02-27-15 City Manager ReportCITYOF City of Kalispell
p OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
it
MONTANA
Information Memorandum
2/27/2015
1. Parks Department
We met with representatives of Kalispell Convention & Visitors Bureau on Monday to do
a walkthrough of Woodland Park after the Pond Hockey Classic. During the
walkthrough, we discussed the benefits of the location with KCVB and the potential to
bring the event back to the park in the future. A few of the benefits of the location were:
• Spectators could use the walking path to stand on, which is more comfortable than
ice.
• The operation and infrastructure of the location lent itself well to teams and
spectators.
• There is potential to expand to 9 rinks in the future. This would help keep it
viable in Woodland Park as the event expands.
• The proximity of the location to the Ice Rink would, or can, serve as a backup in
case of ice issues on the pond.
KCVB will be sending spectators and players a survey to gauge the economic impact, get
a satisfaction rating and receive comments about the event. We asked KCVB to share
with us the results after they have been collected. KCVB estimate that the results should
be available within three to four weeks. A video was produced to showcase the weekend
and can be seen at https://vimeo.com/120318048.
On Saturday, February 14, 2015, the
group called "Paws for Play," held a
dog park rally at Lawrence Park.
Over 60 people and 80 dogs were
present. The group's goal is to raise
funds for Kalispell's first off leash
dog park.
On February 17, 2015, Park staff held an Arborist meeting on chemical application for
trees and turf. Twelve community members were in attendance, mostly from private tree
care businesses.
The Kalispell Boulder Project (KBP) is a partnership project formed with Kalispell Parks
and Recreation and the Flathead Community Foundation to build a climbing boulder at
Lawrence Park. The project is headed by Jandy Cox, and is being well received by the
community. KBP held a "Beer for Boulders" event on February 17 at Kalispell Brewery,
with $1 from each beer sold that night donated to KBP. Leading up to that event, KBP
sold 150 raffle tickets for a pair of carbon DPS skis valued at $1,300 dollars. KPB raised
$1,850 dollars prior to the event in raffle ticket sales. The day before the brewery night,
Mark Remington of Glacier Eye Clinic put out a challenge that he would match any
donations up to $2,000 dollars from the Beers for Boulders event. KBP met the $2,000
goal and by the end of last week, had raised $8,020 in total. Kalispell Boulder Project's
next event "Burgers for Boulders" at Five Guys Burgers and Fries is scheduled for March
12, 2015, from 5:OOpm-7:30pm. Five Guys will donate 15% of the nights proceeds to the
Kalispell Boulder Project.
Recreation has mailed sponsor packets for Picnic in the Park series to over 150 potential
sponsors. There are 15 concerts scheduled, starting June 30, 2015.
Rosters and schedules are being finalized for the Little Dribblers basketball program. We
have 190 participants registered on 20 teams and will start on March 14, 2015.
Our summer brochure will be inserted in the Daily Interlake on April 13, 2015. We are
working on finalizing the design and getting the information ready for print.
2. Building Department
Permits have been issued this year for new construction of seven single-family residences
and two town -homes. In 2014, six single-family permits were issued during the same
time period.
With the adoption of the 2014 Electrical Code, staff has formally petitioned the State
Building Codes Division for transference of the building code inspection program from
the state level to the City of Kalispell. We have requested that the program be officially
transferred on May 1, 2015.
Several commercial projects have been submitted and are moving through the Site/
Architectural and Plan Review process. These include: the restoration/remodel of the old
Flathead County Jail & Juvenile Detention Buildings; Flathead County South Campus
just south of the Earl Bennett Building; Proven Graphics print shop on Westview Park
Place; Beehive Homes memory care facility on Stillwater Road; and Chick-fil-A located
north of the new Verizon store on Highway 93 North (Chick-fil-A is not scheduled to be
open until October 2016).
2
Work is starting on the construction of the Dress Barn and a shell building on Treeline
Road along the west side of the Cabela's strip. The addition of a Starbuck's inside the
Target store on Highway 93 North is also underway. Demolition work has been
completed within the former Army/Navy building downtown, and the focus is now on
construction and refurbishing of the future Toggery, scheduled to open June 1.
During the winter months, fire safety inspections of existing commercial buildings have
been increased.
3. Planning Department
CTA, as part of the South Kalispell (airport) Urban Renewal Plan update, has scheduled a
major community open house for Tuesday, March 10 from 2:00 p.m. — 8:00 p.m. at the
Hilton Garden Inn in South Kalispell. They have also posted an on-line survey. Their
website (with links to the city web site) is http://southkalispellurbanrenewal.com/.
The March 10 planning board has 2 hearings scheduled. The first will be an annexation
request with B-2 zoning by Town Pump for a 14 acre site located at 859 West Reserve
Drive. The site encompasses the former "River Church." Town Pump proposes to
operate a gas island, convenience store, and casino within the existing buildings. The
applicants are also requesting a conditional use permit to operate the casino at this
location. The board will also hold a hearing on a request by TKG Spring Prairie
Development Four, LLC, to develop a 28 acre site located on the southwest corner of US
93 North and Old Reserve Drive. They propose to create 14 building pads to be utilized
for general commercial development similar in nature to phases 1-3 of Spring Prairie to
the immediate north. The request involves a Growth Policy Amendment from Public to
Commercial, a rezoning request from P-1 to B-2, a planned unit development overlay,
and a 14 lot subdivision.
4. Public Works
Traffic Signs and Signals
Traffic Signs and Signal have been replacing signs and street lights that have been
damaged from vehicular accidents. Traffic signs and poles are replaced immediately if
the ground base pole couple is not damaged. If the base is damaged, temporary signs on
tripods are installed until the ice leaves the ground and permanent base and poles can be
reinstalled. Currently, there are 11 temporary signs that will be permanently re -installed
this spring. Street lights can be reinstalled immediately if there is no damage to the wire
or pole. Replacement of damaged street light poles typically takes up to three months,
due to the order and shipment schedule of the poles. It takes a crew of three to stand and
mount the 35-40 foot poles that weigh around 450 pounds. Currently, there is one street
light pole at Center St and 3rd Ave NE that will be replaced upon arrival of a new pole.
Annual Bio-Solids Report
The City of Kalispell Wastewater Plant maintains and operates the disposal of sewage
sludge (bio-solids) under the regulatory authority of the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA). Annually, the WWTP completes and files a `Bio-Solids
Report Form." The report tracks the annual production of bio-solids in dry metric tons.
In 2014, the WWTP generated 552 dry metric tons of bio-solids. 484 dry metric tons
went to Glacier Gold, LLC for composting and 68 dry metric tons went to the Flathead
County Solid Waste landfill site.
The Bio-Solids permit also regulates the disposal of the Primary Digester solids which
are land applied on the City/EPA co -owned 40 acre disposal site on Cemetery Road just
south of the WWTP. The Primary Digester was cleaned for the Digester Lid
Replacement Project and 26 dry metric tons were land applied in April of 2013. The next
cleaning of the digester is scheduled to take place in 2018, as part of the routine
maintenance program.
5. Human Resources
HR is working with Lake County to have Jeff Minkler, former Bureau Chief for the State
Department of Laborer Employee Relations Division, put on an all -day "Discipline &
Discharge" training course in Polson. This class is suited for Supervisors, Department
Heads, Elected and Appointed Officials. The City of Kalispell hosted the program last
year with over 40 attendees with the majority being supervisors and union officers.
HR attended the Job Service Employers Committee (JSEC) monthly meeting held at
NOMAD Technologies north of Kalispell. Job Service Manager, Bill Nelson, reports
they now have over 500 job orders, which they are having trouble filling. The biggest
issue, he noted, appears to be low wages. They are also not seeing much impact from the
oil fields in eastern Montana.
6. Information Services
IT staff have been working on building and deploying new computers with eighteen
computers being built or waiting to be built.
The Council meeting on February 7 failed to stream on the City's website. The Granicus
system tested out successfully. IT staff found the event controller had a bad output port.
The stream cable was moved to a working video output port and meetings are
successfully streaming again.
7. Fire Department
Since the last update, the Kalispell Fire Department has received 137 calls for service and
has conducted 2 outreach trainings to the community.
Fire department staff, in cooperation with the Safe Kids Safe Communities Coalition, is
developing an implementation schedule for outreach training, car seat installation and
fl
inspections, and general safety awareness events for the community. These scheduled
dates will be released to the public when they are finalized.
Recently, the Kalispell Fire Department hosted the popular rope rescue course at station
62. This course, offered by the Montana State Fire Service Training School,
encompasses multiple aspects of rope rescue.
Fire Department personnel are also attending training for fire investigation practices for
the company officer. This course knowledge will be used to develop our own in-house
training that will be offered to all employees of the fire department as part of their yearly
training requirements. This training will offer basic skills and abilities for the first
responder in recognizing and securing potential evidence in the case of fire or other like
incident.
The department is also involved with the development of a standardized Tactical
Interoperability Communications Plan (TICP). This plan takes an organized look at all of
the communications assets available to responders or agencies in the event of a large
scale incident and how to request them. It also maps out a strategy for cross discipline
use of the communications assets including police, fire, ems, public works, federal, state,
tribal and other infrastructures or groups that may be involved. This is paid for through a
communications grant and works in unison with the local Communications Users Group.
The attached picture is from a recent
hazmat call that involved chlorine gas.