03-04-16 City Manager ReportC.ITYOF _ City of Kalispell
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OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
MONTANA
Information Memorandum
3/4/2016
1. Parks Department
On Saturday, February 13, 2016, Paws to Play held a dog park fund raiser called Puppy
Love. The event brought in 33 dogs for a photo shoot. The group has now raised over
$15,000.00 toward a dog park in Kalispell.
The Tree Board met on February 10, 2016, to further work on the planning of Arbor Day.
Subcommittees tasks include; sponsorships, environmental booths, students, media and
logistics. Sponsorship letters have been sent out. The Street Tree Committee is looking
for financial donations as well as trees and labor. It is anticipated that hosting Arbor Day
in Kalispell will cost approximately $2,000.00.
On February 16, 2016, park staff hosted an Arborist meeting on the subject of
preventative programs for insect and disease treatments. Twelve community members
were in attendance, mostly from private tree care businesses. Mitch Burrington from
Turf Master Tree Care led the discussion.
Staff met with The Kalispell Boulder Project at Lawrence Park to discuss and coordinate
details of the installation of the boulder for April.
On February 13, 2016, Kalispell Parks and Recreation held its annual Valentines Dance
at Linderman School. Families from all around the valley joined together to enjoy music
from KDBR-The Bear, snacks, prizes, and a place to get together and dance. In
attendance was a family who has been attending the Valentines Dance for 18 years!
Cheerleading camps were held at Flathead and Glacier High. Cheerleaders from the high
schools partnered with Parks and Recreation to put on the camps for kids in our
community to get active, while raising money for the high school cheerleaders programs.
Little Squirts Basketball started February 20, 2016. Little Squirts Basketball is a non-
competitive introduction to basketball for ages 4 — 5 years old (preschoolers). Basic
dribbling, passing, and shooting skills are practiced. Games are held once a week, for 6
weeks, and are played for fun and instructional purposes only.
Little Kickers, a 6 week indoor soccer program for Kindergarten through 4th grade, will
start March 5, 2016. Little Dribblers, a 6 week basketball program for Kindergarten
through 2nd grade, will be start March 12, 2016.
2. Police Department
On February 23, 2016, Officer Ryan Bartholomew was selected as the Lions Kalispell
Police Officer of the Year for 2015. Each year, the Lions club recognizes a Kalispell
Police Officer that has had an exemplary year at work and has excelled in community
service. Officer Bartholomew is an accomplished seven-year veteran of the Kalispell
Police Department. In his service to the city of Kalispell, Officer Bartholomew is a
SWAT tactical operator, instructor, proctor, and training coordinator. Additionally,
Officer Bartholomew volunteers his time to help at Public Safety Expos, the Junior Law
Enforcement Academy, presenting various law enforcement topics to children, and for
multiple Special Olympics activities.
On March 9, 2016, at 5:30 pm, the Kalispell Police Department will begin a community
outreach program called "Coffee with the Chief'. This program will be similar to other
programs that have taken place around the country wherein the community has an
opportunity to meet directly with their local law enforcement officers to learn from each
other and share ideas to better our community. On the second Wednesday of each month,
"Coffee with the Chief' will take place at Sykes, with a cup of coffee provided by Sykes,
for approximately one hour in the Lewis and Clark Room. To include more citizens, the
meeting times will alternate each month from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm.
3. Human Resources
Human Resources coordinated and participated in the second of six all -city employee
training sessions presented by the Local Government Center out of Bozeman. The
session, "Real Colors", focused on understanding personal temperament and human
behavior, motivators and improving communication with others. This seminar was
attended by 165 employees and the evaluations and feedback has been positive.
4. Public Works
WWTP Sand Filters
The WWTP sand filters were originally installed in 1991 and became operational in the
fall of 1992. They consist of 4 cells that operate 4 (each) continual backwashing lift
pipes. They were originally installed as a "Scrubbing" mechanism to polish the plant
effluent for TSS, BOD, and nutrient removal.
After 23 years of service, the sand has lost its angularity and no longer performs as
intended. Weekly maintenance consists of cleaning the lift pipes, blowing out the
collector rings, and trying to loosen the compacted sand in the center of each cell.
Current trend line testing indicates the sand filters are an ever increasing source of
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nutrient addition to the plants effluent due to their lack of performance and the sand
filters inability to remove large biological materials from sand at the bottom of the cells.
Consequently, the amplified biological loading in the bottom of the sand filters increases
the plants potential to violate our current discharge permit.
If routine maintenance continues to be non -effective, staff will review the option to take
the sand filters off line until alternative operations or equipment can be recommended
through the upcoming Optimization Study and potential CIPs.
Sidearem-Solid Waste Division
We have received shipment of the new Solid Waste
Division 27 Yard Sidearm Garbage Truck. This
unit replaced the 2003 Sidearm that is currently in
back up status and has reached the end of its
effective life cycle.
The new Sidearm Garbage Truck has universal
grabbers and is capable of grabbing and dumping
containers ranging from 100 gallons to 400 gallons. This truck will be utilized for both
residential and alley container collection routes, and has
the volume capacity to service 650 to 800 residential (100
gallon) containers per day, which generates to two loads to
the landfill.
The Kalispell Solid Waste decal was installed by the TSS
staff, Justin Krauss. This is a new task that TSS staff has
taken on and creates a cost saving measure for the City.
5. Fire Department
Since the last update, the Kalispell Fire Department has received 296 calls for service and
have conducted 12 outreach trainings which include assisting the driver's education
course, A Night to Shine event, a tour for Leaders of Tomorrow, and the Graduation
Matters event sponsored by the Kalispell School District.
March 1 was the opening date for open burning in Flathead County. As a reminder to
City of Kalispell residents, there is no open burning allowed within the city limits of
Kalispell.
6. City Clerk
A video camera is now available for employees to check-out from the Clerk's office to
capture video and photo content for city communication efforts. City employees are
encouraged to use the camera to film city tasks that the public may be interested in, or
that can accompany public service announcements, or ads for city sponsored events on
the city social media sites and government cable channel.