02-15-19 City Manager Report1
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
Information Memorandum
2/15/2019
1.Public Works
Meter Division FY Review
The Meter Division installed 301 meters and moved 93 meters from homes into meter
pits for City water replacement projects in FY 18. 155 meters were installed for new
domestic service and 16 for new sprinkling services. The remaining 130 meters were
changed because they had reached the end of their service life, were damaged, or frozen.
The City has approximately 8,969 water meters in our system. The Meter Maintenance
Division completed 1,118 work orders and 440 final reads in FY18, compared to 668 and
521 in FY 17. Work orders included a variety of tasks including: new meter installs,
meter replacements, meter maintenance, meter pit inspections and testing, hydrant meter
installs for construction water, and water audits.
Traffic Signs and Signals (TSS) Division
TSS has recently completed a school crossing sign upgrade. The crosswalk signs inside
of school zones were replaced because of a design change in the MUTCD and to upgrade
the retro-reflective properties of the sign.
The current design of the school crossing signs does not include the lines indicating
crossing marks under the children’s feet. The design with the lines was deleted from the
MUTCD. The pentagon shaped sign without lines
under the children’s feet is now used as the advanced
warning (with an “ahead” underneath) and at the
crosswalk itself (with a downward sloping arrow
underneath).
The retro-reflective material of the sign was upgraded
to a 3m Diamond Grade material. Diamond Grade is a
full cube prismatic material that gives drivers the
highest optical experience. It returns the most light to the driver and gives drivers more
time to react. Diamond grade is also very durable with a life expectancy of 12 years.
TSS upgraded crosswalks inside all the school zones in the City of Kalispell and
crosswalks that are a part of the safe routes to schools. To date, 40 crosswalks were
upgraded as part of this project.
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2.Parks and Recreation Department
Colder temperatures allowed parks crews to flood the
pond last week. Additionally we are removing snow
from the pond almost daily. Park crews also
prioritize snow removal from park trails to allow
users continued opportunity to get outside and enjoy
our parks system.
Winter does not result in a decrease in use at Begg Dog Park and user numbers remain
high. KPR continues to encourage owner responsibility to clean up after their dogs
through social media posts designed in an effort to catch people’s attention.
The Forestry division recently completed work at Buffalo Stage subdivision. Crews are
putting the final touches on pruning and removals at Silverbrook Subdivion, Glacier
Commons, and are actively pruning on 2nd Ave West.
The Street Tree Committee is planning the annual Arbor Day
celebration, seeking sponsorships and volunteers, and working
through the many logistics necessary. The Arbor Day logo has been
selected from a submission by Kristin Robertson’s Flathead High
School graphics art class. The theme for this year is “From Little
Seeds Grow Mighty Trees.” and congratulations go to winning
designer Molly Bratz.
We had a record number of participants at our annual
Glacier High School Cheerleading Camp on February 2.
The girls performed at a varsity basketball game. Special
thanks to the Glacier coaches and cheerleaders for their
enthusiasm and dedication to help get the camp
participants ready to perform.
The Cairo’s Kids Afterschool Program has been learning about birds through different
activities including identification, journaling, and sketching. Jennifer Doolan, from the
Flathead Audubon Society, made a special visit to the afterschool program sharing the
mission of the Flathead Audubon Society and helping the kids to develop an
appreciation of the natural world through various educational activities.
3.Fire Development
Since the last update, the Kalispell Fire Department has received 158 calls for service and
has conducted 1 outreach training with approximately 10 individuals in attendance.
Fire Department staff are currently preparing to update the radio programming and
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firmware for all of our portable, mobile and tactical radios. As operations progress
through the year, it is necessary to make frequency changes to the channel assignments
and also update the programming firmware to the current version.
4.Finance Department
Fiscal Year 2018 Audit
An audit of the City of Kalispell was conducted by Wipfli LLP. The audit covered the
fiscal year ended June 30, 2018.
The auditor’s prepared three reports and a schedule of findings and questioned costs for
the City of Kalispell. Following is a list of the reports and a summary of the findings
included in each. This is only a summary of the reports prepared. The full reports are
included in the City’s fiscal year 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
1.Independent Auditor’s Report. An audit of the City of Kalispell’s fiscal year
2018 financial statements and related notes. There were no material weaknesses
identified, no significant deficiencies reported, and noncompliance material to the
financial statements was not noted. The financial statements and related notes
received an unmodified opinion.
2.Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting and on Compliance and
Other Matters Based on an Audit of Financial Statements Performed in
Accordance with Government Auditing Standards. There were no material
weaknesses identified.
3.Report on Compliance for Each Major Program and Report on Internal Control
Over Compliance Required by the Uniform Guidance. This report found the City
complied, in all material respects, with the types of compliance requirements that
could have a direct and material effect on each of its major federal programs
(grants) for the year ended June 30, 2018. The report on compliance for major
programs received an unmodified opinion.
4.Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs consist of four sections. Section I is a
summary of auditor’s results. Section II summarizes the financial statement
findings. Section III summarizes the federal awards findings. Section IV is the
current status of prior year findings. There were no fiscal year 2018 or prior
year’s findings.
An auditor gives an unmodified opinion if the financial statements present a true and fair
view. In all other circumstances, the auditor gives a modified opinion.
Under International Standards of Auditing, a report is modified in the following two
situations:
1.When the opinion is not modified but adds an Emphasis of Matter paragraph
and/or Other Matters paragraph.
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2.When the opinion is Modified.
The complete audit report is on file in its entirety and open to public inspection at
Kalispell City Hall, 201 1st Avenue East, or on the City’s website.
5.Information Services
The server for court staff was replaced in coordination with State of Montana Judicial IT
staff.
Cyber security awareness training for City staff is being prepared for a web-based
delivery system.
6.City Clerk/Communications
The City Facebook page now has over 5,000 followers, with the Instagram page at 1,100
followers.
The City Clerk and Council Member Rod Kuntz participated
in coaching High School students within the Leaders of
Tomorrow program as they conducted a mock city council
meeting. The Planning and Community Development
Department led the youth in the exercise as they role played
the positions of Mayor, Council members, Directors, and
members of the public.
7.Police Department
Jim Wardensky was promoted to Captain of Investigations effective February 11. Jim
has been with the KPD for over 21 years.
Sergeants Bartholomew, Haag, and Venezio start the nine session Jump Start for
Supervisors series of leadership courses this month.
On 02-07-2019 Officer Brinton stopped a vehicle and as a result seized the vehicle and
applied for a search warrant. He recovered a significant amount of methamphetamine,
marijuana, and over $5000 in cash during the search. The driver of the vehicle was the
same individual Officer Brinton stopped in January where almost $38,000 in cash,
methamphetamine, and other drugs were seized.
Chief Overman was the committee chair assisting in putting on the Public Safety Day for
Leadership Flathead on February 8 at FVCC. This year’s topic was “The challenges for
first responders in a growing and changing Flathead Valley”. Fire Chief Dave Dedman
also presented at the session.
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Chief Overman and Sheriff Heino presented to the Young Professionals Group at the
Kalispell Chamber on February 13.
8.Building Department
In the last 2 weeks, we have issued permits for 3 single-family homes and 2 townhomes.
This brings the total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the year to 5,
compared to 8 last year at this time.
Fat Boys Sports Bar located at 1307 Hwy 2 W. was issued a permit to build a new 800
square foot deck; valued at $20,000.
9.Planning Department
The planning board met on Tuesday, February 12 and heard a request from Husky
Partners, LLC for a conditional use permit for multi-family housing to construct 5
buildings (each containing 24 units) on approximately 4.2 acres of land north of the
Gateway Community Center. The board unanimously recommended approval.
The board held a hearing to consider approximately a dozen zoning text amendments as
recommended by the staff. The majority of the amendments are considered
housekeeping items which have emerged in the past few years and include such issues as
allowing airport hangers in the I-1 Industrial zone, eliminating the need for the
architectural review committee to review wall signs, setting terms for architectural review
committee members, increasing the maximum height of multi-family apartment buildings
from 40 to 45 feet to allow better roof design, etc. In addition, staff is proposing entrance
corridor design standards to be employed along our major highways coming into
Kalispell, mimicking the design features already incorporated in most of our recent PUD
projects such as Kalispell North Town Center, Silverbrook, Spring Prairie and Hutton
Ranch. There was no public comment and the board unanimously recommended
approval of this item as well.
10.Community Development
City Staff met with Alta Planning + Design and KLJ Engineering consultants, finalizing
the Kalispell Trail concept design report. Based on the design concepts, a preliminary
construction cost estimate is being drafted.
BUILD grant project administration, budget and schedule information has been provided
to the US Department of Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation (OST)
for necessary grant start-up tasks. In the coming weeks, a project conference call will be
scheduled to include the City of Kalispell, Montana Department of Transportation,
Federal Highway Administration and the OST for the purpose of drafting a Grant
Agreement to detail the Kalispell Bypass: Foys Lake Section project. When the grant
start-up tasks are complete we will have a more defined start date.