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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-20-23 Public Comment - D. Kaveney - Comment about appointing new commissioner to fill open seatFrom:Dan Kaveney To:Agenda Subject:[EXTERNAL]Comment about appointing new commissioner to fill open seat Date:Saturday, November 18, 2023 2:20:26 PM Attachments:NewCommissioner.pdf CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Please find my comments about the process of filling the open commissioner seat below. Thank you. -- ** Dan Kaveney 16 November 2023 Dear Commissioners, I just read the applica>ons from people hoping to fill the commission seat being vacated by Commissioner Pomeroy. I am wri>ng to encourage you to apply the following criteria when making your decision: 1. Disqualify those who have already run for Mayor or Commissioner in Bozeman and lost. Mark Egge, Brian Lameres, Roger Blank, and Chris Brizzolara have already run, and voters have declined to make them commissioners. Appoin>ng any one of them to the commission would thwart the will of the voters, and I think you need to avoid that. The one excep*on to this idea might be John Meyer. Bozeman’s voters were very impressed with Mr. Meyer, who garnered over 1,000 more votes than Mayor Andrus in the last elec>on. I don’t think there can be much doubt that Mr. Meyer would have been elected Mayor if Joey Morrison hadn’t been in the race, as Bozeman voters were very enthusias>c about his candidacy. One can make a strong argument that John is the best choice for that reason, and therefore may be an excep>on to this rule. 2. Consider the reasons behind the results of the last elec<on when making your decision. Voters supported candidates who promised to be aggressive about the stewardship of what is best about Bozeman, who advocated for public solu>ons to our housing problem, who planned to try to rebuild trust between city government and Bozeman residents, and who wanted to be stricter with developers about conserva>on and doing what’s best for the community. Whoever you choose to replace Commissioner Pomeroy should exemplify those ideals – the ideals the voters very clearly want priori>zed. 3. Require the successful candidate to have a strong and lengthy history of engagement with the community. This is important in an appointed commissioner. It’s fine for someone without such experience to run for office – voters can decide if their various quali>es outweigh this lack of experience – but appointed officials must have demonstrated experience and commitment to community involvement and leadership. 4. I’d like the successful candidate be the parent of a child who is growing up or has grown up in Bozeman. This is an important perspec>ve to have on the commission and, as far as I know, none of the exis>ng commissioners have children or have raised children here. Nothing >es a person to a community more strongly than raising children there, and it’s an important perspec>ve for us to have in our elected officials. I am convinced that Angela Kociolek would be the best person to fill Commissioner Pomeroy’s seat because, unlike most of the other applicants, she meets all the criteria outlined above. In addi>on, she works well with others, and is thoughZul, compassionate, level-headed, tenacious, detail-oriented, and tough enough to make hard decisions. I have been very impressed with her leadership in the Bozeman community, especially her work on the Urban Parks and Forestry Board. In addi>on to that work, she has been involved in our community through our schools, various other pro-community groups, and as a professional biologist. Bozeman and the commission would benefit from her demonstrated ability to get posi>ve results through her ethic of service, conserva>on, and stewardship. Her experiences as a Bozeman parent and small business owner will be invaluable to the city. I hope a_er reviewing her applica>on you’ll agree with me that we need her on our commission. I’ll close by pleading with you, no ma‘er what else you may decide, to reject Mark Egge’s applica>on. Mr. Egge is exactly what Bozeman voters keep rejec>ng, and his recent par>cipa>on in Governor Gianforte’s and the state legislature’s efforts to strip us of local control over local affairs is both destruc>ve and very damaging to Bozeman. His associa>on with the Fron>er Ins>tute would, at the very least, present an appearance of impropriety on the commission. If Mr. Egge wants to be on the commission, he should run for it again. If he wins, then so be it, but he shouldn’t be appointed a_er the voters have already so firmly rejected both Mr. Egge as a candidate and the ideas he represents. Thank you for considering my opinions. Dan Kaveney 1496 Boylan Rd Bozeman, MT