Malden’s government operates under the mayor-council system. The City is divided into four wards with two councilmen elected from each ward for terms of two years.  The mayor is elected for four years.

Malden Department of Economic Development (Malden DED)

The Malden Department of Economic Development is led by City Administrator/DED Director Ted Bellers. The Malden DED Committee is comprised of the Mayor and six other members who represent the Malden City Council, Board of Public Works, Airport/Industrial Park, the Chamber of Commerce and two individuals representing business, finance or industry.

Malden has a population of 4,782 and is located in the northern portion of Dunklin County, which has a population of over 31,000. It is estimated that the workforce within driving distance of Malden is in the range of 65,000-80,000 people.

Malden is located within an Enhanced Enterprise Zone with all benefits available such as tax abatements or business inducements allowed by Missouri State Statutes. Further information about Tax Credits and Enhanced Enterprise Zones can be found on the Missouri Development website.

The current assessed value in Dunklin County for Commercial Real Property (land, buildings, improvements, etc.) is 32 percent and the assessed value for Personal Property (equipment, etc) is 33 1/3 percent. The 2009 property tax for Dunklin County is $4.4352 per hundred and the rate for the City of Malden is $.7302 per hundred.

Local Incentives and Assets:

• Abundant, level land
• Excellent transportation system — highway, rail, and air
• Available, dedicated workforce
• Low-cost utilities
• Available utility hookups for companies
• Possible city and county tax abatements in addition to state tax abatements
• Supply temporary office for new companies until established in their own facility
• Local college — Southeast MO University-Malden Campus & Three Rivers Community    College (TRCC)
• Excellent Public School system — Accredited
• Hands-on youth museum — Bootheel Youth Museum
• Military Museum and Veterans Wall of Honor
• Community Center
• Local TV Station Channel 21 and Informational Station Channel 4 
• Two 9-hole golf courses
• Excellent, family-oriented quality of life

The workforce available in the Malden area is made up of loyal employees who know the meaning of hard work. A sampling of comments from local employers have been:

"We would like to express our satisfaction with the workforce that we have been able to put together from the local area. Our employees are self-motivated and display a very high work ethic. We have been able to hire people from the local area and train them in minimal time in order to achieve a high standard ofproductivity and efficiency. Malden and the surrounding area is blessed with a pool of workers who display a high level of 'good ole common sense,' which, we believe, is hte most important attribute to be found in any employee."

"We feel that we have a high quality of employees. We continually find that we have an overwhelming number of job applicants who are eager to work. We also find our employees' loyalty toward our common work goal is strong."