Council Met on April 25, was honored by Malta AAU Wrestling Club

Malta's City Council met for their regular meeting on Tuesday, April 25.

Malta Mayor John Demarais, Malta Clerk and Treasurer Lorie Bond were present, as well as all council members including councilperson David Rummel, councilperson William Hicks, and councilperson James Sintler. Councilperson Bonnie Wiederrick was not present.

At the start of the meeting, the Little Guy AAU Wrestling team came by to thank the council for the use of the armory or event center last season and hope the city will allow them to use the facility again.

AAU Coach Dustin Squires was present with his sons Beckett and Calvin Squires, who are wrestlers in the program.

Mr. Squires talked of the success of the program and how their numbers are even catching up to Glasgow. The team won two tournaments, which is something that they haven't been able to do for the last several years, according to Coach Squires.

"We had 95 wrestlers out for AAU this year," Coach Squires said. "It was big and we are expecting to have more next year."

He believes that the group will reach over 100 wrestlers next season.

"From a wrestling standpoint, thank you very much because there is no way that we could've been able to do what we did this year with that amount of wrestlers," Coach Squires said.

After Beckett and Calvin presented the council with a card, the Council voted to approve the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, April 11.

City Crew Foreman Eric Whitmer said that the new Trafton sign is installed.

The crew has been blading alleys. The city hopes to put out grass bins because people around town have already started mowing their lawns.

He also said that they had been patching some potholes around town.

"I think that he has done a good job," Sintler said of Whitmer's efforts in leading the crew in City Crew Director Jim Truelove's absence.

Bond provided a list of Municipal Summits, the closest of which is in Chinook on Monday, June 5. Mayor Demarais and Sintler plan to attend.

Bond plans to attend the PEO Luncheon on Thursday, April 27, with members of the staff per tradition. The office will be closed on that day per board agreement.

Mayor Demarais said that Compliance Officer Mike Munoz and Phillips County Sheriff Jerry Lytle have been working to get vehicles off of the street.

"Between the two of them, they want to do it with zero fines," Mayor Demarais said. "I think that it is doable."

In New Business the council voted to approve item one, in which the Phillips County Conservation District asked the City Council to waive the fee for their use of the Event Center for the use of tree sorting and distribution on May 16, 17, and 18.

Gary Knudsen said that if the city had any tree that they would like to plant, they can provide that tree, to make up for the cost of using the facility.

The council voted to approve item two, which is a Street Closure Application for Malta Chamber's Crazy Days event on Saturday, July 8.

The event will take place in the same spot that it has always been in; on First Street East.

Item three was an Out of City Garbage Service Request for Debbie Hammond, which would allow garbage pickup for her house at the golf course. The council approved the request. The fees would cost the same as any resident in city limits.

The service is available to others at the golf course area, but the request has to be made to the City Council.

Item four was Task Order 3 - Amendment 4, presented by Great West Engineering. The estimate was $16,500, to continue work on the Trafton Lift Station and was approved by the council. The city will use the ARPA money to pay for the project.

Item's five and six were both Street Closure Applications from the First State Bank of Malta. Item five is for the Annual FSB Car Show to be held on Saturday, June 3. Item six is for FSB's 120 year Celebration on Friday, July 7. Both items were approved.

The City could not accept the application's request for an open container permit, which would allow the public to walk around with alcoholic beverages during the 120 year celebration; that would be under the jurisdiction of PCSO.

The next meeting was held on Tuesday, May 9, and it's coverage will be available in a future PCN.