Kalispell plans build-out of City Hall's top floor

The city of Kalispell plans to spend about $200,000 in the coming budget year to build out the top floor of Kalispell City Hall to provide more office and conference-room space.

The renovation plan is a key capital project in the city’s proposed budget for the 2020 fiscal year that begins July 1. The council will consider adopting the preliminary budget at its July 1 meeting and will vote on the final budget Aug 19.

City Manager Doug Russell said the idea to renovate the windowless top floor — which has been used for storage — comes from a need for more conference space and a desire to better accommodate City Hall employees and members of the public.

“We want to offer a better service to the public,” he said.

The finished space would serve as office space and a large conference room. Currently, there are two small conference rooms in the building, one on the first floor and the other in the basement of City Hall. Russell said these spaces cannot accommodate the needs of a city experiencing the growth that Kalispell has seen in recent years.

The city purchased the former Wells Fargo Bank building in 2005 and then renovated it to accommodate city departments.

With the existing configuration, employees of the city’s Building Department cannot all fit into a single conference room with developers when they meet to discuss projects in the city. They believe it impedes their productivity when they are not able to have all of the collaborators on a project in the same room.

The two current conference rooms are not only too small, but also the demand for the space is greater than their current availability, Russell said.

“You see people waiting for space outside the two conference rooms,” he added.

The new conference area on the top floor would be able to fit all of the collaborators in one room and help alleviate the need for a waiting period to use these conference spaces.

“It would add a lot of value to have all the teams working together in one room,” Russell said.

The current plan is for the Building Department to utilize the new conference space for large meetings and to add a few additional office spaces on the top floor, but all of the plans for the construction are only preliminary until the City Council approves the 2020 fiscal year budget in August.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at bserbin@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.