12-02-16 City Manager ReportCity of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
Information Memorandum
12/5/2016
1. Police Department
Senior Sergeant Bardwell will be conducting a safety presentation to Girl Scout Troops at
Peterson School as members of the Troop are trying to earn their Safety Patch. SSgt.
Bardwell was an Eagle Scout and will talk about various topics such as what to do when
lost in a crowd, what to do when confronted by a stranger, and safety in the home.
Officer Dennis Petersen is attending Negotiator training the week of November 28.
Officer Petersen was recently assigned as a negotiator and will assist the Special
Response Team when called to deal with barricaded subjects, hostage situations, etc.
The Kalispell Police Department continues to partner with border security operations and
was recently approved for a Federal Stonegarden grant. The grant provided resources to
assist with border security operations and to purchase equipment needed to help facilitate
the operations. KPD received $40,000 to purchase equipment, which will include eight
new digital radios.
2. Public Works
50/50 Sidewalk Replacement Program
The 50/50 sidewalk program has closed
on another construction season with
various curb and sidewalk projects
completed throughout the city.
Projects this year included a mix of
private property and City ADA
accessibility projects. Upon completion
;} of this year's season, Sandon
Construction has completed 37 work
orders that included 3.9 blocks of sidewalk and 23 ADA
accessibility improvements.
Winter Season
It's officially winter time, and the city crews will be attending to the snow and ice
conditions of the city streets. The city's Snow Policy was adopted by Council in 1997
and provides a policy on snow removal procedures for streets, alleys, and sidewalks. The
Policy delineates responsibilities of the Public and sets expectations for city roles and
responsibilities. A summarization of the policy can be accessed on the Kalispell website
at www.kalispell.com/public_works/snow removal or by calling Public Works at 758-
7720. Below is a summarization of the Policy:
Snow Routes: A primary system of unmarked snow routes has been established for
effective snow removal on the collector and arterial system. The snow routes are divided
into first priority and second priority routes. First Priority: Any hour service by the Street
Division for snow routes which are established emergency and school routes. Second
Priority: To receive immediate attention following plowing of first priority routes.
Plowing & Parking in Residential Areas: Residential areas will be plowed within 48
hours of the end of snowfall in excess of 3 inches. Less than 3 inches will not be plowed
from residential streets unless drifting occurs. In central Kalispell plow operators will
generally clear Avenues on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Plow operators will clear
snow from Streets on Tuesday, Thursday. If you must park your vehicle on the public
street then you are requested to park on the nearest adjacent Street or Avenue on the days
when plows are operating.
Other residential areas, typically South of 18th Street, East of Woodland Avenue, West of
Meridian Road, and North of Colorado Street, where off-street parking is more abundant,
are not impacted by the request to move vehicles between Streets and Avenues. However,
snow clearing in these outlying areas will be greatly improved if on -street parking is held
to a minimum.
Please note: Plow operators will attempt to clear snow from curb to curb. Where access to
the curb line is blocked by parked cars the vehicle owner should expect snow to
accumulate around the parked car as the plow passes the vehicle. City crews will try to
avoid plowing snow against a parked vehicle. However, if it does happen they will not be
able to assist in removing the piled snow.
Plowing Private Property: It is strictly forbidden for a city plow to clear snow or ice from
private property unless it must be done to allow emergency vehicle access. Pushing snow
from private property onto the public streets or sidewalks is also prohibited by the City
Code section 24-18.
Private Driveways: City plows are not responsible for clearing private driveways or snow
from private property. The operators do their best to minimize the driveway berms, but
some accumulation is inevitable. Care will be exercised by operators to minimize the
blocking of the driveways, however the burden is the property owners or occupant
responsibility to clear the driveways.
Alleys: Alleys will not be plowed except to maintain essential City services.
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Public Parking Lots: Plowed within 12 hours of the end of snow event by Street Division.
Parking lots and sidewalks administered by the Kalispell Parking Commission are not
covered by this Policy.
Sidewalks: Sidewalks at City operated facilities shall be cleared within 36 hours of end of
snowfall. Clearing snow from sidewalks adjacent to private property is the responsibility
of the property owner or resident. City Code Sec. 24-17.
Sanding/Ice Control: Use of street sanding abrasives and de-icers will be dictated by
specific weather and road conditions of each snow event. Street sanding abrasives and
Sodium Chloride solution (with rust inhibitor) shall be used when the application will
produce a proven result. Sanding abrasives generally will not be used except when a
solution of Sodium Chloride will be ineffective.
3. Building Department
Residential building permits have been issued for 5 single family homes in the past 2
weeks, bringing the total to 135 single family and duplex units this year compared to 68
last year at this time.
The building permit was issued for the 55,054 square foot Hobby Lobby located at 2260
Hwy 93 North immediately south of Costco. The valuation for this project is $2,433,750.
Also, the building permit was issued for the new storage building and parking expansion
associated with the Forest Service building located at 650 Wolfpack Way. The valuation
for this project is $586,000.
While not often mentioned in this report, the building department does conduct regular
fire -life safety inspections of all commercial buildings in the city as well as annual
inspections of certain other facilities including day cares, schools, etc. This month the
department conducted 27 inspections along the North Meridian corridor and along
West Idaho west of the North Meridian.
4. Planning Department
The planning office continues to work with the Core Area property owners as we work to
extend the B-3 Core Area Zoning. The next area to be focused on will be the properties
east of Third Ave. EN, south of Idaho and generally north of the RR Tracks.
Approximately 25 property owners are being sent an information packet this week. Staff
will hold an open house on December 13 prior to the Planning Board meeting to answer
any questions the property owners may have. At that point we will determine if we move
forward with re -zoning some or all of this area. So far the program has been very well
received.
Staff is working with the developer and the Ashley Park neighborhood as we review the
latest submittal by the developer for the Ashley Lofts apartment project on Airport Road
and Teal. The conditional use permit for 82 apartment units was tabled at the November
Planning Board meeting when the Planning Board recommended that the applicant's
request for RA-2 zoning be amended downward to RA-1. The applicants have re-
submitted a design containing 55 units to bring it into alignment with the now -proposed
RA-1 zoning. At the December Planning Board meeting the Board will also hear a
request to develop a 37-lot single family subdivision called Southside Estates off of
Merganser Drive next to the US 93 Bypass on the site of a previously approved and then
lapsed preliminary plat called Ashley Park Phase 9. Finally, the Board will also hear a
request by School District 5 to annex a 25-acre tract of land on the east side of Airport
Road just south of Ashley Creek in order to facilitate the construction of a new
elementary grade school.
5. Community Development
Recently, a longtime Kalispell Revolving Loan Fund client was able to fulfill their loan
obligation with the City, providing additional funding to lend to other Kalispell small
businesses. Kalispell's Revolving Loan Fund Program (RLF) provides financing when
credit access is limited, supporting the development and expansion of local businesses
with a focus on the Core and Downtown areas. Kalispell's RLF is a self -replenishing
pool of money, utilizing interest and principal payments on previous loans to issue new
loans. As a public investment instrument, revolving loan funds are expected to result in
public good —namely projects contributing to economic growth and community
revitalization.
6. Fire Department
Since the last update, Kalispell Fire Department has received 111 calls for service and
conducted 4 public outreach trainings with 23 individuals in attendance.
Department members are in the process of biennial CPR recertification. Early access to
high quality CPR is a critical link in the chain of survival. According to American Heart
Association, survivability of cardiac arrests decreases 10-15% every minute. High
quality CPR can enhance those odds when coupled with early access to defibrillation and
Advanced Life Support care (paramedics).
7. Information Services
The WWTP now has a server that stores the staff data and runs automatic data backups.
Further configuration will be done at the WWTP, but the core user data has been moved
from local computers to the server. Faster interset options are being researched for the
WWTP as well.
A solution was found so now the new WatchGuard server setup can proceed again. IT
staff are working with tech support staff to get the new video storage server setup.
Two critical servers had minor hardware failures and the hardware replacement was able
to be done without any system downtime for users.
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8. Finance Department
Citv Financial Statements Audit
The fiscal year 2016 audit is nearing completion. There were no audit findings for the
past two fiscal years (14 and 15), and at this point indications are that the results will be
similar for fiscal year 2016. The finance department is working with the auditors to get
the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) finalized and submitted within the
next couple of weeks.
FYI 7 Tax Levy
In October, the Department of Revenue entered into a settlement agreement with
Northwestern Energy which resolved NorthWestern's 2016 centrally assessed property
valuation appeal. The change amounts to a reduction of NorthWestern's market value for
property tax purposes of about 8% and precludes a tax protest by NorthWestern. The
Department of Revenue calculated the change in taxable value to all taxing jurisdictions.
For the City of Kalispell, according to the department, the result is a reduction of about
$16,000 to the general levy and another reduction of $2,236 to the permissive medical
levy.
9. City Clerk/Communications Manager
The City Clerk will be attending a one -day training December 6, in Helena to gain insight
regarding designing government websites to be accessible to people with disabilities.
This information will be useful as the city embarks on an upcoming website redesign.
The City Facebook page continues to grow and now has 1,949 likes. According to
statistics provided by Facebook, the city page reached 35,768 people between November
2 and November 29, 2016. Twitter views are growing slowly, but steady.
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