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07-01-22 City Manager Report1 City of Kalispell OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER Information Memorandum 7/1/2022 1. Parks and Recreation Park staff have been working with Public Works to implement a water conservation strategy for irrigation usage this summer to help with Kalipell’s water supply. Parks will initially apply a 25% reduction in irrigation water use and if further water restrictions are necessary, a 50% reduction will be applied. On June 21, Park staff began general maintenance of the new Park Line Trail. String trimming, graffitti removal, garbage collection, weed control, and mowing are now occuring regularly along the trail. Forestry staff have began pruning boulevard trees along 7th Avenue East. Flood waters have receded enough in our low lying parks that we have reopened them along with the associated restrooms. They were temporarily closed due to the danger of flooding city infrastructure or damaging ameneties within the parks.. The Woodland Water Park has also been extremely busy especially with the sunny days the last two weeks in June. We have reached patron capacity during day swim on several days in June which usually doesn’t happen until July or August. We started our second session of swim lessons on June 27 which will run until July 7. Our competitive 3v3 basketball league open to boys and girls (3rd-12th grades) will be starting Wednesday, July 6. The league will play at Thompson Memorial Park. Teams are limited to 4-6 team members and a coach. We have a total of 6 different divisions with over 30 teams participating. Teams will play 6 games over a 6-week period with the league finishing August 10. 2 2. Fire Department From the period of June 14th to June 28th, the Fire Department had 177 responses, for a yearly cumulative total of 2096. A summary of the larger responses are as follows: · 120 were medical incidents · 11 Motor vehicle accidents with injuries · 3 Fire alarm activations · 13 public assists/invalid · 4 Haz-Mat incidents · 1 RV Fire · 20 dispatched and canceled enroute Training: All KFD members and administration are going through wildland firefighter refresher training. This is in conjunction with MT Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and the Flathead County Office of Emergency Services . This will better prepare the organization for potential interface incidents and keep our training consistent with other agencies. KFD Members have neared completion of their “Pack Test” qualifications for upcoming wildland fire season. This is a 3 mile walk in 45 minutes with a 45lb backpack. They will be going through Fire Shelter training as well. MT DNRC has been very helpful in loaning equipment to accomplish these tests. The Fire Chief taught a brief course on Haz-Mat, Fire and All Hazards Safety training to new police officers this past week. Kalispell Fire and West Valley Fire had a joint fire training at Station 62 the evening of the 28th. Since this was one of the first classes together- subjects discussed were equipment familiarization, general operations on the fire ground, etc. Training will become more regular with our mutual aid partner. Equipment: Kalispell Fires Brush Unit 682 is being readied for this Fire Season- New Tires, and outdated equipment being updated, and equipment requirements being met. New SCBA’s (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) have arrived. There will be a lengthy process of inventorying, marking, and decommissioning old equipment and replacing with the new. Also, all department members will need to be ‘fit tested’ to verify proper mask fits. Hazard Mitigation Planning: Fire Chief Pearce has been working with State and regional stakeholders on the regional multijurisdictional hazard mitigation plan. These plans need to be updated regularly to be eligible for FEMA funds in times of disasters or emergencies related to fires, natural disasters, storms, etc. 3. Police Department Officers participated in active shooter response training. The training was led by Officer Appel, who is a certified trainer for active shooter response. The training involved the 3 use of simulated ammunition rounds and blanks to provide a realistic training atmosphere. Breaching equipment was purchased for all patrol vehicles to provide the necessary tools to assist officers in gaining entry to locked or barricaded doors in a timely manner. The breaching equipment includes a Halligan tool, sledgehammer, and bolt cutters. Detectives are in the process of performing background investigations on candidates for the open positions. Background investigations are scheduled to be completed in July. Year to date calls for service for: · Patrol stands at 17,902 compared to 16,877 in 2021 and 15,719 in 2020. · Detective cases stand at 340 compared to 266 in 2021 and 220 in 2020. KPD Records Division hired Heather Franklin and made an offer to a second applicant this week. 4. Public Works Flathead Rain Garden Initiative Rain gardens are landscaped depressions that collect, filter, and absorb stormwater runoff from roof tops, driveways, and other hard surfaces that don’t allow water to soak in. They can filter oil and grease from driveways, fertilizers and pesticides from lawns, and other pollutants before they reach groundwater or the storm drain which eventually discharges in streams, rivers, and lakes. This initiative, a collaborative program between the City of Kalispell and Flathead Conservation District, helps the City maintain compliance with the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit. There are currently 6 Rain Gardens within the City limits due to this program. An educational event is being held Thursday, July 14th Please see the below flyer. Online Permits The City of Kalispell Public Works Department offers online permitting for their Stormwater Construction and Maintenance permits as well as their Public Right- of-Way permits. Contractors and Property Owners can register to use the system to create any of the above permits on the Online Permit System. To date in 2022 Public Works has processed 145 ROW Permits, 98 Construction Stormwater Permits, 3 Encroachment Permits and 9 Stormwater Maintenance Permits. Moving to an electronic permitting system has streamlined not only the submittal process but the review and approval process as well. 4 5. Planning Department The Kalispell City Planning Board will hold a public hearing at their July 12th meeting and take public comments on the agenda items listed below: 1. File #KA-22-06 – A request from William and Simone Bailey for annexation and initial zoning designation of R-3 (Residential). The annexation is to allow the property to be connected to city sewer due to a failing septic system. The property is located at 1788 South Woodland Drive. 2. File #KRD-22-01 - West Side and Downtown Urban Renewal Plan Project Amendment- On December 17, 2012, Kalispell City Council adopted the Core Area Plan as an amendment to the City of Kalispell Growth Policy 2020 by Resolution No. 5601A. The Core Area Plan addresses needs and priorities affecting redevelopment of the Core Area. On December 4, 2017, Kalispell City Council adopted The Downtown Plan as an amendment to the City of Kalispell Growth Policy Plan-It 2035 by Resolution No. 5846. Additionally, City Council adopted the West Side Urban Renewal-Core Area plan by Ordinance 1717 and the Downtown Urban Renewal Plan by Ordinance 1816. The City of Kalispell utilizes a Tax Increment Finance District (TIFD) within both urban renewal plan boundaries as part of the overall strategy to meet its needs of promoting economic development, improving area employment opportunities, improving area housing opportunities and expanding the community’s tax base. Since adoption of both plans, Kalispell has experienced significant population growth as documented by the US Census, leading to Kalispell being named the fastest growing micropolitan area in the nation. This population growth has exacerbated housing shortages which are reflected by near zero housing vacancy rates within the city. To mitigate impacts associated with rising rent prices, which is affecting area employment, the city is considering inclusion of workforce housing for individuals and families with household incomes of 80% to 120% of area median income. Inclusion of workforce housing within the two urban renewal plan documents would allow workforce housing projects to be eligible for TIF funding. Identified workforce housing projects created within both plan boundaries, would promote area housing and employment opportunities. Section 7-15-4213 requires that prior to approval of an urban renewal project, the local governing body shall submit the project to the planning board for review and recommendations as to its conformity with the urban renewal plan and growth policy of the city. Accordingly, the Planning Board is tasked with reviewing the addition of workforce housing projects to both the west side and downtown urban renewal plans and the conformance of each with the City of Kalispell Growth Policy Plan-It 2035 and making a recommendation to the Council. 5 6. Building Department In the last 2 weeks, we have issued permits for 4 single-family homes. That will bring the total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the year to 91, compared to 109 last year at this time. There have been 307 multi-family housing units issued so far this year, last year at this time we had issued 182 multi-family housing units. There was a total of 188 combined building and/or fire inspections completed in the last 4 weeks. Residential – 54 Plumbing – 12 Commercial – 25 Mechanical - 20 Electrical – 19 Fire – 58 7. Community Development Staff has advertised a Request for Proposals (RFP) to develop the Eagles Lot located at the southeast corner of First Avenue West and First Street West. Proposals in response to the RFP are due July 18, 2022, and a selection committee will meet to review submissions that week. A selection recommendation will then be provided to City Council for action at its August 1, 2022, meeting. The full Request for Proposals is available at: Eagles Lot Request for Proposal | Kalispell, MT The Kalispell Parkline linear park and trail ribbon cutting event is scheduled Thursday, July 21, 2022. A community committee is planning activities for the day and community sponsors are supporting this event. Look for special activities, especially children’s activities, being offered at various sites along the Parkline throughout the day along with “Parkline” Sales and Specials at downtown restaurants and retailers. At 5:30 pm the Ribbon Cutting event will take place in the Depot Plaza area north of the Kalispell Depot/Chamber of Commerce.