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06-12-20 City Manager Report1 City of Kalispell OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER Information Memorandum 6/12/2020 1. Parks Department Our contractor has finished installing a wood guardrail at Woodland Park adjacent to the pool parking lot and another section near the waterfall of the pond. The guard rails will help reduce large entry areas from green spaces into roadways and parking spaces, reducing vehicle and pedestrian conflicts. The new barriers are more aesthetically pleasing and match the natural feel of the park. On May 31 Kalispell experienced a wind event that brought 69 mph gusts. Three contractors, as well as two city forestry crews are cleaning downed branches following the storm. We are anticipating that clean-up of the fallen debris will take several weeks. We will also be doing a re-inventory of the urban forest to assess other potential impacts the storm had on the trees. Camp Woodland Summer Day Camp held our staff training on Saturday, June 6, and Sunday June 7, with 28 staff attending. Training this year was heavily focused on COVID protocols and procedures (social distancing, meals, hand washing and sanitizing, cleaning and disinfecting equipment and facilities, etc.). We are currently averaging 77 participants per day with the busiest days on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The camp is also heavily weighted towards the younger age groups (K-2nd). Woodland Water Park is in process of hiring and training staff for the season. We have currently hired 59 employees for Woodland Water Park and plan to have our hiring process complete by next week. Training will begin next week with additional policies and procedures in place due to COVID-19. Woodland Water Park has a tentative opening date of June 22, with lower capacity limits to adhere to social distancing. Swim lesson registration will open June 22 at Woodland Water Park. 2 2. Planning Department The Planning Board met on June 9 and heard an application request from Chrysalis Group Home for a conditional use permit to operate a youth group home for eight (8) or fewer girls as transitional housing while attending local schools and pursuing employment opportunities. The property is located at 1005 8th Avenue East and is a part of Chrysalis Schools of Montana, based in Eureka, Montana. A number of public comment letters were received and testimony was provided during the public hearing from neighboring property owners with concerns related to the request. Under federal and state law, group homes of this size have certain protections. The conditional use permit cannot be denied. However, reasonable conditions may be placed on the facility consistent with conditions that might be placed on single-family homes. The Board did unanimously recommend approval of the requests and their recommendation will be forwarded to the Council for consideration at the July 6 meeting. 3. Building Department In the last 4 weeks, we have issued permits for 8 single-family homes, 7 townhomes and 1 duplex. That will bring the total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the year to 95, compared to 46 last year at this time. The permit was issued for the new Town Pump located south of town at 2910 Hwy 93 S. The project has an estimated value of $4,360,000. There was a total of 143 combined building and/or fire inspections completed in the last 4 weeks. Residential – 63 Plumbing - 12 Commercial – 14 Mechanical - 8 Electrical – 9 Fire - 37 4. Community Development The City of Kalispell has applied to the Region 8 Brownfields Office of EPA for a Targeted Brownfields Assessment (TBA) for a portion of the former CHS Agronomy Center site located at 55-4th Avenue East North. The request is for petroleum phase II environmental site assessment (ESA) work on the northeast tank basin area of the site. The application was needed as the total petroleum phase II ESA cost is estimated to exceed the City’s remaining brownfields petroleum assessment grant funds available. Environmental site assessment work at the site is expected to begin July 2020. Final engineering design continues on the Kalispell Core & Rail Redevelopment Project. The City is working with the Montana Department of Transportation on pedestrian street crossings and the east trailhead access. Review of the Supplemental Environmental Assessment and summation of public comment is nearly complete by the Federal 3 Railroad Administration, allowing for the potential issue of a Finding of No Significant Impact and the selection of a core area north/south street connector. 5. Information Services IT staff are working on Police and Fire computers to update the applications from the Flathead Emergency Communications Center after server replacement at the FECC. 73 computers are impacted. IT staff are updating Police and Fire MDTs to the latest version of the Windows operating system feature update. The update is known to break apps or drivers and IT is manually updating to reduce the impact to staff. The update is bypassing the City’s Windows update server and coming directly from Microsoft. IT is trying to stay ahead of the update installing the update on the MDTs directly. In office computers do not have issues when the update is applied in most instances. The exception is the courtroom. IT staff found an interim solution for an audio recording when the usual software app failed to work properly after the Windows feature update. A permanent solution is being researched. Water billing pay over the phone service referred to as the IVR, is having technical issues. During some calls to the IVR customer water accounts cannot be located. City IT staff are working with the IVR provider who is testing a new IVR product. The City will switch to the new IVR when the provider finishes testing. The exact time is unknown when the new IVR will be ready. Until then customers are being guided through optional payment methods. https://www.kalispell.com/Faq.aspx?QID=124 offers options for paying a water bill. GIS staff created a collector project with Parks & Rec to track inventory and work orders. Built off ESRI’s collector platform, users can mark on web maps where inventory is located. Dog waste stations, trash cans, benches, irrigation equipment, playground equipment, bathroom and “other” park assets can be tracked. This program can be accessed from a computer or in the field with mobile devices. Color coordinating the status helps flag needs with a quick glance at the map. The project will assist long term budgeting of work person hours and replacement of assets.