Kalispell agenda: Site for inmates tops list

The Daily Inter Lake

The Kalispell City Council will discuss tonight whether it wants to rezone and issue a conditional-use permit for a pre-release center, 2282 U.S. 93 South, for the region's prison inmates.

This will be a workshop session at which no votes are legally allowed.

Butte-based Community, Counseling and Correctional Services is prepared to spend $3 million to renovate the 12,750-square-foot building that formerly housed Department of Health and Human Services offices and to add a 4,750-square-foot outbuilding.

It would operate the facility for the state as an alternative to direct release from prison while providing supervision as inmates readjust to society.

Flathead County has about 1,300 people in the state corrections system - the fourth highest of any county in Montana.

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

n What to do with a proposed 65-unit complex between North Meridian Road and U.S. 93 North.

Calloway Brothers LLC wants to put the apartments in eight buildings, as well as build a 2,000-square-foot clubhouse.

n Whether to expand and update the city's growth policy to an area west of the Stillwater River, north of Two Mile Drive, east of Farm-To-Market Road and south of Church Drive.

n Whether to boost emergency ambulance-ride fees by $73 to $100 a response, depending on the type of emergency, and nonemergency rides by $232 to $266, depending on the type of service required. Mileage might increase from $9.90 a mile to $14 under the proposal.

This proposal is supposed to make up for lost revenue in the city's ambulance fund.