HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-29-25 Public Comment - R. Roland - Bozeman Local Government Review CommentsFrom:Rio Roland
To:Bozeman Goverment Study Commission
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Bozeman Local Government Review Comments
Date:Tuesday, April 29, 2025 6:36:25 PM
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.
Dear Commissioners,
I would like to share the following comments for your consideration as you craft a proposal for
the structure of Bozeman's government to be voted on in 2026/2027. Full disclosure: I am a
commissioner on the Bozeman transportation advisory board (TAB) and will attempt to refrain
from commenting on anything that may be considered a conflict.
1. I think Bozeman deserves a full-time strong mayor. The demands of being an effective
mayor of a city this size requires full-time attention. And, let's be honest, it is full-time
now, but paid as a part-time position. This leaves the rich and retired to be mayor and
neglects the possibility that another demographic could represent the city. Further, due
to how our state legislature treats local government, a strong vocal mayor is needed to
use their bully-pulpit and political power to affect state-level policies that affect
Bozeman.
2. Ditto on the city councilmembers.
3. I am a strong proponent of wards. Every place I've lived before Bozeman, I knew who
my city councilmember was; who to reach out to about city issues that affect me, or to
complain about a pothole, etc. Here, it feels diffuse and amorphous to have all the
members at-large. It makes it hard to identify whom to reach out to so I generally
don't. And here's how I think the wards should be geographically/demographically
distributed:
a. 5 wards to start out, drawn as much as makes sense with legislative boundaries
BUT they should be balanced based on proportion of homeowners/renters as live
in the city at the time of drawing the boundaries. Right now a quick Google says
55% of units in Bozeman are rentals, 45% are owner occupied. This is just units,
not population, however. So, let's assume 60% of residents in Bozeman rent, 40%
own their abode, or live with them as a family member. So, each of the 5 wards
should have 60% renters in them. (+- some percentage.). When wards are
reconsidered (every 5 or 10 years) the ward boundaries are redrawn to keep this
percentage in check.
b. The number of wards in the city should be malleable to account for population
growth, and thus the number of councilmembers should be reconsidered every X
years, and if any ward exceeds say 15,000 people, it needs to be rebalanced, and
if the city population exceeds 70,000, a new ward is added, same at 90,000. Once
the city population exceeds 100,000, the number of people/ward gets revisited.
4. A full-time mayor and 5(+) full time city councilmembers and the logistics of
districting/re-districting is going to take some money. Some could come from the
diminished role of the city manager and the corresponding reduction in salary. I realize
this won't even come close to the difference, but I do believe the money should be
found somehow. The housing cost crisis in this city is so acute and it is not being dealt
with effectively at present, and I think rental balanced wards with commissioners who
are working full-time to solve this issue in the face of unprecedented growth that will
not abate, is an investment this community needs.
5. Lastly, for now, public participation in this city (and everywhere) is demanding, hard,
and is always over-represented with wealthier, rich retired homeowners. Some method
needs to be devised - regular scientific surveys on issues of importance, perhaps - to
illicit the input of people working full-time, two jobs, with kids - who never input into
matters of civic importance - because it is frankly a pain in the rear to keep track of it all,
take 2-3+ hours to attend a meeting to leave a 3 minute comment that gets no response
from the council or advisory board.
Thank you all for undertaking this slow, painstaking process that will make our community
better a little bit at a time!
Best regards,
Rio Roland
1122 S Cedarview Dr
Bozeman, MT
(406) 599.5393 | mobile 1
@wcmod | IG