01-29-16 City Manager ReportIT YOF _ City of Kalispell
ON,
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
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MONTANA
Information Memorandum
1/29/2016
1. Parks Department
The Kalispell Boulder project is fully funded. Staff met with members from the Kalispell
Boulder Project and Montana Conservation Corps to discuss the logistics of getting the
boulder installed in Lawrence Park. Early spring is the targeted time for installation.
Several Park staff attended the Association of Montana Turf and Ornamental Pest
Professionals (AMTOPP) conference January 24, 2016, through January 26, 2016.
Training disciplines include irrigation, turf, & forestry management.
Paws to Play held a fundraiser Wednesday, January 27, 2016, at Cold Stone Creamery.
From the evening, 15% of sales will go to the group fundraising for a dog park in
Kalispell.
Beginning February 1, 2016, a contract crew will be removing Elm trees from various
locations around Kalispell. The wood from these trees will go to Flathead High School to
continue our partnership and to help reduce project costs for wood shop students.
Our Valentines Dance is schedule for February 13, 2016, at Linderman Education Center
from 7:00pm — 9:00pm. The cost is $5.00 per person or $15.00 for a family of four.
There will be dancing, music, snacks, drinks and door prizes. Leah Lindsay from The
Bear will be the DJ again this year.
Over 300 Picnic in the Park sponsorship packets have been mailed to potential sponsors.
With the support of local businesses and individuals throughout the Flathead Valley we
look forward to the 25th Anniversary of Picnic in the Park.
Celeste Palmer is our new Recreation Programmer. Celeste comes from Whitefish Parks
and Recreation where she has served as their lead counselor for their after school
programs and their summer day camp program for the past 4 years.
2. Public Works
Yearly Production Water and Wastewater
The City records daily, monthly, and annual production and treatment quantities for water
and wastewater flows. Last year 1,490 million gallons (MG) of water was produced, with
an average production per day of 4.07 MG. On the flip side, 992 MG of wastewater was
treated in 2015, with a daily average of 2.78 MGD. As a comparison below is a table
with past annual production and treatment quantities.
Yearly Water Production and Wastewater
Treatment Summary
Year
Water
Production
MG
Wastewater
Treatment
MG
2015
1,490
992
2014
1,230
1043
2013
1,274
919
2012
1,263
935
2011
1,281
1,096
2010
1,242
957
2009
1,436
960
2008
1,367
1,011
2007
1,474
1,017
Water Production -Old School Station Well
Due to sand abrasion, a hole developed in the existing sand separator at the Old School
Station Well. A replacement sand separator was budgeted for replacement in FY 15/16.
The new unit is an upgrade from the current design,
allowing the capture of smaller micron sand
particles, which reduces the amount of sand currently
being introduced into the water system. Water
Production and Engineering Division Staff have been
working together on the design, specifications and
installation. The project is expected to be completed
by the end of March, dependent on external piping
material manufacturing.
3. Building Department
The transition to on-line permitting for mechanical and plumbing permits is proceeding.
The department has taken over the electrical permit program from the state for Kalispell
as of January 1, issuing 9 electrical permits to -date. So far it has been well -received by
the contractors. The department has also begun accepting electronic plan submittals for
residential building permits. This process reduces the volume of paper that the building
department handles, improves our ability to review plans and make comments and
corrections.
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4. Planning Department
The 2015 Construction, Subdivision and Annexation report for Kalispell (the year-end
report) is now available at the following link: hLtp://www.kalispell.com/planning/.
The planning board will hold a public hearing on the creation of a new B-3 zoning
classification which is designed to implement the goals of the Core Area Plan. This
zoning designation includes removing front and side yard setbacks which allows owners
to build to their lot lines, removing the height limitations, reducing parking requirements
and allowing mixed uses (retail, office and residential) without a conditional use permit.
The board will also host work sessions on the proposed TEDD (Targeted Economic
Development District) for the Glacier Rail Park, and the South Kalispell Redevelopment
Plan Update.
5. Information Services
The PCI compliancy vulnerability scanning device operating system failed and the device
was replaced under the active warranty. The PCI compliancy scanning device assists IT
staff in keeping its publically accessible websites monitored for missing patches or port
openings that can cause vulnerabilities. The City is required to have the scanning device
and meet compliance requirements for the current credit card systems used at the City.
Changes were made to the utility billing bill format. A bill due date was added, in
addition to the existing wording, "account is past due after the 101h of the month". The
updated bill format now shows a credit on the account and the amount followed by a CR
if the account has a credit. If the account is past due, the bill will say past due and the
amount past due in the same place the credit on account would show.
Staff met and continues to work on the requirements of adding online payments for City
services.
6. Finance Department
Budge
The fiscal year 2017 budget process is under way. The finance department is formatting
budgets and updating personnel cost schedules. Many personnel costs are preliminary
estimates. The City's contract with its firefighters expires this fiscal year and MMIA has
not provided estimates regarding health and workers' compensation insurance.
The City's fiscal year 2017 debt service cost is also being updated for the budget and
includes estimates for the fiscal year 2016 Montana State Board of Investment (BOI)
borrowings. Fiscal year 2016 Board of Investment borrowing is for a forestry division
chip truck ($35,000). Currently, BOI loans have a rate of 1.25%. All City debt other
than the BOI and the 2012 Westside TIF note ($500,000) are fixed rate.
Monthly Billing
The process of billing all City water/sewer customers on a monthly basis began this
month. The transition has went reasonably well, with a few minor exceptions that are
being adjusted for the next billing cycle.
One of the benefits of monthly billing is the ability to catch customer water leaks much
sooner, therefore avoiding a large 2 month bill where thousands of gallons of water were
wasted but still must be paid for.
With the new monthly billing comes new payment expectations. Bills will be mailed by
the twentieth of each month, are due upon receipt, and are considered delinquent after the
I01h of the following month. Customers are encouraged to take advantage of the many
convenient payment methods offered by the City Water Department. Currently,
customers may pay online at the City's website, over the phone, or have the payment
automatically drafted out of their bank account. Of course, customers can still mail their
payments or bring their payment to the City Water Department office.
7. Fire Department
Since the last update, the Kalispell Fire Department have received 112 calls for service
and have conducted 2 public outreach trainings with approximately 30 individuals in
attendance. One outreach was to Eureka Fire Department as part of our hazardous
materials team awareness and outreach program.
For calendar year 2015, the Kalispell Fire Department responded to 3283 calls for
service, an overall increase of 3% from the previous year. In addition to the calls for
service fire department staff have also conducted 196 hours of public safety instruction to
approximately 1064 individuals. As a department, we have also accrued a total of 10,496
training hours required for our certifications and qualifications. Other accomplishments
for the year include:
• The development and
implementation of Tox Medic
protocols for the Montana State
Regional Hazmat teams.
• Successful AFG grant
application for Power Cots.
• Implementation and in-service
of new tactical 2" fire attack
hose lines.
• Evaluation of ISO protection
class. Protection class remains
a3.
• Successful grant application
and implementation of active
shooter medical packs.
• Medicaid supplemental
payment contract.
• Enhanced infections disease
protocols and implementation of
infectious disease kits (Ebola).
• Successful grant application and
award from Mission Lifeline for a
new cardiac monitor with
telemetry.
• Development and implementation
of hazardous materials safe kits for
the initial response for KFD
personnel.
• Refresher training for all KFD
personnel to Hazmat Operations
level as required.
• Fire Impact Fee Report and
approval.
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We have also seen an increase in the overall amount of mutual aid assists in regards to
EMS and transport availability. This year we have recorded a total of 264 requests to
outside agencies to provide EMS response and transport due to our crews being
unavailable. This is in comparison to the numbers gathered for the EMS levy
information of 140 requests for aid.
8. Human Resources
Human Resources coordinated s training session for over fifty employees of the Public
Works and Parks & Recreation Departments to hear Kalispell Police Department Acting
Sergeant Ryan Bartholomew give a presentation about Home Security. The presentation,
as part of the monthly safety and health meeting, was held at the City's Waste Water
Treatment Plant and included discussion on what you can do in and around your own
home to make it safer from intruders.
9. City Clerk/Communications
The Mayor, City Manager, Planning Director, City Clerk, and other city staff and elected
officials will be hosting the United Way Leaders of Tomorrow for several hours during
their "Your Key to the City " field day on February 3. Leaders of Tomorrow is comprised
of High School juniors from across the County, brought together for a leadership program
by the United Way. While at City Hall, they will hear about city planning, parks and
recreation, and then participate in a mock council meeting. The students will pick an
issue, volunteer for various positions such as council members, staff and the public, and
work through the issue in the manner of a council meeting.
The City Clerk began an online study course to prepare for an Accreditation in Public
Relations. This course is designed to strengthen skills and methods for developing and
maintaining mutually beneficial relationships between the city and the public.
The city social media presence is growing, and has become a valuable tool to assist law
enforcement, promote events and meetings, share safety messages, and connect with the
public. The city Facebook page now has 1,100 likes with daily reach fluctuating from
350 to 5,000 daily. Twitter is also continuing to grow with 9,800 tweet impressions for
the month of January, and 155 followers.
10. Community Development
On Thursday, January 28, 2016, personnel from the City of Kalispell and Flathead
County Economic Development Authority participated in a teleconference to kick-off the
US Department of Transportation (US DOT) TIGER grant project: Core and Rail
Redevelopment. Key staff from the Federal Railroad Administration, a division within
USDOT, participated in the call which marks one of the early steps in defining clear
roles, responsibilities, and requirements of the TIGER program.
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11. Police Department
The Kalispell Police Department has accepted 15 local citizens into the 2016 Citizens
Police Academy. Classes begin February 2 and run through March 22. The Citizen
Academy participants will tour KPD, learn about our Patrol, Investigations, Major Crime
Unit, Chaplain program, School Resource Officer Program, Field Training Program,
Drug Taskforce, Crisis Negotiations and Special Response Team. In addition they will
have an opportunity to see demonstrations in the use of a Taser, Use of Force Simulator,
and tour the 911 Center.
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