09-30-16 City Manager ReportCITYOF _ City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
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Information Memorandum
9/30/2016
1. Public Works
Water System Sanitary Survey
Kalispell's Community Water Supply is required by law to have a sanitary survey
inspection performed by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ)
every three years. The routine inspection offers MDEQ the opportunity to look for
sanitary deficiency that have the potential to cause contamination to the water systems, as
well as pointing out operation and maintenance concerns. No significant deficiencies
were identified to be corrected in the inspection report. Below are summary comments
related to the survey conducted in July of 2016.
1. Source Water: Ten ground water sources were inspected, and no concerns were
noted for Armory, Buffalo Hill, Grandview 1 & 2, Old School Station 1 & 2,
West View, or Silverbrook Wells. All the systems were noted to be in good
condition, with significant investments made over the last three years to improve
operations and maintenance of the systems. Noffsinger Spring Box was noted to
also be in good condition, but recommendations were suggested to plan and
budget for replacement due to the age of the current structure.
2. Treatment Facilities: A review of all eight of the treatment plants associated with
various water sources was performed. No concerns were noted for Armory,
Buffalo Hill, Grandview, Old School Station, West View Well, or Silverbrook
water facilities. All the systems were noted to be in good condition at the time of
inspection. Noffsinger Spring treatment facility was noted to be in good
condition, however upgrades recommendations were suggested to bring the
disinfection room up to current MDEQ Public Water Supply Standards. Those
upgrades include improved separation of the treatment room from the pump/office
space with less UV penetration and proper ventilation.
3. Distribution System: No distribution issues were noted at the time of inspection.
4. Storage at four active storage facilities: All the tanks were noted to be in good or
excellent condition.
5. Pumps, Pump Facility, and Controls: No operation concerns were noted for any of
the pump facilities.
6. Monitoring, Reporting, and Data Verification: All monitoring, reporting, and data
verification requirements were current at the time of the inspection. Additionally,
a review of the State's data base showed no violation issues in recent history.
7. Maintenance, Management, Safety, and Operation: Maintenance, management,
safety, and operation were noted as professionally performed with no noted
deficiencies.
8. Operator Compliance with State Requirements: No operator concerns were noted.
9. Significant Deficiencies: No unresolved significant deficiency issues were found
or cited during this inspection.
Central Garage
The city has an internal garage that provides repair and
maintenance service for city departments on the wide
variety of city vehicles and equipment. A new lift was
recently installed in the city shops to enable lifting even
our heaviest vehicles: the dump trucks. This will improve
service times and allow better access for inspections. It
also promotes a safe working environment for the
technician by enabling the work to be performed at chest
level.
2. Human Resources
Twenty supervisors, managers, and directors
attended a four-hour Drug and Alcohol
Detection/Awareness training at the Hampton Inn
on September 15. Presented by Chemnet
Consortium's owner Samantha Morris, she
explained what to look for and how to handle
worksite situations where an employee appears to
be under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.
Chemnet Consortium is the company we use to
oversee our employee drug and alcohol testing.
Over 150 employees and dependents participated in
Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority "MMIA's11
Annual Health Screening program held at Kalispell City
Hall and the Fairfield Inn September 14, 15 and 16.
Individuals participate in screening for five (5) pre-
established personal health improvement goals. These
include targeted Body Mass Index, Blood Pressure,
Cholesterol, Fasting Glucose along with no tobacco use.
Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority (MMIA) and their member cities continually are
striving to help improve employee and family members' health. Studies continue to
show these pro -active type programs can result in significant reductions in ever-
increasing health insurance costs.
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3. Information Services
The internet connection delay at the north fire station that had been troublesome for a
long time was resolved. The resolution came through coordination of efforts from IT
staff and the agencies that provide internet service to the City.
The New World software police, fire, court and attorneys use was updated to the latest
service pack. The IT Department updated over 70 computers within a couple days for
this service pack.
4. Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation partnered with Paws to Play to
host the annual Doggie Dayz event at Lawrence Park
on September 17 from I 1 am-3pm. The day was filled
with a number of events and contests including a pet
parade, relay races, costume contests and hot dog dunk.
The event generated $3,884 to be used towards
creating a dog park in Kalispell area.
We hosted NFL's Punt, Pass, & Kick competition on September
24 at the KYAC. This competition is the oldest grassroots
initiative in the NFL that continues to reach children ages 6-15
and allows them to experience the fun of learning football
fundamentals in an engaging and supportive non -contact
environment. We had nine first place winners from different
genders and age groups that will advance to the sectional
competition in Missoula on October 9.
Our Runnin' Rascals Football program will be finishing its last week of practices and
scrimmages on October 1. We also have Little Dribblers & Little Squirts basketball
programs that are starting October 1 and October 8 respectively. We currently have close
to 200 kids registered for the two youth basketball programs.
Parks crews have been building a loading ramp at the leaf/woodchip recycling yard that
will be used to load trucks from Stoltz Lumber with accumulated woodchips from
forestry operations over the years. Stoltz will use these chips as bio fuel for their
operations. Building this ramp will eliminate the city's hauling and disposal costs of the
accumulated woodchips.
The Yd and final phase of the Lawrence Park playground is
now installed and ready for our community to enjoy. The fall
surfacing was also updated with new engineered wood fibers
meeting today's playground safety standards.
Parks staff has submitted last year's Arbor Day festivities to the International Society of
Arboriculture Rocky Mountain chapter for a Gold Leaf award for having the best Arbor
Day in a four state region. Staff have also applied to the DNRC to be the Tree City of the
Year for Montana.
Paths and sidewalks are now installed on 3
Mile Drive, Northwest Lane and Highway
93. These were installed with grants from
the State of Montana's MAP-21 program.
These grants allowed us to connect
Meridian Road to the Kalispell Bypass, 3
Mile Drive up Northwest Lane to the
Middle School and a section of path on
Highway 93. During the design process,
we updated the Northwest Lane path to include curb and gutter. This helped to better
delineate the trail, making it user friendly for both users of the path and seasonal
maintenance of the road.
5. Police Department
Coffee with the Chief was held on September 14 at Sykes. We began the meeting with a
brief overview and demonstration of the FJR 1300 Police Motorcycles by Captain Doug
Overman. The discussion led to many different topics such as: National news related to
law enforcement, local jail overcrowding, theft, pawn shop ordinances, traffic issues,
vagrants and panhandlers. The next Coffee with the Chief will be October 12 at Sykes.
6. Building Department
Residential building permits have been issued for 2 units in the past 2 weeks bringing the
total to 112 single family and duplex units this year compared to 51 for the same time
period in 2015.
The building permit was issued for the Flathead Community College Student Housing
project located at 2205 Hwy 93 North; the valuation for this project is $7.7 million. Also,
the building permit for The Flathead County Health Department office remodel located at
1035 1st Ave West was also issued with a valuation of $425,000.
7. Planning Department
The planning office has received 3 requests for the October 11 planning board meeting.
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• A request from WWRR, LLC and Dwayne Druckenmiller for a growth policy
amendment that would change the Kalispell Growth Policy Future Land Use Map
from "Suburban Residential" and "Urban Residential" to "Neighborhood
Commercial" and "High Density Residential" for a 20-acre area located at the
southwest corner and southeast corner of the intersection of Stillwater Road and
Four Mile Drive. This request is in anticipation of a future annexation request.
• A request from Western Neon, Inc. for a zoning text amendment that would
amend Section 27.22.170 (Nonconforming Signs and Signs Without Permits) of
the Kalispell Zoning Ordinance to eliminated the provision that nonconforming
signs be brought into compliance when there are cumulative changes of more than
50%. Specifically, this amendment would allow existing nonconforming signs to
change sign faces without coming into compliance.
• A request from the Lofts at Ashley, LLC to annex a 3.79-acre parcel into the city
and zone the land RA-2 (Residential Apartment/Office) upon annexation. The
property is located at 2050 Airport Road in south Kalispell. The applicant is then
requesting a conditional use permit to construct a 96-unit multi -family apartment
complex on this vacant site. The multi -family apartment complex would be
comprised of five 3-story buildings, parking and landscaping.
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