Transportation Policy Coordinating Committee Meeting - January 29, 2026
Transportation Policy Coordinating Committee (TPCC) Meeting - January 29, 2026
The meeting was held on January 29, 2026, primarily to conduct a workshop on the draft vision, goals, and objectives for the Gallatin Valley Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). The committee also addressed organizational matters including the nomination of a chair and vice chair, and approved previous meeting minutes.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes (December 10, 2025): The minutes from the December 10, 2025 Gallatin Valley MPO meeting were approved unanimously (5-0).
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public requested to speak.
Discussion Items
- Organizational Matters - Chair/Vice Chair Election: The committee discussed the nomination of a chair and vice chair for the year. Current chair (Mayor Cunningham) and vice chair (Commissioner McFarland) were absent. A motion to nominate Mayor Morrison as chair (with Commissioner McFarland as vice chair) was moved, but after discussion the motion was withdrawn. The committee voted unanimously (5-0) to table the election until the February meeting. Staff representative Jeff Butz was then nominated and unanimously (5-0) approved to act as chair for this meeting only.
- Workshop on Draft LRTP Vision, Goals, and Objectives (Item E1): Staff presented a draft vision statement and five goals, developed from public outreach (168 survey responses, community events, TTAC input, and a community advisory panel). The committee reviewed each goal and associated objectives, offering substantive feedback:
- Goal 1: Safe and Secure Travel Across All Modes. Members recommended removing “perceived” safety in favor of “removing safety barriers”; eliminating the per-capita qualification for fatality reduction; and adding an objective addressing coordination with MDT to adjust speed limits contextually.
- Goal 2: Ensure a Reliable, Resilient, and Well-Maintained System. Members suggested splitting this into two separate goals – “System Preservation” (standalone) and “Reliability and Resilience” – to allow clearer resource allocation. They also recommended replacing “efficient movement” with “reliable movement” and moving “emerging technologies” to Goal 3 or treating it as an overarching theme.
- Goal 3: Mobility Choices to Better Connect Destinations. Members supported renaming “walking, bicycling, and transit” to “multimodal” for consistency and to include all modes.
- Goal 4: Enhance Health and Quality of Life While Protecting Regional Character. Members emphasized that active transportation objectives should first address travel options for those without car access, not just health benefits.
- Goal 5: Coordinate Transportation and Land Use. Members urged making the coordination two-way (land use plans should also consider transportation plans) and adding explicit language on working with the Highway Commission and MDT on speed limits and transit stops on state highways.
- Staff will incorporate committee feedback, take it to TTAC for review, and return the revised goals and objectives for adoption at the February TPCC meeting.
Key Outcomes
- The election of chair and vice chair was tabled to the February 2026 meeting.
- Jeff Butz (staff) was appointed acting chair for the January 29 meeting (vote: 5-0).
- The committee provided detailed direction on revisions to the LRTP vision, goals, and objectives. Staff will revise the draft, consult with TTAC, and present a final version for adoption at the next TPCC meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Yeah. Okay, well, we do not have a chair right now. And so uh let's get started with the meeting and get moving on the agenda. Marcy, if you want to move on to minutes and then after minutes, uh we can have the discussion on nomination of uh new chair and vice chair. If you want to just We just need a motion to approve the minutes. Well, if we want to get going, I guess on the agenda. I'm sorry if we want to start moving our way through it. I don't think we have a quorum, Jeff. That's what I was just looking at. Um Mayor Morrison and Commissioner McFarland are unable to make it. And sounds like we have our chair and vice chair. Possibly. We have Commissioner Fisher still assigned to this board. We have six. We have Commissioner Bodie is now on this board, and it looks like she is joining us now. So I think we will have a home. Um so uh do we want to move forward first with nominating a chair and a vice chair to uh run the meeting. I can have the agenda up here for whoever is acting chair today. Um but let's start with uh our bylaws every single year, lay out that at the first meeting of the year, the committees both TTEC and TPCC will nominate a chair and a vice chair. Previously uh Mayor Cunningham served as the chair. He uh is no longer uh serving as the mayor, and vice chair McFarland uh is not here. And so uh it would entertain some discussion and a motion on who we would like who the committee would like to nominate as a chair and a vice chair. I don't know if there's been any previous discussion of this, uh it might make sense for uh for Commissioner McFarland to uh chair the committee if he was previously the vice chair. Of course he's not here to defend himself, but yeah, he already has vice chair experience and so that yeah, are there any other uh nominations discussion for chair or vice chair? The role of the chair is specifically to run these meetings, and then additionally um if you have an absence, then uh uh email the chair and if there is a signature that is needed, the chair puts the signature on it and um few other minor things. The vice chair who runs the meetings in place if the chair is not available. Today we don't have a chair nor a vice chair, so Jeff, I still think we need to pause for a second because I don't think we have enough people to actually have a quorum per our bylaws to actually make those decisions today. How many do we have, Neil? Um well it depends on how like who we have to go back and look at who's all in it, but when you're missing the one from Bozeman and the county. Okay. The bylaws are a majority. Okay. Commissioner Bodie, I assume that you are the new city of Bozeman uh appointee. Yeah, both um myself and Joey will be representing from the city of Bozeman. Joey is um traveling for for you know city moving to work today, so couldn't join us. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. Um so we do have a quorum for the bylaws. Uh it is up to this committee. Um we have some policy items on the discussion today. Uh they are critical path policy items. Um so today would be a day to preview those for a critical path item next month. Uh well, so if we're if we're still discussing chair, um I would uh move to nominate uh Mayor Morrison from Bozeman to be the chair of this of this committee. Okay. So we have Mayor Morrison is uh is vice chair with uh commissioner McFarlane as chair. Um I I stand by my motion. Well, I'll second it for the sake of discussion. Neil, do you like to expound on that at all? Sure. I just just knowing everything that's going on with the county and the different shuffling arounds of responsibilities.
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