Kalispell council agrees to tighten weed and junk-vehicle rules, will track complaints before funding a full-time officer

Kalispell — City staff presented proposed changes to the community decay and junk-vehicle ordinances at the March 24 City of Kalispell work session and outlined options for staffing a dedicated code-enforcement program, but council members declined to approve a full-time position now and asked staff to track complaints for a year.

At the meeting staff member Doug Russell framed the choices as a policy question for council, saying, “What does council want for your level of service deliveries that relates to code enforcement?” Russell recommended revisions to two existing ordinances and described three funding options: absorb a position in the general fund, create a special district with a dedicated mill levy, or continue complaint-driven enforcement without dedicated personnel.

Russell said the two ordinance changes staff recommends are to move tall weeds and grasses from the fire code into the community decay ordinance and to expand and clarify the junk-vehicle definition used for enforcement. Under the proposed community decay language, vegetation over 8 inches would be a violation regardless of date; staff would remove the current July 1 trigger tied to the fire code. Exemptions would include parcels larger than 15,000…