HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-23-26 Public Comment - M. Campenelli - Attn City Commission_ Conflict of interest on TIF Advisory BoardFrom:Mark Campanelli
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Cc:Alison Sweeney
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Attn City Commission: Conflict of interest on TIF Advisory Board
Date:Tuesday, June 23, 2026 11:13:51 AM
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Dear City Commission,
Disclosures: I am President and INC delegate for Bogert Park Neighborhood Association, butnot speaking on behalf of BPNA. Also, I am the founder of the East Gallatin Watershed
Trust (EGWT), which is non-profit and currently takes in no money. The mission of EGWT is"Mitigating conflicts between neighborhoods and watercourses—for the benefit of both."
I was listening to the tax increment finance (TIF) Advisory Board meeting from last week,
dated Thursday, 18 June 2026. This has led to a number of serious concerns about undeclaredand under-reported conflicts of interest by at least one member of the board.
First, the Disclosures item on the agenda was skipped (yes, skipped!) entirely. Then, at about
24min 10s, board member Nolan Campbell, Principal Broker at Bozehome real estate agency,discloses (somewhat in passing) that his firm had represented the land owner, Idaho Pole
Company, in a major landholding in and adjacent to the Pole Yard TIF district. After a shortInternet search, further investigation revealed a Facebook post/advertisement, dated 9 April
2026, that advertises the recently annexed and R-B zoned L-Street parcel (currently outside,but adjacent to, the Pole Yard TIF district), as well an adjacent M-1 zoned lot to the southwest
(that is current inside the Pole Yard TIF district). Screenshots are attached. You can see thatthe parcels are advertised as benefitting from multiple tax-incentive structures, including TIF
and LIHTC. As you should know this budget season, these incentives divert funding awayfrom our already very limited tax base.
During the board meeting, the potential usage of tax increments to environmentally mitigate
the Idaho Pole Superfund site was openly discussed. This is exactly one of the main reasonswhy I voiced my opposition to the City annexing this environmentally distressed property for
development. (Recall my two written and one oral public comments on the agenda item forannexation and zoning the L Street property.) Now I realize that during that SAME (!) City
Commission meeting on 16 December 2026, Nolan Campell was voted onto the TIF AdvisoryBoard. How is this type of financial-benefit conflict of interest being allowed to proceed,
especially with little, IF ANY, public disclosure?!? Utter disgust wells up within me abouthow my City operates.
Interestingly, moving wetlands that are not thought to be "original" to the parcels was also
discussed at the TIF board meeting. Who will pay to additionally test the water in thewetlands, drainage ditches, and E Gallatin River when this "reconstruction" is underway, as
well as afterwards as the development "settles"? Who will ensure that kids (or adults, for thatmatter) playing downstream, esp. in the City-owned Story Mill Park, are not receiving acute
exposures from the disturbed soils? Recall that these soils are often saturated withgroundwater to a very shallow depth, and that the Gallatin City-County Health Department
voiced great concerns about soil and groundwater disruption from future development of thesite (see my previous public comment and this). Indeed, neighbors of the L-Street parcel
convinced Northwestern Energy that running utilities through the site was not worth theenvironmental risk (and presumed associated liability).
There is a term for these sorts of behaviors: "Privatized profits. Socialized risks." Others
simply call it "corruption". In any event, I do expect the City to take action on this matter andclean up its act. Please do let me know what action you intend to take here. Meanwhile, I will
wait for what seems to be an inevitable proposal to enlarge the Pole Yard TIF district toinclude the newly annexed L-Street properties. That would track perfectly.
Mark Campanelli
Bogert Park neighborLinkedIn