City Council Talks Wastewater Project

The second meeting of the Malta City Council convened at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 28; the meeting opened with the pledge to the flag. Present at the meeting were all four council members, Clerk Lorie Bond, PWD Jim Truelove, and Matt Mudd, of Great West Engineering, and Marilyn Taylor.

Several members of the council, Bond, and Demarais had attended Municipal Training and Updates recently in Fort Peck, and Demarais shared information learned there as to meeting procedure changes. There will now be Public Comment time at the beginning of the meeting as well as at the end of the session.

Given the opportunity for comments, Taylor asked for clarification on the garbage containers and grass containers, stating a lot of towns allow for all refuse to go into the same bin and asked if there is a reason Malta has separate ones. Council members, Truelove and Demarais stated the concern is about the weight of wet grass in the bins and lifting them into the garbage trucks. The equipment cannot handle the wet weight, nor will the garbage bins hold up for it.

Moving on into the business at hand, Mudd provided an update as part of the Public Hearing scheduled on the agenda: To receive public comments and to update the public about the status of the Malta Emergency Wastewater Force Main Replacement Project. Mudd reported that the estimate for the repair work is approximately $1M dollars; the bid seemed to be acceptable to the Council. He said as of April 2024, when on Google Earth, the sewer issue is visible on the website. The repair work has to be done soon; the contractor has found where the line goes under the highway and the plan is to put the new line through the old line, since it already exists, and all easement paperwork is done.

Mudd stated the City has been sent a notice, a Violation E3 letter from the State, and that his group had helped the City respond to the violations and had written twelve letters to various agencies to alleviate the problem. The Montana Department of Transportation and the Malta Irrigation District will need to sign off on the paperwork as well.

Mudd informed the Council that the engineering firm has a project to finish up in the western part of the State and will then be coming to Malta. It is in the plan to have the work completed early this fall.

Truelove gave the Council an update as well on the spraying of weeds, some had questions if the chemicals were effective if a rain shower moved in shortly after application. He was told there is an 80% kill within one hour of application; Sally Wright, City Rec Department, had checked on some Canadian Thistle and she felt there was a good kill on it.

Employee Nick Cilz was praised by Truelove, he had created new deposit boxes for Trafton Park guests.

The City is again flushing lines and there is a dig at the west end of town going on. The water wreck at 9th Street South West was caused by a contractor’s truck working on the Highway 191 South project and it is in the midst of being repaired.

The City pool is making progress; the lines are blown out, it is being painted and the wait on opening is for the paint to dry completely, it will be opening as soon as possible.

At this point, the mosquito truck has not been needed, which is fine.

Bond provided the update on City happenings and events.

There were no reports from any of the various departments.

Demarais then opened the floor for Public Comment. There being none, he read Resolution 1352 - A Resolution Adopting the Updates Landfill Operator Job Description, and a vote of 4-0 passed the resolution.

The final item on the agenda was Resolution 1353: A Resolution Adopting the Updated Seasonal Landfill Gatekeeper Job Description. This, too, met with the approval of the Council, passing 4-0.

There being no further business or comments to come before the Council, Wiederrick made a motion to adjourn. The next meeting of the City Council is June 11 at 5 p.m. The public is always welcome to attend the meetings.