HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-04-25 Public Comment - B. LaMeres and L. Sebena - New Business G.2 Identification of Bozeman City Study Commission's Legal AdvisorFrom:Brian LaMeres
To:Bozeman Goverment Study Commission; Carson Taylor; Dan Campbell; Barb Cestero; Becky Franks; Jan Strout
Cc:Lisa Sebena; Brian LaMeres
Subject:[EXTERNAL]New Business G.2 Identification of Bozeman City Study Commission"s Legal Advisor
Date:Thursday, December 4, 2025 12:00:42 PM
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Hello Bozeman Study Commissioners –
Your Legal Advisor needs to be a completely objective outsider with no skin in the game.
We are submitting Public Comment today because we were alarmed at the discussion during
your last meeting which indicated that you might be considering the City Attorney to be your
Legal Advisor.
Don’t you think that is a clear conflict of interest?
Don’t you think that the City Attorney has a strong personal vested interest in the outcome of
this Study Commission process?
Or has City staff already convinced a majority of you that the City Attorney should not be an
elected position, so maybe you’ve already moved on from that possibility?
With Brian being a former 25-year employee at City Hall and both of us being avid watchers of
City Commission Meetings, we believe a strong argument could be made that at any given City
Commission Meeting, the City Attorney is the most powerful person in the room.
Now, you might try to test this statement and watch a City Commission meeting and debunk
our argument because you observed that the City Attorney barely spoke during the entire
meeting.
Well, respectfully, you need to pay closer attention to what occurs before, during, and after
any given meeting. And most often it’s not because of what the City Attorney says, but it’s
because he is the one who has defined and constrained the issues being discussed and voted
on.
And over the years this has had a tremendous cumulative impact on where Bozeman finds
itself today. And we don’t think the voters approved the Study Commission at the ballot box
because they are necessarily happy with where Bozeman finds itself today.
Furthermore, at a minimum there is a tremendous amount of ambiguity about whom the City
Attorney actually reports to. Is it the City Manager? Is it the City Commission? Or some kind
of hybrid of both? After listening to the City Attorney explain his role to you a couple months
back the issue is still confusing. At a minimum, this is an issue which needs to be resolved by
your work.
For these reasons and more – mostly stemming from the tremendous influence the City
Attorney has on Policy development – when Brian ran for Mayor a few years back, he
repeatedly said that the City Attorney should be an elected position.
This is absolutely nothing personal. We believe all staff members you have heard from so far
mean well and truly believe they are doing what is best. But over time even the best and
brightest can become institutionalized, lose their way, and fail to recognize that what is truly
best is most likely for them to just step aside. And that is definitely what needs to happen here
with the identification of your Legal Advisor, and quite frankly with your entire Study
Commission undertaking. The City Attorney just needs to step aside.
At a minimum, before you vote today please at least ask how much the City Attorney is
currently being compensated. Not just his base salary, but his entire compensation package.
(hint: the additional compensation above and beyond standard market pay being given to
some directors which came to light during the Judge Colleen Herrington pay dispute).
Then ask yourself whether the City Attorney has a strong personal vested interested in the
outcome of this Study Commission process.
Again, your Legal Advisor needs to be a completely objective outsider with no skin in the game.
Thank you for your consideration.
Brian LaMeres
Lisa Sebena
Bozeman residents, property owners, business owners