HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-27-21 Public Comment - M. Brown - Engage BozemanFrom:Marilee Brown
To:Agenda
Subject:Engage Bozeman comments
Date:Tuesday, April 27, 2021 6:10:14 AM
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Dear Commission and Staff,
I would like to congratulate Mileur and Hess on all the hard work they have done. The system
seems to work well for public engagement meetings that have been scheduled.
However, I feel that a large component of engaging Bozeman is missing. Currently, the public
believes that in order to weigh in on any random (unscheduled) subject, they need to contact
the Commission. This is reinforced on the City website. If you go to the City website there is
no guidance on reaching Mileur or Hess or any other staff member on any specific subject.
For instance, if you go to streets to complain about a dangerous intersection, you are only
allowed to comment on pot holes. And there is no way to know that you should go to Hess for
help in engagement.
Furthermore, when the public is guided to the Commission for public comment, there is no
way for the average citizen to know that it is a dead end. They don’t know that the
Commission is prevented in the charter from going to a City staff member for more
information and therefore the public comment is dead in the water. The Commission can’t
even respond to the individual unless only one or two of them were contacted. And they can
not take action unless it is to vote on a resolution.
At a pubic neighborhood meeting I commented on these facts to Hess. I was told to contact
her at another time. I went to the website and was repeatedly unable to find her contact
information. On the website, it asked for feedback and I asked not once but twice to please
have Hess contact me. It never happened.
So, while “Engaging Bozeman” may work for scheduled meetings, it does not work for
engaging the community on a daily basis. I hope that these major communication errors get
addressed in the future:
1) The pubic needs to know who and how to contact someone that can carry their message or
question forward and receive a reply.
2) The commission needs to be able to communicate with staff on behalf of the public and
then answer the public.
3) A flow chart would be helpful. An update to the website would be helpful. An update to
the Charter would be helpful.
Thanks for all the hard work and trying to engage the community.
Marilee Brown
406-579-5447