City Council Approves Hometown Heroes Banners

During the latest Malta City Council meeting on April 26, Delsi and Eric Witmer asked the council for permission to hang Hometown Hero Banners on the light poles around town. The couple will be taking orders for the banners soon.

“When we lived back east, many towns had Hometown Hero signs all over. It looked really neat," said Delsi. “We thought it would be a cool idea for Malta to do it.”

Families would be able to buy a banner for a family member that was in the military services. The couple says they have been in touch with the company that prints the banners and the price will be around $150 to $180, depending on how many are ordered.

The council liked the idea very much and gladly gave the Witmers permission to hang the banners. They also put in an order for one sponsored by the council as well as Mayor Demarais ordering one himself.

The only other new business for the meeting was two applications for street closures. One by First State Bank for the Car Show and the other by the VFW for their Memorial Day Ceremony. Both applications were passed by unanimous votes.

In department reports, Public Works Director Jim Truelove informed the council that he is working on a list of yards that need to be cleaned up. He will get the list to City Clerk Lorie Bond by the end of the week. Truelove said he had been in contact with the judge on how to handle them and the judge recommended a 10-day letter be sent to the property owners on the list, giving them that amount of time to take care of the yards. After that, citations will be issued and the fines will be decided by the judge.

Truelove put in a request for a tilt trailer for the skid-steer, saying it would save a lot of wear on driving it to all of the places it is used. With no new trucks being purchased, there is money in the budget for the trailer. It was approved, and Truelove, along with Mayor Demarais, will look for one to fit all of the needs of the city crew.

Truelove then went on to inform the council that the street sweeper will continue to stay out, weather permitting.

The lagoon is up and going. Truelove will continue to monitor it for the first few days.

He will start getting the pool ready in the next week. It will be ready to go for opening week.

Truelove said he has found a place in Billings to get the backboards that are in Trafton Park powder coated. They will last a long time. They should be done in three weeks.

City Clerk Lorie Bond asked the council to okay the purchase of a new program for the computer that does the meter reading stating that there could be a major problem if the computer crashes again.

The council gave permission for the purchase of the new software and the setup that it will take.

Parks and Rec Director Sally Wright informed the council of all of the current activities that are going on and gave the council a handout that she said had been given out in a summer packet at the schools listing all of the summer activities that Malta Parks and Rec have planned. The list can be found on the Malta Parks and Rec Facebook page.

The next Malta City Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 10, in City Hall at 5:00 p.m.