Kalispell to weigh bid for City Hall

A Great Falls construction firm is the recommended bidder to receive a contract to remodel the old Wells Fargo building to become Kalispell's new City Hall.

Oswood Construction Co.'s low bid of $1.294 million will go to a vote tonight before the Kalispell City Council.

The other four bids ranged from $1.377 million to $1.45 million, with all five including $80,000 in contingency money for unexpected expenses.

The current City Hall has 26,229 square feet, while some city offices occupy another 5,991 square feet of leased downtown space.

If the City Council approves, the government hopes to move all of its administration offices into the 19,662-square-foot old Wells Fargo building, 201 First Ave. E., in about six months. Then the Police and Fire departments, plus the municipal court - which are housed in the current City Hall - would expand to fill the rest of the present building.

This project has sparked controversy because the original remodeling estimate of $800,000 -universally acknowledged as a rough guess - grew to $1.3 million after the numbers were more seriously crunched.

The city bought the Wells Fargo building - appraised at $1.7 million - for $1.1 million in 2005. Consequently, the overall cost of the move would be about $2.4 million, or about $120 per square foot, according to a city staff memo to the council.

New office construction costs roughly $200 to $250 per square foot, according to the memo.

Meanwhile, the memo said the preliminary estimate to remodel the current City Hall for the Police and Fire departments plus the court would be roughly $150,000 to $200,000.

Some council members wanted to keep the council chamber in its present location, which is a big room that it shares with the municipal court. According to the staff memo, such a measure would save $20,000 to $25,000, but also would add inconveniences by having the council meet in a location separate from most of the administration. It also contended that increased courtroom security measures would be incompatible with a public-oriented council chamber, such as a glass screen between the public and the mayor sitting in the judge's seat.

Also at 7 p.m. today, the council is scheduled to:

. Vote on whether to annex the 325-acre Silverbrook Estates - owned by 93 and Church LLC - at the southwest corner of Church Drive and U.S. 93 - 2.2 miles north of the rest of Kalispell.

City officials and many council members like how 93 and Church LLC has plotted Silverbrook - citing it as what they look for in a housing development. The developer wants to build 446 houses, 120 townhouses and an 18-acre commercial district in two stages. The proposed residential and commercial zoning for individual segments of that project also are up for a vote tonight.

Also up for a vote is the preliminary plan for the first stage.

That would cover building 249 houses in the site's southern half, digging two wells in the northwestern corner on 2.5 acres to be donated for a new city fire station, and constructing a main arterial street from Church Drive to angle southeast to connect with U.S. 93 across from Tronstad Road.

The issue that bothers some council members is annexing an "island" that will be surrounded by rural Flathead County. Some council members question where other landowners will annex neighboring sites to connect Silverbrook to Kalispell in the near future. Some also question whether today's strong economy - the driving force for construction plans north of Kalispell - will continue.

. Vote on whether to sell a 15-foot-wide easement on Buffalo Hill Golf Course to Dan Abbott of 86 Juniper Bend at between $7,000 and $10,000.

Abbott had a second story built on top of a garage and needs the easement to comply with city zoning laws.

The city staff recommends that the easement not be sold, contending it would set a bad precedent if similar violations occur. At a Nov. 20 workshop, some council member wondered whether the easement sale should be linked to the second floor's construction passing the appropriate city building inspections, which have not been conducted.

Abbott contends that the issue is an honest mistake and that the second floor is not harming anything. He has gathered significant neighborhood support for his position.

. Vote on giving final approval to a proposed city law that to require public and private ambulance to be staffed by paramedics - certified by Montana as Advanced Life Support providers - at all times.

. Vote on whether to annex 58.5 acres along Stillwater Road - owned by the Owl Corp. - and zone it for single-family houses.

. Vote on whether to extend the Hockaday Museum of Art's lease by 30 years to help it expand onto a neighboring property. The city has budgeted $170,00 to loan to the museum for expansion, with a proposal to forgive the loan after the expansion is complete.

. Vote on whether to forgive a city loan - made in 1996 - to WestCoast Hospitality Group to buy land to the north of the Kalispell Center Mall, destroy some grain elevators on that land, and expand the mall there.

The loan was supposed to be forgiven if the overall value of the mall's land increased by $6.6 million.

However, since then, Montana changed how it assessed property values. Development never materialized on the northern purchased land.

However, the mall had invested several million dollars in improvements and expansion since 1996. The mall's property-tax payment to Kalispell increased from $353,296 in 1996 to $467,933 in 2005 - with another $113,000 increase expected in 2007.

Consequently, city officials contend that WestCoast Hospitality met the intentions of the 1996 agreement and recommend forgiving the 1996 loan.

. Vote on whether to accept Ellen Bruyer Naumann's offer to donate her family's Bruyer Granary, 1355 Whitefish Stage Road, to the city as a small park.

The family also is pledging a $25,000 trust fund to help maintain the 1909 granary, which recently was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.