At the first meeting of the Malad City Council on January 8, the mayor and council set some long- and short-term goals to work towards for this and coming years. 

1. Playground at Malad City Park. In our January meeting we met with Amanda Collins from Southeast Idaho Council of Governments (SICOG). Malad City has qualified in the past for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for the Splash Pad and for the Wastewater Treatment Plant. After five years, it is required that cities requalify, and it is time for Malad City to requalify. These grants are specifically for low-income communities.

It will be necessary to conduct a survey of households in Malad City to see if we still qualify as low-income. SICOG will conduct the survey for our city. Within the next two months, random households will be sent a mailer with a simple survey. All information is kept confidential. If you are one of the households chosen, please fill out the survey and send it back! If we qualify, we will start the process to apply for a grant to upgrade the playground at Malad City Park. We will also be on the lookout for other grant funds that may come available.

2. City Community Center. It was noted that the Oneida County Event Center is very busy. They cannot accommodate inside sports activities. The city would like to see a building that could accommodate inside recreation for our citizens.

3. Cemetery Roads and building. Plans are already made for resurfacing the outside roads at the cemetery. There are other roads in the cemetery that need to be paved. The building has needed new siding for some time.

4. Pave the rest of Bush Avenue past the Pickle Ball Courts. As the park expands, this road will become busier and needs to be paved.

5. Raise Water/Sewer fee. This is a difficult decision. We do not want to add a financial burden to city residents. Water rates have not been raised for many years. 

Before the Wastewater project was started, the city had an audit of their sewer fees. At that time sewer fees were raised to cover the cost for the new Wastewater project. We were advised at that time to raise sewer rates by at least $.50 per year. We have not done that because we felt we should wait until the project was completed. 

Since that time, city engineers have conducted a water and wastewater study. Our water infrastructure is very old, some of our city wells need to be upgraded. Pipes in some areas of the city have been repaired so many times that further repairs are impossible. Some council members are reluctant to raise rates. Others would rather raise rates gradually rather than a big raise all at once. Let your City Council members know how you feel about this. We will always try to get grants, but we are seeing under a new federal administration that these grants may not be available. Would you rather have small rate adjustments yearly, or a big raise when a project is planned?

6. Fire hydrants. The city has contracted with a company to replace or repair any fire hydrants that are not working. In addition, we want to reintroduce having our local fire department open the hydrants yearly and flush our water system to keep it clean.

7. New water meters. This has been discussed in almost every meeting during the past year. There is a concern that the old water meters are not working properly. Malad City Superintendent, Tyler Webster, obtained five new meters, which have been installed in the mayor’s and city council member’s homes. Those meters are going to be monitored for a few months to see if they can tell if the old meters are reading water usage correctly. We have some old meters in the city that have been installed since the 1960s. The old meters need be read manually, which means we can only read meters from about April through September. The new meters can be read electronically throughout the year. 

8. Impact fees. Again, this issue has been discussed during the past year. Impact fees are paid by contractors to cover the cost of new infrastructure. 

Of course, the Bannock Street project is an on-going goal. Bids are supposed to go out within the next week. We will keep citizens aware of the progress of this and other projects.

We would love your input. If you feel strongly about any of these goals, please let your mayor and council members know how you feel. It will help them to serve you better and help them to make an informed decision that is the best for our city and our citizens.