Kalispell could put opioid settlement dollars toward co-responder program

Kalispell City Council is poised to enter into an agreement with Flathead County to help fund a crisis assistance team with dollars from the national opioid settlement.

Council is expected to review and vote on the compact at its Monday, Nov. 6 meeting in City Hall, 201 First Ave. E. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. For more information on how to participate, including remotely, go to www.kalispell.com/agendacenter.

In a memo, City Manager Doug Russell wrote that municipal officials were working with the county, particularly the Flathead City-County Health Department, to direct opioid settlement funds toward a co-responder program. 

“As we are facing calls in law enforcement that stem from drug use and the resulting behavioral impacts, the co-responder program provides a valuable tool to aid in the intervention and or connection to resources for individuals that may be in need of alternative services that fall outside traditional law enforcement provision,” he wrote. 

The funding is coming from the $26 billion put up by pharmaceutical companies in response to litigation stemming from the opioid crisis. According to city documents, Council voted to participate in the national opioid settlement agreements in December 2021. Dollars from that pot of money must go toward efforts related to the opioid crisis. 

If Council enters into the crisis assistance team agreement, money from the settlement bound for Kalispell will be redirected to the county, according to city documents. City staff are endorsing the move. 

COUNCIL ALSO will take up a trio of requests from developers, including a major preliminary plat approval for Kalispell North Town Center phases 6 and 7. 

The 23-lot commercial subdivision is located in the general business zoned area of the Kalispell North Town Center PUD. The two phases cover about 72 acres east of U.S. 93 North and between Glacier Memorial Gardens and Lincoln Street. 

The Kalispell Planning Board held a public hearing on the request Oct. 10, but only the applicant spoke on the request, according to city documents. City staff recommend its approval. 

Silverbrook Properties is seeking a planned unit development amendment and preliminary plat for 97 lots on about 81 acres on Church Drive. Known as Riverside North, the property previously received preliminary plat approval as Silverbrook phase 2D and is zoned residential. 

The amended development plan includes 95 single family lots, a storage unit lot and a lot for municipal services that eventually will be donated to the city.

The Planning Board held a public hearing on the request Oct. 10 with no speakers other than the applicant, according to city documents. City staff recommend Council approve both the planned unit development amendment and preliminary plat request. 

Lastly, JAG Capital Investments is seeking the extension of its preliminary plat for the Autumn Creek Subdivision for two years. The preliminary plat was first approved in January 2021 and is slated to expire Jan. 4. The firm behind the project cited unforeseen circumstances as resulting in the delay and is hoping to avoid going back through the major preliminary plat process, city documents said. 

City staff recommend Council grant the extension. 

COUNCIL IS poised to amend the city’s personnel policy handbook as it relates to health insurance coverage to reflect that Medicare-eligible retirees will soon be ineligible for coverage under the municipality’s plan.

The change is effective Jan. 1. A memo prepared by Human Resources Director Denise Michel noted that the change comes via the Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority, which administers a pool that includes the city of Kalispell. 

“This decision was made after a thorough cost analysis and in consideration of the financial implication for the self-funded pool,” she wrote. “As health care and prescription costs continue to rise, it has become increasingly challenging to sustain the inclusion of Medicare-eligible retirees in the group health insurance plan. Though these changes may seem alarming initially, MMIA research indicates most, if not all, Medicare-eligible participants will find annual savings from this initiative.”

According to the memo, both City Hall and the Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority have pledged to assist retirees through the transition. 

City staff are recommending Council approve the change to its personnel policy handbook. 

KALISPELL POLICE Chief Jordan Venezio is petitioning Council to award bids to Duval Ford for two replacement vehicles for the department’s fleet. 

Duval Ford quoted the city at $128,624.90 for the pair of Oxford white 2025 Ford Police Interceptor Utility vehicles while the only other bidder, Corwin Ford Tri-Cities, priced them at $142,070. 

Venezio’s memo, included in Council’s agenda packet, noted that the department set aside dollars for the purchases in the fiscal year 2024 budget. According to the city’s financial roadmap, the Police Department budgeted $228,000 for the purchase of one truck, two patrol vehicles and one unmarked vehicle. 

The request is part of Council’s consent agenda.

Council also is expected to recognize Julia Pierrottet, chair of the Kalispell Architectural Review Committee, to acknowledge two recent building projects for “quality development in the community,” according to city documents. The committee is bestowing its Architectural Review Award on First Interstate Bank for its South Main Street project and Black Rifle Coffee for its newly-erected shop on the 300 block of Second Avenue West.

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.