Kalispell to consider declaring state of emergency

The Kalispell City Council will meet at 7 p.m. tonight via online video conferencing, and the meeting will be streamed at https://www.kalispell.com/480/Meeting-Videos.

Public comments on agenda items or other matters will be accepted via email at publiccomment@kalispell.com.

At the meeting, council members will decide on passing a Declaration of State of Local Disaster Emergency due to COVID-19. This declaration could allow the city to apply for emergency funding, enact disaster plans and make adjustments to public meetings or cancel them entirely. City Manager Doug Russell would also be entrusted with a number of emergency responsibilities, including preventing “ingress to or egress from all or part of the city and to direct law enforcement to enforce quarantines and curfews in all or parts of the City concurrent with or at the direction of the County Board of Health Officer.”

The council will also decide on adopting new utility rates and fees. The Kalispell Public Works Department has been in talks for weeks about changing the fees and rates for city water and sewer service. Tonight, the council will vote on whether to accept the proposed changes, which could increase sewer fees by about $13 a month throughout 2021 and by about $3 per month every subsequent year until 2025. Water fees would increase about $3 per month every year until 2025, whereas impact fees would generally decrease.

The vote on adopting these changes was postponed from the council’s last meeting on March 23 due to the onset of the coronavirus outbreak.

Additionally, the city will consider multiple plat and permit requests from developers.

WGM Group Inc. is applying for a final plat and Subdivision Improvement Agreement on behalf of Meadow’s Edge, LLC, for Meadow’s Edge Phase 1B, a 97-lot residential subdivision located near Mountain Vista Way.

The Owl Corporation is requesting a conditional-use permit for 10 buildings with a total of 120 multi-family apartments at the west end of Sawyer Lane, near Westview Estates and Owl Subdivisions.

The Meridian Apartments are requesting a conditional-se permit for a multi-family residential development that would include four buildings with 36 units each at 41 Meridian Court.

Finally, Eagle Valley Ranch Apartments and the Stillwater Corporation are requesting major subdivision preliminary plat approval for Kalispell North Town Center Phases 3 and 4. This proposed development would contain 39 acres and include 26 commercial lots, a common area and a new city street.

In addition to these requests, the council will consider distributing funds from the Bridge and Road Safety and Accountability Program. This program was enacted in 2017 to allow local governments to receive funds from fuel taxes in addition to the existing gas tax distributions from the Montana Department of Transportation. The funds can be used “to pay for the construction, reconstruction, maintenance, and repair of rural roads, city or town streets and alleys, bridges, or roads and streets that the city has the responsibility to maintain; or as the match for federal funds used for the construction of roads and streets that are part of the national, primary, secondary, or urban highway systems, or roads and streets that the city has the responsibility to maintain.”

Kalispell intends to use the BaRSAA funds for pavement preservation projects throughout the city, including 2 miles of chip seal, 1.5 miles of contractor asphalt mill and overlays and portions of the city’s operations asphalt mill and overlays. Additional information on the program is available at http://www.mdt.gov/roadbridge/.

THERE WILL also be public hearings on two applications from local museums for the state’s newly established Historic Preservation Grants. The grants were set up in 2019 by the Montana Department of Commerce “to support public or private entities with the preservation of historic sites, historical societies or history museums through grant funding.”

The Conrad Mansion Museum Board is applying for one of the grants worth $36,000 “for the purpose of replacing and updating the electrical system at the Conrad Mansion.

“The electrical system needs to be replaced to meet current fire code requirements ensuring the safety of staff, visitors and the collection when in the building,” a legal notice about the grant application explained.

Museum Director Brit Clark said the museum’s outdated electrical wiring is a “personal safety issue,” although she noted there is “no immediate risk” to museum staff or visitors. Nonetheless, she said the museum needs to update its wiring even if it don’t receive grant funding, but this funding source would help them get “up to snuff with fire code” and “guarantee the mansion will survive the next few hundred years.”

Clark said it would be a “huge financial benefit to get the grant.”

The Northwest Montana Historical Society Inc., is also applying for one of the grants in the amount of $72,981 to flush and clean the Northwest Montana History Museum’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system and replace 42 malfunctioning valves and actuators.

“These improvements are part of a larger heating and cooling upgrade to protect the collection and historical building, and provide a comfortable atmosphere for staff and visitors,” a legal notice about the grant application stated.

The meeting will be streamed online at 7 p.m. at https://www.kalispell.com/480/Meeting-Videos.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at (406)-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.