City Crew Starts Fall Preparations

During the last city council meeting on Tuesday, September 28, 2021, Public Works Director Jim Truelove said, “The crew is currently blowing out the sprinkler lines in the parks. That should be done this week. We will then start on trimming the trees and sweeping up some of the leaves that have already fallen.”

PWD Truelove asked the council if it was ok to close the bathrooms at Riverview Park and State Park. The other parks will remain open for now.

Truelove went on to say that the painters out at the old armory have been doing a great job.

City Councilwomen Bonnie Wiederrick and Leila Sintler, wife of councilmen Jim Sintler, have been painting a couple of the rooms out at the old armory.

“I think it looks great,” said Mayor Demarais. “I really like the color choices.”

Truelove told the council that due to the Northwestern Energy power glitch that was experienced in the recent past, a drive had gone out in the lagoon pit.

“There was nothing we as a consumer could have done to prevent it. It just happened,” Truelove said.

A new drive has been ordered and Truelove will keep the council informed on the progress.

PWD Truelove told the council that the dike inspection had been performed last week and that it went well.

Lastly, Truelove informed the council that he received an estimate for paving the utility cuts by A Fine Line Autobody. It is for $20,000.

City Clerk/Treasurer Lorie Bond gave the council the current check register, shutoff list, and current budget vs actual reports.

Bond then told the council that she had been busy working on the year-end adjustments for the annual financial report.

Bond said that, along with all of the vandalism being done in the parks, some kids have been seen throwing rocks at the bat boxes in Hillcrest Park.

It was suggested that some sort of surveillance be looked into for the parks.

Bond also said that they will look into purchasing more bat boxes in the spring.

Parks and Rec Director Sally Wright gave her report to the council.

Wright told the council that currently, they had free adult volleyball going on that had started on September 20.

“Every Monday night we get new adults to add into the fun,” Wright said. “It has been a great laid-back activity.”

Wright added that fall yoga classes had started on September 21 and goes through October 26, on Tuesday evenings at 7:00 p.m.

Fall tiny tots started on September 28, with 16 kids attending.

Fall boot camp also started on the 28th, with the largest group that they have had for this activity.

Upcoming events include tiny dribblers starting October 18, for kindergarten through second grade. And youth basketball league starts October 19, for third through sixth grade.

Wright said that registration for both basketball activities is due by October 8.

For new business, the council agreed to pay the second half ($12,500) of the cities’ contribution to PhilCo.

A decision was made to contact Ross Stalcup to do the annual city audit.

“I feel he will be much more approachable,” said Bond. “He is more familiar with handling municipalities.”

It was agreed to try Stalcup for one year and see how things go.

Finally, the council looked into purchasing a small parcel of land from the Malta Mercantile Company.

Bob Kapp was in attendance and brought up that there is a city ordinance that states you can’t divide and sell small pieces of land, commercial or residential.

“The reason being, that if purchasing this land does go against the ordinance, any residential lot that wants to be divided, can do it because the council has set a precedent,” Kapp said.

There was a question about the parcel being purchased not being divided. The entire lot of land that the Malta Merc. Co. owns is being purchased.

“We will have to talk to the city attorney, Dan O’Brien,” said Mayor Demarais. “He wrote the city ordinances.”

A motion was made to purchase the parcel of land as long as it falls within the city ordinances. The motion was seconded and passed 4-0 by vote.

The next Malta City Council Meeting will be on Tuesday, October 12, at 5:00 p.m. in City Hall.