Kalispell officials bashed the state Legislature Monday night for proposing two bills that would sunset all voter-approved mill levies.

If passed, Senate Bills 204 and 205 would eventually nullify the public safety levy approved by voters in March 2024 that helped bolster the city’s emergency services.  

“Every existing levy, even if it was permanent, will expire,” City Manager Doug Russell told Kalispell City Council during its Feb. 3 meeting.  “It’s very unfortunate that that’s the direction we are taking.” 

The bill would not allow any mill levy for more than 10 years, after which it would need to be voted on again. Russell said the Legislature was effectively disenfranchising local voters. Regularly going back before voters to reauthorize mill levies would prove a challenge for city staff, he said. 

The proposed legislation also requires a minimum voter turnout for a levy to pass.  

“If less than 40% of the qualified electors vote, no mill levy will ever pass,” Russell said.  

“[The state Legislature] doesn’t like what our voters said they want for emergency services,” he added. 

Mayor Mark Johnson bashed the GOP-controlled Legislature for the proposal, saying the “R” next to their names stood for reprobate rather than Republican.  

“They don’t look out for the cities, they don’t look out for the state, they don’t look out for the counties. They look out for themselves,” Johnson said.  

Russell told Council he will head to Helena on Wednesday to testify against the bill with officials from other cities.  

COUNCIL VOTED unanimously to adopt an ordinance allowing pedestrian skybridges on property zoned for business, health and public uses.  

Councilor Ryan Hunter expressed concern over how the amendment could affect the look and feel of retail areas in the long term, particularly in the core area and by the Parkline Trail.  

“One of the main objections is that it takes street activity off the street and reduces the pedestrian activity in your downtown, shopping, retail areas,” he said.  

Planning officials, though, described the amendment as a technical clean-up.  

“It’s not a skybridge program that’s out there. It’s more of a way to accommodate certain situations where it would make sense,” said Assistant Director of Development Services PJ Sorensen.  

Prior to the amendment, city regulations barred structures from encroaching into setback areas, which a skybridge would need to do. Downtown Kalispell lacks setbacks, so skybridges are hypothetically already permitted there, according to Development Services Director Jarod Nygren. 

While it will be applied citywide, the proposed amendment came about after Immanuel Living proposed building a skybridge between its senior living facility on the west side of Claremont Street and an incoming independent living facility called the Lofts at Buffalo Hill.   

COUNCIL HELD a second reading of an amendment approved Jan. 21 to update the municipal fire code allowing the city to abate vacant properties. Because it was not a unanimous vote, a second reading was required.  

The second reading sparked more disagreement among councilors on the amendment, although it was ultimately passed again. Johnson once more joined Councilors Sid Daoud and Chad Graham in voting against it.  

The amendment to the fire code targets structures deemed unsafe due to fire hazards, squatting, inadequate maintenance and being left unsecured. Graham and Daoud objected to making the Kalispell Fire Department responsible for enforcing the code.  

“We just passed a citywide levy for emergency services and I don’t want to start saddling our Fire Department with things that are kind of outside the scope of what they would be doing,” said Graham.  

But Councilor Sam Nunnally said that addressing vacant buildings has been historically within the Fire Department’s scope.  

Hunter and Nunnally agreed that the amendment is one more tool in the city’s toolbox to address vacant buildings. There aren’t enough vacancy issues for it to become a burden on the Fire Department, they argued.  

“I can think of maybe five buildings in the last 30 years that I can think of that it would probably directly affect,” Nunnally said. 

Johnson saw the amendment as a knee-jerk reaction to the former Fairbridge Inn & Suites and Outlaw Convention Center, which became a thorn in the city’s side after it was bought by Oregon-based real estate enterprise Fortify Holdings in 2022.  

For nearly three years, the 9-acre property in south Kalispell was left vacant and unsecure, becoming a hotspot for vagrants and vandals. Columbia Falls developer Mick Ruis bought the deed of trust and promissory note on the property in late December, though, and fenced up the building and boarded up windows. 

Daoud argued that vacant buildings should be an annoyance to city government but that does not mean it should impose on private property.  

“At some point we got to place the security of kids on the parents. I don’t think it’s the city’s responsibility to make sure that kids that are already trespassing are safe,” Daoud said.  

“I hate to think of the criminal activity that’s already taken place in those walls and around those walls,” said Councilor Kari Gabriel. “So I think having the tools to be able to make sure this doesn’t happen again is very important.”  

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 758-4407 and junderhill@dailyinterlake.com.