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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 2 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. 3 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. 4 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.