Malta Municipal Pool to open in July

The Malta City Council on Monday night unanimously approved a motion that will allow the Municipal Pool to open to the public in one month's time with a capacity of 75-percent of the usual amount of people allowed in the pool at one time as is spelled out in Montana Gov. Steve Bullock's Phase 2 reopening of public pools due to the COVID-19 virus.

"I thought it would be harder than this," Malta Mayor John Demarais said after the meeting. "It actually went very smooth. I appreciate all of the people that showed up and we had a very civil discussion about it."

It took a meeting of about an hour and 15 minutes filled with tension but parents of the Malta Swim Team and the Council reached an agreement to open the pool which will open at the conclusion of a couple of repairs to the Municipal Pool's bathhouse. Because the swimming pool will open in July, the Swim Team will be able to participate in the Montana Federation of Swimmers swim meets late this summer, consisting of 10 to 15 athletes.

"We are excited that the kids are going to get to swim this summer even if it's a shortened swim season," said Dara Wilke, President of the Malta Swim Team. "We are excited to have kids in the pool and have swimming lessons."

The swim team will be taking signups for their team until this Friday, June 5.

The meeting included Mayor Demarais, all members of the City Council and 15 people in attendance. Jenifer Anderson of the Hi-Line Future Foundation kicked things off by asking Mayor Demarais if the $40,000 given to the city by the Foundation for pool repairs needed would be enough to finish repairs needed this year. Mayor Demarais believed that with $23,170.60 left in the donated funds there would be enough with money also being budgeted for the pool in July.

Anderson also asked why repairs had stopped and the Mayor responded that the contractor hired stopped the project earlier this year due to concerns with the COVID-19 virus.

Later in the meeting Malta City Crew Director Jim Truelove assured the crowd that if given the green light to start repairs that the contractor could finish bathhouse repairs in a week's time.

Several throughout the crowd stepped up to the microphone in the City Hall gymnasium asking questions, including Wilke and concerned parents of swim team members.

Jim Garfield, a father of a swim team member and team coach Shay Garfield, asked that if the pool was shut down for repairs, would it be open in the summer of 2021 with all of the necessary repairs finished? Mayor Demarais said that he hopes so but couldn't see into the future.

Lynda Brown stepped up and mentioned the canal. She feared that in search of a place to swim that children may turn to the canal. She explained the dangers of the canal and said that no one would want to live with the potential of a tragedy and that if the pool was open at least children would have a place to swim.

Shilo Messerly mentioned that with many events closing due to COVID-19 concerns, the pool would give local kids a chance to do something active.

Later, Councilwoman Bonnie Wiederrick shared the numbers of the swimmers from the 26 days that the pool was opened last summer. That number was 1,152.

Given the numbers and other considerations from the meeting, the council moved to approve the opening of the pool as early as Wednesday, July 1. They also said in the same motion that the pool would remain open as long into the fall as possible.

In choosing to reopen their pool, Malta joins several other pool openings across the state. These are several other Montana Federation of Swimmers city pools reopening this year: Glasgow June 1, Glendive June 1, Shelby June 1, Big Sandy June 1, Columbia Falls June 1, Plentywood June 3, Scobey June 5, Roundup June 5, Cut Bank June 5, Bitterroot (Hamilton) June 5, Chester June 6, Sidney June 10, Lewistown June 15, Choteau June 15, and Conrad June 15.

The City of Malta will put advertisements out for lifeguards. City Pool manager Kelly Cederberg said that the City will hire seven lifeguards and will check swimmer's temperatures daily to ensure that they are not sick. Next week, the PCN will share Gov. Bullock's guidelines for reopening pools around the state.