City, county officials address 911 funding
Elected officials from Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Flathead County met during a fifth Monday work session April 30 in Columbia Falls. Topics discussed included funding problems concerning the county 911 center, concerns about septic systems and complaints about railroad traffic noise.
911 center
While changes are expected to the 911 center interlocal agreement between Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Flathead County, those changes are likely on hold until a new director for the center is hired.
Mike Shepard, who is a Columbia Falls city councilor and 911 advisory board member, told officials the board is looking at streamlining the operations of the center. He noted that the center is still working on next year’s budget, but a 2 percent increase in what the cities and county pay for participation is anticipated.
“We assumed repair of the county communication system with no money,” Shepard said. “We’ve got a lot of infrastructure that needs to be addressed.”
Shepard estimated the 911 system has about $50,000 in its capital fund, but could be looking at spending three-quarters of a million dollars within the next three years to rebuild the crucial radio tower on Big Mountain. Improvements could include installing a fiberglass shell to protect the antenna from extreme weather conditions.
A radio tower on Mount Aeneas improved radio coverage in south Kalispell and on the east and west sides of Flathead Lake, but the center has had to suspend using the frequency. Shepard said the hold is the result of “some bureaucrat in Washington” that didn’t like the use of the frequency that made the system work.
Whitefish City Manager Chuck Stearns said discussions at past meetings over new funding for the emergency services system have identified a number of options.
“Two or three of them would require a vote of the countywide people and that appears to be an obstacle whether you go with a motor vehicle levy or a property tax levy,” he said.
Septic systems
County commissioner Pam Holmquist praised a regional wastewater treatment study that mapped 6,000 septic tanks that the county previously had not mapped.
Holmquist said the county doesn’t have the money to keep the map updated as new septic systems go online.
“We were able to identify potential problems,” she said, including areas where concentrations of septic systems could lead to the potential for connecting to multi-user systems or municipal systems.
City officials questioned if there was a way to encourage owners of failing septic systems to connect to treatment plants. Cities are facing tougher standards for their wastewater treatment plants and costly projects to improve plants with only minimal improvement as failing septics are non-point sources of pollution that contribute to water quality problems in rivers and Flathead Lake.
“If water quality is important to us, it behooves us to do something about it,” Whitefish councilor Frank Sweeney said. “We have to do something to determine if these septics are functioning.”
Whitefish councilor Phil Mitchell added that identifying the septic tanks isn’t enough and that those with failing septics need to be on the city systems.
“How do we get them to hook up?” he asked. “Do we give them an incentive or do we just bill them?”
Railroad noise
Citing the growth of train traffic and therefore increase in noise, Columbia Falls Mayor Don Barnhart asked the county commissioners for help in creating railroad quiet zones similar to those already in place in Whitefish.
“We went from 15 trains per day to 40 trains per day,” he said. “This is a quality of life issue.”
Whitefish officials urged Columbia Falls and the county to contact BNSF Railway about creating the quiet crossings, noting that the cost of the crossings can range from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on what infrastructure improvements are necessary.
Mitchell said Whitefish is looking at partnering with residents on Birch Point Drive to install a quiet crossing in that neighborhood and the cost is expected to be roughly $250,000.
He said the costs can be worth it, however, as “the lifestyle difference is unbelievable.”