10-01-21 City Manager Report1
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY
MANAGER
Information Memorandum
10/1/2021
1.Fire Department
From September 1through September 28, the Fire Department had 321 responses. Of
these, there were 215 medical incidents, 10 Motor vehicle accidents (including car vs.
pedestrians), 13 fire calls (Cooking, Dumpsters, rubbish, etc.), 16 Fire alarm activations,
11 public assists, and 7 Haz-Mat (Gas leak, spills, carbon monoxide).
Lieutenant Chris Rupp will be promoted to Captain effective October 9.
The Fire Department is moving through the hiring process with 11 applicants. We
currently have two openings, though there is an additional anticipated opening with a
retirement in November, which will likely be filled with this round of hiring.
Montana State Fire Training (Instructor Rick Paulson) and Assistant Chief Jessica Kinzer
delivered multiple days of automobile extrication training at R & J wrecking. This
involved the latest techniques of making entry in a vehicle that could be severely
damaged in a crash and methods to quickly remove victims.
We are preparing an Engineer exam (Fire Engine/Ladder Truck Operator) test. This
exam will have three portions: a practical evaluation, written exam, and interview. The
current Engineer list expires in December, and it is anticipated there will be one
promotion off this current list with a retirement in November.
The Fire Chief has been working on department policies, updating and changing the
format for consistency and ease of use and understanding.
The Fire Chief and Assistant Chief have begun visiting our neighboring Mutual Aid Fire
Department partners. Expectations from agencies, improvement on service delivery, and
collaborative training have been some of the items of discussion.
2.Information Services
A networking project is underway as the Private Fiber and Direct Internet Access Internet
Service RFP goes through the procurement process. The project will add fiber cabling to
City buildings that are not in the downtown area. The City buildings will be connected
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via a secure private network and each building will have internet access that is much
faster than the existing internet access. The project will be the first part of the wide area
network changes for the City. The second part will happen later this year and bring all
buildings together into the network and create a secondary internet service provider to
reduce the likeliness the City buildings will have an internet outage.
City IT staff worked with vendor support to resolve an issue with the microphones and
speakers in the courtroom. The court recording works through the microphones and is
critical to operations of the court.
GIS staff participated in ArcGIS Enterprise Administration training and obtained
information to administer the City’s ArcGIS Enterprise environment. Included in the
training was tuning published map services to ensure resources load timely and backing
up the content. Administrating the ArcGIS Enterprise environment aids in getting more
departments to use Cityworks to manage work orders and use the maps from ArcGIS
Enterprise. GIS staff continue to support other City departments flying the Drone to aid
in projects or issues that arise.
3.Planning Department
The Kalispell Planning Board will hold a public hearing at their October 12 meeting and
take public comments on the agenda items listed below:
1.Files #KZC-21-02 and KCU-21-07 – A request from Samaritan House, Inc. for a
zone change and a conditional use permit on approximately 2.42 acres of land at
1110 2nd Street West. The proposed zone change would also apply to a tract of
land at the northeast corner of the intersection of South Meridian Road and 2nd
Street West, which is owned by the City of Kalispell and contains approximately
0.1 acres. The existing zoning on the properties is P-1 (Public) and the proposed
zoning is B-3 (Core Area Business). The conditional use permit is a request to
allow sleeping space as part of a homeless shelter, along with a dining area and
shared community space. In addition, there would be 16 multi-family housing
units for long term housing which are a permitted use within the B-3 zone and not
subject to the conditional use permit. The proposal would include remodeling of
existing space as well as new construction.
2.Files #KZC-21-03 and KCU-21-08 – A request from Meridian Investments, LLC
for a zone change and a conditional use permit on approximately 1.0 acre of land
located to the east of 41 Meridian Court. The property is currently zoned R-4
(Residential), and the proposed zone change would be to B-1 (Neighborhood
Business). The zone change would allow multi-family dwellings as a
conditionally permitted use on the property. The requested conditional use permit
would expand a multi-family development currently under construction by adding
a building and extending parking to the additional land. The building would
contain 36 dwelling units.
The planning board will also hold a work session on the item listed below:
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1.Files #KA-21-05 and KPUD-21-04 – A request from Bish’s RV for the
annexation of two parcels located at 3100 Highway 93 South containing
approximately 8.36 acres of land with an initial zoning designation of B-2
(General Business). The proposal would add a Planned Unit Development
(“PUD”) overlay on the two parcels along with a third parcel containing
approximately 12.58 acres that is already within the city limits with a B-2/PUD
placeholder designation. The Bish’s RV PUD as proposed would then be a
Commercial PUD on a total of approximately 20.94 acres and would contemplate
a renovation and expansion of an existing RV dealership. The properties to be
annexed can be described as Lots 1A and 2A of the Amended Plat of Lots 1 and 2
of Ashley Business Park, according to the map or plat thereof on file and of
record in the office of the Clerk and Recorder of Flathead County, Montana.
Documents pertaining to the agenda items are on file for public inspection at the Kalispell
Planning Department, 201 First Avenue East, Kalispell, MT 59901, and are available for
public review during regular office hours. In addition, information on the agenda items
are posted on our website at https://mt-kalispell.civicplus.com/314/Planning-Board under
planning board “upcoming agenda.”
4.Building Department
In the last 2 weeks, we have issued permits for 10 single-family homes and 2 duplexes.
That will bring the total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the year to
203, compared to 212 last year at this time.
There have been 329 multi-family housing units issued so far this year. Last year at this
time we had issued 132 multi-family housing units.
There was a total of 139 combined building and/or fire inspections completed in the last 2
weeks.
Residential – 66 Plumbing – 13
Commercial – 23 Mechanical - 19
Electrical – 14 Fire - 4
5.Community Development
City staff have begun meeting with the MT. Hotel Development Partners on the Charles
Hotel proposal for the city-owned parking lot on Main Street in downtown Kalispell.
The purpose of meeting is to draft a Developer’s Agreement outlining the roles and
responsibilities of all parties to the proposed project in addition to addressing project
timeline, financing, and public process. Once drafted, the Developer’s Agreement and
any associated Tax Increment Financing associated with the project will be reviewed by
the Urban Renewal Agency with a recommendation that will be forwarded to the
Kalispell City Council for their consideration.
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6.Parks Department
Forestry’s fall contract to prune 222 trees and remove 19 trees along 1st Street, 2nd Street,
10th Street East, and 11th Street has begun. Forestry staff are pruning trees along the 900
block of 5th Avenue East.
Park irrigation systems have been winterized for the year. Most of the park seasonal
bathrooms are currently still open; however, they will soon be winterized as overnight
temperatures continue to drop.
Transient issues continue to be a focus of our park staff this fall. Camps and trash persist
along the Parkline Trail, Woodland Park, Depot Park and Lawrence Park. We are
working more closely with the police department considering recent events in the
community.
With winter not too far away, we have begun our search for ice skating
instructors for our “beginning skating” programs at the Woodland Ice
Center beginning in December.
Our 6-week Little Dribblers youth basketball league begins on
Saturday, October 16. Participation in Little Dribblers has increased
this fall with over 270 participants registered so far (compared to 236
last fall). With the increased participation, we have secured a third gym
to keep up with demand. Pre K and Kindergarten practices/games will
be played at the Russell Gym, 1st/2nd grade will be held at the Peterson Gym, and 3rd/4th
grade will be held at the Rankin Gym.
7.Public Works
Secondary Digester and TWAS Tanks – Coatings Inspection
The City’s consultant performed a site visit on July 26 to perform the three-year warranty
inspection on the Kalispell WWTP West Secondary Digester Cover and TWAS Storage
Tank. Work performed on the Digester Cover included the removal of existing coatings
by abrasive blasting, welding on improvements described in the contract drawings of this
project, and application of new protective coatings during the summer of 2018. The
General contractor, Syblon Reid, as well as the Coatings Application sub-contractor,
National Coating and Lining
Company, were onsite during the
warranty inspection to assist
with the inspection as well as
accomplish any necessary repairs
or touchups. The Digester was
emptied, cleaned and vented by
the City in anticipation of the
inspection.
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The Consultant Coatings Specialist performed the inspection by floating around the
inside of the Digester observing each radial beam, lid sections, as well as the peripheral
thrust ring. Overall, the coating systems were found to be in satisfactory condition and
met the requirements described in the contract documents. Observations verified that the
coating systems were applied and cured in accordance with the specifications and the
material manufacturer's recommendations. There were small pinholes discovered during
inspection and the contractor was onsite and able to immediately feather the edges
surrounding the defects and make the necessary repairs in accordance with the written
recommendations of the paint manufacturer.