Kalispell City Council confirmed its intent to locate a prerelease center on the south end of town with a second vote Monday night approving a zoning change that paves the way for the facility. But an attorney for a south Kalispell business owner opposed to the prerelease center believes the manner in which the site was selected may have violated state code.
The council voted 6-3 to change the zoning from general business to public use for a parcel of land along U.S. Highway 93, at the old Montana Department of Health and Human Services building at 2282 U.S. 93 South, just south of Kelly Road. The vote allows the Butte-based firm, Community, Counseling and Correctional Services, Inc. (CCCS), to locate a prerelease center there, which would offer help to offenders as they transition from prison back to their communities by allowing them to finish out their sentences while starting jobs and staying in a controlled facility that offers counseling, education and job training. The state awarded a contract to CCCS in December to build the 40-bed facility.
The zoning change went through despite the strident opposition of south Kalispell business owners, who fear the prerelease center will lower their property values, as well as several council members. Councilmen Wayne Saverud and Tim Kluesner both tried to table the current location for the facility, and were joined by Councilman Bob Hafferman, but both attempts to table failed, 6-3. The three councilmen also opposed the eventual vote to change the zoning for the prerelease center’s proposed location.
Opponents of the location questioned why the city Planning Board recently recommended against approval of a small “four-plex” apartment building when six neighbors objected, yet seemed to give little consideration to the petitions and testimony of those against putting the prerelease center in south Kalispell.
Councilman Hank Olson, who served on the working committee that assessed community support for the facility, explained that the process for locating the prerelease center in Kalispell was largely dictated by the state, and that the city council does not have the authority to control the process in the way it does over other developments. CCCS won the bid to operate the facility based on this proposed location. The committee held a public hearing on the proposed location in March.
“The working committee had nothing to do with the site selection,” Olson said. “The bidding process doesn’t allow two or three different sites to choose from.”
After the meeting, attorney Rich DeJana pounced on Olson’s comments. DeJana is representing Penco Power Products, a vehicle dealership located adjacent to the site of the proposed prerelease center.
DeJana believes Montana administrative code requires that the prerelease center 12-member working committee, upon which Olson and City Planning Director Tom Jentz served, be required to participate in the site selection for the committee.
“It was nice to hear Olson and (City Planning Director Tom) Jentz admit they violated administrative code by not having the selection committee select the site,” DeJana said.
DeJana also questions whether it is appropriate for the city to change zoning for an area in anticipation of a prerelease center locating there. He said he intends to write a letter to the state Department of Corrections questioning whether the city’s actions thus far violate the state procedure for allowing the facility at the proposed location. Depending on the state’s reply, DeJana said litigating against the city remains an option.
Also at the meeting, the city council voted unanimously to enter into an interlocal agreement with Flathead County, Columbia Falls and Whitefish to establish a governing board that will administer the new centralized 911 dispatch center, currently under construction in north Kalispell.