07-20-15 City Manager ReportCITYOF _ City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
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Information Memorandum
7/20/2015
1. Parks Department
The planning and layout of phase II of the new Lawrence Park playground has begun
with demolition of the last old wood structure expected to begin next week. Phase II will
consist of a structure for 2 — 5 year olds, swing set, three spring rockers, and monkey
bars. The final phase III is planned to be installed summer of 2016.
Several recent wind events have pulled parks crews into the urban forestry division to
handle downed and broken branches along boulevards. Also, with the recent lack of
moister, parks employees are watering recently planted trees around town, including the
downtown trees.
Park staff have been monitoring the Woodland Park pond algae blooms and working with
agencies and other departments to determine how to deal with them. A recent water
sample did not indicate nutrient loads that were excessive. Field monitoring has shown a
significant reduction in blooms in recent weeks as well. We will be purchasing a
secondary aeration fountain for the southern end of the pond and also try treating the
remaining blooms.
UK International Soccer Camp started this week at KYAC. UK Soccer provides an age
appropriate curriculum that includes "Fun in the Sun," Skills `n' Thrills," and "Compete
with your feet" programs, for individuals players between 4 -18 years of age.
Pee Wee baseball held the Montana West Cal Ripken IOU State tournament this weekend
at KYAC. Teams participating are Kalispell, Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Polson,
Bitterroot/N. Florence, Bitterroot and Helena.
Summer Day Camp is still going strong. Numbers have stayed consistent and all
Wednesdays are full at 100 participants for the rest of the summer. This week the
campers will be taking fieldtrips to Big Sky Water Slides and Whitefish Park.
• Week three totals 406
• Week two totals 432
2. Fire Department
Since the last update, the Kalispell Fire Department has received 141 calls for services
and has conducted 2 outreach trainings with 20 individuals in attendance.
The Fire Department has been working on a vulnerability assessment. The National
Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF), in coordination with the U.S. Fire Administration
(USFA), has developed an online Vulnerability Assessment Tool that will provide fire
departments with a systematic process to evaluate risk and ultimately reduce the threat of
firefighter injuries. Upon completion of data entry, a report is generated that lists risk
reduction alternatives specific to identified vulnerabilities and provides potential industry
standards and guidelines to address the identified concerns.
3. Human Resources
FLSA
Human Resources is reviewing the proposed possible changes to regulations from
U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regarding overtime exemption rules under the Fair
Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This may affect how we classify several non -represented
employees' status and their eligibility for overtime. The proposed rules would increase
the salary threshold from $455 a week (or $23,660 per year) to $970 a week (or $50,440
per year) in 2016. The proposed rules would not go into effect until 2016.
Insurance Factor
We have reviewed the city's liability claims history since FY09/10 with the Montana
Municipal Interlocal Authority, who handles the cities various insurance programs.
According to MMIA, if we continue to show positive trends we could see our
*Modification Factor or "MOD" in the mid-80's which could lead to a substantial
savings in our insurance. The city's current MOD factor sits at 0.99.
*A "modification factor" is developed by measuring the difference between the insured's
actual past experience and the expected or actual experience of the group/class. This
factor may be either a debit or credit and, therefore, will increase or decrease the standard
premium in response to past loss experience. When applied to the manual premium, the
experience modification produces a premium that is more representative of the actual loss
experience of an insured. An employer with average experience has a modifier of 1.0
2
and would pay the manual premium. Employers with poorer loss experience would have
modifiers greater than 1.00 and would pay more than manual premium. Those with good
experience would have modifiers below 1.00 and pay less than manual premium.
Health Plan Training
Human Resources coordinated four "It Starts With Me" health awareness informational
meetings with over sixty-seven employees in attendance. A representative from "It Starts
With Me" talked about choosing and monitoring healthy lifestyles and the upcoming
screening program scheduled for September 16, 17 and 18. Employees and spouses on
our health insurance plan who are participating in the screening program could earn up to
$300 if they meet goals established by the Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority
(MMIA). These goals include lower blood pressure, body mass, cholesterol, smoking
cessation or no use of cigarettes or nicotine products.
4. Public Works
Construction Management
New development and redevelopment construction projects involving City utilities and
infrastructure are increasingly active during the construction season. Construction
Management is participating in the oversight of:
• Flathead County South Campus Development
• Smart Insurance
• Bloomstone Subdivision
• County Fairgrounds
• Mountain Vista Phase 4
• Buffalo Hill Golf Course river bank stabilization monitoring
• Restaurant South Kalispell
• KRMC Parking Lot - Summit
• Pedestrian path east Brendan House
• FedEx
• Canvas Church
• Discount Tires
• Flathead High School drainage improvements
• Kalispell Driveway permits(8 issued in the last month)
• Kalispell ROW permits (16 issued in the last month)
• Kalispell Stormwater Construction permit (9 issued in the last month)
Engineering Division
The Engineering Division is responsible for the review of private developments'
engineering design to ensure compliance with Kalispell Design and Construction
Standards. The Engineering Staff participates and coordinates the review with the
development's engineers to ensure City Standards are being executed. Over the past
several months, the following projects have been reviewed and approved, or are currently
being reviewed by the Engineering Staff.
• Flathead County South Campus Development
• Flathead High School drainage improvements
• KRMC Parking Lot — Summit
• Canvas Church
• Moose's Saloon Parking lot
• Town Pump -north Kalispell
• Captain's Marine
• Beehive Homes of Kalispell
• Meridian Apartments
• FCEDA Railpark
• Financial Drive Multi -Family Developments
• Spring Prairie Phase 4
• Kalispell Regional Hospital Emergency Department (KRH ED)-Addition and
Renovations
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