HomeMy WebLinkAboutBrian LaMeresGreetings Honorable Mayor and Commissioners –
I am Brian LaMeres, a registered voter residing at 3300 East Graf Street Unit 73 in Bozeman, and
I respectfully submit my Statement of Qualifications and Interest for your open City Commission
position.
I have extensive knowledge of the City’s operations and budget from my 25 years in the City’s
Finance Department where I spent my last 14 ½ years as Controller/Software Application Manager. I
was in charge of the City’s Accounting Division, where every year the City received the Government
Finance Officer Association’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting.
For most of that time I was also solely in charge of administering the City’s ERP central software
system, which required me to be extremely efficient and effective in a rapidly growing environment of
increasing customers and users. Being good at both parts of my job required me to dig deep and learn
almost all areas of the City’s many and various operations and to achieve win-win outcomes between
various teams with limited resources.
In 2017 I saw the need for serious improvement in City Administration and I felt that the most
constructive and positive action I could take to benefit both City employees as well as City residents
would be to run for Mayor.
I ran three self-funded campaigns for Mayor in 2017, 2019, and 2021. My campaign website
www.lameres.com still shows my resumé and other information there. I am a Certified Public
Accountant and Montana Native who was born 55 ½ years ago in Billings and have lived in Bozeman for
36 years.
I have a BS from MSU and an MBA from UM, where one of my favorite elective classes was
“Foundations of Public Administration”.
My Advisory Board experience includes 9 years on the City’s Economic Development Revolving
Loan Fund Board and over 16 years as Chair of the City’s Community Affordable Housing Advisory Board.
I also enjoyed the great life experience of being an Adjunct Instructor of Accounting at MSU.
I have decades of personal involvement with a long-standing local business owned and operated
by my “Better Half” Lisa. My job description is simply that I do whatever I can to make Lisa’s life easier,
whether it be working at the Front Desk, keeping the books, computer and network maintenance, doing
laundry, snow removal, or changing light bulbs in the swimming pool.
I interact constantly with hotel guests from other cities and states and hear their cautionary
tales of where Bozeman appears to be heading. I also hear first-hand the concerns of fellow staff,
vendors, contractors, other business owners, and many others who visit our business.
OTHER COMMENTS:
UDC UPDATE: Such an unfortunate circumstance which could have been easily avoided by not rolling
out that Draft prematurely. Even the consultant said he usually gets more feedback from the general
public first, so who made the decision to roll out a Draft which anybody who knows Bozeman could tell
you would surely create a firestorm?
And then we made matters worse by blaming it on the State legislature, when anybody could
see for themselves that argument didn’t hold water.