09-01-17 City Manager ReportfTYOF ira - City of Kalisp ell
- _ OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
1TA OVA
Information Memorandum
9/1/2017
1. Parks and Recreation
In preparation for Doggie Dayz at Woodland Park, Kalispell Boy
Scout Troop 1901 spent a few hours on Saturday August 19, picking
up trash around Woodland Park.
Begg Park is seeing a lot of
activity this week; fencing is
being installed, concrete pads are being poured for
the disbursement areas, and benches and trash
receptacles have been installed. Paws to Play is
holding a grand opening celebration on September
17, at 2:00pm.
On August 16, a group of LDS young adults helped skim algae
off a section of water at Woodland Park pond. A tennis net was
used to move the algae to the shore where volunteers loaded the
material into a pickup truck. Because water ultimately leads to
Flathead Lake we are not able to use chemicals on the pond,
meaning mechanical or manual means are the only way to
remove the algae from the pond.
Parks and Recreation with Paws to Play, had a great turnout for our -7. -; - -
Doggie Dayz event in Woodland Park on August 20. Approximately
135 humans and 140 furry friends competed in contests such as the
doggie dash relay race, best costume, best pet trick, and cutest dog. All
first place winners received prizes donated by Montana Ace. After the
pool closed to humans on our final day of the summer, the pool was
turned over to the dogs. We had over a 100 dogs participate in the pool
portion of the event.
With summer ending, we are starting our fall youth sports. Due to participant and parent
requests, we will be offering Fall Into Soccer program for preK through 4th grade for the
first time. Space is limited and we are close to capacity in the first year of this program.
The league will run on Friday nights from September 8 through October 13. Running
Rascals, our football program for 4-6 year olds, also starts in September and we have
over 50 children registered.
2. Building Department
Four single-family building permits were issued in the past 2 weeks. This brings the total
of new housing units for the year to 77, compared to last year at this time when 83
residential building permits had been issued.
The foundation/steel package permit was issued for the new Elementary School located at
2155 Airport Rd. The project valuation for this portion of the project is estimated at
$2,352,669. The foundation is being poured and underground work has started.
3. Planning Department
The Planning Board has three hearings scheduled for the September 12 meeting. The
Board will continue discussion of the Downtown Kalispell Plan. Discussion was tabled at
the August 8 meeting. Staff has completed a series of edits based on board discussion and
public comment in anticipation of action at this meeting.
The Board will also hear a request from Louis and Eileen Kis to annex the easterly 6,903
feet of an 18,731 square foot lot located at 1541 — 5th Ave. East. The property would be
zoned RA-1 Residential Apartment.
Kalispell National Investment Company is requesting preliminary plat approval for the
next 5 phases of the Bloomstone Subdivision. The first phase, now completed, contained
25 single-family homes and a 96-unit apartment complex. The proposed next 5 phases
will incorporate 42 acres and include 96 lots. Phase one of the new preliminary plat will
include 36 townhouse units and 10 single-family units. The second phase will include 88
multi -family units. The third phase will include 40 single-family units. The fourth phase
will include 104 multi -family units and the fifth phase will include 126 multi -family units.
The subject property is located within the Bloomstone PUD immediately south of Glacier
High School on Treeline Road.
Planning Staff is also undertaking a review of the Growth Policy Map now that the
Growth Policy document has been updated. Staff will work with the planning board to
update some of the land use designations as well as consider expanding the annexation
boundary on the north end of the planning jurisdiction.
4. Information Services
IT staff migrated the electronic document repository and the utility billing check scanning
systems to a new server. Applications were upgraded on both the servers and the clients.
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IT staff are managing disk space issues on a critical server. Staff were able to make
significant changes to reduce disk space and ensure stability of the server. Planning for a
major server redesign and replacement is underway according to the plan included in the
fiscal year 2018 budget.
The network upgrade is complete. Redundancy now exists between the public safety and
city hall buildings.
5. Public Works Department
4111 Avenue East Project
The 4th Ave E Water Replacement
Project is currently on schedule with
the contract substantial completion
date of October 31. Paving operations
have been completed between E
Center Street and 9th Street E. LHC is
currently working on storm sewer
installation in I Ith Street E between 4th
& 5th Avenue E, as well as connecting
water services between I lth & 12th
Street E. Water main construction is
expected to reach 14th Street next
week. Currently, 4th Ave E is only
open in front of Hedges Elementary (between 8th and 91h Street). The contractor plans to
open the rest of 4th Ave E and turn it over to two-way traffic at project completion.
WWTP Optimization Study
As part of Kalispell's permit approval to discharge WWTP effluent to Ashley Creek, a
20-year variance was initiated to allow time for nitrogen and phosphorous removal
treatment technologies to improve and become cost-effective. Permittees receiving a
general variance are required to evaluate current facility operations to optimize nutrient
reduction with existing infrastructure and analyze cost-effective methods of reducing
nutrient loading without substantial investment in new infrastructure. In August of 2017,
Kalispell completed and submitted to DEQ a wastewater facility optimization
study/nutrient reduction analysis. The analysis reviewed current treatment methods/
protocols and outlined practices that have a potential to reduce the effluent nutrient
concentrations without significant capital investment.
6. Fire Department
Since the last update, the Kalispell Fire Department has received 278 calls for service.
This week fire department staff, a 3rd party company, and central garage staff conducted
our annual fire service pump testing. This procedure tests the functions and capabilities
of our fire engines to certify them to a required "gallons per minute" pumping capability
and to ensure they are in proper working order.
7. Police Department
On August 22, the Kalispell Police Department held interviews for new officer
candidates. KPD is attempting to fill two positions, one vacated by a retirement and the
other as a result of a new Campus Resource Officer position at Flathead Valley
Community College. Two candidates have accepted offers of employment and are
expected to start on September 11.
With the start of the school year, we will be enforcing the on -street permit -only parking
zone (in effect from 8 AM to 3 PM from Monday to Friday, on days when school is in
session):
- 2nd Avenue West, between 6th and 9th St. West,
- 3rd Avenue West between 5th and 9th St. West,
- 4thAvenue West between 8th and 9th St. West,
- and all streets between 4th Avenue and 2nd Avenue West.
On August 28, 29, and 30, the Kalispell Police Department, along with partners from
multiple other agencies, hosted Run, Lock, Fight training to more than 75 educators at the
Kalispell Middle School, Russell Elementary, and West Valley School.
Flathead Valley Community College and the City of Kalispell have partnered to add a
Campus Resource Officer to FVCC. Officer Cory Clarke has been assigned to fill the
position and started his duties at FVCC. Officer Clarke is currently the School Resource
Officer Coordinator for KPD and has spent the last 5 years as School Resource Officer
for Flathead High School.
Officer Dennis Bain, a 6 '/2 year veteran of KPD, has been assigned to the School
Resource Officer position at FHS.
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