HomeMy WebLinkAboutJason DelmueTo: Mayor Cunningham, Deputy Mayor Morrison, and Commissioners Madgic and Fischer
From: Jason Delmue
Date: May 22, 2024
Re: City Commission Vacancy
Dear Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Commissioners:
I applied for the vacancy of the late Commissioner Pomeroy because I knew that I had the
knowledge and experience to immediately contribute – working with the other four
commissioners – toward common goals on behalf of the community. I am specifically
familiar with some of the areas of greatest need and complexity, most notably zoning and
growth policy, or, as key aspects of these maDers could be termed, “How to deal with the
influx?” and “How can we help our workforce be able to live in our community?”.
With the recent departure of the former City Manager and the imminent departure of the
Director of Community Development, the need for a replacement for Commissioner Coburn
who is already well versed in these maDers has gone from important to essenKal.
Maybe it was the example set by my dad, who always made sure to check on and help out
his aunts and uncles in their later years, that insKlled in me the impetus to contribute.
During winter, I am fanaKcal about snow removal so that people of all ages and abiliKes can
pass safely. During summer, I carry a 14” folding saw in my mountain biking backpack to cut
blown-down trees from across trails.
I have also contributed for many years in a formal capacity with the City. For around 15
years, I served on the BABAB and was its chairperson when it was consolidated into the
TransportaKon Board. During that tenure, I became familiar with the TransportaKon Master
Plan as well as the City’s budget process, including the CIP. I learned that the best
transportaKon plan starts with good land use planning.
More recently, I have been serving on the Community Development Board. Even before my
appointment, I followed and parKcipated in the current evoluKon of our community’s land-
use policies, including the mulK-phase effort involving the Community Housing Needs
Assessment, the Community Plan 2020, the Community Housing AcKon Plan, the UDC
Affordable Housing Assessment, and the dra[ UDC Update.
Having been a parKcipant since 2007 in the process of conceiving of, applying for approval,
and then construcKng and maintaining a few small-scale residenKal infill projects, I have a
working understanding of the City’s past and current land-use regulaKons. As a general
enthusiast about governance and smart growth, I have also watched most of the City
Commission meeKngs going back many years and have familiarity with, among other things,
the community’s commitment to and progress toward sustainability and diversity, equity,
and inclusion.
Now, with a vacancy on the Commission, I see an opportunity to contribute further using
the insight gained from my service and involvement discussed above. I will bring
preparaKon, collegiality, and creaKvity in researching, understanding, and deliberaKng our
community's complex issues. I look forward to the emergence of the various nodes around
town, as set forth in the Community Plan, to provide neighborhood-scale commercial
offerings for nearby residents to saKsfy daily and weekly needs by walking or riding a bike. I
am also opKmisKc about opportuniKes to improve our area’s transit system now that
Bozeman has become a metropolitan planning area.
I will be able to contribute immediately. I share the commitment of the Commission and
the City’s professional staff to keep striving for progress on the affordable housing crisis
facing the City’s workforce. For both social jusKce and smart growth, I agree with the City’s
collecKve prioriKzaKon of this issue, including working with non-governmental partners. I
have been heartened to see the periodic updates by David Fine about the mulK-faceted
efforts and progress along most of the housing spectrum – from emergency shelter to
transiKonal housing to various levels of affordable housing to entry-level for-purchase
housing.
I think an important perspecKve that I can bring to the Commission is an appreciaKon of the
value and dignity of all who work in our community. Our family’s modest household
growing up occasioned me to have to work early and o[en. As a kid, I helped when the
family would go to the woods to cut firewood, and I would split and chop it for weeks a[er
we got it home. In fourth grade, I got a paper route (365 days a year, in every weather
condiKon). When I was fourteen, I started working at LiDle Caesar’s (sKll delivering
newspapers in the morning). In recent years -- on my own construcKon projects, helping my
friend and builder on his other projects, or on my cousin’s small farm – I do plenty of labor.
I believe that everyone working for our community should have the opportunity to live in
our community affordably.
If selected to fill the Commission vacancy, I can contribute in several ways. My educaKon in
accounKng insKlled meKculous aDenKon to precise and systemaKc progress, starKng at the
foundaKonal level. My educaKon in law, refined by clerking for a U.S. District Court judge
and then for one on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, allowed me to hone rigorous
research and analyKcal skills. My years in private pracKce of law required me to develop
skills in triage – determining a course of acKon that balanced several factors or limitaKons
including importance, effecKveness, Kme, and budget. And my collecKve legal experience
gives me a disciplined understanding of the criteria imposed by Bozeman’s municipal code
and the MCA, underlying many of the decisions that come before the Commission.
I always say that dominoes of luck lined up for me in 2001: fortuitous circumstances
brought me to Bozeman as well as pushed me to buy an affordable starter home (back
when there was such a thing). Sadly, unfortunate circumstances now line up against our
city’s workforce. I have the knowledge and understanding to effecKvely collaborate in the
collecKve effort of City elected officials, professional staff, volunteers, and ciKzens toward
progress on that front and the other complex issues facing our community. I will strive to
bring imaginaKon to the challenges and opportuniKes the city faces -- now, and with an eye
on the horizon.
Thank you for your consideraKon,