City may build for Cable Tech

The city of Kalispell has tentative plans to bond for $2 million to construct a building at the municipal airport to house a local technology company.

The city is considering building a 20,000-square-foot building at Kalispell City Airport that it would lease Cable Technologies, a Creston company that manufactures and assembles wiring harnesses for aerospace industry clients such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

"The airport [possibility] is just fantastic," said Ed Buttrey, company chief executive officer and president. "A lot of our customers fly in and it's the perfect spot for our employees."

Cable Technologies needs a new building to accommodate a planned expansion that would add 57 jobs and more than double its work force. The company has pursued options in Great Falls and Missoula where city governments have offered assistance such as tax increment fund money and guaranteed loans.

But the company would prefer Kalispell since most of its employees live in or near the city, Buttrey said. His customers also love the area and some have bought property here, so Kalispell is the company's first choice.

Cable Technologies originally looked at purchasing the former Stream location in Gateway West Mall. Buttrey contacted the city about that possibility and the zone changes the company would need to make that happen. The city in turn asked him if instead he would consider a new building as part of the airport expansion, he said.

"When this came up, it just fit us perfectly," Buttrey said.

His company currently employs 43 people. The new jobs would come with full benefit packages and wages ranging from $7.50 to $25 an hour, Buttrey said. The majority of those jobs would be at the lower end of that wage scale.

The company needs to be in a new facility by the summer or fall, he said.

The city is considering bonding $2 million in tax increment fund money from the airport district to construct a building that the city would lease to Cable Technologies for an initial five-year period.

After that the company could buy the building.

The City Council will review the plan at a work session Tuesday night following its regular meaning. No official action will be taken Tuesday night. The regular meeting begins at 7 p.m. in City Hall and the work session immediately follows.

A public hearing on the matter is scheduled March 21.

Reporter Camden Easterling can be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail ceasterling@dailyinterlake.com