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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. 2 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 3 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. 4 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. 5 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.