12-12-19 City Manager Report1
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY
MANAGER
Information Memorandum
12/12/2019
1. Parks Department
The Parks crew will assist with
forestry operations for the next
few months as weather permits.
During weather events and when
the pond has enough ice, they
will resume their traditional park
maintenance responsibilities.
Currently there are three forestry
crews working around the city. Large trees are being pruned on 2nd Avenue East,
medium sized trees are being pruned in the South Meadows area, and large woody debris
is being removed from Woodland Park.
Cario’s Kids Afterschool Program celebrated National
Cookie Day on December 3, with a generous donation from
Rosauers Supermarket in Kalispell. Rosauers donated sugar
cookies, sprinkles, and frosting for the kids to decorate
cookies on this “holiday.” Special thanks to Bob and all the
staff at Rosauers for their continued support of our programs.
2. Police Department
Officer Dillon Sheets and Officer Matthew Woods started on December 3 with a week of
orientation to employment at the City of Kalispell and the Kalispell Police Department.
The first week is intensive with exposure to basic policies and use of force training.
Each officer is qualified with the handgun, exposed to pepper spray, and trained (and
exposed to) the use of the taser in the first four days. After the first week, officers are
put into uniforms and start the training program to become a full Kalispell Police
Officer.
Jacquelyn Dawn Kjensrud started with the Kalispell Police Records Division on
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December 10.
Officer Dustin Willey completed the Montana law Enforcement Academy on December
5. Captain Corbett and Chief Overman were in attendance at his graduation. Officer
Willey now returns to the local four phase field training program.
Yearly calls for service are 34,065 compared to 32,949 in 2018.
3. Public Works
Manhole Maintenance Equipment
The Street Maintenance Division is taking advantage of the mild winter and putting to
use the City’s new manhole maintenance attachment (Mr. Manhole). Mr. Manhole is a
manhole repair system used to improve ride quality by adjusting rim elevations to
matching existing grade and road slope. In addition to a better ride quality, the end
project provides a better seal around the manhole to prevent water infiltration into the
sewer system. After fine-tuning their technique, the Street Crew is completing up to 4
manhole repairs per day. Since last week, 13 rehabs have been completed and over 30
manholes have been identified to be repaired in the upcoming month.
Four Mile Drive Water Transmission Main
Construction is underway for the Four Mile Drive
Water Transmission Main project. This project
extends an 18" PVC south from the existing 14" PVC
in Stillwater Road to Four Mile Drive, along Four
Mile Drive heading west to W. Spring Creek Road,
south along Farm to Market Road where it ties into
the existing 18" PVC at the intersection of Three Mile
Drive and Heavens Peak Drive. This new water
transmission main optimizes water operations by
mitigating head losses, reduces pressure variations,
allows full utilization of the City’s new well, and
supports growth demands. Construction is anticipated
to continue until weather conditions dictate work to
stop, and will resume in the spring once the weather is
suitable.
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4. Fire Department
Since the last update, the Kalispell Fire Department has received 140 calls for service.
Currently fire department staff are starting their re-certification for Pediatric Advanced
Life Support (PALS) which is required every two years. This entails online and
classroom instruction with written test and skills verification with a certified course
instruction.
As of December 31, long time employee Captain Kirk Pederson will be retiring from the
fire department. With his retirement a number of promotions will occur. Lieutenant
Adam Smart will promote to Captain, Fire Fighter Engineer Greg Daenzer will promote
to Lieutenant and Fire Fighter Jacob Felts will promote to Engineer.
5. Planning Department
The Planning Board met on December 10 and heard a request from Mark Schwager to
annex 10-acres of land with an initial zoning of City R-2 (Residential) upon annexation.
The property is located at 155 Tronstad Road and is currently undeveloped grasslands.
There are no development plans at this time. The Board did unanimously recommend
approval of the request of annexation with an initial zoning of R-2 and that
recommendation will be forwarded onto the Council for their consideration at the January
6 meeting.
Following the meeting, the Planning Board held a work session on a request from Spartan
Holdings, LLC for a PUD application on approximately 56 acres of land within the B-
2/PUD and RA-2/PUD Zones. Phase 1 of the development would consist of 15
commercial lots along with the necessary right-of-way (including Rose Crossing
extension) needed to access each lot, sewer and water extensions and open space buffers
adjacent the highway and river. The work session was intended for informational
purposes to inform both the public and the planning board about the various aspects of
the project. The Planning Board will hold a public hearing on the project at their January
14 meeting.
6. Building Department
In the last 2 weeks, we have issued permits for 6 single-family homes and 6 townhomes.
This brings the total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the year to 155,
compared to 135 last year at this time. Multi-family units for the year remain at 80. Last
year at this time we had issued permits for 66 multi-family units.
The permit was issued for the new CHS Fuel Station located in the Glacier Rail Park.
The project is valued at $600,000.
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7.Community Development
A Phase I environmental site assessment has been completed on the BNSF Railway
property running through the city. This work completes one of the steps in the property
acquisition process for the linear park/trail to be constructed under the USDOT TIGER
grant. Following the acquisition, a Phase II assessment will be completed to identify if
environmental remediation work will be indicated.
8.Human Resources
Human Resources, along with Public Works and Parks Administration, participated in a
webinar regarding the new Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA)
Clearinghouse Database regulations. Starting January 6, 2020, the City and our
employees, who are required to hold a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), will be
required to participate in the mandatory program.
The purpose of the Clearinghouse is to prevent CDL holders with positive drug and
alcohol test results, refused required drug and alcohol tests, or who have not undergone
return-to-duty drug and alcohol rehabilitation process from job-hopping (moving to
different states where the results do not follow them) – making it harder to hire these
drivers and keeping the roads safer.
The Clearinghouse Database is a secure online database that will give employers, the
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), State Driver Licensing Agencies
(SDLAs), and State law enforcement personnel real-time information about commercial
driver’s license (CDL) and commercial learner’s permit (CLP) holders’ drug and alcohol
program violations. The Clearinghouse will contain records of violations of drug and
alcohol prohibitions in including positive drug or alcohol test results and test refusals.
The City, working with our current Drug & Alcohol testing company Chemnet
Consortium, will be required to conduct two types of inquires in the Clearinghouse
Database.
Pre-Employment Screening, where the City will be required to run detailed
queries in order to make sure CDL drivers they are planning to hire do not have
outstanding positive test results and;
Annual Limited Screening of current CDL drivers at least once a year to
determine whether information exists in the Clearinghouse about those
employees. If the limited query returns any positive results, a detailed query is
then required.
There will be additional staff time required to coordinate and conduct pre-employment
and current CDL holder queries, along with some minimal costs related to the City
registering and participating in the mandatory program.