12-01-23 City Manager Report1
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY
MANAGER
Information Memorandum
12/1/2023
1. Parks and Recreation
Park staff have been clearing the inside of the Depot Park building for remodel work to
begin. This week we have an abatement company starting on removing the asbestos from
within the building. This work is scheduled to take up to 3 weeks to complete. Repairs
have been made on some of the water and sewer lines that had been leaking.
Five Park staff recently completed annual pesticide training hosted by the State of
Montana Department of Agriculture.
Forestry staff have completed pruning trees in the Old School Station subdivision. A
contractor is working to complete the removal of fifty-eight dead and dying trees along
boulevards and in parks.
Our online registration software system is
live to the public. The software will help
streamline our in-house processes and be
more convenient for participants
registering for our programs and
community members to reserve pavilions.
This process will also update us to a point-
of-sale system for our office and
Woodland Water Park.
Registration for our Learn to Skate program is open. There are five sessions over the
course of the winter. Each session will include 4 lessons that take place on Tuesday and
Thursday afternoons.
Registration for Kalispell Kickers indoor soccer is open. Kalispell Kickers is for youth
ages 3 through 4th grade. Games will be played at Rankin Elementary from 9am-6pm on
Saturdays for six weeks starting on January 20.
Adult Futsal League has begun and takes place at Edgerton Elementary on Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. The 12 teams participating are guaranteed 9 regular
season games with a single elimination end of year tournament.
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Our Freeze Out camp over winter break is fast approaching
and registration is currently open. We have field trips and
activities planned such as bowling, sledding, ice skating, and
more.
The After School program still has limited availability.
Glacier Cheerleading Camp will be held on Saturday, January
6. Flathead Cheerleading Camp will take place on Saturday,
February 17. Participants will learn cheers, chants, jumps, and
stunts from the Glacier and Flathead Cheer teams and will
have the opportunity to perform their routine during halftime
of the varsity basketball games.
2. Public Works
Traffic Signs and Signal (TSS) Annual Signal Testing
TSS Staff recently completed the annual conflict monitoring testing for all ten of the
City’s signalized intersections. The testing certifies the traffic signals are operating
correctly and in accordance with Federal Highway Standards. Additionally, staff
performed routine testing on the emergency vehicle detection and performed cabinet
inspections at each of the City’s traffic light systems. Through continual training and
certification, Kalispell TSS staff are applying their education via improved field testing
and signal operation programing.
Pretreatment Program
Kalispell is required to develop and implement a Pretreatment Program to maintain
compliance measures for the WWTP Discharge Permit. This summer, the Council
adopted a Pretreatment Ordinance and related Resolutions as part of the required
program. The City’s program is subject to approval by the EPA, which is expected to be
granted after a public notice and comment period. EPA will publish two public notices in
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the local newspaper. The first will notify the public of EPA’s intent to approve the
program and the second will be a notice that identifies any received comments, EPA’s
response to these comments, and based on the substantive comments EPA’s intent to
formally approve the program. In the meantime, the City has made an effort to inform the
local companies of the new program and updated information can be found on the City’s
website at Industrial Pretreatment | Kalispell, MT.
3. Planning Department
The Kalispell City Planning Board will hold a public hearing at their December 12
meeting and take public comments on the agenda items listed below:
1. File #KCU-23-06 – A request from Volga Rentals, LLC, for a conditional use
permit to allow the construction of four (4) multi-family residential units as part
of a mixed-use development located at 63 and 65 Village Loop. The building is
anticipated to be two (2) stories tall with approximately 4000 square feet of office
space on the main floor and the four dwelling units on the second floor. The
conditional use permit is required for the multi-family units due to its location in
an RA-2 (Residential Apartment/Office) zone.
2. File # KPP-23-11 – A request from Spartan Holdings, LLC, for Eagle Valley
Ranch Phases 4-6, which is a major preliminary plat on approximately 39.8 acres
of land containing a total of 138 lots (130 single-family, seven apartment/office,
and one potential commercial lot) as well as parks, roads and open space. It is part
of the Eagle Valley Ranch Planned Unit Development, which overall is an
approximate 107-acre mixed-use development approved in 2018 and expanded in
2022, that includes provisions for single-family, multi-family, and
office/commercial uses. The Phase 4-6 property is generally located on the east
side of US Highway 93 North, to the north of Eagle Valley Ranch Phases 1-3, to
the west of Ponderosa Estates, and approximately 225 feet to the south of
Ponderosa Lane.
Documents pertaining to the agenda items are on file for public inspection at the Kalispell
Planning Department, 201 First Avenue East, Kalispell, MT 59901, and are available for
public review during regular office hours. In addition, information on the agenda item is
posted on our website at https://mt-kalispell.civicplus.com/314/Planning-Board under
planning board “upcoming agenda.”
4. Building Department
The total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the year is 110, compared
to 135 last year at this time. There have been 515 multi-family housing units issued so far
this year. Last year at this time we had issued 466 multi-family housing units.
There were a total of 114 combined building and/or fire inspections completed in the last
2 weeks.
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Residential – 30 Plumbing – 9
Commercial – 17 Mechanical – 18
Electrical – 11 Fire – 29
5.Community Development
The City of Kalispell, with Flathead County, hosted the annual Community Development
Block Grant (CDBG) Public Needs Assessment Hearing Thursday, November 30, from 1
to 3 pm at Council Chambers. The meeting included a synopsis of CDBG programs and
local projects with the remaining time dedicated to public comment. The event recording
will run on the City’s government access television channel.
6.Fire Department
From the period of November 15 to November 28, the Fire Department had 169
responses. Of these, there were 127 medical incidents, 10 motor vehicle accidents with
injuries, 2 illegal burns, 4 fire alarm activations-smoke scares, 7 public assists, and 19
dispatched and canceled enroute.
The State of MT Fire Services Training is conducting a week-long Leadership course
hosted by Kalispell Fire at Station 61. All Kalispell Fire Captains are attending this with
other Officers/Chiefs from the Valley.
Many KFD members, along with members of Whitefish and Bigfork fire departments,
will be attending a 2-day instructor certification course the first weekend of December.
The Captains’ exam process is December 4-7. This entails a written exam, emergency
simulator exercises and interview.
Fire Department Admin/Billing secretary has completed the Medicare Ground
Ambulance Data Study. This is a study to look at Medicare’s reimbursement to agencies
vs. actual costs and the insufficiencies agencies are experiencing at the current payor
rates.
7.Police Department
The year-to-date Patrol Calls for Service for this year and the previous year comparisons
are as follows:
2023-34,480
2022-32,600
2021-31,900
The year-to-date detective caseload for this year and previous year comparisons are as
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follows:
2023 – 575
2022 – 608
2021 – 524
The Kalispell Police Department has been occupied with employment activities
including, new hire orientation, background investigations and promotional processes as
we work to fill open positions.