The city of Kalispell is, slowly but surely, beginning to see the fruits of the federal stimulus legislation. Over the last several weeks, city officials have learned what they can use the stimulus for, and how much Kalispell will receive. At the county level, the same process is underway.
Kalispell’s total haul has the potential to exceed $500,000, with nearly $340,000 allocated for road improvements, $96,700 for energy efficiency improvements, and almost $70,000 for the Police Department to purchase a new vehicle and equip existing cruisers with mobile data centers.
But the city doesn’t simply receive a blank check from the federal government as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus bill’s official name. Instead, the heads of various departments are at work writing grant applications explaining how the funds would be spent, as well as how they might generate work for local businesses.
On May 29 Kalispell received a letter from the state announcing the city has been allocated $339,549 for infrastructure improvements. While the money is federal, it was funneled to Kalispell through the 2009 Legislature’s House Bill 645, which outlined how Montana’s stimulus dollars would be distributed to municipalities. The bill provides roughly $10 million in grants for counties, and the same amount for cities and towns to be used for infrastructure.
In Kalispell, that approximately $340,000 will be deposited into the pavement maintenance fund, and the overlay and chip seal fund, according to Terri Loudermilk, budget resource manager for the Public Works Department.
Loudermilk stressed that the city hasn’t received the money yet, nor has she had a chance to look at the wording of the grant contract, much less sign it.
“We don’t know what strings are going to be attached,” Loudermilk said. “They’re going to be stressing job creation reporting.”
The city would put the street improvement jobs out for a bid, thus providing some work for area contractors. And at a time when Kalispell is drawing up a bare-bones budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the extra funds will come in handy.
Over at the Police Department, Chief Roger Nasset is preparing to receive a $57,224-grant to purchase a new four-wheel drive vehicle for the department, replacing the current one, which has more than 150,000 miles on it.
Additionally, Kalispell police will receive $10,595 to install mobile data centers in the city’s cruisers, allowing officers to run license plate numbers through department records themselves, instead of calling the information into a dispatcher..
“We really went out looking for innovative ways to increase efficiency, and this was one of the ways we found,” Nassett said. “It’s essentially no-strings-attached.”
And while Nassett waits for the stimulus funds at the public safety building, Mike Baker is next door working on a grant for stimulus funds to put a new roof on that building. Baker, the director of the Parks and Recreation Department, learned in March from the U.S. Department of Energy the city has been allocated $96,700 for energy conservation improvements. Flathead County was allocated $274,200, and the state was allocated a total of $13.9 million.
Baker’s department manages the city’s buildings, so it falls on him to apply for the stimulus grant, which he plans to use to improve the public safety building’s roof, which has suffered from leaks over the last year, as well as replace some of the large bay doors for the Fire Department.
“Allocation doesn’t mean all we do is send a letter in and get a check,” Baker said. “We have to be able to measure the impacts that we’re going to produce by completing the project.”
The grant has a ceiling of $200,000, Baker added, so once he estimates the cost of the work, the city is eligible to apply for more funds. The government money has become available at a point when Kalispell’s coffers are especially lean as other funding sources are drying up, and Baker believes the money couldn’t come at a better time, since the city wouldn’t be able to pay for these necessary fixes otherwise.
“The grant is very timely in that the life expectancy of that roof is winding down,” Baker added. “If everything follows the way we want it to we’re going to see some real benefits here in the city.”
Flathead County should receive about $3.7 million in stimulus dollars, according to County Administrator Mike Pence. He plans to use the $274,200 from the Energy Department to replace the windows in the old county courthouse building with more energy efficient models, improve and apply new exterior siding to the so-called “blue building,” and install a new air control system at the animal shelter. Energy stimulus dollars would also pay for enhanced insulation at the road and weed department buildings.
Transportation stimulus dollars will pay for road improvements to the tune of $423,650, and to build a bus storage facility for Eagle Transit at a cost of $980,585. The new community health center will get $1.3 million for operations.
The state’s Treasure State Endowment Program (TSEP) is also receiving a boost of stimulus dollars, which will allocate $625,000 to the Bigfork stormwater project and $89,993 for the county to study wastewater management in rural areas.