to finish the project,” Mayor Jones said. “I think it is time to fulfill our contracts with them and then be done.”

The City Council made tentative plans to have the contaminated soil at the airport (about 400 square feet and 2-feet deep) dug out, not tested any further, and “button it up and be done with it,” per Mayor Jones suggestion. If the project is “buttoned up” and not completed to DEQ standards, the site would remain on the Superfund list.

“If we can prove we cleaned up the soil, DEQ can give a clean title on the soil but not take it off the Superfund site,” Mayor Jones said.

As for the water project, Mayor Jones said recent talks with TD&H Engineering did not go well. According to TD&H, the water project is 48-percent complete. Mayor Jones did some quick math — admitted she wasn’t a professional engineer — and came up with roughly 19 blocks completed with 31 left to complete.

“I don’t get that to add up to 48-percent,” Mayor Jones said. “But again, I am not a professional engineer.”

TD&H have requested 101 extra days on top of the contract while the City of Malta feels they are only owed about 20-to-25, at the very most.

As of Tuesday night’s meeting, the City of Malta was requesting an in person meeting with TD&H and Helena Sand and Gravel, the firm in charge of the actual construction. Mayor Jones said the percent complete issue with the two companies is only the tip of the iceberg as far as problems, adding she hoped an in person meeting with the two firms would help iron out the situations.

The City Council approved contracts and heard discussions on Landfill Phase II expansion. Barry Damschen, long-time engineer who oversees the Malta City Landfill, was a lone bright spot in the construction talks at Tuesday night’s meeting. Damschen's report was concise, his engineer plans sound and his handling of the topics professional. Damschen said, generally, the City landfill takes in 36,000 tons of garbage each year (half regular, household trash, half from demolition) but added he has seen a trend in which that total has dropped.

“We have seen that total for demolition go down and now, this last year, you are down from 36,000 tons to 28,000 tons,” he said.

Damschen said that the household garbage collected has remained the same, but added that demolition garbage has dropped. Damschen calculates the life of the landfill based on the tonnage per year (using the 36,000 tons per year, the site has a projected life of 76 years) but should the tonnage continue to drop, he will recalculate the drop which would expand the landfill’s life.

The Phase II expansion to the landfill, which initially started in 2015, will add two acres of dumping ground, but first the land must be prepped and tested, building on to the extended liner and other works conducted. The price tag on the project is about $395,000. Construction contracts will soon be put out to bid and the work will start sometime later this year with hopes of being complete before winter.