03-15-24 City Manager Report and Police Offense and Arrest Totals1
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY
MANAGER
Information Memorandum
3/15/2024
1. Parks and Recreation
Forestry crews have completed pruning trees in the Northridge, Barron Way & Getty
Drive areas and have moved to the Ashley Park subdivision. Since December 1, over
eight hundred small to medium sized trees have been structure pruned by in-house
arborists.
Park crews have thinned overgrown vegetation along the Parkline trail in preparation for
the spring season.
Spring Little Dribblers kicked off its first week of games on March 9, and runs on
Saturdays for 6 weeks. Little Dribblers is designed to teach the fundamentals of
Basketball to 4-year-olds through fourth graders in a noncompetitive setting.
Registration for Spring Soccer is open. The program is scheduled to begin on April 17
and will run for 6 weeks on Wednesdays and Thursdays at KYAC. Registration Deadline
for Spring Soccer is April 5.
Spring Break Camp registration is now open. Camp dates are March
25th-29th. The cost is $41 per day for out-of-city residents. Campers
will have the opportunity to do some indoor bouldering at RockFish,
explore Lone Pine State Park, and play fun filled games.
We are starting to gear up for summer and are encourage people to
make sure they have created an account in our new CivicRec
registration software system. Registration for all our summer programs,
including Camp Woodland, will open April 15.
We are currently seeking sponsorships for the upcoming Picnic in the
Park concert series. Since 1992, The Picnic in the Park summer concerts
series has held a long-standing tradition of bringing a varied genre of
music to its weekly free concerts. We offer free concerts on Tuesday
nights and Wednesdays at lunchtime throughout summer in Kalispell’s
downtown Depot Park. This concert series would not be possible
without the dedicated support from local businesses and individuals
throughout the Flathead Valley.
We are currently hiring for seasonal opportunities available this summer, including
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lifeguards, pool concessions, camp recreation aides and more.
2. Public Works
Lead Service Line Inventory- Survey
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is requiring all nationwide public
water suppliers (PWS), including the City of Kalispell, to inventory the material for all
the service lines connected to the PWS’s
water mains.
A service line
is the
underground
pipe that
carries water
from the
water main,
likely in the
street, into your home or building. The
requirement to inventory all service lines
is in response to the Primary Drinking
Water Standard– Lead and Copper Rule.
The City of Kalispell is sending out
requests to our customers to participate in
a survey and support efforts to inventory
the material of their water service line.
Requests to complete the survey will be advertised to the public via social media posts,
notice on utility bills, and mailers and/or door hangers. The survey can be accessed on
the city’s website at Lead Service Lines | Kalispell, MT or by scanning the QR Code.
Information on service line material identification can also be found on the provided
website link.
2023 Stormwater MS4 Annual Report
The City of Kalispell is required to submit an annual report by March of each year to stay
in compliance with the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit issued by
the State of Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The 2023 Annual
Report describes how the City met last year’s permit requirements.
2023 Highlights Include:
• The Kalispell Municipal Pollution Prevention Manual was updated to reflect the
efforts the City has made to set a good example of stormwater management for
the public including:
o City Shop Complex improvements- buffer areas along waterbodies next to
the complex, repairs to an eroded stream bank and pipe, installation of a
stormwater treatment unit, improvements to best management practices
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for labeling and storage of materials, and large-scale cleanup.
o 266 Construction Stormwater Permits reviewed and approved (120 more
than last year)
▪ 298 Construction Stormwater Permit site inspections.
• 12 reports of illicit discharges to the stormwater system investigated and corrected
if needed.
• The City participated in 25 different public outreach, education or participation
events or programs in 2023.
Upcoming 2024 Tasks Include:
• Improved outreach to Stormwater Maintenance permit holders
• Evaluation of the performance of additional stormwater treatment units installed
at stormwater monitoring sites.
• Requirements to focus on low-impact development review and submittal of a plan
for making modifications to City programs to allow for and encourage low-impact
development.
3. Building Department
The total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse unit permits issue for the year is
25, compared to 9 at this time last year. There have been 0 multi-family housing units
issued so far this year.
There were a total of 177 combined building and/or fire inspections completed in the last
2 weeks.
Residential – 28 Plumbing – 9
Commercial – 37 Mechanical – 9
Electrical – 9 Fire – 88
4. Community Development
Planning and Community Development staff held an
open house on March 5 for the Main Street Kalispell
Safety Action Plan. Comments from the open house
will be compiled and incorporated into the traffic data
already collected by the consultants. All of this data
will be used over the coming weeks with an additional
open house in May where design concepts utilizing the
safe systems approach will be presented to the public.
The safe systems approach focuses on modifying the
transportation system design to anticipate human errors and lessen impact forces to
reduce crash severity.
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s (MDEQ’s) Brownfields program
has contracted services to conduct a phase II environmental site assessment for the City
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of Kalispell. The work began on March 12 at the city owned
parking lot at 3rd Street West & Main Street. Previous ground
penetrating radar investigation indicated a potential underground
storage tank near the center of the site. Montana DEQ will
oversee sampling and removal of the tank and the site will be
restored to its previous condition with asphalt. MDEQ and the
contractors are working to complete the work as quickly as
possible to reduce inconvenience to the community. All costs
related to the site assessment, sampling, tank removal and
disposal, and site restoration will be paid for by the MDEQ
Brownfields program.
5. Fire Department
From February 28 to March 12, the Fire Department had 152 responses. Of these, there
were 110 medical incidents, 6 motor vehicle accidents with injuries, 1 house fire, 10 fire
alarm activations, 3 haz-mat incidents, 8 public assists, and 14 with nothing found.
Crews have been attending Paramedic refresher courses and recertifying licenses for
State of Montana and the National Registry.
Crews visited Logan Health Kid Care for the “Firefighter read a book” event and tours of
the fire engine.
Annual buildings safety inspections were completed for both fire stations.
Fire Station 62 crews assisted Smith Valley Fire on forcible entry techniques at Station
62.
Crews attended Montana Gas Pipeline Training that was held in Kalispell for valley wide
agencies.
The AFG Grant for radios was submitted for the fourth attempt for Flathead County Fire
Agencies.
The State of Montana Fire Services training school is in town for the week of March
11 to train four of our KFD members to be certified as Train the Trainers for vehicle
extrication.
6. Police Department
Attached is the latest case report from the Kalispell Police Department
Patrol hosted an Advanced Trial Testimony & DUI training put on by Ed Hirsh (AG’s
Office attorney). Local prosecutors and partner agencies participated in the training to
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bolster courtroom testimony and DUI investigations. This is the second time we have
hosted this class.
Officers Cale Vukonich, Dustin Willey, and Sgt. J. Bartholomew attended the Montana
Narcotics Officers Association (MNOA) conference in Bozeman, MT. Sgt. Bartholomew
has completed his tenure on the MNOA board. Officer Vukonich attended due to his
involvement as a narcotics K9 handler, and Officer Willey attended to begin his new
assignment with the drug task force starting in July.
Officer Praetzel completed phase 1 of the Field Training Officer (FTO) program and has
advanced into phase 2. Officer McKinnon has advanced into phase 3 of the FTO
program. Officers Chris Olsen and Cat Edson were sworn in as officers and began their
training on March 3.
We have 2 new patrol SUV’s and 1 new F150 responder operational and in the patrol
fleet. These additions have been critical and provide needed relief for some of the more
recent breakdowns we have experienced.
Detective Sweigart attended the Children’s Justice Conference to enhance his forensic
interview skills as well as get the updated case law on prosecuting crimes against
children.
The year-to-date Calls for Service for the past three years are as follows:
2024-5710
2023-6766
2022-6460
The year-to-date felony cases for the detective division for the past three years are as
follows:
2024 – 98
2023 – 109
2022 - 118
7. City Clerk/Communications
Communication outreach to the public has been going strong through multiple channels
including open houses, presentations at civic clubs and stakeholder meetings, the release
of news and press releases through email subscriptions, and posting on social media
channels. 345 people have signed up to receive auto emails of press releases and public
service announcements, 309 for City Manager reports, and 171 for City Council agendas.
The City Facebook page now has 10,532 followers, with post reach over the last 28 days
at 30,894, and post engagement at 8,375. On Instagram, the follower count is 4,149, and
the reach for the last 28 days was 13,484.
The following topics are a few of the current communication news items and related
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outreach numbers.
Emergency Responder Levy Education
The City Manager, Police Chief, and Fire Chief, with support from other staff have been
providing many presentations and interviews about the emergency responder levy
throughout the community and on various media outlets. Informational advertising has
been ongoing via television, radio, digital, and newspaper outlets. Frequent posts, reels,
and stories, on all the city social media channels have kept information available and
fresh. 10 videos have been produced, with multiple shorter sections of the videos edited
for various platforms. Here are a few of the posts on Facebook showing related
analytics. Emergency Responder Dedicated Levy | Kalispell, MT
Consumer Drinking Water Notice
A robust webpage was created by the Public Works Department to share information
about Emerging PFAS Contaminants. Current communication has included press
releases, news items on the website, and a well-attended open house. Social media posts
about the notice reached a large audience with an advertisement on social media for the
open house reaching 6,705 Facebook feeds. Public works is in the process of developing
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an informational video on this topic. Consumer Drinking Water Notice - Emerging
Contaminants (PFAS) | Kalispell, MT
Main Street Safety Action Plan
The City in partnership with Kittelson and Associates Inc., has hired Big Sky Public
Relations to lead the communications for the Main Street Safety Action Plan utilizing
funds within the US Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for all
planning grant. So far, they have created a webpage for the project, sent out press
releases, held an open house, and are holding stakeholder meetings and partnering with
the Montana Department of Transportation’s social media advertising. Home | Main St.
Kalispell (mainstreetkalispellsafetyplan.com)
Land Use Plan
Communication about the creation of the Land Use Plan and regulations related to the
Montana Land Use Planning Act has begun with a scheduled council public hearing on
March 18, and related legal ads, newsflash, and social media posts about the related
public participation plan. News Flash • Provide Comments on the Land Use Public
Partici (kalispell.com)
Offenses
Reported Arrests Offenses
Reported Arrests Offenses
Reported Arrests Offenses
Reported Arrests Offenses
Reported Arrests Offenses
Reported Arrests Offenses
Reported Arrests Offenses
Reported Arrests Offenses
Reported Arrests Offenses
Reported Arrests Offenses
Reported Arrests Offenses
Reported Arrests Offenses
Reported Arrests
Crimes Against Persons
Homicide/Justifiable Homicide 0 0 0 0 0 0
SIWOC/Sexual Assault 1 1 4 0 1 1
Robbery 0 0 0 0 0 0
Aggravated Assault 4 4 1 2 4 6
Assault on a Peace Officer 0 0 0 0 0 0
Simple Assault 3 1 6 5 3 6
PFMA 11 7 7 5 11 12
Resisting Arrest 2 2 0 0 2 2
Crimes Against Property
Burglary 2 0 0 0 2 0
Theft 33 15 51 23 33 38
Vehicle Theft/Unauth Use 3 1 5 0 3 1
Arson 0 0 1 1 0 1
Forgery/Counterfeit 1 1 2 1 1 2
Fraud 1 0 5 0 1 0
Theft of Identity 0 0 2 0 0 0
Embezzlement 0 0 1 0 0 0
Stolen Property offenses 0 0 0 0 0 0
Criminal Mischief 2 2 5 3 2 5
Crimes Against Society
Weapon Law Violations 0 0 0 0 0 0
Prostitution Offenses 0 0 0 0 0 0
Child Pornography 3 0 0 0 3 0
Drug Offenses 19 15 21 15 19 30
Family Offenses (non-violent)0 0 0 0 0 0
DUI 6 5 9 8 6 13
Possession of Alcohol 3 5 2 2 3 7
Provide Alcohol to Minor 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other Alcohol Offenses 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kidnapping/Custodial Int.1 0 0 0 1 0
Disorderly Conduct 4 4 5 6 4 10
Criminal Trespass 20 14 28 23 20 37
Violation of Protective Order 2 1 4 3 2 4
Obstructing a peace officer 6 5 4 4 6 9
Juvenile Offenses (except MIP)2 0 3 0 2 0
Other Offenses 15 10 20 19 15 29
Total 144 93 186 120 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 196 108 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 144 213
Traffic
Traffic
Stops Cites Traffic
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Stops Cites Traffic
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Stops Cites Traffic
Stops Cites Traffic
Stops Cites Traffic
Stops Cites Traffic
Stops Cites Traffic
Stops Cites Traffic
Stops Cites
254 169 432 195 686 364
Total Calls for Service
Kalispell Police Department Case and Arrest Reports - 2023
January February March April May June July August September October November December Totals
2272 2569 4841