City applies for $11.7 million grant to overhaul key streets
Crossing guard Joni Kamrud gives a student a hug on the first day of school in this file photo on Fourth Avenue West. The street is one the city hopes to upgrade with a federal BUILD grant.
Columbia Falls city leaders are hopeful an $11.758 million federal grant will help it rebuild some main streets that serve the schools and the walking community.
The city applied for a Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grant last week to rebuild 13th Street West, most of Fourth Avenue West and Railroad Street.
The project would also improve pedestrian access and replace old cast iron water lines under Fourth Avenue.
Fourth serves Glacier Gateway Elementary and 13th serves the high school. 13th in particular is in very poor condition. The city has talked about putting sidewalks on Railroad Street since the 1960s, but it’s never happened.
The project has the backing of a host of civic groups in the city and political backing as well — both Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester support the project.
If the grant goes through, the city would provide a $200,000 match to replace the old water lines. Construction could start as soon as 2021 if successful.
In other news:
- The city council Monday night approved increasing the street maintenance district fund by 5 percent, or $15,000. The fund has not been increased in several years, though the miles of city street has gone up by 10 miles since the 1990s. The city however, decreased the special lighting district by 10 percent, or about $3,000, since it has a healthy reserve of about 44 percent.
- The city OK’d its permissive medical levy to just over $170,000, or 25 mills. The levy is used to pay a portion of the city’s cost of health insurance for its employees. The city will pay about $256,000 in health insurance costs for 21 employees. It’s up two employees from last year and other employees have changed plans, which have boosted costs about $81,000 over the previous year. The city did not increase the amount it reimburses employees for health insurance.
- The city recognized volunteer fireman Mike VanHaverbeke, who tested and flushed every fire hydrant in the city on his own time.
That’s more than 300 hydrants.