Jail work, library on Flathead wish list
A $32 million expansion of the Flathead County Justice Center and jail is the most expensive item on the county commissioners' wish list for federal stimulus money coming to states through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The county has compiled a list of more than $71.3 million worth of projects, including roughly $59.9 million for construction or renovation of county buildings and $11.4 million for road work.
The Montana Legislature is working quickly to divvy up the state's share of stimulus money, and Commissioner Joe Brenneman was in Helena this week learning how House Bill 645 will allocate the federal money.
"It's kind of a baffling bill, and the whole process has everyone bewildered," Brenneman said in a phone interview from Helena.
The proposed bill details how most of the stimulus money will be spent, but about $100 million could be freed up for reassignment, Brenneman said.
"Money may be assigned somewhat at the last minute, with it likely going to those who have presented at the hearings and have projects that will put people to work right away," he said. "We need to track this as well as we can for the next two weeks and be ready to come down and testify at the drop of a hat."
The bill is scheduled to be in the House by March 24.
Brenneman said he'd love to see Flathead County get some money for paving county roads, but added that stimulus money for road work likely would have to be divided in an equitable ratio statewide, perhaps using a formula similar to the one used for gas tax distribution, which bases allocations on the number of miles of roads in a county.
Stimulus road projects are being handled through the state Department of Transportation, but that process also has been difficult to navigate, Brenneman said. When he looked through proposals, the only one he found for Flathead County was a nondescript milling and rebuilding project for the northern part of the county.
ROADS FIGURE heavily into the county's proposed stimulus projects.
Among the most expensive road projects on the list is a $4.1 million rebuild of the North Fork Road, with paving to the Camas entrance of Glacier National Park.
A $1 million upgrade of Mennonite Church and Creston roads in the East Valley area also is high on the list. Both are collector roads with heavy commuter traffic in what has been a high-growth residential area in recent years.
Among the nearly four dozen road upgrade and/or paving projects proposed for stimulus funding are:
n McMannamy Draw - $416,592
n Tetrault Road - $402,390
n Jensen Road - $1,046,608
n Marquardt Lane - $487,997
n Rhodes Draw - $292,829
n West Valley Drive - $235,982
The county proposes using stimulus money to built a 100-bed addition to the jail, plus an additional courtroom and more office space at the Justice Center. Overcrowding at the current jail has been a concern for several years.
And the anticipated addition of a fourth District Judge for Flathead County creates a need for more office and courtroom space.
An $18 million request for a new public library is among the most pricey items on the wish list. For some time the county has been considering relocating the library from its crowded quarters in the historic 1903 federal building on First Avenue East in Kalispell.
Proposed is a 55,000 square-foot facility and parking for 200 cars; the project description doesn't list a specific site.
Another library project under consideration for stimulus funding is the Columbia Falls Branch Library in the Glacier Discovery Center. This $2.4 million project would transform a former bank building in downtown Columbia Falls into a library and community center.
The county would like $3 million to build a gymnasium to accommodate the more than 5,000 participants in the Flathead County Parks and Recreation Department programs.
Other proposed facility upgrades include $1.5 million to relocate the Agency on Aging into a bigger and better building and $125,000 to replace windows in public buildings.
A key infrastructure project would be the Bigfork stormwater project. The stimulus wish list asks for $1.5 million to support the installation of a hydrodynamic filtration system and adequately sized conveyance pipes along Grand Drive in Bigfork. This component is phase one of a multiphase project.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com