10-30-20 City Manager Report1
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY
MANAGER
Information Memorandum
10/30/2020
1. Parks Department
On October 26, JT Buckley began working for the Forestry Division as a Parks Caretaker
- Arborist. JT previously worked for Western Sky Tree Service and prior to that he spent
two and a half years working for Mission Mountain Railroad. JT graduated from Glacier
High School and spent five years in the United States Marine Corps as a CH-46
helicopter crew chief/mechanic. JT brings a good understanding of urban forestry and
will be a valuable member of our team.
Our Forestry division is pruning trees along the 500 block of 3rd Avenue East. A
contractor is currently pruning trees along 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Avenues on the East North side
of Kalispell.
Park crews are working on a project to upgrade the plumbing in the Lagoon Pavilion
bathrooms at Woodland Park. We are also changing over our seasonal equipment for the
winter season in parks.
We are half-way through our Little Dribblers youth basketball
season. Our younger age groups (pre-K and Kindergarten) had
their team and individual pictures taken at Russell Elementary
on October 24. Team and individual pictures for our first and
second graders is scheduled for Saturday, November 7, at
Peterson Elementary. Kalispell Parks and Recreation receives
a small percentage from any photos purchased from the
photography studio which goes into our scholarship program
and helps fund kids who wouldn’t be able to participate due to
financial constraints.
We will be starting our youth ice skating lessons at the Woodland Ice Center in early
December and currently in the process of hiring our ice-skating instructors for the
upcoming winter. Our first session will run from December 1 through 10. The second
session will start in January after the holidays. Lessons are available for children ages 4
and up.
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2. Police Department
The Kalispell Police Department hosted a “Canine’s in the Courtroom” training October
26-28 in Kalispell. This training is designed specifically to address issues and concerns
that arise during the deployment of detector dogs. The training was held primarily in the
field at multiple locations in the Kalispell area.
Between October 23-26 (first significant snow event) The Kalispell Police Department
responded to 31 motor vehicle accidents. This compares with 22 for the period of
October 16-19, and 8 for the period of October 9-12.
Year to date calls for service stand at 26,850. This compares with 30,276 in 2019, and
28,858 in 2018.
3. Public Works
FY 2020 Capital Improvement Report for Public Works
The Annual Capital Improvement Report has been completed. The report specifies
infrastructure improvements with respective annual costs for water, sanitary sewer,
stormwater collection, wastewater treatment, and streets. This information is provided to
the Finance Department by the Public Works Department to satisfy the City’s annual
auditing requirement. The table below is a simplified summary of the report. A copy of
the full report can be acquired from the Finance Department.
4. Fire Department
Since the last update, the Kalispell Fire Department has received 141 calls for service.
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The new ambulance purchased in the 2019 budget year has been delivered to us after its
lengthy build time. Fire department staff are completing the final build-out of this unit
and getting it ready for service.
With the recent weather changes, staff are transitioning to winter operations.
Fire Department and HR staff have moved the Assistant Chief application review process
to its second stage with a narrowed list of candidates. The Firefighter Paramedic job
openings have closed, and staff are in the first stage of applicant review.
5. Planning Department
There are no applications to be considered by the Planning Board in November.
However, the Planning Board will be holding a work session on accessory dwelling units
(ADU), which was a topic at the September 14 Council work session. Staff has prepared
a preliminary draft of a zoning text amendment for the board’s discussion. The DRAFT
amendment would allow a separate ADU on a lot in zones that allow duplexes (R-4, R-5,
RA-1, RA-2, and H-1) in addition to those zones which already allow them. Staff will
present the DRAFT amendment to the board and facilitate discussion on the
appropriateness of the proposed changes. No formal action will be taken by the Planning
Board.
Staff has also prepared a survey for Historic Design Standards that is currently
circulating. The Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) was awarded a grant
from the Montana Main Street program in February to establish design guidelines aimed
at preserving the historic character of Downtown Kalispell. City staff and their
consultants, A&E Architects, are in the early planning stages and are seeking input as we
begin the process of developing potential historic design standards for Downtown
Kalispell. The online survey at (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TDR8XR8) should
take no more than 10 minutes to complete and will be available until November 19,
2020. For more information on some of the historic buildings in Downtown Kalispell,
please see the Historic Downtown Kalispell Self-Guided Walking Tour brochure.
6. Building Department
In the last 2 weeks, we have issued permits for 12 single-family homes and 2 townhomes.
That will bring the total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the year to
248, compared to 129 last year at this time.
There have been 156 multi-family housing units issued so far this year. At the end of
2019, the building department had issued permits for a total of 84 multi-family units.
There was a total of 139 combined building and/or fire inspections completed in the last 2
weeks.
Residential – 62 Plumbing – 8
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Commercial – 13 Mechanical - 13
Electrical – 8 Fire - 35
7. Community Development
The 3rd quarter report for the BUILD grant has been submitted. This project on the bypass
is in the design phase with MDOT with construction scheduled to begin in the spring of
2021.
The appraisal for the city-owned parking lot next to Valley Bank is set to be completed
by November 30.
The South Kalispell TIF Airport Road and 18th Street project continues to progress
through the recent weather challenges. Paving and landscaping are complete on 12th
Street West. Concrete work for curbs, gutters, sidewalks and driveway approaches
continue on 18th Street and Airport Road. As weather permits, asphalt will be poured for
the new 17th Street West and two parking lots between Airport Road and 1st Avenue West
in the coming week. The entire project is to be completed in November 2020.
An EPA Brownfields Assessment grant application for $300,000 has been submitted. If
awarded these funds will be used to assist Kalispell property owners with no cost Phase I
and/or Phase II environmental site assessments and environmental remediation planning
as needed.