At a work session tonight, the Kalispell City Council considers sponsoring a $450,000 grant application for Flathead County and its Agency on Aging.

If the application is approved and the grant awarded, money from the Community Development Block Grant Public Facilities Program could help build a new Agency on Aging facility.

In a memo to the City Council, Flathead County Agency on Aging Director Lisa Sheppard asks Kalispell to consider holding a required public hearing for the project and grant application in March.

“This hearing will give community decision makers, citizens and potential beneficiaries of the project adequate opportunity to evaluate community impacts and benefits or concerns related to the facility. Based on information received at this hearing, the council would determine their willingness to host an application on behalf of Flathead County Agency on Aging.”

Preliminary architectural reports were completed in 2004 and 2010 to evaluate sites for an Agency on Aging facility. The 2004 report is being updated to evaluate two new sites as well as the current location.

Site locations proposed for a new Agency on Aging facility are on county-owned property within Kalispell city limits and include the North Fairgrounds property and lots within the Flathead County office complex.

Specific project costs will be identified as part of that preliminary architectural report.

In addition to this grant application request, the county is “looking into a [Montana] Board of Investments Intercap loan and/or capital improvement reserve funds to complete the funding strategy to build the new [Agency on Aging] facility,” Flathead County Grant Support Debbie Pierson said in a memo to the City Council.

Gateway Community Center had also expressed interest in a city-sponsored grant application to the Community Development Block Grant Public Facilities Program. But it has withdrawn its request and expressed support for the Flathead County Agency on Aging request.

Kalispell City Council cannot take formal action at tonight’s work session. The council must first pass a resolution of intent to apply for the grant funding and then hold a formal public hearing before an application can be made.

The city is also considering sponsoring a $350,000 grant application for Flathead Valley Community College.

That application would target the Community Development Block Grant Economic Development Program. If that grant is awarded, money would help expand the college’s heavy equipment operator training and licensing program. A public hearing for that application has been set for Monday, March 4.

IN OTHER BUSINESS tonight, the City Council will reconsider a proposed “policies and procedures manual” and local ethics code that was tabled earlier this month.

Tonight’s work session starts at 7 p.m. in Kalispell City Hall, 201 First Ave. E. It is open to the public.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.