Kalispell staff say central garage is too small for growing fleet; propose $6M shop, request additional mechanic

Kalispell public works staff told the City Council at an April 14 work session that the city’s central garage lacks the space and staffing needed to maintain an expanding municipal fleet and recommended preliminary engineering for a new shop and a budget request for another mechanic.

Director of Public Works Susie Turner said the existing central garage has three service bays, two lifts, roughly 16-foot ceilings and a parts/mezzanine layout that forces mechanics to work in cramped conditions. "Our current building height really does restrict the number and the type of work that we can perform on our fleet," Turner said. She told council the team currently maintains more than 325 pieces of equipment across city departments and is staffed by one supervisor and two full-time mechanics in the central garage.

Turner and fleet staff described operational impacts, staffing needs and short-term costs. Using a nationwide fleet-management matrix, Turner said the city’s inventory translates to about 478 maintenance-repair units, which would equate to roughly six technicians by the national benchmark; Turner said Kalispell can operate more efficiently than the national average and plans to request an additional mechanic in the fiscal 2026 budget to bring shop staffing to four. "We are gonna be requesting an additional mechanic in the central garage budget," Turner said.

Why this matters

Staff warned that continued growth in police and fire apparatus and other municipal equipment will increase downtime, raise outsourcing costs and reduce the city’s control over repair timing when vehicles are sent to outside vendors. Turner cited examples: some large repairs (for example, a tandem-dump truck head gasket) required outsourcing because staff lacked time or space to do the work, and specialized hybrid and high-voltage work remains under warranty and is currently sent to manufacturers.

Facility proposal and constraints

Turner presented a concept for a new, roughly 13,500-square-foot facility sited in the westerly portion of the shop complex, with three general repair bays, a dedicated fluid-service/preventative maintenance bay, a welding bay with upgraded ventilation, dedicated parts and tire storage, and higher ceilings to accommodate larger vehicles. Turner said current clearances (about 16 feet) are insufficient: staff estimated at least 19 feet to service solid-waste vehicles, about 21 feet to fully raise some dump trucks and up to 26 feet to access ladder-truck cabs.

Turner provided a planning-level cost estimate of about $6,000,000 for the new shop including engineering and site improvements and said cost data were informed by Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) engineering estimates for a similar facility. She told council there is space available in the proposed area of the complex but that the site includes drainage and floodplain constraints that will require engineering work.

Financing options and fund impacts

Staff outlined two financing scenarios: a 10-year intercap loan at an assumed 5% interest rate and a 20-year financing option at an assumed 4% rate (a certificate-of-purchase/lease-purchase structure was discussed). Turner described how debt payments would be allocated through internal transfers across 17 funds that use central-garage services; streets and solid-waste funds would bear a significant share of the debt service. In the staff analysis, a 20-year financing option reduced annual pressure on those enterprise and public-works funds and was judged more manageable than the 10-year option.

Turner cautioned that the general fund’s capacity is limited in FY26 because carryover and vacancy savings will likely be lower than in prior years and that staff modeled a half-year debt payment for FY26 with full-year payments in FY27 if the city pursues debt.

Solid waste storage and near-term items

Turner said the solid-waste program needs a heated storage building for several large pieces of equipment and that the FY26 budget will include a line item for a roughly $1,300,000 heated-storage facility to be financed via an intercap 10-year loan. She recommended planning both the central garage and the solid-waste storage as coordinated projects to optimize siting and operations in the shop complex.

Staffing, outsourcing and warranties

Turner said the central garage’s goal is to complete most repairs in-house to reduce cost and downtime. The central garage currently has a contract services line item of approximately $40,000 for outsourced repairs; Turner said staff expects that line to increase to about $50,000 in the next fiscal year. She also noted that many warranty repairs on hybrid patrol vehicles are handled by manufacturers and that some specialized solid-waste equipment must be shipped to out-of-area vendors (for example, Spokane or Texas) when in-house repair is impractical.

Council discussion and next steps

Council members asked about the feasibility of expanding the current building (staff said not at the present location) and about site layout, pull-through bays, and the use of the existing garage after a move; Turner said the old building would be repurposed, likely to support sewer or other storage functions. Turner recommended hiring a professional engineering firm for siting and sizing work to produce preliminary engineering and cost estimates; she said staff will bring those findings and the FY26 budget request for one additional mechanic back to the council.

No formal action or vote occurred at the work session. Turner described the presentation as an early step in budgeting and planning and asked council for feedback and direction on funding options and priorities.

Ending

Turner told council she would pursue preliminary engineering if funding can be found and would return with refined costs and options. "It would help us with the siting and location and everything, which supports the need for other facilities as our city grows," Turner said. The central garage and solid-waste storage items will be considered in upcoming budget workshops and work sessions.