04-14-23 City Manager Report1
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY
MANAGER
Information Memorandum
4/14/2023
1. Parks and Recreation
The forestry crew is currently pruning trees in the Westview Subdivision. A forestry
contractor is pruning to remove hangers and large stubs along 2nd Avenue West.
Park crews are currently summarizing facilities throughout the parks and are beginning
our spring turf maintenance routine with thatching.
The gates at the Kalispell Youth Athletic Complex are now open and spring turf
maintenance work has begun. The north fields at KYAC and the parking lots are open as
well. Striping of the north parking lot is currently scheduled to be completed in late May.
Through a grant from the Land and Water Conservation
Fund, the Woodland Water Park recently received three new
boilers. The original boilers were past their service life and
replacement parts were difficult to source.
Spring Break Camp was a success with Olympic themed
activities. Kids competed in relay races, tournaments, a talent
show, and went on field trips to the Rockfish Climbing Gym and swimming at the
Summit.
Camp Woodland Summer Day Camp registration will open on April 17 at 8:00am.
Registration forms can be found on our website at 8:00am sharp and paper copies will be
available in our office as well. Summer Camp begins on June 12.
We have one Saturday left of the Spring Little Dribblers
basketball. We have 40 teams and 357 participants this season.
Games have been played on Saturdays at Rankin, Elrod, and
Peterson Elementary Schools between 8am-6pm. We would
like to thank School District #5 for their continued support of
our programs.
Registration for Spring soccer closed on April 11. Spring
Soccer will start on April 19 for the Wednesday games and on
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April 21 for the Friday games. Games will be played at the Kalispell Youth Athletic
Complex. We have 390 participants registered this season.
We are currently hiring for our summer positions! There are many seasonal opportunities
available this summer for positions such as lifeguards, pool concessions, camp recreation
aides and more.
2. Fire Department
From the period of March 29 to April 11, the Fire Department had 155 responses. Of
these, there were 107 medical incidents, 2 Structure Fires, 6 Motor vehicle accident with
injuries, 6 Fire alarm activations-smoke scares, 11 public assists, 6 Haz-Mat incidents, 5
unauthorized burning complaints, and 12 dispatched and canceled enroute.
Crews have been hosting school visits to stations from both public and private schools.
KFD has been assisting with Paramedic student ride outs.
The Fire Chief is working with several agencies and Burlington Northern Railroad on
training later this summer on a simulated railroad incident.
Crews have been training (methods and strategies) on Firefighter Self rescue from
entrapment situations.
All members had annual mandatory SCBA mask fit testing completed. This test assures
proper fit of their SCBA (air) masks.
3. Building Department
In the last 2 weeks, we have issued permits for 4 single-family homes. This brings the
total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the year to 16, compared to 50
at this time last year.
There have been 36 multi-family housing units issued so far this year. Last year at this
time we had issued 61 multi-family housing units.
There were a total of 213 combined building and/or fire inspections completed in the last
2 weeks.
Residential – 34 Plumbing – 10
Commercial – 33 Mechanical - 9
Electrical – 23 Fire – 104
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4. Community Development
Community Development and Public Works prepared and
submitted a grant application to the Montana Department of
Transportation’s Transportation Alternatives program. The
proposed project is 815’ of sidewalk/shared use path on the
north side of Four Mile Drive. This relatively short segment is
projected to cost approximately $1,000/foot due to the
challenging topography of the area. Required matching funds
are committed to the project by the adjacent property developer.
Funding awards are expected to be announced in August 2023.
5. Public Works
Leaf Collection
Public Works collected curb side leaves this spring, in consideration of the severe wind
and snow event that occurred last fall that created tree debris obstructions to the curb
line. Spring leaf disposal has reverted to normal procedures, and Public Works is asking
residents to visit the website or contact Public Works for guidance on proper leaf
disposal. A significant amount of leaves were collected this spring and the volumes
exceeded the amount collected last fall.