City Council Meets

Malta Fire Chief Josh Newman brought a couple of items to the City Council meeting on Tuesday, December 14.

Newman brought in a new fire monitor, which he explained is just like the high-flow deck guns that the department has on the trucks, only the new ones can be brought down to ground level.

“With these, we can hit the fire a lot more directly and hopefully save a few more structures,” said Newman. “The monitors also allow us to move a lot more water with a lot less manpower. With a hose, we would have three guys holding them. With this, one guy can control it, allowing the other two to be doing something else.”

Newman also told the council that the last of the bunker gear had arrived and that everyone has up-to-date gear now.

He also brought in a new Flir gun to show the council. This is a heat-detecting gun that allows the firefighters to see fire when all they can see with their eyes is smoke. They can pinpoint where the fire is located in walls and structures. Newman told the council that the new Flir, which costs just under $5,000, was purchased using donation money that the department had collected during their fundraising events.

Newman then told the council that the new helmets were on order and showed them pictures of what they will look like. He also told the council not to faint when they saw the bill.

“The company couldn’t split the bill,” Newman said. “So the bill you get will be for the entire order. We will then cut a check for you to cover the difference from what the city agreed to pay.”

Newman said that the turnaround for the helmets is around 2-3 months.

He told the council that he wanted to start purchasing new air packs for the department. Not immediately, just to have them think about it in the next budget, as the current packs that the department has will be outdating and he’d like to get a couple new ones at a time so that the whole set doesn’t outdate at once.

Lastly, he told the council that the department was going to be looking to hold a training course for any and all that have fire rigs out in the country.

“I think it would be beneficial to everyone if they had a little more knowledge on fighting the fires. They do a great service, this would just help keep everyone safe.”

Mayor Demarais asked Chief Newman how he thought we as a fire department were sitting compared to other departments.

“I think we are sitting pretty good,” answered Newman. “Of course we get a little jealous when we see some of the things that the bigger departments have. But for those our size, we are doing good.”

During the public comment portion of the meeting, John Barnard addressed the council with a concern about water in the irrigation ditches that he thinks may be from the city lagoon.

Mayor Demarais told Mr. Barnard that Bill Barr would be in town towards the end of the week. Barr is a lagoon expert with 30 years of experience.

“When Bill gets here, I will call you John and we will get together and figure out what is going on,” said Demarais.

A follow-up will be done on what was found and printed in the next City Council report.

In the department reports, Eric Witmer, filling in for Jim Truelove, told the council that they are continuing to work on painting in the Malta Event Center. They are working on the big room now.

Witmer informed the council that the wrong transformer was put in for the Trafton Lift Station and that the right one was ordered and supposed to be here by the end of the week.

Mayor Demarais to Witmer that he had received a couple of comments about the sand truck needing to be out. Witmer told Demarais that it would be out the next day.

Sally Wright, Director of Parks and Rec informed the council that the Tiny Dribblers had ended Nov. 29th and that 73 kids had participated.

Youth Basketball ended December 2nd and there were 71 kids on 9 teams.

Wright told the council that the 2021 Basketball Season went very well. They had many thank yous from the coaches, parents, and children on the last night.

“We were very blessed to have wonderful Refs and coaches to make this season successful,” Wright said.

She added that the basketball programs were gifted a FREE slushy or ice cream coupon from Bridget Ereaux and Westside.

Wright told the council that Fall Tiny Tots ended November 30th and there were 28 kids in it, and Fall Boot Camp ended November 30th as well.

Present activities for Parks and Rec are Cheer Squad, which started December 8th with 21 kids attending. Andrea Lien is the Cheer Coach, and the program is for 2nd-4th graders.

“The Cheer Squad will perform at City Hall Gym on Wednesday, January 26th, at 5:00 and at the Malta High School Gym during halftime for the M-ettes Varsity Basketball game on Thursday, January 27th.

During the New Business portion of the meeting, a second reading and adoption of Ordinance 455, an Ordinance amending Ordinance 451, the Floodplain Management Ordinance of the City of Malta was passed by 4-0 vote.

The 2022 Fuel Purchase was passed to make Horizons the place for Malta City Vehicles to purchase fuel. This is rotated on a yearly basis.

The next Malta City Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 28, at 5:00 p.m. at Malta City Hall.