Community Spirit Awards presented

Community awards were handed out by the Columbia Falls Area Chamber of Commerce at their annual Christmas luncheon on Dec. 10 following a performance of holiday music by the high school’s Sonifers and flute ensemble.

Mayor Don Barnhart and the city council were recognized with one of seven Community Spirit Awards for their “get it done attitude,” according to Columbia Falls city manager and Chamber president Susan Nicosia.

Among many achievements, she cited the council’s decision to pay for sidewalk improvements and flashing lights for safer routes to schools after the city was unable to secure a grant for the work. She also described the council’s work in getting the Third Avenue East bike path completed and sprucing up the uptown business neighborhood, including creating a pocket park at an empty lot on Nucleus Avenue.

Nicosia noted that a new video promoting the city gets about 200 hits a day online and has received more than 12,000 hits on YouTube. The city council and planning board also updated the growth policy this year without changing zoning in the uptown business district or adding any restrictive conditions.

“It shows that what we’re doing works,” she said. “We’re the kinder, gentler city.”

Barnhart and councilors Mike Shepard and Julie Plevel were on hand to accept the award.

“We’re glad people are noticing our work,” Barnhart said, adding that all that work was done without increasing taxes.

Shepard, the longest serving member of the city council, credited Nicosia for finding money for all these city projects.

“I think she’s a fantastic city manager,”Plevel said. “She’s a wizard at finding money.”

Nicosia accepted the praise in stride, noting that “my contract starts out by saying that I serve at the council’s pleasure, and it is a pleasure.”

Another Community Spirit Award was given to Cal Grise, who moved his family to Columbia Falls in 1973, and with his wife Kathy owned and operated a car wash and greenhouse for 20-some years. Grise noted that the anniversary of their arrival iin the Flathead was coming up.

“We arrived here from Minnesota in bad weather in mid-December with seven kids and one more on the way,” he said.

Grise was an active community volunteer for 33 years, including helping out with Heritage Days events and the Grass Drags races, building the waterfall project and hosting tourists at the Chamber’s visitor center.

“When visitors were unable to find lodging, Cal would find them a place to stay, even if it meant taking them home,” Chamber treasurer Mark Johnson said. “Now that’s going above and beyond, to put it mildly.”

Dick Sapa and his daughter Charlene King were given the Community Spirit Award in recognition of all the times the Blue Moon Nite Club has volunteered to host fundraisers for charities and sports groups over the past 41 years.

Sapa joked about getting recognized for painting the outside of the saloon this year, but he also noted that fundraisers bring people inside “so they can see our place.”

Also receiving Community Spirit Awards were North Valley Hospital, for providing the Teakettle Community Room to the public; to the Bothe & Lauridsen law firm, for recent exterior remodeling work; and outgoing Chamber board members Trina Hasson and Stephanie Breck, for all their volunteer work.

New chamber board members and officers also were announced. Nicosia stepped down as president, and Kalispell Regional Medical Center spokesman Jim Oliverson will take her place.

Adding to the accolades heaped on Nicosia by city councilors in attendance, Johnson described one more instance where Nicosia got things done.

“When the Lions Club wanted to get the Marantette Park band shell painted, it was done by city crews before we knew it,” Johnson said, as he awarded Nicosia a clock for her past Chamber work.

“The irony is that it’s a clock,” Nicosia said. “I’ll set it five minutes fast.”

Twenty local businesses were given First Buck Awards — Barbra Bennett with Bennett Appraisal Services, Olivia Krause with Cajun Design, Allen and Danielle Christopherson at Garden of Eden Thrift Store, Jenni Cheff at Glacier Baby Outfitters, Kate Piper at Just Kate’s, Susan Anderson at Kopy Katz Ink, Dan, Patti and Gretchen Singer at Meadow Lake View Bed and Breakfast, Robert and Beverly Lucke at Montana Bike Hostel, Rita Becker and Ashley Herbert at Nuvo Salon, Gary and Jane Hall at Park View House VRBO, Patricia Barberio at Pine Haven Ranch, Proof Research, Greg and Misti Fortin at River Rock Hostel, Sean Dougherty at Saddle Tramp Saddlery, Colleen Buck at The Bling Shak, Terri Parker at The Spa At Meadow Lake, Trina Miller at Unique Boutique, the Columbia Falls Library Association for its used book store, Ethan West at Verizon Wireless, and Tina Sweeney at Winx Nail Salon.