The Billings City Council met on September 14, 2026, for a regular business meeting. The agenda included a mayoral proclamation, consent agenda items (including approvals, removals, and separations), multiple public hearings, and a controversial tax increment financing (TIFF) request for the Babcock Theater. Key decisions included approving a decrease in streetlight district assessments, setting delinquent utility charges, and conditionally approving $553,000 in TIFF assistance for the Babcock Theater after a motion amendment. The meeting lasted from 5:30 p.m. to adjournment.
2026, Billing City Council regular business meeting. It's 5 30 p.m. And I will call this meeting to order. Please rise with me for the Pledge of Allegiance, then stay standing for our invocation. Creator God, we come to you today asking for your guidance, wisdom, and support as we begin this meeting. Help us to engage in meaningful discussion. Allow us to grow closer as a group and nurture the bonds of community. Fill us with your grace, Lord, as we make decisions that can and do affect Billings residents and guests, city staff and council, and continue to remind us that all that we do here today, all that we accomplish is for the pursuit of truth for the greater good and for the service of humanity. We ask these things in your name. Amen. Please be seated. Ms. Keener, would you please call the roll? Councilmember Shaw. Nicholson. Here. Pittman. Aguirre. Here. Kennedy. Aspenlighter. Lindley. Here. Boyette. O'Donnell. Mayor Nelson. Present. Thank you. Council, we have uh minutes from August, the meeting of August 24th, 2026 to accept. Uh can I have a motion? Mr. Boyette. Oops. Thank you, Mayor. I move that we approve the minutes for August 24th, 2026 as read. Thank you. A second, Ms. Aguirre. Um any discussion or changes of the minutes? Fine. All those in favor of accepting the minutes, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, that's a unanimous vote. All right. Any council courtesies tonight? Seeing none, we do have a uh a mayoral proclamation today regarding suicide prevention day on September 20th. Uh, according to the Centers for Disease Control, there are 135 suicides per day, resulting in over 43,316 suicides per year in the United States, and it is estimated that there are over one and a half million suicide attempts each year, making suicide the 11th leading cause of death in the United States. And whereas Montana has the highest suicide rate in the nation per 100,000 population, over twice the national average, making suicide the eighth leading cause of death in Montana, and the second leading cause of death among Montanans between ages of 10 to 44. And whereas over 90 percent of the people who die by suicide have a diagnosable and treatable mental condition, although often that condition is not recognized or treated, and the stigma associated with mental health condition often works against suicide prevention by discouraging persons at risk for suicide from seeking life-saving help, further traumatizing survivors of suicide loss, and people with lived experience of suicide, and whereas the people of Billings are urged to promote awareness that there is no single cause for suicide, and that suicide most often occurs when stressors exceed current coping abilities of someone suffering from a mental health condition. And whereas organizations such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention envision a world without suicide and are dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide through research, education, advocacy, and resources for those who have lost or struggle, and whereas developing and implementing strategies to increase access to quality mental health, substance abuse, and suicide prevention services improve the mental health and physical well being of those most need of care.