Statue projects continue to vex Kalispell officials

Two “heroic-size” bronze animal statues that Kalispell commissioned in 2007 to beautify the intersection of Idaho and Main streets now are coming back to bite city officials.

The animal statue issue dates back to fiscal year 2008, when city officials set aside $70,000 for the beautification project.

Kalispell paid $35,000 in 2008 for a statue of two white-tailed bucks made by Sherry Sander. Completed and paid for, the piece remains under wraps in storage.

A push to install the statue fell apart in mid-2009, even after a citizen voluntarily built a concrete pedestal for it on one corner of the city’s busiest intersection.

Meanwhile, Daniel Parker, a sculptor working on a statue of a grizzly bear and two cubs, has filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit alleging the city has not paid him for his work.

Kalispell made an initial payment of $10,000 for the bear statue but never made a second payment of $15,000 as spelled out in a contract agreed to in December 2007.

The bear statue is estimated to cost $50,000, with the balance paid upon completion.

In addition, the city agreed to buy 30 miniature bear statues for $1,700 each, intending to sell them as collector items for $3,400 each to try and recoup costs for the project.

Those miniature statues have been finished, according to Parker’s lawsuit, which is still in the discovery stage after being filed in July.

“It’s just been on hold for so long he finally filed a lawsuit,” City Attorney Charles Harball said of the bear statue project.

“So it’s time for council to talk about where we are and what we are going to do.”

The Kalispell City Council discussed the deer and bear statue issues briefly during a work session Monday night.

City officials said they hope to resolve the pending lawsuit and install the two statues.

City Manager Jane Howington said she has concerns about putting the statues up at Idaho and Main.

“Montana Department of Transportation said they weren’t a public safety issue, but the letter that we got said we could place them there at our own risk and liability,” Howington said.

There are better, more pedestrian-friendly locations for the statues in the city, Howington said. “I’m sensitive to the intersection there being one of the most heavily used in the state ... The more pedestrians you put there, the more potential hazard there is.”

Harball and Mayor Tammi Fisher suggested the city talk to the two artists and county officials about possibly placing the animal statues in front of the renovated Flathead County Courthouse, where they could get just as much exposure and be more accessible to pedestrians.

Several council members agreed with that approach. Others said they were skeptical of the perceived risk of putting the statues up at Idaho and Main as initially planned.

Contracts for both animal statues say they will be placed at the Idaho and Main intersection.

“There was a deal signed and I think we should move forward to get the darn statues up,”  council member Kari Gabriel said. “I agree it would be better at the courthouse, or by the chamber, and maybe we suggest that.”

“But if they won’t budge, I think we need to move forward and put them where we told them we would, even if we wouldn’t want to today, then figure out how to pay,” she said.

Two other statues initially proposed for the other two corners of the Idaho and Main intersection — a bighorn sheep on a rock and a hunter with a pack mule or train of pack mules — never got off the ground.

IN OTHER ANIMAL news, council members agreed to move ahead with a revised ordinance that would continue to let people keep chickens in the city, subject to new setback and care restrictions and possibly even a permit.

The ordinance, expected to be introduced in December, will include parts of chicken ordinances in place in Missoula and Bozeman.

“I’ll go through those and pick and choose to come up with a chicken ordinance that will probably involve a permit, to where they come in, get a handbook or manual, and then go happily about their chicken business so long as they follow rules and don’t make a nuisance,” Harball said.

The permit would be issued through the city animal control officer, a position that was vacant until recently. The new ordinance would not allow people to keep ducks or rabbits.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.