Women's Club building visited at Council Mtg

The Malta City Council held its bi-monthly meeting Tuesday night, April 13, at the Malta City Hall at 5:00 p.m.

Mayor John Demarais called the meeting to order, it was attended by all council members, James Sinter, William Hicks, Bonnie Wiederrick, and David Rummel. City Clerk/Treasurer Lorie Bond and Director of Public Works Jim Truelove were also in attendance.

The council began the meeting by approving the minutes from the last meeting, approving the agenda for the nights’ meeting, approving audit committee for payment of claims, and approving the March 2021 payroll. All of which were motioned, seconded, and approved by vote.

Department of Public Works Director, Jim Truelove was next to give his report.

All of the gypsum for the city has been delivered and the city has the spreader truck for two months. There is a possibility of sharing the truck and cost with a neighboring town, but nothing as far as numbers have been locked in.

Trafton Park was opened up last week. There is no water to the bathrooms as of yet, and there won’t be for awhile.

Grass cans have been put out now. They are already being moved around town. The cans are wearing out and they will, more than likely, not be replaced. The compost pile is not good. There are too many chemicals in it and there is no way to test or regulate it. Citizens will have to go back to taking it out to the dump themselves, or putting the clippings in the trash cans.

The street sweeper has been out and about and will continue to be. The city has had the backhoe out to clean up the radiuses as well.

City workers continue to level out the alleys with the blade. They are filling in where it is needed.

The Landfill is now open on Saturdays.

The new blower is in out at the lagoon. Should be started up in the morning sometime.

The crew has been doing some storm drain cleaning. It’s hasn’t been done for awhile and they try to get it done more regularly. They will continue to get to them as manpower allows.

The city will be digging up the intersection at Stretch’s next week. It’s where the storm drain was hit and capped off during the water project. Once it is fixed, it will be asphalted over.

Sign replacements will be going up over the next week, along with new signs being put up in a few spots.

The pool house floors will be painted this week, then the toilets will be put in. The furniture will then be able to be brought in, and the outside of the house will be painted.

City Clerk/Treasurer Lorie Bond was next up to give her report.

She shared with the council the March financials, the current check register, the current shut off list, the March payroll, overtime, vacation and sick leave report, and the revenue expenditures actual vs. budget reports.

Bond then shared a letter from Cole Amestoy & O’Brien, the citys’ law office that stated that their rates would be going up as of the first of July.

Bond shared an email that she had received about the calendar for the primary and general elections for later in the year.

She reported that she had received a report about next years’ rest area reimbursement program from the state, and that would be added to the next meetings’ agenda. She asked for any input about suggestions and ideas that could be done at the rest area. All suggestions will have to be made by May 7. A few were made at the meeting; rain gutters on the building, making the doors handicapped accessible and a push button door.

Mayor Demaris called for new business to be discussed next.

The first item was Independent Girl Scout Troops 3994 & 3995 requesting use of the Women’s Club House. Mayor Demaris and Councilman Rummel had taken the troops leaders to the house to look it over. Demaris said “It’s not in bad shape. It needs a good TLC cleaning."

The toilet would have to be moved from the basement to the main floor and made handicapped accessible and the water heater and furnace are outdated and need to be replaced.

The city would take care of the building updates and the troops would take care of the cleaning. The troops would use some of a grant they have received to do so.

It was decided that a $5,000 budget would be made for the updates.

Council member Wiederrick made a motion to make it so, stating that it would be nice to have that building being used. It was seconded and passed unanimously by a roll call vote.

Next on the agenda was the Great West Engineering (GWE) Contract for the Trafton Lift Station Technical Memorandum and SRF Application. A short discussion was made about it being a necessity, it was motioned, seconded and passed by unanimous roll call vote.

Number three on the agenda was the Great West Engineering Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for the City of Malta.

What a CIP does is GWE would go through the entire infrastructure of the city and give the city directors a prioritized list of what should be done. Nothing is set in stone as having to be done. The CIP would cost $30,000 and a grant would cover half of it. GWE would take care of all of the grant paperwork.

Discussion points were made both for and against having the CIP done. The points for it that were made are:

-Most cities have a recent CIP in place. The last one for Malta was in 2004.

-Having a CIP makes getting any grants much easier to get.

Points made against the CIP were as follows:

-We already have an idea of what needs to be worked on.

-We don’t have the money right now to spend on anything.

It was decided to table the decision until the next council meeting for more discussions. This was motioned, seconded and passed by unanimous roll call vote.

The fourth new business item was Resolution 1297. A resolution calling for a primary election to be held on September 14, 2021 for the open Malta City Council positions, Mayor position and notifying the Phillips County Clerk and Recorder’s office of the City’s desire to conduct the 2021 general election by mail ballots.

This resolution was motioned, seconded and passed by unanimous roll call vote.

Fifth item on the agenda was approving the Big Sky Turfworx 2021 Herbicide/Fertilizer Service Contract for $7,800. The same cost as the year before.

This was motioned, seconded and passed by unanimous roll call vote.

The last new business item on the agenda was a Street Closure Application by the VFW for a Memorial Day ceremony.

This was motioned, seconded and passed by a unanimous roll call vote.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:59 p.m.

The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 27, at the Malta City Hall.