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03-13-15 City Manager ReportCITYOF _ City of Kalispell OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER i mo- - . MONTANA N=., Information Memorandum 3/13/2015 1. Finance The fiscal year 2016 budget process is under way. The finance department has formatted budgets and updated personnel cost schedules. Some personnel cost are estimated, in part because MMIA has not yet provided estimates regarding health and workers' compensation insurance. The City's fiscal year 2016 debt service cost is also being updated. The Montana State Board of Investments (BOI) has notified the City of a rate increase from 1% to 1.25% for fiscal year 2016. The City uses the BOI mostly for short-term (5 years or less) equipment purchases when necessary. At June 30, 2014, BOI debt was $724,467. 2. Police Department On March 2, 2015, the Kalispell Police Department held its annual recognition ceremony, recognizing accomplishments from 2014 and years of service. The following officers were recognized for years of service with the Kalispell Police Department: • Officer Jordan Venezio - 5 years of service, • Officer Michelle O'Neil, Sergeant Brett Corbett, and Captain Tim Falkner - 15 years of Service, • and Captains Wade Rademacher and Scott Warnell, and Chief Roger Nasset for 20 years of service. Police volunteers J.C. Clise, Melinda Jobe, and Pat King were recognized for donating more than 5000 hours of accumulative time to the Kalispell Police Department. Officers Ben Sutton and David Massie were recognized with Meritorious Service Medals. Sergeant Brett Corbett, Officers Andy Haag, Jesse Allen, Michelle O'Neil, and Jordan Venezio were awarded Life Saving awards. Officer Ben Sutton was awarded the "Fred Award" which is an award recognizing the employee who had the most overall exceptional year. 3. Parks Department On March 3, 2015, park staff attended the Bike Walk Montana Summit in Helena. The Bike Walk Summit provides training on how to improve biking and walking in our community. On March 3, 2015, the Montana Conversation Corp (MCC) donated a day of labor to the City by thinning out brush along the hillside behind the Woodland Water Park. This is an ongoing project for both the Parks and Urban Forestry divisions. This project was facilitated to help improve both safety and aesthetics by thinning the vegetation. Friends of Lawrence Park met with Parks and Recreation staff on March 6, 2015, to discuss future park improvements and ideas for Lawrence Park. Our staff has worked on putting together a power point that identifies these goals. The power point will be used as they seek funding from other donors in the community. Two partner groups that Parks and Recreation are working with; Paws to Play Dog Park & the Boulder Project have scheduled fund raising events. On March 12, 2015, the Burgers for Boulders fund raiser will be held at Five Guys from 5:OOpm to 7:30pm. On March 21, 2015, from 11:OOam to 5:OOpm, Paws to Play will hold a fundraiser at Kalispell Center Mall. Little Kickers indoor soccer started this past weekend at Flathead High School with 134 participants; ages Kindergarten through 4th grade. Little Dribblers basketball will start on March 14 at Russell Elementary, with 190 participants; ages Kindergarten through 2nd grade. 4. City Clerk/Communications Plans continue to materialize in the City Clerk's office for the upcoming social media communications strategy. The City Manager and City Clerk will meet with employees from every department to review and gather input on a draft social media policy. Once that is complete, the policy will be presented to Council for approval as an addendum to the personnel handbook. The City Clerk has also been working with the IT Department to investigate software and related costs for management of the government Channel and software that could streamline the agenda development process and other work flow systems. 5. Building Department In the past two weeks, one single family house permit has been issued for a total of 8 single family homes and 2 townhouses this year. This is virtually the same as last year at 2 this time. In addition, a nine unit apartment building at 1079 North Meridian Road, and valued at $600,000, is under review. This apartment building will be the first of several buildings proposed for this site. Commercial drawings have been submitted for 1) Discount Tire, valued at $750,000, to be located at 55 Treeline Road next to PetSmart, and 2) a $1.4 million remodel of the Forum building at 1845 Highway 93 South which will house offices for the Whitefish Credit Union. 6. Planning Department The planning board met on Tuesday, March 10 and acted on 2 agenda items. The board recommended approval of a request by Town Pump for annexation with B-2 zoning for a 4.14 acre site located at 859 West Reserve Drive, the site of the former "River Church." The board also granted a conditional use permit for Town Pump to operate a casino within the existing building along with an associated convenience store and gas pump island. The board also recommended approval of a request for a growth policy amendment, rezoning, PUD overlay and subdivision approval for Phase 4 of Spring Prairie, a 14 lot commercial development on the west side of US 93 North containing 28 acres. Spring Prairie Phase 4 is situated immediately south of Costco and McDonalds. Progress continued with the south Kalispell Redevelopment Plan update as our consultant team, CTA, held an all -day open house at the Hilton Hotel in south Kalispell for the purpose of collecting ideas and raising awareness of the planning process. 7. Public Works Solids De -watering The Biosolids Dewatering Project involves installing a new screw press for the solids de - watering system at the WWTP. The Notice to Proceed for the Dewatering Project was issued for March 2, 2015. The old mounting pillars were demolished last week along with creating the lay -out for the installation of the new pillars. The new concrete pillars will be poured this week and the contractor will start the installation of Return Activated Sludge piping to the new Volute Screw Press. Assuming the 7-day concrete breaks are within specifications, the contractor will begin installing the new dewatering equipment. A tentative startup date of March 23, 2015, has been set with the equipment manufacture representative. Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System MS4) Permit- Stakeholder Meeting On February 24, 2015, the second cooperative MS4 Permit Update meeting was held in Helena between the Municipalities, EPA, and DEQ. Discussions reviewed permit language for the Post Construction Minimum Measure and outlined the need for a better definition of Waters of the State. A sub -committee was selected to facilitate the creation of a Montana Low Impact Development (LID) Manual. The intent of the LID Manual is to provide State approved and standardized LID methods for water quality treatment. Implementation of the LID methods could then be quantified by the Cities to meet the permit requirements. 8. Human Resources A Judge has granted the Association of Montana Retired Public Employees (AMRPE) motion for summary judgment, and granted a permanent injunction against the state preventing the enforcement of the guaranteed annual benefit adjustment (GABA) reduction. The court found that the GABA is not a COLA and the GABA statute uses language suggesting a legislative intent to bind itself contractually. The court then found the reduction from 3% to 1% was a substantial impairment of the contract, and that reduction of the GABA was not reasonable and necessary to achieve actuarial soundness of Public Employees Retirement System (PERS). Based on this analysis, the court found that Section 5 of HB 454 violated the Contract Clause of the Montana Constitution and granted summary judgment in AMRPE's favor. The 2013 Legislature, in addressing the financial condition of the PERS, passed a bill that will result in that annual increase dropping to 1 percent on Jan. 1. The state now has 60 days from notice of entry of judgment to appeal to the Montana Supreme Court and it is anticipated the Attorney General's Office will appeal. We will continue to monitor this case and potential actions that may result from it that are tied to the municipal contributions to the state retirement system. 9. Fire Department Since the last update the Kalispell Fire Department have received 131 calls for service and have conducted 2 outreach trainings with 45 individuals in attendance. This past week, members of the fire department participated in the Scott's Seattle Fire Fighter Stair Climb. At 788 feet of vertical elevation, the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle stands as the second tallest building west of the Mississippi. It takes 69 flights of stairs and 1,311 steps to reach the highly acclaimed observation deck overlooking the city. The Scott Firefighter Stair climb supports the mission of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, raising money through sponsorships, individual and department fundraising, and entry fees. The climb can be a daunting task as participants are required to do it in full firefighting gear including, including a self-contained breathing apparatus. Wearing this gear adds approximately 50 lbs. to a person's overall weight. This year the Kalispell Fire Department team consisted of 9 staff members plus 3 individuals from Whitefish Fire Department. All totaled, they have raised $8500 not including their participant fees 2 which go to support LLS. The Kalispell team placed 5th overall out of approximately 200 teams for best accumulative time.