Manager charts ambitious course for city

With just four weeks left on the job, Kalispell City Manager Jane Howington is planning an aggressive agenda for the City Council during December.

The push to get things done or at least agreed upon is meant to help with the transition to a new city manager, Howington told the council during a work session Monday.

“If staff has an idea of the direction council wants to take on the issues, we won’t fall behind or drop them,” she said.

Howington gave council members a brief rundown of the things she hopes to tackle before leaving at the end of the month to take an identical job in Rhode Island:

 At next Monday’s council meeting, Howington will introduce a nonbinding resolution of intent for council to let staffers know if they should keep working on a street maintenance assessment that would put more of the cost of street repairs on businesses.

“This would [let council] say they’re pretty serious, like the concept and see the need,” Howington said.

Discussed on and off for the past year, the proposal would raise more money for annual street repairs and equipment purchases.

An early proposal still being developed would charge single-family homes $25 a year, granting waivers for small lots that can’t be developed.

Commercial properties would be charged based on their use and at a rate of seven to nine cents per vehicle trip based on standardized traffic projections by the Institute of Traffic Engineers.

An appeal process would let businesses challenge assessments based on actual customer or traffic counts.

The changed assessment model would increase the amount of money available for street repairs and equipment purchases each year from $1.7 million to an estimated $3 million.

Council members Tim Kluesner and Jim Atkinson spoke in favor of the concept while Bob Hafferman questioned what the city plans to do with all that extra revenue.

 Legislation introduced at the next council meeting would fold the city’s semi-autonomous parking commission and its two enforcement officers into the Kalispell Police Department.

That would turn the commission, which has been tasked with enforcing parking regulations downtown, into an advisory committee and put the police department in charge of parking enforcement.

“Right up front we’ll save $650 a month by not having to pay rent,” Howington said.

Enforcement officers could be cross-trained to help with code enforcement and an administrator could help staff the police department’s front desk, a position ended with the launch of the consolidated 911 center.

Backup within the department would keep parking enforcement going even when an employee is out sick, something that has limited revenues in the past.

“This past year an enforcement officer was out sick for two months so we had no revenue for two months,” Howington said.

 A work session on Dec. 12 will focus on what the council wants to do with the Kalispell City Airport.

A $97,000 study by Stelling Engineers exploring various options for the airport is nearing completion.

“I’m looking for a resolution of intent for council to say where it wants to take the airport. That would let staff move forward into whatever the next phase is, whether that’s shutting it down, moving it or improving it,” Howington said.

The nonbinding resolution would be introduced the following week at the council’s Dec. 19 meeting.

 Howington said staffers are trying to reach a revised agreement with the Evergreen Water and Sewer District.

“We’re trying to make it more equitable for both sides, both in the revenue the city receives for processing their wastewater and to give them the ability to expand their capacity,” Howington said.

The existing agreement runs through 2014. Talks are continuing this week and a revised agreement could be brought before the council this month if one is reached.

 Following a coordination meeting this week, work will start on safety upgrades at the Kalispell Public Safety Building (formerly City Hall).

The project is funded by a $250,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security.

“We’re going to reorganize the building, put cameras in and put security doors in,” Howington said.

Kalispell Municipal Court will be moved from the front of the building to the back, making room for the Kalispell Police Department in the front of the building, Howington said.

 Howington said she wants to create an incentive for employees to save their paid sick leave and not use it if they are not really sick.

“We have quite a high sick leave use,” Howington told the council.

The proposal would set up voluntary employee benefit accounts and let employees cash out sick days and put the money into health savings accounts tax-free, saving the city money on payroll taxes and retirement contributions.

State law requires the city to pay out one quarter on the dollar. The city is proposing to double that for employees who retire or leave after 10 years on the job, as a reward for saving up sick days.

The proposal would also give employees a personal day for every quarter they go without using a sick day, Howington said.

Excessive sick leave use can require overtime in some city departments.

City employees accrue 96 hours of paid sick leave a year, with no cap on how much they can accrue.

Legislation will be introduced at the next council meeting.

 Howington said she hopes to do as much preliminary work as possible for the fiscal year 2012-13 budget.

Early projections show a slight growth in recurring revenue, and Howington said she thinks the city may be able to afford 2.3 percent raises for all city employees. That would bring all employees up to the largest union-negotiated pay raise for the fiscal year.

An ability to grant the raises counts on no major unforeseen costs, stable costs to fund the consolidated 911 center, which is questionable, and an ability to absorb the cost of three firefighters who were hired using temporary grant funds that will run out next year.

Council members said they want to keep the three firefighters on board, even if that would mean smaller raises.

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