Malta has a new mayor

The final town council meeting of 2017 ended on a high note as three local City officials were sworn in on December 28, 2017.

John Demarais, a former 30-year employee for the City of Malta was sworn in as Malta's 27th mayor, after winning the 2017 City of Malta Municipal Election on Tuesday, November 7, 2017.

Re-elected council members David Rummel and Bonnie Wiederrick were also sworn in, retaining their seats as Malta City Council Members for Ward I and Ward II respectively.

In the reports from departments, committees and meetings attended, Jim Truelove, the Director of the Malta City Department of Public Works announced that the ice rink was filled but required additional maintenance.

He also announced that with the snowstorms moving through the City, that plows were and will continue to be used to clear streets as needed, focusing on the hospital routes and uptown routes.

He gave an update on the city's 816 landfill compactor, mentioning that the machine is in Billings ready to go and should be in Malta on Tuesday, January 2.

"There is some difficulty getting trucks out of Billings and it was supposed to be back last week but they had a mechanic take a vacation and had man-power issues," Truelove said.

Truelove assured the Mayor that the fixing of the truck was done within the department's budget.

The crushed sewer line on 6th Street East was dug up by Malta Ready Mix and repaired by Farmers and Ranchers.

The Mayor and Council entered a closed Executive session mid-meeting to discuss the water project and the inevitable increase in water rates that is coming in 2018 due to the expense of the water project, the fact that current rates aren't enough to pay the current SRF loan and a new loan needed.

Earlier in the meeting, the board approved the minutes from the previous meeting, the agenda for the current meeting, Payment of Claims.

The Board also approved that Council members Bill Hicks and Wiederrick and City Clerk Lorie Bond will attend the Roles & Responsibility Training in Saco on Tuesday, January 16.

The City also voted to withdraw the final $10,000 remaining in the TSEP Grant, which totaled $600,000.

Mayor Jones gave a special shout out to Janet Berg, a citizen who has attended nearly all of the City Council Meetings that have happened under Jones' eight year run as City Mayor.

"I want to say thank you very much for getting involved in the City of Malta and attending all of these meetings," Mayor Jones said. "As you can see there aren't many (here) and I appreciate you, coming to these and getting involved and I think more people need to do that. Thank you for your commitment in attending these meetings because you have made as much of a commitment as we all have sitting here."

The Council all agreed.

There was no shortage of emotions shared at Mayor Jones' final meeting as mayor, including a shared moment of mutual respect between longtime Council member Wiederrick and Mayor Jones.

"At first Bonnie and I clashed big time," Mayor Jones said to the council. "But we learned to work together for the betterment of the City.I want to thank (Bonnie) for that and I want to thank all of you guys."