Contractor picked for C-Falls ball fields

A relative newcomer to the world of heavy construction in the Flathead Valley was awarded a contract to construct new soccer and other fields between Ruder Elementary School and the junior high school.

Last week the Columbia Falls School Board awarded Copperforge Underground of Kalispell an approximately $961,000 contract to landscape and build the fields.

“We did a lot of due diligence on them,” the school’s project manager, Dow Powell, told the board.

The company has individuals that previously worked on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Board member Barb Riley said the company also recently did a project at Meadow Lake Resort, where she sells real estate, and it was well done.

Work on the fields should begin soon.

Work on the Ruder remodel project should start in the coming weeks, Powell noted. Lead contractor Swank Construction was beginning the bid process for various parts of that project. Designers and school transportation staff were still working on the new Glacier Gateway School project.

There are still some parking issues that need to be ironed out. A final design for Gateway is expected by this fall.

— Hungry Horse News

A house fire in Plains Sunday night, May 10, left a married couple hospitalized.

Gary Bruce, 74, and his wife, Ruthe Elaine Case, 68, were inside their home Sunday night when they heard an explosion. Gary went outside to check and saw flames coming from underneath the home, located on Stageline Ranch Lane, just off Upper Lynch Creek Road.

He grabbed a hose and started to douse it with water, but he quickly realized Ruthe, his wife of 45 years, wasn’t outside.

“Dad ran back inside and Mom was nearly passed out before he pulled her out,” said their daughter, Lisa Smith. “They lost everything, the only thing that was saved was a laptop computer.”

Smith said both are expected to recover from their injuries.

Case is in the burn unit at Haborview Medical Center in Seattle. She has second degree burns on 7% of her body and suffered from smoke inhalation.

According to Smith, Bruce was in stable condition at Clark Fork Medical Center. He suffered a few, small burns and smoke inhalation, but Smith said she expected her dad would be able to leave the hospital Tuesday.

The couple also lost a dog in the blaze and possibly two cats. Two vehicles were also completely destroyed in the fire.

“They don’t have anything, no wallets, no birth certificates, no clothes, so we’re hoping to get them some help,” Smith said.

Smith, of Missoula, started a GoFundMe page.

— Clark Fork Valley Press

The Whitefish City Council last week delayed a decision on a request to develop a large condominium project planned along U.S. 93 West.

Council seemed to not get a clear answer as to when the city would receive payment for a cash-in-lieu fee of affordable housing associated with the proposed 52-unit condominium project, thus prompting its vote to postpone the decision. Council is now set to consider the request at its May 18 meeting.

Ronnie and Sharon Kyle are requesting a conditional use permit to construct 52 condo units in three buildings on property located directly across the highway from Whitefish Lake Golf Course. The 4.47-acre property currently contains a single-family home and some outbuildings.

Under the city’s Legacy Homes Program, the project would need to provide 20% of its units as affordable or 10.4 units. However, the developer is proposing to pay a cash-in-lieu fee of affordable housing of about $1.2 million.

In the housing mitigation plan submitted to the city, the applicant is proposing to phase payment of the fee on a per unit basis at the time of certificate of occupancy, the document that certifies that a building is complete and can be lived in.

Councilor Andy Feury said he wanted to be clear on the procedure for when the city would obtain payment.

“In the event that we hit a soft market, my concern is that we have units that are just sitting there and we don’t get the payment,” he said. “My concern is that they won’t request a certificate of occupancy until they sell the unit.”

In representing the developer Fran Quiram, with Cushing Terrell, said the buildings would receive a certificate of occupancy and then when individual condo units were completed those would also receive a certificate of occupancy.

“The goal is to finish the units out holistically,” she said. “The intent is to have the units finished and sold as soon as possible.”

Councilor Frank Sweeney expressed concern that the developer would hold back on finishing units until a sale occurred to delay payment for affordable housing.

“We’ve had units promised to us in the past and they never got built or we never got paid,” Sweeney said.

A traffic impact study for the project, found that it would generate 283 new trips per day adding to the existing streets and no mitigation is required as a result.

The property since at least 1982 has been zoned low-density resort residential, which is “intended to provide low density setting for secondary resorts” according to the city zoning code.

— Whitefish Pilot

A committee tasked with finding a new city manager for Polson has narrowed the field to a handful of candidates.

The City Manager Search Committee met May 11 to discuss five prospective candidates: Brian Bender, chief administrative officer of Deer Lodge; J.D. Cox, most recently the city manager of Longwood, Florida; Alan Lanning, most recently the city manager of Cordova, Alaska, and previously the city manager for Steamboat Springs, Colorado; Darcy Long, former city manager of Gladstone, Michigan; and Ed Meece, the former city manager of Livingston, Montana.

A sixth candidate asked that their name be withheld from public discussion as they did not want their current employers to know that they are seeking employment elsewhere. The search committee reviewed that candidate in a closed session.

Among the resumes discussed in the public session, Bender seemed to garner the most positive feedback among the group. Bender was hired for the Deer Lodge job in July of 2016. He previously was a county planner and city council member in Deer Lodge.

The Polson City Commission ultimately selects the next city manager, following recommendations by the search committee.

Polson Police Chief Wade Nash has been leading the city as interim city manager since former City Manager Mark Shrives stepped down in October 2018.

— Lake County Leader

While the vast majority of sporting events have been called off for the spring season, Bigfork Competitors, a local youth shooting sports team, is looking for new members.

Boys and girls between third and 12th grades are welcome. Full-time college students who have taken at least 12 credits in the spring, can also join.

Practices are usually held on Tuesdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., but because of social distancing, participants will practice at different times that work for them and their coaches.

Practices are held at the Bigfork Gun Club and the cost to join is $25.

Thanks to a grant from the National Rifle Association, members can shoot for very little expense. Most ammunition and clays are paid for by the National Rifle Association, which. has also given the club nine shotguns so students who don’t own a rifle can still participate.

To learn more, contact head coach Robert Henneman at (608) 332-5666.

— Bigfork Eagle