04-27-18 City Manager ReportCity of Kalispell
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OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
Information Memorandum
4/27/2018
1. Parks Department
"Pick Your Park" was held Saturday, April 21 at
Lawrence, Woodland, and Begg Parks.
Approximately 55 community members volunteered
for the two-hour litter clean up. Afterwards
volunteers enjoyed pizza donated by Dominos and
Pizza Hut.
Urban Forestry is finishing the management of a 90
hazard -tree removal contract, which has been
completed with the stumps ground. A large pruning contract is ongoing, as well as a 124
stump grinding contract.
Park restrooms are now open for the season at Lawrence, Woodland, and Lions Parks.
Parks staff took some extra time last week prepping the baseball field at Thompson
Memorial Park in time for PeeWee's annual exhibition game.
On April 19, the Street Tree Committee canvased areas of Kalispell that are lacking in
tree canopy. They handed out brochures for the 50150 cost -share tree program, hoping
generate more interest in planting a tree in boulevards.
We have over 525 children from the Flathead Valley
participating in our Rookie and Spring Soccer programs starting
on April 25. Each day is separated into a 30-minute instructional
period focused on passing, dribbling, and shooting, and a 30-
minute scrimmage against another team.
Our Reel Fly Women workshop will take place on
Saturday, April 28. In this full -day fly fishing workshop,
our participants will learn the basics from roll casting to
mending while also practicing their fly tying skills. We
have volunteers Kim Short from Flathead Women on the
Fly and Sterling Tyler from Montana Fly Company that
are assisting with the instruction of the workshop.
Staff are at the Woodland Park Pool getting ready for this summer. The Lazy River has
been drained and power washed in preparation for painting around the first week in May
(weather permitting). The other pools are being power washed later this week. We will
begin filling the pools, checking for leaks, and testing boilers in the middle of May. Five
of our aquatics staff will be will be taking a Certified Pool Operator (CPO) course the
first weekend in June.
2. Police Department
Earlier this week, SRO Jordan Venezio attended the Life Savers Conference in San
Antonio with Wendy Olson of the Safe Kids Safe Communities Coalition. Topics of the
conference were:
• Impaired Driving
• Victim Impact Panels
• Virtual Policing (policies and procedures on utilizing social media platforms in
law enforcement)
• Building Bridges, community policing
• waxes, oils and concentrates
• Crash Investigation and reconstruction
• Communicating with diverse communities
• Meeting the challenge of legalized marijuana
• Traffic stop tactics, smarter traffic stops
On April 18, Officers David Massie, Jesse Allen, and Tim Cronin, along with Captains
Rademacher and Falkner attended a training course in Whitefish dealing with Sovereign
Citizens and Extremists groups.
On April 19, K-9 Officer Jason Parce and Cairo visited head start for a presentation.
From April 23-25 KPD officers participated in a Police Vehicle Operation training.
Officers trained in emergency driving.
On April 26, KPD officers participated in the annual Special Olympics Torch Run.
Officers rode bicycles from Happy's Inn to Les Schwab and then ran from Les Schwab,
with Special Olympic athletes, to Lions Park for a BBQ. This is one of the fundraisers
KPD participates in for Special Olympics.
On April 27, K-9 Officer Jason Parce attended the Special Olympics Regional Track and
Field Competition and Medal Ceremony at Rawson Field.
3. FY19 Budget
The Fiscal Year 2019 proposed budget is being assembled for distribution to the Council.
It is anticipated that the budget will be available on the 271h or 28�h. Budget workshops
are scheduled for May 14 and 15, with May 16 held in case it is needed. These meetings
will be at 6PM in Council Chambers.
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4. EMS Review
The Center for Public Safety Management has completed a draft report regarding our
EMS Service delivery operations and model. We will be holding an EMS subcommittee
meeting on Monday, April 30, at 6PM in Council Chambers.
5. Building Department
In April, we issued permits for 12 single-family homes. That will bring the total of new
single family/duplex and townhouse units for the year to 21, compared to 20 last year at
this time.
The building permit was issued for the new Panera Bread located at 2240 Hwy 93 N.
The estimated project valuation is $850,000.
Staff has had on -going discussions with CHS as they prepare to submit building permits
for the grain elevator, fertilizer plant, office/store, and fueling station in the new Glacier
Rail Park.
Fire inspectors, earlier this year, began working at the south end of Kalispell, progressing
northward. They have now addressed all the businesses south of 13'h Street, with the
exception of airport properties. These are set to begin next week. All the hotels have had
initial inspections as well. In addition, eight short term rental inspections were
completed for re -licensing.
6. Planning Department
Multiple items are scheduled for the upcoming planning board agenda. Meadows Edge, a
110 acre proposed PUD located on the northwest corner of Three Mile and West Spring
Creek Road is requesting annexation including an initial zoning classification of R-3 with
a 3-5 acre section of B-1 neighborhood commercial. The project will include 320
residential units with a combination of single family, 2 and 4 unit townhouses as well as
3-5 acres of neighborhood commercial. School District 5 is requesting 5 separate agency
exemption hearings as they propose new gyms to be located at Russell, Peterson, and
Elrod Schools as well as a new gym and class room modifications at Flathead High, and
class room modifications at Edgerton School. Jeremy Waters has requested a
conditional use permit to operate an HVAC business at 707 West Center Street. Finally,
the owners of Aspen Creek Subdivision are requesting consideration of a zone change to
allow the modification of setbacks throughout their project located on the south side of
Three Mile Drive, just west of the Stillwater Road intersection.
7. Human Resources
The Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority (MMIA) reported great news for the City
regarding several of our insurance plans. The latest *Modification Factor Data (MOD)
for our Worker's Compensation Insurance has dropped to 0.90, down from 0.92.
Additionally, our Liability Insurance MOD factor remains at 0.80. Kalispell continues to
do better that the statewide average in both areas. All of this will again lead to a
substantial savings in our insurance costs for the coming year.
*A "modification factor" is developed by measuring the difference between the insured's
actual past experience and the expected or actual experience of the group/class. This
factor may be either a debit or credit and, therefore, will increase or decrease the standard
premium in response to past loss experience. When applied to the annual premium, the
experience modification produces a premium that is more representative of the actual loss
experience of an insured. An employer with average experience has a modifier of 1.0 and
would pay the basic annual premium. Employers with poorer loss experience would have
modifiers greater than 1.00 and would pay more than basic annual premium. Those with
good experience (modifiers below 1.00) will pay less in their annual premium.
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