04-03-20 City Manager Report1
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY
MANAGER
Information Memorandum
4/3/2020
1. Parks Department
With spring upon us, cleanup in the parks has started. Park
crews are putting up tennis nets, picking up leaves left over from
the fall, and thatching turf. KYAC crews are repairing backstop
nets in anticipation of baseball and softball seasons commencing.
We have also replaced the lower fabric of the foul line fencing
on the softball fields that started to curl from use over the last 20
years. To aid in keeping the fabric from curling, we added a
bottom rail to replace the typical tension wire that is used in
chain-link fencing.
The Forestry crew has been working on stump grinding from trees that
have been removed over the past six months. Stumps are ground
below grade and most woody material is removed from the site.
Compost soil from our composting area is brought back in to fill the
depression and then seeded.
Recreation has been communicating cancellations and/or postponements of affected
programs (Cairo’s Kids Afterschool Program, Spring Break Camp, Little Dribblers
Basketball, and Adult Indoor Soccer) to our participants and processing refunds. We are
also putting contingency plans in place in case additional programs need to be postponed
or cancelled. We are also looking at pushing back the release of our summer activity
guide that is scheduled to be published on April 27 due to uncertainties.
2. Public Works
2019 Stormwater Annual Report
On March 1 of each year, the City of Kalispell is required to submit
an annual report to stay in compliance with the Municipal Separate
Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit issued by the State of
2
Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The 2019 Annual
Report includes information on how the City met last year’s permit requirements.
Highlights include:
•Approximately 1,882 students reached through activities
•Outreach to approximately 2,000 businesses
•Creation of the Flathead Rain Garden Initiative for residents
•Implementation of a new post-construction stormwater management program
(Stormwater Maintenance Permit Program)
•The City’s response to DEQ’s inspection report from April 2019
Sewer Operations
In the past week, the Public Works Sewer Division has seen an increase in sewer
blockages, responding to 11 reports of sewer back-ups from residents. Field crews are
reporting an overabundance of flushable wipes, paper towels, and other paper and cotton
products in the sewer system. Due to this increase, Sewer personnel have modified
operations and focused primarily on locating potential blockages and cleaning sewer
mains. Daily, three vacuum truck cleaning crews, utilizing two vacuum trucks from
sewer and a borrowed vacuum truck from water, are performing sewer cleaning
activities. All available staff who are not assigned to cleaning operations have been
pulling sewer manhole lids in an attempt to pro-actively find areas in need of
maintenance. In the last week, staff have cleaned or flushed 87 different sewer gravity
mains segments. A typical week consists of cleaning 30 sewer main segments.
The Public Works Department continues to reach out to residents via newspapers and
social media in attempts to educate residents on what is appropriate to flush down the
sewer system.
3.Police Department
Thus far our staffing has not been severely impacted by the Covid-19 Pandemic. We have
given CDC guidelines to Officers and remain diligent with best practices for hygiene and
PPE. We remain in contact with our fellow law enforcement professionals including the
FCSO, Whitefish, and Columbia Falls Police to prepare if staffing becomes severely
effected through our agencies.
Call volume from the period of March 16-24 shows 717 calls for service. During that
same period in 2019, we saw 860 calls for service and 763 in 2018.
In the absence of school, our current school resource officers will be utilized to
supplement patrol staffing outside of school duties.
The Montana Law Enforcement Academy ended the last session two weeks early due to
the pandemic. They extended hours and were able to fully graduate the class. Officers
Woods and Sheets have returned to Kalispell and are continuing their field training.
3
4.Fire Department
Since the last update, the Kalispell Fire Department has received 135 calls for service.
All outreach training to the public has been cancelled or postponed.
As with all other departments fire department staff have been managing the Covid-19
epidemic. Changes to our operations are necessary to help protect our community and
our staff. Under direction from Flathead County Health, Flathead County EMS, and
Montana DPHHS, new emergency protocols have been adopted in regards to how we
interface with patients, proper PPE use, and various other issues that may arise in the near
future.
Fire department staff have also evaluated the employment candidates for future hiring.
With the introduction of mandatory social distancing, our employment process has been
halted to this point. Working with our testing partner, staff is evaluating the possibility of
the required fire department entry level written test to be completed online via an online
proctor. This would allow us to move forward with the hiring process and still be in
compliance with appropriate mandates.
5.Planning Department
The Planning Department will be welcoming a new Planner 2 on April 6. The new
Planner 2 has over seven years of planning experience in the Flathead Valley and will be
a valuable asset to the team moving forward. The April Planning Board meeting has been
cancelled as there was no applications on the agenda.
6.Building Department
In the last 2 weeks, we have issued permits for 1 single-family home, 1 duplex and 2
townhomes. That will bring the total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units
for the year to 35, compared to 15 last year at this time.
At the end of 2019, the building department had issued permits for a total of 84 Multi-
family units. At this time for 2020 we have not issued any permits for Multi-family units,
however there are currently two large Multi-family projects under review; The Crossings
located on Two Mile drive which would contain 324 units on full build out and Frontier
Village located at Treeline Drive which would contain 126 units at full build out.
The permit was issued for remodel of 4th & Zuri, a multi-use building located at 55 4th
Ave WN. The project is valued at $850,000. The permit was also issued for the new
Morrison-Maierle building located at 172 Timberwolf Parkway. This project is valued at
$1,300,000.
There was a total of 206 combined building and/or fire inspections completed in the last 2
weeks.
4
Residential – 83 Plumbing - 18
Commercial – 30 Mechanical - 18
Electrical – 27 Fire - 30
7.Community Development
Bids were received for the South Kalispell Tax Increment Finance (TIF) District Urban
Renewal Project at Airport Road and 18th Street. The low bid for the entire project scope
came in at $2,049,743.55, which is within the allotted budget. Staff is forwarding a BID
award recommendation for Council consideration at their April 6 meeting.
Community Development is working closely with Flathead County Economic
Development Authority (FCEDA) on brownfields assessments, clean-up planning, and
Revolving Loan Fund issues for the sites under FCEDA ownership (the former CHS
Grain Elevator and former CHS Agronomy Center sites). Community Development is
additionally working on three other brownfields sites in the city.
Community Development is working with the City Revolving Loan Fund Committee to
review its fund sources and guidelines to assess expanded uses of these resources for
local businesses.
8.Information Technology
IT staff have been preparing remote access for over 50 people. Included in the remote
access is configuring computers and getting users setup with the necessary components to
work remotely.
IT staff have also been setting up video conferencing capabilities to provide staff the
ability to have remote meetings. Public meetings are being setup with video
conferencing capabilities to allow meetings to continue to support business continuity.
Audio conference bridge licenses are being added to licensing for limited staff who need
to provide a phone number to participants to call into meetings.
9.Council Meeting Format
With the emergence of Social Distancing guidelines and advice from state officials, the
physical chambers for the City Council meeting on Monday night will not be open to the
public. With the exception of the Mayor, the council will be participating through
videoconferencing technology, with the meeting continuing to be streamed live. The
public is encouraged to submit comments on agenda items to the council at the dedicated
email account, publiccomment@kalispell.com. These comments will be automatically
directed to City Council members, the City Manager, and the City Clerk as part of the
deliberations.