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3. Flathead County RequestsCharles A. Harball office of City Attorney City Attorney 201 First Avenue East P.O. Box 1997 Kalispell, MT 59903-1 997 TO* Mayor Pamela B. Kennedy and Kalispell City Council FROM: Charles Harball, City Attorney James H. Patrick, City Manager Tel 406.758.7977 Fax 406.758.7979 charball @kalispell.com SUBJECT: Flathead County's Intention to Deed Roadways to the City of Kalispell MEETING DATE: Monday, September 22, 2008 Council work session BACKGROUND: The City and the County have a long working relationship on the maintenance of roadways around the City. The obligation of snowplowing, particularly, has been shared between the road departments on a common sense basis. The County will plow some City roadways and the City will plow some County roadways so that each department uses its equipment and manpower most efficiently. Recently, however, the County has expressed an interest to turn its obligation of maintenance of certain roadways over to the City. It too is facing serious budgetary constraints, particularly within its road department. The County is now essentially indicating that if a roadway is adjacent to the City, it will no longer maintain that roadway. I have attached a letter I received from Deputy County Attorney Peter Steele expressing the County's stance on this matter. :Mr. Steele has directed our attention to MCA 7-2-4211 dictating that upon annexation the municipality shall include the full width of any public streets or roads that are adjacent to the property being annexed. Unfortunately this legislation did not tape into account that the primary statutory method of annexation used by municipalities is by petition (Part 46), i.e. the owner of the property requesting annexation. Rarely does the petitioner own the full width of the public road and right of way adjacent to his property and his neighbor on the other side of the road may not desire to have his property annexed and taxed by the City. Therefore, in spite of the good intentions of the legislation, it is generally not possible for the municipality to comply. This creates many situations in which the City may only annex to the centerline of a roadway and right -of --way County to Deed Roadways September 17, Zoos Page - Z The gist of Tyr. Steele's notice to the City is that the County intends to quit claim these roadways to the City and discontinue maintenance of them.. A quit claim deed conveys whatever rights and obligations the grantor may have in the property. In most of these situations, the easement rights of the County are limited to an easement for roadway purposes. of course, this right also carries a maintenance obligation with it. The purpose of Mr. Steele's citation to MCA 7-2-4.21.E is to suggest that although the City may argue that it has the option of declining acceptance of these quit claimed properties, the statute tacitly asserts that the City has a maintenance obligation for these roadways. He may well be correct in this assessment. Although the statute may be faulty in its design., its intention is quite plain. The purpose of the statute had little to do with ownership and very much to do with clearing up any ambiguity regarding responsibility — to maintain and police. I believe that the road departments of each entity will continue to cooperate with each other in snow plowing or other minor maintenance to the benefit of both. I think the message is that the County does not intend to budget any further funds for any other maintenance and capital improvements for roadways adjacent to the city. I have attached, a copy of a map generated by our Pw Department depicting the roadways in question. Respectfully submitte , Charles lIarball, City Attorney Jaynes H. Patrick, City Manager Office of City Attorney City of Kalispell Office of the Flathead County Attorney ED CORRIGAN, County Attorney JONATHAN B. SMITH, Chief ❑eputy PETER A. STEELE, Deputy KATIE F. SCHULZ, Deputy LORI A. ADAMS, Deputy TARA R. FUGINA, Deputy ALISON HOWARD, ❑eputy CALEB E. SIMPSON, Deputy KRISTIN M. ROSET, Deputy TRAVIS R. AHNER, Deputy August 25, 2008 Charles Harball Kalispell City Attorney P.O. Box 1997 Kalispell, MT 59903-1997 RE: County Roads in City of Kalispell Dear Charlie, P.O. Box 1516 920 South Main Street Justice Center, Second Floor Kalispell, Montana 59903-1516 (405) 758-5630 FAX (406) 758-5642 We have had on -going communications about county roads that exist within or adjacent to the City of Kalispell and which government entity "owns" and is responsible for these roads. We were not able to come to agreement over which government entity "owns" certain roads but the city and county were able to agree on a maintenance program to get through last winter. The idea was that, in the meantime, the ownership issues could be worked before the next winter came along. Now, autumn is just around the corner and "next winter" will soon be here. The county would like to get the ownership issues settled. We previously discussed the problems associated with the city owning public road rights -of - way as strips in fee and the county owning public rights -of -way as easements. However, Section 7- 2-42117 MCA, clearly provides: In all instances of annexation allowed under parts 42 through 47 of this chapter, the municipality shall include the full width of any public streets or roads, including the rights -of -way, that are adjacent to the property being annexed. The city has annexed properties which are adjacent to different county roads and, according to the above -stated statute, all of the adjacent roads are included in those annexations. To clarify and resolve the ownership of county roads adjacent to the city, and the maintenance responsibilities that go along with ownership, the county plans to record quitclaim deeds transferring adjacent roads to the city. These quitclaim deeds will be similar to the quitclaim deed the city requested from the county for Church Drive and the deeds will transfer the property interests the county currently has in adjacent roads. The county plans to record quitclaim deeds during the third week of September for the following adjacent roads: Stillwater Road (from Partridge Dr. to the first 90 degree turn north of West Reserve Dr.); Three Mile Drive (from just west of Northern Lights Blvd. to Stillwater Rd.); Four Mile Drive (from Stillwater Rd. to West Springcreek Dr.); West Springcreek Drive (from Four Mile Dr. to West Reserve Dr.); Whitefish Stage Road (from just south of Fairway Blvd. to south of West Reserve Dr.); West Evergreen Drive (from Whitefish Stage Rd. to the Whitefish River); Sunnyside Drive (from 7th Ave. W. to Ashley Dr.); 1 oth Avenue South (from 8th St. W to 9th St. W.) . If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, OFFICE of THE COUNTY ATTORNEY Flathead county, Montana By/ Peter A. Steele, Deputy cc: Board of Flathead County Commissioners David Prunty, Flathead County Public Works Director Guy Foy, Road Department operations Manager PAS /d b No. 1. Stillwater Road: Four Mile Drive to first 90 degree turn North of West Reserve I No. 4. West Springcreek Drive: From Four Mlle Drive to West Reserve Drive. ti No. 3. Four Mile Drive: from Stillwater Rd to West Springcreek Rd COUNTY ROADS DEEDED TO KALISPELL 8/28/2008 _ N �~L LF No. 5. Whitefish Stage Road: from just south of Fairway Blvd to South of West Reserve. R No. 1 a. Stillwater Road: Parkridge to Foxtrotter 'r , rr No. 2. Three Mile Drive: I NQhME Just West of Northern Lights blvd to R Stillwater Rd. W I, No. 8. 10th Avenue South: `r From 8th St West to 9th St West. No. 7. Sunnyside Drive: w From 7th Ave West to Ashley Drive. r� 6. West Evergreen Drive: a j From Whitefish Stage Rd to the Whitefish River. it LEGEND LIGHT GREEN..................City of Kalispell WHITE...............................Flathead County ab. SZ%� S FLATHEAD COUNTY PARKS & RECREATION III W�►101:7��► To: Jim Patrick From: Jed Fisher Date: 8/5/08 309 FFA Drive - Kalispell, MT 59901 (406) 758-5798 OR (406)758-5800 FAX: (406)758-5888 CONRAD ATHLETIC COMPLEX 758-5805 You will recall that I visited with you a couple of months ago regarding a sewer hook-up to city services at the county managed Conrad Complex. The Flathead County Parks and Recreation Department recently signed a lease extension with the Conrad Cemetery Board of Directors to continue operations as a sports complex. This facility serves hundreds of participants in recreation activities including softball, football, and t-ball. In addition, the Conrad Complex is the home of the high school Bravettes. The new lease agreement requires Flathead County to pay the Conrad Cemetery approximately $16,000 per year. A substantial increase from our previous one dollar lease arrangement. My bosses have decided to implement player fees to help offset this new expense. In addition, we are considering the authorization of a coffee stand in the parking lot of the property with a loose agreement to a private party to raise approximately $5,000 per year to assist with this lease payment. As you know, the cemetery property is not in the city limits. Furthermore, a coffee stand is required to be hooked into an approved sewer system. The Flathead County Parks Board is seeking permission to hook into city sewer even though this property is not in the city limits. You had previously asked me to contact Jinn. Hanz and I have done so. Mr. Hanz mentioned an impact fee would likely be required if this were authorized by the city. I am requesting a meeting with a city council workshop session and you to discuss the probability of this request. Please let me know when such a meeting can take place. Thank you.