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
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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.
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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.