Page 14 - Flathead Beacon // 10.14.15

NEWS
CITY BEAT
KALISPELL
Leaf Removal Begins
Residents and business operators are encouraged to rake the leaves from the boulevard onto the street approximately two feet away from the curb. Vehicles must be removed from curbsides during leaf pickup operations.
Avenues are done on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Streets are done Tuesdays and Thursdays. Outlying residential areas will be done daily.
Bagged leafs should be placed in the alley behind your residence and will be removed with alley cleanup.
Please do not put rocks, dirt, cans, bot- tles, branches and items of this nature in the leaf piles because they may cause bodily injury and damage to machinery.
In Polson, city crews will be picking up bags of leaves and woody debris that are placed by the side of the street every Mon- day in November.
Whitefish leaf pickup operations occur Fridays through November
WHITEFISH
Whitefish in Contention for Affordable Housing Project
Whitefish is vying for a grant to sup- port an affordable housing project on U.S. Highway 93 South.
The project is contingent on investors from a Portland, Oregon-based firm, called The Common Wealth Companies, which must receive funding from the federal low-income Housing Tax Credit program.
Commonwealth Companies cur- rently holds a parcel of land south of the Les Schwab tire store under contingency through January, when the grant recip- ients are announced, according to the Whitefish Housing Authority.
The first phase of the project would
FLATHEAD
County Receives Grant for Senior Centers
Flathead County has been awarded more than $437,000 in grant money for health and safety improvements to the area’s senior centers.
According to county administra- tor Mike Pence, the county received a Community Development Block Grant from the federal CDBG program worth $437,459, which is the total amount the county requested.
All of the money will go toward upgrading the senior centers in White- fish, Columbia Falls, and Bigfork, along with the new Adams building currently under construction in Kalispell.
Most of the improvements will bring the senior centers into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements. In Whitefish, there
include 36 units and would remain affordable housing for at least the next 60 years.
The Housing Authority will be a non-fi- nancial business partner in the project, with the investor buying the tax credits.
There are 22 applicants in contention for the funding, and without the funding the project will not happen. The last time Whitefish received the tax credits was a decade ago.
Whitefish Housing Authority Execu- tive Director Lori Collins is seeking let- ters of support from a variety of commu- nity members to support the effort.
For more information, contact the Housing Authority at 862-4143.
COLUMBIA FALLS
Library Offers New Kids Programs
Along with the recently remodeled space at the ImagineIF library in Colum- bia Falls, staff members at the library are now offering a new lineup of interactive children’s experiences and programs.
New programs include Toddler Time, now offered on Monday mornings, during which toddlers and their families can make new friends and participate in interactive and energetic stories, songs and movement.
The program runs from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and is designed for kids ages 18 months to 3 years old, along with their caregivers. Babies are also welcome.
The After-School Storytime program, which used to be offered at the Columbia Falls library on Wednesday afternoons, is no longer taking place. Instead, kids grades K-6 are invited to participate in themed activities, which have new selec- tions each month.
The experiences are hands-on and participative, such as the Moon Madness activities that happened a week before
will be more than $62,000 worth of inte- rior remodeling, including installing an air conditioner and redoing the bath- rooms, and there will be nearly $17,000 in exterior work as well.
In Columbia Falls, the senior center will receive $25,450 in interior remodel- ing, including a new ADA restroom and a new hot water heater. It will also receive a new roof, costing $22,522.
The Bigfork location will see a $69,500 interior facelift, which includes new plumbing, a new HVAC system, a restroom remodel, and new electri- cal upgrades. The parking lot will be re-graded and paved, and the roofing will be replaced and new insulation added.
About $66,000 of the grant money will go toward installing an elevator in the new Adams building, which sits on the southern end of the county’s campus in Kalispell and will eventually house the
the recent lunar eclipse and super moon. Preschool Storytime is scheduled for Wednesdays from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. All programs and activities at
Kalispell Senior Center along with the county’s Agency on Aging program.
Pence said Whitney Aschenwald, who works as the county’s grant support and wrote the grant application, was instru- mental in ensuring the project came to fruition.
“It was way more competitive this year in regard to the number of applications so we really appreciate Whitney’s efforts in this very detailed and difficult grant application package,” Pence said.
FLATHEAD
Volunteers, Referrals Needed for United Way Raking Event
Volunteers and projects are needed for the 10th annual Rake Up the Flathead on Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov. 7. The United Way Volunteer Center is coor- dinating the event and is seeking both
ImagineIF Libraries are free and regis- tration is not required. For more infor- mation, visit www.imagineiflibraries.org.
[email protected]
volunteers to do fall yard work and refer- rals of senior citizens or disabled people who need help with fall projects.
Whether it’s raking leaves, stacking firewood or hauling leaves to the refuse site, volunteers can help. Individuals, families, businesses and church groups are invited to volunteer for a fun and rewarding time that helps people who can’t do their own fall cleanup. Busi- nesses, youth groups and church groups that can’t work on the scheduled days can still participate by calling the United Way to set up a time that works for their group.
Volunteers can sign up for a whole day or a half-day, whichever fits their schedule. To volunteer for Rake Up the Flathead or to make a referral for a project that needs doing, call the United Way Vol- unteer Center at 752-7266. Registration
deadline for projects is Friday, Oct. 30.
[email protected]
REMEMBERING AUTUMN
Community members gather at Peterson Elementary School to honor Autumn Hawk, the 8-year-old girl killed in a motor home fire near Foys Lake. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
NEWS
COUNTY BEAT
14
OCTOBER 14, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM