Malta City Council approves pool work

The Malta City Council took steps to either improve or rebuild the Municipal Pool last Tuesday at their first meeting of the month, unanimously passing a resolution which allows a Glasgow engineering firm to investigate which alternative would be best.

Hi-Line Future Foundation (HFF) President Suzanna Stenberg said a recent meeting between the foundation (made-up of volunteers tasked with raising money for a new pool in Phillips County) members of the City Council, and Mayor John Demarais went well and left the group excited for what the future holds. Stenberg than said HFF wanted to donate $3,000 toward the $10,000 bill for feasibility study to be conducted by Interstate Engineering.

"Thank you, that is good to hear," Mayor Demarais said of the donation. "That is wonderful."

HFF, founded in August of 2016, has held several fundraisers since the group's inception and to date has raised over $50,000 towards Municipal Pool improvements.

"The community has been great coming out and supporting us," Stenberg said.

Interstate Engineering's John Bach said the feasibility study would focus on three different alternatives: one being a fix of the pool as it currently sits; two being a completely new pool built at the current pool's location or; three a new pool being built at a new location. Bach said that as soon as the weather turned for the better, Interstate Engineering would begin putting the study together. No talk of a county-wide or city-wide vote to fund the pool was had, but it has been discussed at past meetings to fund the improved or new pool.

Public Works Report

During Malta Public Works Director Jim Truelove's report, Truelove said he recently met with Big Sky Pools and hopes that the City can get the pool patched and painted for this summer.

"It's important to get it looking good through this year until decisions are made," Director Truelove added.

Mayor Demarais thanked the Public Work's Crew for the diligence removing snow around the City prior to the meeting (the crew also spent last Monday - President's Day - removing snow on what would have otherwise been a day off) and in turn, Director Truelove thanked the private contractors for their service following the hefty snowfalls. Rocky Mummey, one of the contractors, was in attendance at the meeting and thanked the City for the work.

"We wouldn't have gotten as far as we did without those contractors," Director Truelove said.

Truelove also said that he would start removing snow near fire hydrants around town.

New Business

During the New Business portion of last Tuesday's meeting, bids were received on City-owned land by individuals looking to lease the land for grazing this summer. Councilman David Rummel was awarded a section for $155; Paul and Kayla Warren were awarded another section of land for $110, and Bruce Cummings was awarded the last for $105.

Also during New Business, a payment to Bear Paw Development for a total of $6250 (half of the funds they will be paid for the year by the City of Malta) was approved by the council, as was a street closure request that was approved for in front of City Hall for Ag Day which will be held on Friday, March 23 in Malta.