Page 14 - Flathead Beacon // 3.30.16

NEWS
CITY BEAT
POLSON
City Puts Together Strategic Plan to Outline Critical Projects
The mayor of Polson said the city’s new strategic plan will help the community on the south end of Flathead Lake better plan for its future.
On March 21, Mayor Heather Knut- son and other city o cials presented the Polson Strategic Plan to nearly two- dozen citizens at a special hearing. The plan was developed with the help of the Montana State University’s Local Gov- ernment Center in February.
Knutson said she has wanted to put together a strategic plan for the last few years so the city’s o cials and residents can be better prepared for what’s to come.
“One of the challenges that has risen to the top in the last few years is the need for a new wastewater treatment facility. Some of us think this issue sort of snuck up on us, but it hadn’t,” she said. “So I think a strategic plan will help future mayors and future city commissioners to know what projects are coming up. I think this is great for the commission, city sta and the citizens.”
She added, “It’s a good document to get everyone on the same page regarding the city’s needs.”
Mayor Knutson and City Manager Mark Shrives said it’s not clear what proj- ects will be included in the plan at this point and that it would still need to be approved by the commission. They said the plan would address certain themes city o cials want to improve, like infra- structure and customer service. Shrives said as city sta works on the 2017 bud- get over the next few months they will start to comprise a list of projects to be included.
“This will help us understand what
FLATHEAD COUNTY
North Fork Road Improvement Project Moves Forward
The Flathead County Commission voted unanimously on March 24 to move forward with a proposed project among the county and federal partners to reha- bilitate the North Fork Road.
The project, part of the Montana Fed- eral Lands Access Program (FLAP), seeks to make improvements to the road, which serves as an access point for about 300 residents and thousands of recreationists each year.
FLAP was established to improve transportation routes that provide access to, are adjacent to, or located within fed- eral lands. The program supplements state and local resources for public roads and transit systems.
As a travel corridor, the North Fork Road provides primary access for high-use recreation sites on U.S. Forest Services lands, and also provides access to Glacier National Park’s Polebridge entrance.
Flathead County joined forces with
direction our elected o cials want to take us and the city,” Shrives said. “This gives us a framework for moving the city forward.”
Each project listed within the stra- tegic document will include a strategy description, the resources required to complete it and an estimate of when it should be done.
Knutson said projects that could be included in the plan are a new emergency services facility and new city o ces, along with the always-important road and sidewalk repairs.
WHITEFISH
Council Adopts Non-Discrimination Ordinance
Amid e usive community support, the city of White sh on March 21 joined a short list of Montana cities to usher in a non-discrimination ordinance, extend- ing unmet civil rights protections to res- idents based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In front of citizens who lined up to advocate on behalf of the equality ordi- nance, the council voted unanimously in favor of a measure that shields people from discrimination in housing, employ- ment and public accommodations.
Under existing state and federal civil rights laws, those protections are fur- nished on individuals based on race, national origin, religion, sex, physical and mental disability, age, and familial status.
However, attempts to extend those protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals have been unsuc- cessful before the Montana Legislature.
White sh City Councilor Frank Swee- ney, who recently asked for the non-dis- crimination ordinance to be placed on the council’s agenda after city o cials
the Flathead National Forest, Glacier National Park, and U.S. Border Patrol to apply for the FLAP money, which would pay for all but a 13.42 percent match required from the local agencies receiv- ing the funding.
The proposal looks to add safety improvements to 20.75 miles of road, including 14.32 miles of aggregate surfac- ing, crush, and laydown. The project also proposes slop reinforcement at two sites along the road, and 1.5 miles of earthwork to raise the road grade with ditch borrow material. It will also add more signing throughout.
Residents have long discussed whether to pave the North Fork Road, which tends to be a contentious topic in which dust abatement is pitted against construction in a relatively wild place.
This proposed project wouldn’t pave the road, but it would improve it with smoother and safer surfaces, along with proper widths and adding dust abatement properties during maintenance.
The whole project is expected to cost just over $2 million, and the four
spent the past year researching its legal nuances, commended those in atten- dance for closing an equality gap.
“The testimony tonight re ects the community that I live in and that I want to be part of,” Sweeney said. “I could not
non-discrimination ordinance erupted in November 2014, when some commu- nity members asked the council to take a stand against bigotry, hatred and preju- dice in White sh by enacting a “no-hate ordinance.”
“THIS HELPS CREATE A COMMUNITY WHERE WE DON’T EVEN NEED NON-DISCRIMINATION ORDINANCES, BECAUSE THERE IS NO DISCRIMINATION.”
be prouder of this community and the people that showed up here tonight.”
Testimony at Monday night’s council meeting drew loud applause as commu- nity members described their support for the non-discrimination ordinance and praised the city council for its proactive work in adopting the measure.
“We are in very troubled, divisive times, and for this council to take the step of saying ‘not here and not in this town’ is really worthy of admiration,” said White- sh attorney Brian Muldoon. “We can either take a stand in favor of opening our arms or closing our sts, and I am really proud to be part of a community that is opening its arms.”
Hilary Shaw, executive director of the Abbie Shelter, a nonpro t that provides services to victims of domestic and sex- ual violence, said resistance to similar ordinances across the state are the result of misinformed, fear-based perceptions about sexual crimes.
“This is social change in action,” Shaw said. “This helps create a community where we don’t even need non-discrim- ination ordinances, because there is no discrimination.”
In White sh, calls for a
agencies applying for the funding will combine resources to pay the 13.42 per- cent match. The Forest Service will con- tribute $126,000, Glacier National Park is kicking $15,000, Border Patrol has pledged $100,000, and Flathead County has o ered to provide $32,525 for dust palliative.
The project has also received support from the North Fork Landowners’ Asso- ciation and several other landowners in the area.
FLATHEAD COUNTY
Blacktail Path Project Goes to Bid
A years-long project to add a pedes- trian path along Blacktail Road took a considerable step forward last week when the Flathead County Commission voted to o cially send the path to bid.
The path, a product of the county’s involvement with Community Transpor- tation Enhancement Program (CTEP) funds, would run from Stoner Loop to Soren Lane along Blacktail Road.
It will include excavation, embank- ment construction, retaining walls, a
Citing concerns about First Amend- ment rights violations, the council stopped short of introducing such an ordinance, and instead enacted a good- faith resolution a rming its commit- ment to diversity and inclusion, with the promise that it would take a hard look at a non-discrimination ordinance.
Under the newly adopted ordinance, people claiming discrimination may bring a civil claim to municipal court, but rst must establish that the Montana Human Rights Bureau will not pursue the case. If the bureau does not, the per- son has 90 days to le in municipal court. People alleging discrimination can seek monetary damages up to the jurisdic- tional limit of $12,000, injunctive relief and attorneys’ fees. There are no crimi- nal remedies or penalties.
Missoula made history in 2010 when it became the rst Montana city to adopt a non-discrimination law, while Helena and Butte followed in 2012 and 2014, respec- tively. Bozeman adopted a non-discrimi- nation ordinance in June 2014. Five res- idents challenged the measure in court but a judge dismissed the suit.
Both Dillon and Billings rejected non-discrimination ordinances in 2014.
single-span weathered steel bridge, con- crete abutments, pavement, drainage and landscaping.
Initially, the project was much larger, but available CTEP funds forced design- ers to scale back. The base project for which contractors can bid is the Stoner Loop to Soren Lane section, but there’s also an additive alternate that includes extending the path from Soren Lane to the YWAM campus.
Whether the additive section will be part of the project will depend on avail- able funds. CTEP projects require a local match, which in this case will be made by a group in Lakeside, not the county.
Interested contractors must turn in their bids by April 27. Bids will be opened at 9:15 a.m. at the commission’s chambers in Kalispell. The county recently saw the completion of the Swan River Road Trail, which was another CTEP project. After the Blacktail project gets moving, the proposed path running between Coram and West Glacier will go to bid next.
NEWS
COUNTY BEAT
14
MARCH 30, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM