Settlement possible in long-running airport case

 The Kalispell City Council and Montana Diamond Aire owner John Talmage might end their nine-year-old legal fight tonight.

“The city of Kalispell has met with its insurers and counsel as part of the process to investigate the potential of a settlement versus going to trial. At the meeting on June 17, staff will present proposed terms for settlement of the case,” City Manager Doug Russell writes in a memo to the city council.

Those terms are not being made public prior to tonight’s City Council meeting. 

Talmage’s lawsuit against Kalispell is scheduled for trial in August. But trial dates have been scrapped repeatedly as the case has gone unresolved through several city managers and two full four-year terms of the City Council.

Talmage said he sued Kalispell in May 2004 after city officials demanded he pay several thousand dollars in airport user fees that had gone unpaid by a prior owner of his property and then fenced his airplane modification and fueling business off from Kalispell City Airport with a rolling gate that he argues provides inadequate access.

His lawsuit alleges unreasonable interference with the use of an easement, wrongful interference with business relations, inverse condemnation and infliction of emotional distress. It also asserts claims against Airport Manager Fred Leistiko for slander and interference with business relations.

THE CITY COUNCIL also will revisit an ordinance allowing special public events with alcohol in some city parks, bringing it up for an unusual third reading after it was heavily amended during first and then second readings.

One amendment that passed 5-4 requires a Training for Intervention Procedures-trained volunteer or employee to be present at the point of sale and service during such events.

City officials are recommending the city council change that amendment to more broadly require “a trained volunteer or employee in one of the pre-approved Montana Department of Revenue training courses for sales or service of alcoholic beverages.”

“This amendment would provide for alternative options that would be available to applicants,” Russell writes in a memo to the city council.

The City Council also will be asked to approve a seasonal special public event for ThursdayFest. That would allow the downtown events with alcohol to be held between June 27 and August 29.

A BRONZE STATUE of two white-tailed deer that has sat in city storage for almost five years could be installed soon at the intersection of Main and Idaho streets if the City Council gives its blessing today.

Kalispell agreed to pay $35,000 for the statue in 2007. 

A bear statue was supposed to join the deer statue at the intersection, but the city never followed through with the purchase and recently settled a lawsuit over the bears.

“With the recent resolution of agreement related to the bronze ‘Bear’ sculpture, it seems to be an appropriate time to proceed with the installation of this piece,” Russell writes in a memo to the city council. “There may be some nominal costs for the installation of the statute, though it would be worked into existing budget authority.”

IN OTHER BUSINESS, City Council members will:

• Consider accepting a construction agreement for the Montana Department of Transportation to rebuild Three Mile Drive with a bridge over the future path of the U.S. 93 Alternate Route.

• Consider approving an R-2 residential zoning request for Marilynn Richter after her .77-acre property at 205 Leisure Drive was annexed and a B-2 general business zoning request for Orchard Village after its half-acre property at 57 Appleway Drive was annexed.

• Consider excluding from city limits 3,000 square feet of land Sherry Wells owns near Concord Lane.

• Consider appointing someone to the Kalispell Police Commission after Jim Ness retired from that advisory board.

• Consider accepting a preliminary engineering report for the Willows stormwater drainage improvement project. The report includes a proposed design, cost estimates and project schedule.

Today’s city council meeting starts at 7 p.m. in Kalispell City Hall, 201 First Ave. E. It is open to the public.

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