03-31-17 City Manager ReportfTYOF ira - City of Kalispell
- _ OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
01 TA OVA
Information Memorandum
3/31/2017
1. Parks and Recreation
Our crew's forestry season is coming to an end. This season we have removed and/or
pruned approximately 50 hazard trees. Crews also have train pruned several hundred
smaller trees throughout our community.
The Flathead Valley Disc Golf group (FVDG) approached Kalispell Parks and
Recreation about donating several baskets to the course at Lawrence Park. These
regulation -sized baskets will replace existing tone poles that were installed initially as
part of the Lawrence Park Folf Course. FVDG will also install concrete tee pads for
several of the baskets.
KPR's Spring Out Camp registration swelled over the last week.
Participant numbers increased 60% with an average of 33 children
registered per day. We have also seen a 17% total overall increase in
participation compared to last year.
Registrations for our youth soccer programs are continuing. We
currently have 357 participants for Spring Soccer (K - 41h grade) and
over 100 participants for Rookie Soccer (ages 3-4). Soccer begins on
April 12.
KPR received a grant from the TeleTech Community Foundation. TeleTech supports
their employees by working to make positive impacts in local communities and provide
funds for educational experiences for students in need. This grant will enable KPR and
the Hockaday Museum to collaborate on additional art programs for need -based students
over the upcoming year.
2. Public Works
Sewer/Storm Maintenance
The Sewer/Storm Maintenance personnel have been busy attending to the infiltration of
groundwater and stormwater inflow within the sanitary sewer system. Groundwater
entering the sanitary sewer system can be problematic for our conveyance system as well
as the Waste Water Treatment Plant. The increase in flow from groundwater infiltration
can overload the sanitary sewer pipes and overwhelm the lift stations. To help mitigate
the infiltration, the Sewer Department has purchased a system that will inject
hydrophobic foam around a manhole, sealing the manhole from the outside. The process
is summarized below:
• Large cracks are filled with Oakum
material which will expand to IOx its
original size when wet. The Oakum is
soaked in hydrophilic foam which will
activate with water and expand to 4x its
original size, making a watertight barrier.
• Holes are drilled into the barrel of the
manhole and ports with zerk fittings are
installed. Hydrophobic foam is then
injected through the barrel into the soil
around the manhole. This is what is known
as soil grout, it binds with the soil, making a watertight seal. The foam will
expand to 20x its original size when it comes in contact with water. By utilizing
this method, the Sewer/Storm Department is able to fix leaking barrel joints,
barrel cracks, chimney seals, and bad grout around the inlet and outlet pipes.
Ground water must be present for this process to work. At this time the Sewer/Storm
Department has sealed 9 manholes using this method. It takes city personnel 3 hours
from traffic control setup to take down in order to complete one manhole.
During video inspections of the sewer main, the Sewer/Storm Department was able to
detect 12 illicit connections of sump pumps contributing to the stormwater inflow within
the sanitary sewer system.
Water Production
Water production staff are completing a small piping upgrade to Booster Station 91.
Historically, pumping operations at this station have created a noise that resonates
through the distribution piping. Staff researched vibration reduction technologies and
installed the selected products to the existing booster pump piping. Maintenance crews
are finalizing the construction and the station should be fully operational by mid -April.
This project was completed entirely by city staff at an estimated cost of $600.00.
3. City Clerk/Communication Manager
A `Frequently Asked Questions' page has been added to the city website and can be
accessed from either the City Clerk page or the City Council page.
A well -attended presentation was recently provided by Mayor Mark Johnson, City
Manager Doug Russell, and City Planner Tom Jentz at a Kalispell Chamber of
Commerce Luncheon that provided information about current happenings in Downtown
Kalispell. A video of the presentation can be viewed on the city YouTube page at
https://youtu.be/XbKddpTWxLw.
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4. Information Services
IT staff are preparing for audio/video changes in both the council chambers and
courtroom. The council chamber presentation system equipment is being ordered and the
installation process is being scheduled. Equipment is being reviewed for the courtroom
to add more web conferencing abilities to the current AV system.
IT staff are gathering quotes and preparing builds for the next round of computers which
include court computers, laptops, and tablets for the ambulances and patrol cars.
IT staff was notified a $22,000 grant application for firewall services/equipment has been
approved.
5. Police Department
The Kalispell Police Department has provided multiple trainings and community
outreach programs over the past two weeks. Officers have presented Crime Scene
training to the Boy Scouts and lectures on Hostage Negotiations and our Major Crime
Unit to the Citizens Academy. Officer Jason Parce and Cairo (police canine) presented at
Coffee with the Chief and Cone or Coffee with a Cop.
Officer Jason Parce and Cairo met standards to be certified as a drug detection team on
March 17. In four days of working together, their services were requested six times. In
all six of the requests, Cairo alerted. In subsequent searches drug, and/or drug
paraphernalia were located.
6. Fire Department
Since the last update, the Fire Department has received 261 calls for service and has
conducted 3 outreach trainings with 30 individuals in attendance. Fire department staff
also took part in a scheduled car seat clinic at station 62 and career day for Flathead High
School.
As spring approaches, fire department staff are busy transitioning from winter season to
spring and summer operations. This means placing winterized equipment into service,
such as our Type 6 Wildland apparatus and other equipment used for grass fires.
Fire department staff and the Apparatus Specification Committee will be meeting with
Big Sky Fire Equipment for a pre -build meeting in regards to the bid approval and
specifications for the new fire pumper. This is to ensure that all specifications are
understood prior to the build of the apparatus.
Fire department staff have also completed the fire inspection report for School Districts 5
and will be working with the school district to correct any areas of concern.
7. Human Resources
The Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority (MMIA) reported the latest *Modification
Factor Data (MOD) for both Worker's Comp and Liability coverages has again improved
for the city this year. The Worker's Compensation MOD went down another 3% to a 0.92
compared to the statewide average of .95 and our liability MOD dropped 17% to a 0.80
compared to a statewide average of 0.85. Kalispell is now doing better that the statewide
average in both areas. Out of over 128 other Montana cities and towns, we rank 2nd in
both categories and our liability MOD improvement was the best for all cities of the first
class. In addition, these are the best MOD numbers the city has had since we began
tracking over 18 years ago. All of this will lead to a savings in our insurance costs for the
coming year.
*A "modification factor" is developed by measuring the difference between the insured's
actual experience and the expected experience of the group/class. This factor will
increase or decrease the standard premium in response to past experience. An employer
with average experience has a modifier of 1.0 and would pay the basic annual premium.
Employers with poorer loss experience would have modifiers greater than 1.00 and
would pay more than basic annual premium. Those with good experience (modifiers
below 1.00) will pay less in their annual premium.
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