HomeMy WebLinkAboutStatement of Interest and Qualifications_Brian LaMeres Greetings Honorable Mayor and Commissioners—
My name is Brian LaMeres and I am a registered voter residing at 3300 East Graf Street#19 in
Bozeman. With great excitement I respectfully submit my Statement of Qualifications and Interest for
your open City Commission position.
It so happens that I am retiring from the City after 25 years, with my last day of employment
scheduled to be November 2" , 2020. What are the odds of the only person who ran against former
Mayor Mehl soon being available to take his place? The stars of Democracy are almost perfectly
aligned!
I ran a self-funded campaign for Mayor of Bozeman in 2017 and again in 2019 and was the only
other candidate running in each race. My campaign website is still up at www.lameres.com so you can
find my resume and other information there. I am a Certified Public Accountant and Montana Native
who was born 53 years ago in Billings and has lived in Bozeman for 34 years. I have a BS in Business
from MSU-Bozeman and an MBA from UM-Missoula, where one of my favorite elective classes was
"Foundations of Public Administration".
My Board experience includes serving as the Finance Department representative on the City's
Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund Board for 9 years and as Chair of the City's Community
Affordable Housing Advisory Board for over 16 years. I also enjoyed the great life experience of being
an Adjunct Instructor of Accounting at MSU.
I will soon be retiring from the City of Bozeman organization after 25 years in the Finance
Department. For the past 14 years my job title has been Controller/Software Application Manager.
So I was in charge of the City's Accounting Division, where every year the City received the Government
Finance Officer Association's Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. At the
same time, I was also in charge of administering the City's Enterprise Resource Planning software system
which required me to be extremely efficient and effective in a rapidly growing environment of increasing
customers and users.
In addition to a comprehensive knowledge of the City's budget and the technical inner workings
of all City departments, the major takeaways from my job experience that speak to my ability to best
serve the People of Bozeman are my ability to get a lot done—and done well—with very limited
resources, and also my ability to work well with everybody in order to achieve win-win outcomes.
I believe that the Voice of the People should ultimately dictate Public Policy, and that's what I
meant in both of my Mayoral campaigns when I said, "Power to the People". I will listen closely and
place heavy emphasis on what long-term residents and long-term business owners of Bozeman have to
say.
I consider myself to be a fiscal conservative and I believe that government needs to be just as
responsible with public money as our individual citizens and businesses are forced to be with their
money.
OTHER COMMENTS:
CLIMATE ACTION PLAN: Let's learn from the City's relationship with Gallatin County and strive to
build a culture within the City organization whereby Northwestern Energy is considered to be a Partner.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING: My own experience with housing in Bozeman includes when I first
started working for the City in 1996 while I was living in a trailer in Wagon Wheel Mobile Home Park.
Many evenings after getting home from my job at City Hall I would walk over to Lucky Lil's Casino to
start my second job. It took me two jobs just to be able to afford to live in a trailer, so I know first-hand
that Bozeman is an expensive place to live.
HIGH PERFORMING ORGANIZATION: There are certainly pockets of greatness within the City of
Bozeman organization and I feel we can increase employee morale and level of engagement in order to
make the whole organization that way, which will ultimately result in Bozeman's citizens getting a bigger
bang for their buck.
LOCAL BUSINESS: I have decades of personal involvement with a long-standing local business
owned and operated by my Soul Mate. So between my government career and my intimate knowledge
of small business, I have a unique perspective which allows me to understand the ideals being espoused
by government yet at the same time keeps me grounded to the realities faced by business.
LISTENING TO THE PEOPLE: I admire the courage demonstrated by Mayor Andrus in voting how she
did on Black Olive. And in her vote on Smoking in the Parks, when Mayor Andrus gave reasons like
"many of the citizens who voted in favor of the Parks District are smokers" and "this feels like
government overreach"—while I may have voted differently, those are reasons I like to hear!
COMMUNITY PLAN /GROWTH POLICY: I like what Commission Wallner said about making sure
that there is two-way communication between the Citizens and the City, especially as significant
changes in future land use are proposed in the development of this critically important and impactful
policy.
THE STRATEGIC PLAN and all GUIDING CITY DOCUMENTS: I know there has a been a tremendous
amount of work put into these Guiding Documents by the Commission, Staff, and thankfully the Citizens,
and I will continue to honor this great work as I make my decisions. However, I am also reminded of
former Mayor Krauss often saying, "if we were just up here to follow a Rule Book, then there wouldn't
be any need for a City Commission".
Thank you again, Honorable Mayor and Commissioners, for your consideration of my
application. Like I said during my campaigns for Mayor, if appointed as Commissioner I promise to build
trust in the Community through increased transparency and accountability. I will listen to the Voice of
the People and work hard to put the Citizens of Bozeman in the driver's seat as we face the future, not
divided by our differences, but instead united in our shared vision of Bozeman!
Sincerely,
Brian LaMeres