06-28-19 City Manager Report1
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY
MANAGER
Information Memorandum
6/28/2019
1.Public Works
Pavement Markings
TSS Staff are in the field refreshing
old and placing new pavement
markings in Kalispell. This past
week they have completed the
diagonal parking striping on one
block of 3rd St E and two blocks of
5th St W. TSS will continue
throughout the construction season to refresh faded traffic markings in Kalispell streets.
Online Permitting
The Public Works Department has
completely transitioned to an electronic
permitting process. Applicants can apply
for Stormwater Permits, Right-of-Way
Permits, and Encroachment permits through
Cityworks, located on the city’s website
www.kalispell.com. The city’s website
provides the link to the application along
with additional resources such as our Stormwater Map.
Online Permitting streamlines the submittal process to allow for a more user friendly
experience. Applicants are able to login under their personal user account and view all
permits submitted by them as well as the current status of the permit.
The Public Works Engineering Division has also begun to utilize Cityworks to administer
a new procedure for reviewing and tracking Project Submittals. This allows personnel to
view a Project status and supporting documentation related to the project.
2.Information Services
The Cityworks Public Access sites were moved to the new web server. However,
Cityworks Public Access is not fully supported on Internet Explorer and Edge browsers.
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Cityworks Public Access works fully on the current versions of Chrome and
Firefox. Cityworks support documentation states, “*Microsoft announced upcoming
changes to the Edge browser to support the Chromium rendering engine. Due to these
changes, we have limited support for Microsoft Edge.”
Adjustments were made to the virtual machine environment to accommodate the new
servers for the City’s ArcGIS Enterprise server builds. City IT staff are starting to build
the first virtual machine.
City IT staff assisted the police department getting the MDTs for patrol cars configured
for electronic ticketing.
Six network switches were configured for the City shops. The switches support the new
cabling design at the shop complex. Fiber runs to each shop with computers provides
the connectivity backbone between the shops, overcomes long distance run limitations,
and leaves cabling for future cameras.
3.Building Department
In the last 2 weeks, we have issued permits for 3 single-family homes. That will bring the
total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the year to 56, compared to 49
last year at this time. We are currently sitting at 24 units of multifamily housing year to
date. Last year, at this time, we had issued permits for 36 apartment units.
A permit was issued for the Bee Hive Homes Phase 2 Addition located at 244 Stillwater
Road. The project is valued at $1.2 million.
4.Planning Department
Planning staff held a work session with the Kalispell City Council on June 24 to discuss
the draft Downtown Kalispell and amended West Side – Core Area TIF Policies.
Following the work session, staff has been directed to work with the URA on an
application process that applicants would use in order to request TIF funding. Staff is also
continuing to work on the 18th Street/Airport Road re-alignment project. Over the next
few weeks, staff will begin its public outreach process, including open houses and
stakeholder meetings that it will be using throughout the summer months and into the fall
for the proposed Kalispell Bike and Pedestrian Plan.
5.Parks and Recreation
During the week of June 17, Fresh Life Church aided the Parks and
Recreation department with several volunteer projects. They
rehabilitated the horseshoe pits and repainted the floors in the
bathrooms at both Woodland and Lawrence Parks. They also
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mulched the recently planted trees along 4th Avenue East and at the Kalispell Youth
Athletic Complex.
Construction of the new playground at Woodland Park continues.
We are installing the 2-5 year old playground to the west side of
the pavilion to be closer to the bathrooms. While the 5-12 year
old playground will be to the east of the pavilion.
Forestry Staff have finished the pruning of the trees on 10th Avenue West. They will
work on stump grinding before moving to 9th Avenue West. A contract for pruning 1st
Avenue West has now been completed.
Our Adult 7v7 Soccer league at Stillwater Christian School is in full swing having
completed the first two weeks of league play. This year we have 13 teams in the league
which is our most ever. To better meet the demands of our adult soccer interest, we will
be starting a new adult indoor soccer league in November.
The Picnic in the Park summer concert series started on June 25 with a bluegrass band
out of Missoula, the Dodgy Mountain Men. The following week we have a local band,
the Tropical Montana Marimba Ensemble, which will be performing on July 2. To see
the entire concert lineup with band and sponsors information, check out the online
program concert guide; https://www.kalispell.com/DocumentCenter/View/2486/Picnic-
in-the-Park-concert-guide-2019?bidId
Woodland Water Park is finishing the first session of swim
lessons on June 27. There will be three more sessions
available throughout the summer. We will also have our
annual Red, White, & Blue Day on Wednesday, July 4
with special rates and free hotdogs donated by Glacier
Wholesalers for early patrons.
6.Police Department
Officer Parce conducted the Junior Police Academy the week of June 17-21 at Glacier
High School. Multiple agencies, including the Border Patrol, Montana Highway Patrol,
the City Attorney’s Office took time to teach young people about a career in Law
Enforcement and Emergency Service.
Captain Wardensky and Captain Corbett completed the four-week Montana Executive
Leadership class in Helena. They earned 160 hours of POST time entitling each to
receive the Montana Law Enforcement Command Certificate.
Task Force Agent Joel Bartholomew attended the Nevada Narcotics Officers Association
Training Conference June 17 - 20. The focus of training was on the Opiate Crisis and
Critical Incidents. Training aspects included New Drug Trends, Pharmaceuticals and
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Marijuana Grow operations.
7.Community Development
On June 25, representatives of the City of Kalispell, Community Action Partners of
Northwest Montana (CAPNM) , NeighborWorks Montana and the Northwest Montana
Community Land Trust met to sign a series of required documents. The first of these
were required to close out the City’s original Neigborhood Stabilization Program (NSP)
grants 1 and 3 which funded the purchase of foreclosed and abandoned homes following
the national housing crisis of 2008. The NSP grant funds were utilized to acquire and
place homes in the newly created Northwest Montana Community Land Trust
(NWMTCLT) in a public private partnership with CAPNM.
Under this model, homes have been purchased within
city limits, rehabilitated as necessary, and sold to
income-qualified households. The land under the
house is held by the Land Trust in perpetuity so the
initial investment in affordable housing will be
maintained. A key to this model is the homeowner
pays all taxes associated with both the home and land
along with the mortgage. On average, CLT
homeowners “graduate” to purchasing homes in the
traditional market after seven years by utilizing their
accumulated equity.
Additional action taken on June 25, was the transfer of management of the NWMTCLT
to NeighborWorks Montana. With 54 homes, Kalispell’s Northwest Montana
Community Land Trust is the largest residential land trust in Montana.