City Council, Hi-Line Future Foundation Making Waves

The meeting of the Malta City Council was held on Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at the City Hall with Mayor Demarais and three councilmembers present. Attending were David Rummel, Laura Pankratz and Bonnie Wiederrick; Bill Hicks was absent. Others in attendance were PWD Jim Truelove, Compliance Officer John Wright, Yavon Pekovitch, Macie Hould, Tessa Handley and Kayla Warren. Following the pledge to the flag, Demarais opened the floor for public comment; there being none, the meeting proceeded.

A motion was made by Wiederrick, seconded by Rummel, to approve the minutes from the last meeting; motion carried. Pankratz made a motion, seconded by Rummel, to approve the agenda for the meeting, and with a roll call vote, the motion passed. Rummel made a motion to approve claims, which was seconded by Wiederrick, and with a vote, motion passed.

PWD Truelove gave his report and update on various tasks that the city crew has been working on. He stated they will continue to collect leaves into next week, as there are plenty of them. The grass containers will be out until the end of the week of the 15th, since most gardens are cleared and there is no need to leave them out any longer.

Truelove said the crews will continue patching.

The blade is out, there will be some alleys touched up, as well. Demarais inquired as to who was running the blade and Truelove responded, “Charlie (Stevens)” and Demarais then added, “It’s kind of a hard bird to run but he is picking it up pretty darn quick…he’s getting a crown on it... he listens to what I tell him.”

With the impending cold weather Truelove said the sweeper is about done for the season, as he doesn’t want to put pressure on the hydraulics.

He said he had two calls on dogs, which was one call on a pup one day and another call on the same pup the next day. Owner and pup are reunited…for now.

The well houses and lift stations will be winterized soon; he plans to bring the equipment in for storage.

The crew will do a dig next week, it is a service line.

City Clerk Lorie Bond gave her report and then said the city has been charging $8 a square foot for replacing the asphalt after a customer does a street opening; this amount will be reviewed and updated soon.

Bond stated the last meeting in December is on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24th and wanted to know if the council would like to change it and it was decided the meeting would be held on Friday, Dec. 20th at 9 a.m.; the change will be made officially at the next meeting so anyone wishing to attend, has proper notice of the change.

Compliance Officer Wright said he sent out seven lawn letters; one is an over-the-road trucker and he will take care of it when he returns. Five are in compliance. One owner lives in Helena and Wright said he has had difficulty contacting him. He tagged three abandoned broken down vehicles and all got moved. Two complaints were filed by neighbors who had mattresses leaning against a neighbor’s fence and could be seen from the street, and the other was for ducks and chickens being raised in the city limits. He reported that both have been taken care of.

Demarais stated, “Michael Knudson’s fence was supposed to be a wooden fence, and you can see through it. I see Ronnie Welch is about 90% done with his fence. The second house in 6th Street East needs to be looked at.” He said the grass is tall and there are two or three junk vehicles that can be seen from the alley as well. Wright had just received notice of this address.

Pankratz stated that there was a letter in their packets about a complaint from Rick Pawlowski about cats. Truelove said he didn’t know if it had been to court or not, however, the judge was aware of it.

Truelove stated for the landfill report, dirt is all hauled, things are running good. The discussion about a compliance inspection was due soon.

There were no reports from other departments, except the Event Center. Trulove said the freezer had aged out and expired; a new one was purchased locally and installed.

Under new business the Hi-Line Future Foundation was on the agenda. Macie Hould presented on their behalf, Demarais had received a new Memorandum of Understanding in a packet. The group is proceeding with Phase 2; it described fundraising plans and a Fish, Wildlife and Parks Grant that they plan to apply for will require being submitted by the city. Demarais stated that 4% of the money the FWP receives comes from taxes on marijuana.

The HLFF is making progress on their fund-raising efforts and it appears things are falling together nicely. The FWP grant is a matching grant; the locals would have to contribute 50% of the funds requested.

The committee was pleased that the family of Madelyn Anderson had designated memorials to go toward the swimming pool, they had received over $1,000 in donations in memorials. The committee will be having a brick sale fundraiser and they will donate a brick in memory of her.

Just to be sure the public is aware, the “Scottie Potty” money maker is still ongoing. For a donation of $25 one can pay for the red and black potty to be delivered to someone; it turn that individual will donate $25 to have it removed and sent on. This “fun”d raiser has brought in over $1,100 so far and the committee is pleased with the results. Glasgow has got in on the fun as well, and is sending requests to have the potty removed. Kayla Warren said her younger days of throwing around 50# feed bags has helped her manhandle the toilet with ease; she added her husband, Paul, has also helped when he is home.

Rummel made a motion to sign the MOU, seconded by Wiederrick, motion passed.

Item 2 on the agenda was the Hi-Line Future Foundation Brick Fundraiser and Yavon Pekovitch spoke on behalf of the group. She showed a sample brick that the committee has checked into and is proposing. The bricks are laser engraved and they propose to sell them through the end of March for the first go-around and perhaps again as time goes on.

The Museum had sold bricks quite a few years ago, and the committee has been in contact with Jane Ereaux and she is fully in support of the project. The HLFF stated they did not want to step on anyone’s toes. Rummel stated, “They are a non-profit, too.”

Following discussion, Wiederrick made a motion to allow the brick sales and this motion was seconded by Pankratz; motion passed 3-0.

Demarais called for discussion on Item 3 on the agenda: Resolution 1369 – Relating to $266,000 Subordinate Lien Water System Revenue Bond (DNRC Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Program), Taxable Series 2024, (Manganese Removal Pilot Project). Truelove stated the project was slated for spring of 2025. Pankratz made a motion, it was seconded by Rummel and passed upon vote.

Item 4 was the Malta Trails – City Council’s Permission to Proceed with Grant Application for Malta Trails Project located on City Property. Bond stated this would not require any action at this time, as there was a conflict with the group and they would be coming to the next meeting.

Kari Hould was next on the agenda and had proposed the painting of the city street from the corner of Central beside Art’s Furniture, going north to the street across by the former Blades Salon.

Demarais said, “I saw the plan and it looks pretty slick.”

Bond said that Councilmember Bill Hicks (absent from the meeting) had looked at his packet and was in favor of the design. He suggested putting the crosswalk north and south between the Veterans Park and Family Matters and also between the park and the Stockman Bar.

The audience and members of the council were impressed with the idea and supportive. Wiederrick made a motion, which was seconded by Pankratz and passed upon vote.

To close out the business agenda, the council considered the out of city request for city garbage services by Darla Niebur. The service would be on their property as the garbage truck cannot back up, nor can it be left along the highway. Rummel voted to add the pickup to the route, seconded by Wiederrick seconded the motion and it passed upon vote. Following the vote, Wiederrick made a motion to adjourn and with a second, the meeting closed.

The next meeting of the City Council will be Tuesday, Nov. 27th at 5 p.m.