Office space

By JOHN STANG

Commissioners looking for more elbow room for county government

The Daily Inter Lake

The Flathead County commissioners' first choice to create new government space is within the current "campus" of central Kalispell buildings.

The commissioners spitballed general concepts Wednesday on how to expand office space for the county government.

Their tentative first choice is to construct a new possible 20,000-square-foot building in the parking area between Main Street and the Earl Bennett Building, which houses the county Planning Department and the Flathead City-County Health Department.

However, this concept needs significant space, design and financial studies before it can advance beyond a brainstorming stage, commissioners said.

Backup ideas for extra government space include: buying and moving into Stillwater Christian School just south of Kalispell, the Flathead Forest Building on the south end of Third Avenue East, or part of the Gateway West Mall.

The commissioners plan to have some figures lined up in early June to try to further pin down the approach they prefer.

The county has roughly $1.5 million set aside to expand its cramped workspaces. And it is legally allowed to borrow as much as $1 million for a project without seeking public approval.

Consequently, if the construction and renovation costs exceed $2.5 million, the matter will go to a public bond referendum.

The commissioners and County Administrator Mike Pence think the aging courthouse should be kept and renovated.

But they are assuming that the two annexes to the east and west of the courthouse will be torn down when the state Department of Transportation widens and semi-straightens Main Street - as part of U.S. 93 - around the courthouse in a few years.

Recently, the county commissioned a study into upgrading the Justice Center building.

All this eventually will set into motion a juggling act of what government offices would go into a new building, the Bennett Building, the courthouse and the blue building to the west of the Justice Center.

The commissioners picked constructing a new building as their first choice, because they think as many county offices as possible should be clustered together.

Even if a central Kalispell building is constructed, a few offices could end up outside of the downtown "campus," commissioners said.