Kalispell Fleet Outgrows Maintenance Facility

By: Jack Underhill
Source: Daily Inter Lake, Kalispell, Mont. (TNS)

Nov. 10—Kalispell City Council will consider ways to accommodate the city’s growing fleet of vehicles and equipment as its maintenance garage runs out of space.

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Council meets at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 10 in City Hall, 201 First Ave. E.

A growing population drawing ever more heavily on city services combined with an influx of new public safety equipment from last year’s voter-approved levy means the city’s fleet of vehicles is expanding.

The current garage located just south of Legends Stadium allows the majority of repair and maintenance work — jobs like fixing headlights and overhauling engines — to be performed by city workers. A new mechanic was hired this year, bringing the garage workforce to four.

The mechanics service more than 325 pieces of equipment across five departments, ranging from emergency vehicles to garbage trucks. Over the last nine years, the city has accumulated 86 new pieces of equipment, according to city officials at an April Council meeting.

Material is often shuffled around to maximize space at the garage, and the low ceilings mean fixing big vehicles, like ladder trucks or garbage trucks, must be done outside.

Public Works Director Susie Turner proposed during the April meeting to eventually build a new 13,500-square-foot storage garage next to the current building. Funding constraints left the project out of this year’s budget.

The garage operates as an internal service fund supported by 16 separate city funds. Each fund contributes annually to the garage based on the proportional time and cost required to maintain its respective fleet, according to a memo from Turner.

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