Mics are hot, everyone.

Oh, I uh I hijacked the chair that you were sitting in, and Britt's now sitting in it.

Sorry.

And I'm like, I'm not sitting in one of those screen chairs.

Very proud of him.

Next time, Brian.

Welcome, Deputy Mayor.

Hello.

Hello.

You know, the deputy mayor's chair is right there, but he wouldn't know if you moved it if he's not in the room.

I've been on that side of the day as long enough to steal the deputy mayor.

Yeah, I'll just say, you know, the transportation advisory board does not get the slides.

I am calling this meeting to order.

This is the time for the regularly scheduled meeting of the economic vitality board.

If you're attending this meeting in person, thank you.

This meeting is also uh viewable via video conference with information on the website for how to access that.

It is streamed on public TV channel one ninety.

And um, if none of those options are available, uh tuning in via phone call on the website is also available.

With that out of the way, uh, want to open the floor for any disclosures we have tonight.

Go ahead.

Just one.

Um, I participated in a conversation about the Fowler Housing Project.

The city hired a consultant to do uh some one-on-one conversations about this consensus process, so I participated in that um not as an economic vitality board member, but as someone who previously advocated for a public housing authority and followed the Fowler Avenue Connector Project.

Um, but just want to make that disclosure since that project might come in front of us later this year or next year.

Thanks.

Thank you.

I'll make the same disclosure.

Okay.

Last call for disclosures.

And with that concluded, we will move on to changes in the agenda.

Thank you, Chair.

So um I do have a of just a couple of changes that I want to make the board aware of.

And it really really relates to the the amount of um work planning that will be done tonight.

Unfortunately, half or some portion of our team couldn't make it this evening.

Um, our communications manager to Conn Clark, who manages the belonging and boseman program, and um Max uh Ziegler, our um art person in facilities who manages the art public art couldn't make it tonight.

And so I would I'm asking the board to um please uh move those items to next month, and we can we can fulfill the totality of the work plan next month.

But if we could just tonight focus on economic development and housing, and uh if the board could consider those work plan items and then motion and vote on those two items, and then we'll we'll kick the other two to next month if the board is okay with that.

Excellent.

Do we believe that change requires a motion?

I'm sorry, Chair, could you say that again?

Do we believe that change requires a motion?

I don't think it requires a motion.

I think it's uh just uh an uh administrative change to the agenda tonight.

Okay.

Well, in the interest of time, I think it makes all the sense in the world.

Thank you.

Any other changes to the agenda?

Hearing none, we'll move on to the public comment section of tonight's meeting.

This is the time to comment on any non-agenda matter falling within the scope of the Economic Vitality Board.

There will also be time in conjunction with each agenda item for public comment related to that item, but please only speak once per topic.

Please note the board cannot take action on any item which is does not appear on the agenda.

All persons addressing the board should speak in a civil and courteous manner, and members of the audience should be respectful of others.

When you speak, please state your name and state whether you are a resident of the city or a property owner within the city in an audible tone of voice for the record and limit your comments to three minutes.

Do we have any public comments?

Uh good evening.

Um Daniel Cardi, Bozeman resident.

I'm going to make a comment out ahead of the uh special presentation on your board's onboarding.

So I'm speaking tonight to ask this board to record dissenting opinions in its meeting minutes and forward both majority and dissenting opinions to the city commission for the commission's consideration.

My reasons for making these two requests are as follows.

Resolution 5323, section two number six states that the city advisory board members shall adhere to the one-body one voice principle in communications to the city commission on matters under the advisory board's purview, or that may come under the advisory board's purview.

However, resolution 5323's one-body one voice principle fails to record or otherwise make positive use of dissenting opinions, which play a vital role in our constitutional democracy at all levels of government.

For example, dissenting opinions are invaluable to our constitutional democracy because they provide a permanent public record, a foundation for change, a basis for correcting errors made by the majority, improved decision making, validation of alternative viewpoints, which leads to enhanced advisory board culture, increased innovation, and calls to action.

So in conclusion, I'll re reiterate my request that this board record dissenting opinions in its meeting minutes and forward both majority opinions and dissenting opinions to the city commission for the commission's consideration.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Do we have anyone online that wants to make public comment?

No one online has their hand raised, Chair.

Okay.

Seeing no one else in the audience, I believe this concludes the time for public comment, and we can move to the portion of the meeting for special presentations.

Mr.

Newby.

Good evening, everyone.

In fact, because some of you I've just met, I'm just gonna uh I'm just gonna go through the names of of everybody I see before me.

So we have Brian Geyer over here, uh Deputy Mayor Douglas Fisher, Natsuki Nakamura, Andrew Hill, Nathan Stein, Albert Jones, Kelsey Larson, Daisy Romo, and Britt Fontenell.

I'm glad you're all here with us this evening.

Um I'm gonna go over some things for the new board members of which we have a number.

Um they're pretty simple and um a lot of it's common sense, but um, but we're still gonna go through it.

So um let's uh my name's Alex Duby, in case I didn't say that, although I think the chair already did, and I'm the deputy city clerk.

Um if you have any questions at any point, just raise your hand, feel free to free to throw them out there, and I will answer them if I can.

And if I can't, I will get you an answer later.

Uh okay, as far as uh decorum and norms of behavior on this board, uh we just ask that you would approach serving on this board.

Oh, sorry, something's going on here with uh okay, there we go.

Um that you would um approach serving on the board with just with the idea that we want to be productive, um, we want to support collaborative work.

How can we approach this as a team and come out with a uh an end result that um benefits the city, benefits the city commission and benefits the people of the city.

Um the purpose of coming to this meeting with uh just uh desire to do some good collaborative work together is to build trust members trust amongst members and staff and ensure that there's space and time for contributions from everyone.

Um we ask that you when in your communications with staff that you and other board members that you do it respectfully and um that you would follow the direction of the presiding officer and the rules of procedure and the rules of procedure are uh addendum A, I think on the um resolution, which is I believe it's 5323 or something close to that.

If you want to see it, I can pull it up.

But um, and uh that's where you can find the rules of procedure, which I sent I sent out to everyone who who are new board members and probably sent to most of you who who came on uh an earlier iteration of this.

Um board members must not direct staff attempt to pressure or influence workloads, schedules, or departmental priorities.

And I haven't seen a lot of that in my tenure here at the city, but I have heard that historically that was a problem.

Um for some reason on some issue you disagree with staff's professional judgment, uh feel free to um speak to the staff liaison, or if or if that you're having an issue with the staff liaison, you can reach out to the city manager.

Um they their uh contact information is on our website.

Of course, I can give it to you if you don't have it.

Uh attendance at meetings other than board meetings.

Please do not attend um other meetings that are like staff meetings for the city.

Um again, that's something I don't see ever happen now, but apparently in the past it's been an issue.

Um, I was right, it is resolution 5323.

Conduct at public meetings should follow resolution 5323 and the code of ethics.

Speaking of the code of ethics, um I think most of you have have been through our ethics training this year, but that's an annual thing.

You can expect every year that we'll do ethics training.

And so um you may have just finished it and you can gladly look forward to a new round of it next year.

One body, one voice.

The idea behind this is that boards once uh when you'll have the opportunity to discuss uh present your thoughts on a topic and vote.

Um once uh the board has voted on whatever issue that has come before you, we ask that um that you allow the board chair to speak for the board and um and uh and once decisions have been made uh in this setting um that uh that you uh you allow it to just be um you'll have an opportunity to talk about things with um people uh citizens in our community.

Um of course uh you can share your your opinions with people, but once the board has made a decision, we ask that you would um just uh abide by what what the board has decided and um and does that make sense.

Okay.

Um sorry, just to clarify, so you you mean even if someone was speaking not as a representative of the board.

Right.

In your in your own personal capacity, if you have a uh uh you know what you can you can share your opinion, but in a board in a board setting um or like uh if if somebody comes and asks you to represent the board to them, like what was the board doing in this case?

Just explain you can explain how the board came to that decision, tell them what the decision is and leave it at that.

And I I guess if um uh slightly related question.

So when it is discussion or disagreement about an issue, um how is that kind of recorded in the minutes?

Or is the are the minutes just the video of the meeting, and then the public can just look that up and see that there was different viewpoints were raised um in the meeting, but ultimately the board came to this.

So Andrew, the um meetings are recorded and the recording is the public record.

So anybody who wants to know how the board voted can come and see that.

And and but we also do produce minutes that um that we post.

Uh the however the video is actual actually the actual record of the meeting, but we do produce minutes, which will show how everybody voted, and anybody can also access those.

If they if they're like, I don't want to watch it, I just want to go see what the votes were, they can do that.

And that's why we do, I'll talk about this later, but that's why we do roll call votes so that everybody, unless you've had to um, unless for some reason on one particular issue you have had had to step away from that vote.

Um, everyone's vote is recorded, and anybody can come see how anybody voted.

And and then you know, they can ask, they can ask you why'd you why do you vote that way?

And I guess just to complete that thought, just to uh just to acknowledge that um I think there was some good points raised by the the public comment on on this issue.

Yeah.

Ms.

Bondo.

Chair, can I put a put a final point on that?

So I I raised Mr.

Cardi's concerns to the city clerk who manages these types of issues.

And um Mr.

Moss told me uh that the um the minutes that are produced outside of the actual video are what they call summary minutes, and so they are meant to be uh a brief of the entire meeting.

The actual um the official minutes are the video recording.

And so it has never been the custom of the city to provide a dissenting opinion.

It's not a supreme court where a descending opinion is provided as an alternative to the to what the board has recommended to them to the city as a body.

So um I'm just putting I wanted to point that out to the board that I did look into that uh a little earlier today, and that was the information that I received from the city clerk.

Thank you.

Thank you for the clarification.

Mr.

Stein.

Um Thanks, Alex.

Um I guess to ask one more clarifying question, piggybacking off of Andrews, and we discussed this a little bit during our ethics training last month.

Um I got advice from the city attorney last year.

Um I asked a question related to um there's this there's gonna be a city commission meeting on a subject that the EV board had discussed and voted on.

Um, and I asked if I was able to participate in the public comment and comment in my professional capacity, given my my organization that I work for had um you know professional interest and issue at hand.

Um and the advice I got was it it would be appropriate to comment in that capacity and just note that I'm not speaking on behalf of of the economic vitality board or as a member of the economic vitality board.

Is that oh yeah, that's uh I I'll get to that exact point somewhere here in the next pages.

But since you brought it up, Nathan, that is correct.

Like you are free to um come and comment on any issue that comes before the commission or another board.

Um we just ask that you come and state.

My name's Nathan Stein.

I serve on the economic vitality board.

I am not commenting in the capacity of a board member, but this is my own personal opinion.

Um yeah, you're free to do that, and um that is something that definitely happens.

Thanks.

Yep.

I have a question and comment, maybe.

Um I guess question to our liaisons.

Do the liaisons typically is it are there a standard procedure to summarize some of the discussion to the rest of the commission?

Is that is a kind of a standard procedure for the either liaison?

No, the discussion is uh in its totality is provided in the official recording, and if if someone wants to understand the the discussion, that's where they would go to get that information.

Could I offer just a little perspective?

And first of all, I'm honored to be here.

Um I am your new liaison.

I hope to um uh fill some big shoes left by Emma Bodie.

Um but uh with a new commission, we always change your commit your commission liaisons and so and in part to like just make sure we all as commissioners are familiar with all the different parts of the city.

Um I will say that just it's it tends to be common practice for the more um important, more controversial votes or the more um you know, for and often when there's a split, your five commissioners will go back and actually watch this discussion on the tape.

Um it's often we get like a time signal you might you know to start here and and we we will go in and and and many of us will watch that prior to a discussion.

So we'll see the full discussion.

I I um we are in the process.

One of our our um one of the commission work plan items is to kind of maybe rethink a little bit of how what what what our advisory boards look like, how they how they work, how we interact with them.

Um so I I don't want to speak out of turn here, but but my hope is to be able to, I do find it's really helpful and to speak to Mr.

Cardi's point of view too.

Um, you know, not to have a formal like, well, here's the dissenting opinion, but to really say, okay, the the vote came down to six one.

This was and this is what I'd like to do as your commission liaison to the full commission.

The vote came down to six one.

The you know, obviously the majority felt this way, but there was you know the friction was here, you know, and and to offer a little bit of interpretation.

I don't want to blow it out of proportion, but but I do feel you know, as a commissioner, it's helpful to to hear where the friction points were and maybe why some of the you you guys all bring expertise to the table that's important, and and it's uh it's helpful to hear, well, you know, Ms.

Romo felt this way, but or or not even you know, not to call anybody out, but just that there was there was uh you know a disagreement on this particular point in the discussion, and that's resulted in a split vote.

Sorry, well did I say to follow up on that.

I guess my push, I mean my support for the dissenting opinion would be that I've attended some city commission meetings where it seems apparent that the other commissioners have not had the time to watch the recording, and they ask, could you tell us why there was a split vote on that?

And it kind of I've seen the city staff or the commission liaison kind of put in the moment to editorialize in that moment.

And so maybe it would be like actually take off that burden of trying to editorialize or miss step out of turn by letting the dissenting people if they want, maybe not required, but like allow that just to be included in the staff report so that they don't have if they don't have time to watch the whole recording or they don't have to try to speak for someone else.

And my I've seen city staff and sometimes have to be pushed into that position of trying to summarize without you know simplify a conversation that maybe it was a 30-minute conversation and try to distill it down.

And that that might not be the most comfortable for uh city staffer.

So that would be my opinion.

If if there was a contentious, maybe it could be included in the staff report as kind of a footnote.

You know, I think that's a fair point, and I'd be happy to take that concern to um to the mayor and to the city manager as we as we discuss kind of how we'll uh you know I don't not sure where we'll fit in the in our list of priorities this discussion of of how we take you know how our advisory boards work, but I think that that would be a fair point to include in that discussion.

Okay.

Continuing on with the idea of uh having a collaborative environment.

Um we want to recognize that staff and board members are striving to serve the public to the best of their abilities.

Um I think that uh you know when when there's when there's when there's disagreements think the best of one another, keep in mind that this is what we're here to do.

We're here to serve the public, and we're we're trying to do our best to do that.

And it can be hard sometimes.

Um you all have experience and knowledge um about this topic.

That's why you're here, please, please share it.

Um that is that concludes that small section.

I'm gonna go pop over here and go through one more, oops, one more one more uh presentation.

So um who are who are board members, chair, vice chair, and vote voting members.

Uh other members are the commission liaison, that's Douglas Fisher, and the staff liaison, that's Britt Fontenau, and other support staff, that's Alex Snooby.

Um agendas, so you guys all have a paper and agenda in front of you?

Okay, so now you know exactly what they look like.

Um staff will prepare the agenda together with with the chair and um agendas are published at least 48 hours prior to your meeting.

Um that's my job.

And then I will send it back to Britt, and Britt sends it out to you.

So, you know, okay, we've seen this.

I think this is the third time we've seen resolution 5323 appendix A rules of procedure.

Um if you haven't looked at those, please do.

Um any quorum of a board constitutes a meeting.

Why, Alex, why are you telling me that?

Because if you are at some event in the city and you look around and you go, oh wait, there's Albert.

And oh, Kelsey's over there.

And Daisy just walked in the room.

I think we might have a quorum.

You have a meeting on your hands.

Now, is that a big problem?

No, especially if you if you if you let Alex and Mike know, hey, Alex and Mike, or um you can let Britt know.

Uh send it to Britt, send it to Alex, send it to Mike, say um it turns out that uh we're going to be attending this um meeting.

We all need to go to it.

Um, then it takes me about seven to ten minutes to make a quorum notice, print it out, date it, and come down here and post it publicly so that uh the public can be like, hey, we saw that the EV board was at some event in the city.

Were they discussing uh business?

And we can point to this and say, no, they were not.

Um the presiding officer will lead the meeting.

Uh if the presiding officer can't be there, then the co-chair or the vice chair will will lead it.

Um we have roll call voting as uh we already discussed, and no abstaining unless you've had to recuse yourself from a certain issue.

Um expectations are that you would be prepared and attend regularly.

And I think being prepared is mainly going through the agenda and the memos on the agenda.

Um and then you know, giving a little bit of thought of what expertise you're bringing to this particular topic.

That's that's it.

Um regular attendance.

Um I think that's a given, but please know that we recognize that uh just like uh Takami and Max both are both are not able to come tonight.

the agenda and the memos on the agenda um and then you know giving a little bit of thought of what expertise you're bringing to this particular topic that's that's it um regular attendance um i think that's a given but please know that we recognize that uh just like uh takami and max both are both are not able to come tonight um that happens um if if uh if something's going on where you're like oh I've been called out of town but I could attend the meeting virtually or I'm feeling sick not so sick I couldn't attend virtually but too sick to come to the meeting um please send Britt and myself and Mike Moss I don't think I mentioned his full name Mike Moss deputy or Mike Moss City Clerk um an email that uh the sooner the better we like to have if at all possible 48 hours of notice but obviously sometimes that's not possible.

You can um you can send one later we just can't won't guarantee that we're gonna get you a link um just because of all the things going on in our uh office all the time but please know that yeah you can reach out to us we can send you a zoom link and you can participate in the meeting virtually and um I think that we try to keep that to a minimum but it certainly is an option and um so don't be afraid to use it.

Trainings um we may have more trainings coming down the pike as the commission reevaluates how it's uh working with boards but um currently aside from this we have ethics trainings those are the the main trainings that you'll come in contact with the staff liaison can let you know when your term is about to end um you can always feel free to drop an email if you're if you aren't sure about that to staff liaison and the clerks and we'll let you know.

The staff liaison coordinates with the clerks and other staff for anything this board needs which is mainly agenda issues and the staff liaison prepares memos to the city commission at request of the board so generally in our history how things have worked is that um at the beginning of the year the city commission decides on its priorities for that year.

And then um the board whatever issues in those priorities fall within the realm of um economic vitality the economic vitality board will um develop a plan to um meet those priorities and then come December is a time to report on progress I'm not gonna go into any more detail than that unless anybody has questions.

Okay and so just to sum this up one more time as far as communications go one body one voice um one thing that I haven't mentioned yet that I do want to mention um and that Nathan um alluded to was um you it any kind of question that you have about decorum or about how how should I be concerning this issue on the board please feel free to reach out to our city attorney Greg Sullivan um his email address is now Greg dot Sullivan at Bozeman dot mt dot government those are new uh email um addresses so I haven't fully got used to them yet but um he is he'll be happy to um sit down and and discuss any any type of issue that you have um and he is um he's he's approachable and um we'll we'll listen to you seriously so let's see um our operations do you have any questions it's not more um I have one question going back on to the beginning about must not direct staff um I guess really had a question if we have some question that we want to ask staff is it inappropriate for us to like directly email a staff member for example I add you know bread question about like short term rental compliance and you had said that's kind of out of your department that's is it inappropriate for me to reach out to someone from the community development board and ask these kind of questions sure you can ask sure I think that's fine just copy me I think you should also copy the board chair okay um and um the the commission leads on as well okay

Um I guess as I had a question if we have some question that we want to ask staff, is it inappropriate for us to like directly email a staff member?

For example, I add email Brett question about like short-term rental compliance, and you had said that's kind of out of your department.

That's is it inappropriate for me to reach out to someone from the community development board and ask these kind of questions?

Sure, you can ask because I think that's fine.

Just copy me.

I think you should also copy the board chair.

Okay and um the the commission liaison as well.

Okay, perfect.

Thank you.

Oh, um and thank you for that question, Natsuki, because that reminded me of one other thing.

Um when it comes to emails, um we ask that you not um type up uh uh a question that is going to be type up something that is gonna be on the agenda for the board and then hit um uh send to everyone on the board, because that is that is a ends up being a discussion outside of this board meeting about board matters.

Can you have a conversation with fellow board members about stuff?

Yes, but but please don't do all at one time.

Um uh please CC Britt and um and Commissioner Fisher.

But you so yeah, to to sum that up, we don't want to have uh virtual board meetings on email, if that makes sense.

Any other questions?

I see none.

Thank you for your time, Mr.

Newby.

Thank you, Alice.

Concluding the special presentations portion of tonight's meeting, we move forward to the action items.

Mr.

Plant, no.

Thank you, Chair.

I'm gonna go to the podium if you don't mind.

I do not.

All right.

Thank you, Alice.

Appreciate it.

Good night, everyone.

All right.

Let me get my presentation up here.

Um the meat of our work tonight.

Um I'm really glad to be before you this evening to present this work plan.

Um it really guides our work for the next couple of years.

And what I wanted to start out with was um, of course, that's the topic to for this evening.

Um, but I I wanted to sort of talk through briefly um kind of the order of operations, the way the way I the way I see it going this evening.

So I'd like to introduce why we're doing a two-year work plan and some of the sort of parameters or sideboards that that that I'm aware of as we talk about um you know adding work to that work plan.

We're gonna go through each um division, economic development, then Brian's gonna come up and talk about housing.

And as I mentioned, we're gonna we're gonna push belonging and Bozeman to the March 4th meeting, we'll push public art to the March 4th meeting, and then we'll we can either take questions you know right after each division or we can wait till the end.

That's that's completely up to you.

Um then you guys will have a discussion about what we've talked about what we have presented and amongst yourselves, um, and then I would ask for a motion and vote on the two elements of the work plan that we are that you're talking about tonight.

So that's that's sort of how I see things going.

Um do you have a preference on how you do your questions?

Would you rather have a set of questions after each section or wait till the end?

Do you have a preference?

I just wouldn't want um questions to develop into a series of questions that pushes um your presentation out in terms of time.

Okay.

Um my preference would be we wait to hold questions to the end.

Okay.

That seems to be the consensus.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh so with your permission, I'll get started, and I'll just start by just introducing uh why we have a two-year work plan.

So a few years ago, it was decided that um the city was going to change from a yearly budgeting process to a two-year budgeting process.

And so as part of that two-year budgeting process, we were required to kind of think differently about how we put our work plans together.

Um so we wanted to have a two-year work plan that was aligned generally with the two-year budget cycle.

And so that's why we're moving into this two-year work plan.

Now, what I've what I've learned after doing this for a few times, a few uh sessions, a few seasons, um, is that we can be pretty uh we're pretty good about estimating what our what would the work that's in front of us over the next you know 12 months or so, it gets a little bit more speculative the further out you get in time.

And so while we we anticipate um some of our work crossing over from from year to year, and you'll see that coming up uh when I get into the into the heart of it all, um, I think it's helpful to remember that that this two-year work plan is uh is an aspirational work plan.

I think it's also really important to take into consideration as I as I point out in my memo, some of this is um is a function of staff resources and capacity.

And then of course it's really important to remember that um the city commission has a set of priorities, and it's it's our obligation to be aligned with the city commission's priorities.

And then last but not least, um you know we have a adopted work, uh, an adopted economic vitality strategy.

And so um this strategy is also some marching orders for us, and and I provided for you in your packet sort of uh update on on how far we've come since um 2023, uh trying to implement this plan.

I also want the board to just understand that the makeup of uh just briefly the structure of our department, what you're these two pieces that you're gonna see economic development and community housing are half of what we do.

Um so when I talk about staff capacity, you're looking at half of my the department sitting right here before you tonight.

So I just think it's really important.

It's it's great to be aspirational, but it's also really important to be re to be realistic about what we can accomplish as a team.

Because we have a small team doing hard hard things, and so I just want to make sure that everyone is clear about um, you know, when you add something, something else is gonna have to come off.

And and that's just the way it has to work, because we don't have we don't have any expansion for the for in our team right now.

So um having said all that, get all that out of the way.

We're gonna move right.

And any questions before we get started, just like operationally.

Um sure.

The uh five year set of uh plans and priorities.

When was that started?

That was included in our packet.

So um this plan was adopted in 2023, and it's a it's a five-year plan, three to five years is called sort of the shelf life.

And so, as part of your packet, I include at the very end, I included an update on um in green are the items that we've been able to accomplish, and in red are the ones that we have not gotten to yet.

Do you not have that in your packet?

Okay, I don't think we got that in our packet, but we I did get it in the emailed packet, just not printed.

Okay.

Thank you.

I'm I'm glad it was there.

It was at least you found it though, right?

You you know what I'm talking about, that the document that okay, good.

Okay.

So first let's talk about year one of economic development.

Excuse me.

So what you see before you are our what we what we envision is our work plan for our economic development work.

Now, it's important to remember that our small department, we were in our small department, we we work together.

We overlap our our work a lot.

And so, for example, um when I'm not doing traded sector business development, which I haven't been doing for some time, quite candidly, it's because I'm working in the housing program, supporting our housing manager, or working in the urban renewal program, supporting our urban renewal, or working in the legislative program, supporting our other staff doing legislative work.

And so um, truth be told, many of these economic development areas um with a few uh notable exceptions that I'll talk about, you know, have been sort of backburnered because we have at a necessity have had to marshal our resources to support housing and to support urban renewal and to support the legislature.

And so something had to give, and some of these things are are what gives or what gave.

Um so on the traded sector business development side, I mean, that's a really important um concept that I that I'd like to briefly touch on.

You know, there are the traded sector versus local sector.

And the reason our plan, our adopted plan describes and talks about traded sector businesses and differentiates between the two, is because we're trying to get new money into our economy by working with traded sector businesses.

So new money coming in and recirculating around.

You know, local sector is the same money circulating around the coffee shops, uh the the sort of that local business.

And while they're important, they're important businesses, and I'm not trying to minimize the importance to our economy.

They're just not businesses that we work on.

I also don't work on retail and also don't work on tourism.

I we work on the high growth potential sectors like photonics and optics, manufacturing, bioscience, healthcare, um, the outdoor industry.

I mean, these are the these are the industries that create high-paying jobs that can buy into our economy.

So therefore, those are the industries and the job creation that we tr that we try to support.

These the uh local sector is really not that.

And so um, while important, it we just we don't have the resources to do it all.

So we have selected traded sector as um as uh a way to increase money in our circulating in our economy.

I feel very privileged to have two professional economists on our board, and so I'd love I'm I'm really looking forward to hearing your dialogue to some dialogue about what you think about that.

Um workforce development.

Similar sort of uh challenge here, um, limited resources, a lot of work to do there.

So, what we have chosen to do in my department as we look at these areas that are super important, but we just don't have capacity to spend you know to pull peel one person off to just do that one thing, is that we support our partners in the in our community.

So, for example, um I mentioned uh photonics and optics as a as uh one of our trading sector sectors that we work on.

Um there's also a quantum computer quantum quantum element to that.

And that's that's really important for the workforce development that we that we are that we are trying to achieve.

Right now, Montana State University through their Q Corps and their other um their um they have a workforce um group of individuals there, Susie Taylor in particular who I work with, you know, they're working on building that quantum workforce, and we're supporting them in building that quantum workforce.

Um we have uh participated in in efforts with Gallagher College with uh in order to support the youth in our community, the middle schoolers trying to gain quantum literacy, for example.

Um and so that workforce development effort is really is really um attached to some of the other workforce development efforts that are going on in our community.

Um sometimes we lead, sometimes we have to support just because of the nature of of our resources.

Now, child care is one of those areas that I'd like to to spend a minute on because we have made some significant um we've had made some significant advancements in our child care situation here.

Um for many, many years, we um young parents, uh new parents were really struggling to to just to find out what what's available in our in our area.

And if they could find it, um was it affordable?

Did it meet their didn't meet their needs for affordability?

Um and was it logistically uh appropriate?

Was it cited in an area that was convenient?

And all that was really difficult to figure out.

And so what we did was um uh we work started working with the Greater Gallatin United Way, and they created a portal uh that was uh that we supported through some funding and through some some efforts, and then we we shopped it around and uh we really um raised awareness about this portal.

And so for the first time, the Greater Gallatin United Way with our support has a has a portal for parents to go to where they can see all the things that I just mentioned in one location at one time overlaid on one another so that you can make a decision about where you might want to choose child care.

Um so that kind of exchange, that that portal, that platform has um has really made a difference in our community.

Providers are now on that platform, they are they are marketing to the community, they have um they're they're filling up their their vacancies, and it's it's really it's really making a big difference.

And um, so we thank the commission for their support and child care is a very important economic development issue uh and is one that we will continue to work on because um it does have I think it has uh really important ramifications so that we have a quality child care system in our in our community.

The MSU Innovation Campus is another one of those um areas where it takes a considerable amount of time.

I happen to be the chair of the innovation campus board, and so uh I work on that project quite extensively throughout my throughout my you know my work week or year, years at this point.

Um, you know, the innovation campus is been a uh it's been a challenging project over the years, and only recently have we seen um buildings come out of the ground and a real real progress being made in that in that space.

The engine works building hosts the quantum core, it hosts uh companies that are putting uh technology on the moon, it hosts uh you know a lot of really interesting and cutting edge um uh technology companies.

We have the ARL on the site, which is the advanced research laboratory, which is a um secure compartment compartmentalized information facility, which provides secure spaces for our companies to do uh classified research.

And that's that facility also supports students in that these students are able to gain their uh their classifications, their clearances prior to graduation, which gives them a competitive advantage to students who are graduating and then only then seeking their clearances for a variety of different work, either um with the Department of Energy or the Department of Ummana Defense.

So uh so the innovation campus continues to be a very a very important uh effort.

It's a job creating opportunity, it's uh it supports the work of MSU, and um and I think it's uh it's also the center of the tech hub discussion.

Um some of you may know that uh the headwaters tech hub was designated for the state of Montana, and that that's really the beating heart of that optics uh tech hub right there on innovation campus.

Um we also like to collect data.

Uh we like to collect data for ourselves, but we also like to collect data for the public.

And just as recently as um early January, we had a we held an event where we released our yearly market report.

And so what we're trying to do here is on a regular basis, provide uh uh accurate updated information to our community, to our community partners, businesses, uh, and others who are interested in in what's going on in our in our local market.

It's a it's a good tool for decision making, and I think it helps um understand where the where the market's going.

There's a really interesting um chart in here, for example, uh talking about vacancy rates for housing.

And I think that's really it's really important because for a long time we talked about vacancy rates as as one thing.

But uh what our consultants were able to do is tease out the vacancy rates from um market rate versus affordable, and and there's a difference, and I think it's uh it's uh important difference.

And so that's just an example of why data is important and why we'll continue to collect data and share data and then continue to do these market updates.

So for the next year, for the next 11 months, uh this is what our economic development team will be working on.

Just a reminder, Jesse's still out on maternity leave, she'll be back on in March.

So we'll get you know um a quarter of our team back uh in March, and and and this is a lot of of the work that that she does.

And this is a lot of of the work that she does.

Any any comments on this year before I move on, just really quickly.

Anything?

Okay.

So move on to next year two.

And this is all this is a really uh I'm really excited about this year because I think this board can be very involved in a very important activity for this second year.

You'll see a lot of the same work as I mentioned earlier.

This work doesn't know, like it doesn't know a calendar year.

It doesn't know a fiscal year.

It just it just continues, right?

Economic development is the long game.

It's years worth of work, it's decades worth of work, um, not confined to uh a calendar year or or uh any kind of board term or even even elected official term.

It's it's it's way it goes way out there.

And so that's how we have to think.

We have to think in in decades, uh not just in years.

So um what I'd like to point out on this slide is the uh proposal to update our uh economic vitality strategy.

So as I mentioned, this was this was originally uh authored in 2023.

A lot has changed since 2023, and um and we've we've actually picked off a lot of the of the low-hanging fruit and a lot of the items in our in our plan that we've uh uh that we've been working on over the past several years.

And so we think it's time for a refresh of this strategy, and I think this board would be a great um, this project would be a great one for this board to lead.

And so um I'm gonna suggest that as that I'm budgeting for the for the appropriate amount to hire the appropriate people to make this happen in 2027, and I would like this board uh to be um a really important part of that of that effort.

So um I'm hopeful that that you'll find that interesting and important.

So those are the two-year work plan, um, the two-year work plan for the economic development piece of our department.

And um, with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Brian and he can talk about where community housing is going in the next two years.

Thank you.

Are you advancing for me there, Britt?

Or no, I got it.

Right there.

All right.

Hi everybody.

Um first I think I'll start by just kind of introducing myself.

This is my first time in front of this board.

I see a couple of familiar faces, but uh I think introducing myself would be uh appropriate since this is my first time uh speaking to you all.

So um my name is Brian Geyer.

I am the freshly hired uh community housing manager for the city of Bozeman.

Um so I've only been with uh city of Bozeman for a few months.

Um that being said, I am no stranger to housing issues in the Gallatin Valley.

Um for the past 10 years I've uh I've worked as the housing director for HRDC doing projects.

Um started here working up in Big Sky, uh establishing the Big Sky Community Housing Trust and doing the MetaView project, uh the land trust project up there.

Um got the big sky community housing trust kind of off the ground, started to work on some housing issues here in Bozeman.

Um I did a uh a cool project on 24th and Beale called the Humble Homes, uh two two tiny homes that we thought might uh spur the creation of some starter homes and and uh introduce some diversity to the housing market there.

Um prior to working in Bozeman, I worked in uh in Utah uh on housing issues down there after the build-up to the Olympics, uh doing foreclosure and eviction prevention and doing stewardship for the Mountain Lands Community uh housing trust in Park City, Utah.

So this actually occurred to me while doing the uh consensus meetings.

Um I don't know that I I love I love this, but I've been working on uh housing across the uh the Western United States for about 20 years.

Um and so I I bring that experience with me.

I am very aware of what is going on uh in the housing market here in Bozeman.

Um most recently with HRDC, my kind of my uh my final project there was opening the doors to the new shelter and um running the all of the the shelter facilities uh throughout our our area.

And so I have a a lot of experience.

I have a lot of people who have uh made very deep impressions on me as I've worked on housing, and I bring those people with me uh in this new role as the community housing manager.

I'm excited to uh to start working on housing from a slightly different angle and see if we can't find some housing solutions for the broader community that really make um that that allow Bozeman to live up to its moniker of the most livable place.

That is uh ultimately what we're trying to do here.

So um I'm excited to um be a part of this team, be working with you all, and let's uh we'll we'll find some housing solutions that really can uh start to uh move the needle here in our community.

Um the work plan, uh the year one you'll see a lot of CDBG.

Um community development block grant is a new source of funding that came to Bozeman as a result of the most current census census.

When uh the city of Bozeman uh went over that 50,000 person threshold, it became what is known as an entitlement community, which essentially means that there are there are dollars coming directly to the city of Bozeman from HUD.

Uh in the past, the city of uh Bozeman has had access to CDBG funds, but those funds were uh kind of routed through the Montana Department of Commerce, Board of Housing, and then uh into the community.

These are dollars that are uh given directly to the city of Bozeman.

Um so the first the first project out of the gate with these CDBG dollars are the family promise infrastructure.

Um this project is exciting, it aligns with both our consolidated plan and the commission priorities of creating some additional transitional housing units.

And and when we say transitional housing, we're talking about you know, folks who but for the transitional housing units would be experiencing homelessness.

And so uh by enhancing the infrastructure on the family promise facility in the um Genesis Business Park, we can allow them to A fully utilize the family transitional housing units that they have on site, but they can't currently use.

They have, I think, three or four units in their facility right now that they can't use because the infrastructure won't allow for those four units to house families.

And so what we're going to do with this infrastructure project, it's a little complicated because we uh we want to stay within the guidelines of CDBG usage.

And and as you probably know, HUD dollars typically come with a lot of guidelines and restrictions on how those dollars are utilized.

And so what we're doing is we are running a uh a city water line uh directly to the family promise facility, which will give them uh potable water and allow them to start using those units in a separate effort uh that we're also kind of coordinating.

Uh, we will be hooking up the sewer lines for the Genesis Business Park so that um the Family Promise Facility is both on city water and city sewer.

Um there are some other elements to this uh project, uh, you know, uh bringing annexing the Genesis Business Park into bless you uh into the into the city will be part of this process.

And so this is kind of a this project has a lot of different pieces and parts to it, but from the CDBG angle, from where I sit, um, this infrastructure is solely focused on running getting that water line and using these C D B G C D BG dollars to run a water line to Family Promise, which is kind of step one of getting that um getting that facility up and running to its full capacity.

In addition to getting it to uh its full capacity, it also opens the door uh to family promise utilizing the lot that they own next door to expand their uh efforts.

And so it really puts Family Promise in a position to really uh step up and meet the needs of those um those families who are exiting homelessness and trying to find that sort of intermediate step before they get into an apartment.

And so uh it is worthwhile work and it aligns very well with the commission's housing priorities, and we're really excited that this is our initial project using CDBG CDBG dollars.

Um the other thing that I'll be working on, uh the affordable housing ordinance.

Uh right now uh we have a cash and loo provision that needs to be tweaked.

Um, we want the creation of affordable units or a payment of cash in loo to fully reflect the impact that uh those units can have on the community.

And so we want the cash and loo provision to be um uh set at a level where um it if a developer were to choose to uh pay cash in loo rather than build actual units, that gives the city of Bozeman funds that we can then turn around, leverage, and hopefully turn into additional affordable units.

And so getting that sort of formula right so that we encourage people to build those units or pay cash in loo, but not making them so high that they'll just completely back out of the project.

You know, you gotta there's a there's a line you have to walk there, right?

And so we we're trying to find what is exactly the secret sauce of what will give us the highest return on the cash and loo and allow us to kind of reinvest those dollars in affordable housing projects elsewhere, but also not make them punitive or make them rise raise them to a level where it would you know end uh the advancement of projects.

And so finding that piece, finding that sort of uh line is is a big piece of what we're gonna be trying to do with the cash and loop provision.

You're also gonna see some updates on the affordable housing ordinance um that refer to for sale provisions.

So if you read the current affordable housing ordinance, it really does not speak to for sale units.

Um we are trying once again to create a formula that if a developer is not interested in building a for sale unit at an affordable price that we can recoup uh a certain amount of money that will allow us again to reinvest those dollars in affordable housing projects throughout the community.

And so it's a fine line to walk.

Again, you don't want to be punitive, but you also don't want to make it you want to make it reflective of the impact that new housing has on the community.

So that's a big piece of my work for year one.

Um there's also some tweaking that we'll have to do on the affordable housing ordinance uh when it comes to parking.

Um unfortunately, or fortunately, I'm not sure.

Um the state has passed some parking uh uh legislation um that basically takes the wind out of uh the incentive of our parking uh the parking piece of the affordable housing ordinance.

So, you know, that was a pretty pretty big motivator uh to developers to have some of those parking relaxations for affordable housing projects.

Unfortunately, now units under 1,200 square feet will have no parking requirements at all.

Is it 1200?

Yeah, it's 1200 square feet.

We'll have no parking requirements at all.

That's just uh a state law now.

And so we'll have to revisit what those incentives are and figure out, you know, if it's not parking, what are some other ways that we can spur developers or incentivize developers to create affordable housing units in in some of these projects that they're building.

And so um I will uh happily take your feedback on that uh because once we lose that parking incentive, we're gonna we're gonna need to find something else that will incentivize the creation of affordable housing.

Uh the next piece I'll be working on is the Fowler Housing Project.

Uh I'm I'm fairly certain you're all aware of that.

Uh and David is still uh, you know, David uh Fine is driving that project.

He's been working on that project for quite some time now and put a lot of time and effort into it.

But I will be assisting David uh with the construction of those units, and then uh I happen to have a lot of expertise and experience working in the realm of land trusts.

So once we get to the point of, you know, creating the restrictions that go along with the land trust, I'll be more heavily involved in the creation of that and the selection of a housing trust to steward those uh those units into the future.

Um that's important.

That's important because tax dollars are going into these Fowler housing units.

And in order to maintain them as an asset to our local workforce, we need to put restrictions around around them so that they remain affordable in perpetuity.

You know, if if we create a Fowler housing project that allows for that first homeowner to get a windfall of equity, and for the next homeowner it is not affordable, then we've missed the mark on that.

You know, we want to steward these units into the future so that you know, family three, four, and five who live in those units are also getting in at an affordable at an affordable price.

And so some of the things that you do to kind of maintain that affordability are caps on appreciation, uh, primary residency requirements, uh, rental restrictions.

Um, you can also do things like have local residency requirements or local workforce requirements.

These are all things that I've been able to do in the past with uh with the land trust, and um I look forward to working with our partner and putting those restrictions in place so we can really protect these houses as an asset to both the city of Bozeman, but more importantly, to the Bozeman workforce.

And it's created a backstop on the rental side of things where people who sort of want to matriculate into home ownership just don't have options of where they can take that rental and move their their assets into a homeownership opportunity.

And so this Fowler project really represents a first time for the city kind of stepping into this homeownership realm and trying to create some opportunities for those people in our workforce who would really like to plant roots and really invest in our community.

And so these homeownership opportunities are going to be a huge opportunity for our workforce, but it's also, you know, it's a pilot project for the for the city of Bozeman to step into this arena of creating home ownership opportunities for the workforce.

And so we've really got to get this project right.

And so I'll be working with David on that project.

As I was saying before, you know, you can't just build these units and walk away from them.

It takes a lot of time and effort and diligence to create a set of restrictions that will be durable enough to protect the affordability of those units in perpetuity.

The other half of that stewardship piece, uh, you know, we have affordable rentals that are being created uh through LITEC projects and other um, you know, other rental opportunities, um, the stewardship of those units to make sure that the people who are going into those units are income qualified, uh, that they are um adhering to all of the the various guidelines that come along with the funding that you have to stack up to create those properties.

Uh it takes time and effort and diligence to make sure that people aren't subverting uh those guidelines as well.

And so we'll create a program uh to steward not just the homeownership unit units but the rental units as well to make sure that they are still meeting the purpose of providing home uh providing housing opportunities for our local workforce.

And so that's what year one is gonna look like for me.

Um there's been a lot of talk about sort of having a housing program, and I I think this this outline sort of uh illustrates that that the program exists.

We've just never really referred to it as a housing program, but the reality is this year one efforts and then the year two efforts, when you package them up, that is a housing program.

That is uh actually it goes beyond what a lot of communities are doing in the housing realm.

But that is that is sort of what the Bozeman housing program looks like.

Um in year two we'll uh complete our community development block grant strategic planning.

So there's a consolidated plan that goes along with the CDBG grant that you kind of set out that kind of gives you your marching orders for the the years ahead.

Um we'll have to consistently be identifying projects that we can support with CDBG grant funding.

And the reason for that is there's a timeliness requirement that comes along with CDBG grant funds.

I see Nathan shaking his head because I'm sure he's dealt with HUD as well.

Um basically we can't have more than 1.5 years of funding in-house.

So we're always going to have to be looking for that next project.

You can't allow CDBG dollars to sort of pile up.

Um the other side of that though is strategic planning around CDBG.

Those dollars can be highly leveraged.

You can really use them to spur the creation of housing by covering infrastructure costs, pairing them with home, pairing them with ARP funding.

There's a lot of ways that you can use CDBG uh in conjunction with other federal funding sources to really highly leverage those CDBG dollars.

And that was that's something that we'll be doing with uh with the strategic planning for the community development block grant.

Um another thing that was apparent to me when uh when I arrived was that our housing needs assessment needs to be updated.

Uh the housing needs assessment that we currently look at and we utilize uh is pre-pandemic, and I think we can all agree that uh our housing uh environment has changed pretty dramatically post-pandemic, and I think we need a uh needs housing needs assessment that reflects uh our new reality.

And so I'll be working on updating our housing needs assessment in year two.

Um, finalizing the affordable housing ordinance for sale provision, uh, hopefully getting the Fowler Housing Project over the finish line, uh, and then completing the housing stewardship uh program.

So uh there's a lot of uh pieces and parts to what we're doing, but ultimately, you know, whether I'm I was working in the shelter or whether I'm working for the city of City of Bozeman, really at the end of the day, what we're trying to find, what we're trying to do is find housing solutions for people.

And that really goes across the board.

Whether it's somebody who's experiencing homelessness or whether it's somebody who's a middle manager who's been working in this community for years, who has a company that's uh put a lot of effort and money into bringing that person along.

Finding housing solutions for these folks is transformative.

Um I can speak to the power of having your uh a stable housing situation, and I I know I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but having housing stable housing situation is absolutely transformative for individuals.

And if you look at somebody who is experiencing housing instability, whether they're a middle manager making a really good income and not able to get out of a rental situation and into home ownership, or whether it's somebody who is sleeping under a bridge embankment looking for uh transitional housing.

When you discover those those housing solutions for these individuals and families, it is transformative.

And at the end of the day, that is what I am trying to discover in this role as uh the community housing manager.

So I'm ready to uh answer any questions.

Hand it back over to Brian.

Um I'm gonna just move through these next couple of slides as just reminders.

You know, we're gonna talk about this belonging in Bozeman next month.

Oops, sorry, public art again next month.

And so we're sort of derived at the moment for questions and discussion.

One thing I'd like to um I'd like to just ask the board to consider is as you I put a copy of the presentation on your desk so that you know you you could refer to it as we have a as you talk.

I would perhaps one one in addition to just discussing, you know, maybe you can choose some areas or some of these um some of these items, some of these work plan items that you might like to be involved in.

I mentioned the economic vitality strategy as one example.

You know, there might be some under the housing um section that you might like to be involved in, and so we'd like to hear that feedback as well.

Um so I'm gonna just put it back on the economic development for the time being, and then we're available for questions.

Uh any questions you have.

Earlier, the chair promised there would be time in conjunction with each agenda item for public comment relating to that item.

I believe it may be uh productive to have public comment now before the discussion begins in earnest amongst the board if we have any public comment uh Daniel Cardi, Bozeman resident.

I'm speaking to ask the this board to modify its 2026 2027 work plan to prioritize local sector jobs, otherwise known as local area jobs over traded sector jobs and prioritize increasing the wages livability of local area jobs.

My reasons for making these two requests are as follows.

Many cities, including Bozeman focus on attracting traded sector jobs because, as the paradigm goes, each new traded sector job can create several local sector jobs.

However, this paradigm fails to guarantee that traded sector jobs will create local sector jobs that pay a living wage or even pay a livable wage.

For example, a 2019 study published in the peer-reviewed journal research policy investigated the effects of high-tech growth on low-skilled workers and mid-skilled workers employed in local area jobs in the UK during 2009 to 2015.

The study found that high-tech industries do have a positive job multiplier effect.

Low-skilled workers in local area jobs did gain from higher employment rates.

However, low-skilled workers occupying these jobs were often doing, were often doing poorly paid service work, and so their average wages actually fell, particularly when increased housing costs were considered, and that nails Bozeman to a T.

Mid-skilled local area workers did benefit from higher wages.

However, their employment rates did not increase.

This is but one example that provides evidence that bringing in new traded sector jobs does not necessarily translate into local sector jobs that will pay a living wage or will even pay a livable wage.

Hence, I ask again for this board to modify its 26, 2027 work plan to prioritize local sector jobs over traded sector jobs, and prioritize increasing the wages livability of local area jobs.

And all of this, of course, goes to the ability of Bozeman's workforce to afford rental or for sale housing and Bozeman.

All of this is, of course, connected.

Thank you.

And thank you.

The chair will be more precise at this point in the presentation about uh calling on individuals specifically before they speak so that we can maintain structure for the conversation.

At this time, do any of the board members have questions for either of our presenters.

Oh, excuse me.

Are there any online public comments?

There are no online public comments, Chair.

Thank you for the reminder.

Yes, Ms.

Nakamura.

Um, I have a few questions.

I'll start with a couple.

Um so these work plans feel like your work plans, which are feel very ambitious for your four person team.

So thank you for walking us to that.

They feel less like our work plans.

So I guess um for Brett, maybe what is there anything in the 2026 that you would want us to weigh in on or that we could help with the R.

You know, I I thank you for asking the question.

Um they are our work plans.

They're also the Commission's work plan and their priorities, and we're focusing in on uh aligning our work with that of the direction of the elected officials.

And so so, and that is that is on purpose, right?

We we want to align what they what they're after with with what we're doing so that we are working in step with one another.

Um as far as economic development in this first year, you know, I would suggest that that perhaps there's there's not nothing you can sink your teeth into unless there was some interest in getting involved in the in the next market update.

Um but all of these things that you see, we we do every day anyway, regardless of um, you know, whether the board is involved or not.

Uh I would suggest that um there might be more there might be more um um in the first year, there might be more housing work that that could be of interest um to the board, and I'll just pop over there for a second just to kind of take a look at that.

Um, for example, the the CDBG block grant plan uh strategic planning is one of those areas where I think this board could could offer some good insight.

Um, we will be bringing the affordable housing, the drafts of these ordinances, just like we did the AHO when it first was drafted to this board.

So that's another area where this is where you will be involved in the housing elements.

Um I wouldn't be surprised once consensus is complete in several months from now if Fowler doesn't in one way or another come to this board for something, for some kind of feedback.

So I see a lot of opportunity uh to work on uh housing projects, uh perhaps fewer opportunities to work uh in year one on economic development related items, but I think in year two on economic development, I think this economic vitality strategy.

Oops, I'm sorry.

Um I don't know why it does that.

I think that strategy update could be uh would benefit greatly from your input and from your participation.

Mr.

Hill.

Thanks.

Um I guess uh a question um I have about kind of the MSU Innovation Campus and walk and workforce development.

Yeah.

I think um I think a lot of us are probably quite aware of the policies that the city uses on the housing side.

And I know you spoke before that the city doesn't do tax incentives or things like that.

So I guess I'm just wondering, and perhaps you can rather point me in a direction where I could go over this, is what kind of city level policies uh have recently kind of been effective over having used in in some of these kind of workforce development or trade sector to MSU Innovation Campus.

Do they have any tax breaks or anything like that?

Or how like are there any incentives that the city is offering made?

Thank you.

That's a really good question.

I appreciate the opportunity to expand on that.

So pardon me.

I I don't have any good examples for the traded sector business development.

I but we haven't really been doing much of that.

I mean, we've never recruited companies, just to be clear.

City of Bozeman does not recruit.

I just want to full stop.

We never have, and unless some told differently, we we won't.

Um, because that is not that has never been a uh value of the community, right?

Because you bring these companies in, they extract what is good for them, and then sometimes they stay, but sometimes they leave again.

And so that's just not a very good that doesn't create a very good base.

And so we practice economic gardening principles, which is growing your own, right?

Grow your own locally.

We focus on infrastructure, workforce development and education, and supporting local businesses.

That that's kind of our that's our main thrust, those three areas.

So um, and as I as I alluded to earlier, you know, I personally haven't been doing much of this sort of strict economic development work.

Jesse's been doing a lot of that, um, more of that.

Um she's not here right now.

Uh and so some of it just gets back burnered, you know, um oftentimes.

Um we focused uh let's bump the child care.

We spent we we offer we uh um we granted the Greater Gallatin United Way 25,000 to support that child care platform that that I referenced earlier.

Um that is uh an example of um of working with a partner who's actually leading and we are we are participating in a meaningful way, but we just don't have the capacity to lead it.

So we we we chose a different route, but but we still um we still found success in in working on that project.

So let's talk about the innovation campus because I think that's where I can perhaps talk in more detail about what the city policies might have impacted that the growth of that campus.

That that thing was a f we a field of weeds for years for decades.

And I I know that because I was been on the board for that long.

And um and so only in the last five years roughly have we been getting any traction on the innovation campus.

Um it is an urban renewal district, so there's one city policy that is in play there.

It's the South Bozeman Technology District.

And that district has um the urban renewal district, it's actually a technology, it's not a strictly urban renewal, but I won't bore you with the details of TIFLAW.

Um, but it has effectively paid for infrastructure in that um within the bounds of the innovation campus.

Approximately four million dollars of uh roads and sidewalks and all public infrastructure have been have been um uh installed as the campus develops.

All of that, all that infrastructure, all those infrastructure costs are reimbursable to the developer through the TIFF district program.

So that's one example.

The other example is um zoning.

So the park was zoned BP, which is business park, which is an old suburban style zoning for for years, and that has some um uh to me unappealing aspects of it.

Giant parking lots, huge setbacks, just very suburban style development.

And so what we did was we brought a proposal to the city commission um for a PDZ or Plan Development Zone, which uh which essentially is a unique um sort of unique zoning district that allows for certain um uh certain allowances, but with you have to give something in order to get them.

So you give something, you get something.

And so in this case, this PDZ, the give was energy efficient buildings at a certain percentage.

I can't remember the percentage, but these in these all these buildings have to meet certain energy efficiency requirements.

So a sustainability provision.

What they got for that in that zoning designation was um increased building height, so they can go taller there by some number of stories, and no parking minimums.

So they can right size their parking and not have to build a gift if you go out there now, so maybe some of you have been, there are giant parking lots next to these buildings.

That those buildings were built under a different zoning designation.

And I hope someday they build a building on top of those parking lots because they are too, they're just massive.

And there's only 40 acres of land out there.

And if you cover half of it with parking, you're not maximizing your return uh on those buildings.

And so our goal is to um is to minimize the parking by creating a centralized parking solution with a garage somewhere at some time.

And that's where the urban renewal district or the TIFF district will come into play.

That's public infrastructure that can be paid for that through that way.

So those are two examples of how the city policies have shaped um the innovation campus and sort of how it's it's growth, how it's growing.

Does that answer your question, Andrew?

Thank you.

Um for child care, are there uh plans for next steps in regards to that?

Thank you for asking.

That's a great question.

Um, yes.

Right now the plans include simply um supporting the platform next again next year.

So I've put into our economic development budget um the amount of money that would be required to continue to support the platform.

Now I know that Tori Sprolls, uh, who is works at GGUW, she is um they're looking at a newer, you know, they're always looking for a better, a better way.

And so um they're gonna we're gonna use this platform until if and when something better comes along, there may be a different solution.

But um but the um but for right now we're investing in this uh in this solution for the time being.

Thank you.

See no further questions at this time.

Um sorry, are we moving on to community housing?

If if you're if there are no more questions on in on economic development, we can move to to housing.

Sure.

That's fine.

Thank you.

Cool.

Thanks, Brett.

Um and thanks, Brian.

Um I think um two two comments on this.

First, I was I was glad to see in year two an update to the community housing needs assessment.

That was a question I had coming into this meeting.

I wasn't sure if these market updates, which have which are very useful and have great numbers.

Was kind of taking the place of the of the needs assessment.

So thanks for for noting that.

Um I I like this list, it's all stuff that that I think is not surprising to folks that have been um you know plugged into housing and boseman for a while.

I think I think the only thing that feels missing to me and and maybe it's happening, it's just not on this list, is examination of of other sources of of subsidy.

Um so I know that's that's work that's happening um in the regional housing coalition.

I know that the city staff and electeds are represented there.

Um, maybe that's that's an area of potential collaboration between community housing and then and then the legislative um wing of the city, but um I just want us to keep looking.

Um yeah, I think that um that that can be easily added to uh both year one and year two.

Um and to to Brit's point, you know, there's some issues where we lead, some issues where we support that would be more of an issue where we support, but it's no less important.

Yeah.

Ms.

Nakamura.

Sure.

I have some questions about housing, but sure.

We know that's getting too in the weeds, and we can come back to it whenever you oh I love getting in the weeds on housing.

Um for the cash and loo, would you say right now the amount is too high or too low?

Um that's a great question.

Um I think it's honestly it's a little too low.

I think that we could probably uh benefit from uh increasing that cash and loo uh by, you know, and and that formula is gonna be really the the tricky part is you know, how do you don't want to overshoot it.

Like I said, I don't want to be killing projects here.

Um but get get something in return that really allows you to do things like get uh bridge funding for LITEC projects, um, you know, help help with infrastructure on some affordable housing units, things like that.

Uh if we get that cash and loo correct, it gives us some resources to pump in to affordable housing efforts outside of those specific projects.

So it's you think it's too low even though we lost the parking lever.

Yeah, yeah.

And that's why we'll also have to come up with uh an this is not uh this is not easy work, but finding another incentive that really does spur uh the creation of affordable housing is gonna be uh it's gonna be tricky work, you know.

Um we had a uh discussion today about some landscaping uh uh um kind of flex on uh affordable housing landscaping.

That really doesn't move the needle very much.

And so we'll have to have a a pretty uh in-depth conversation about what could move the needle and what might really spur uh the the creation once we lose that parking incentive.

Okay.

Um my other question about C D G I know it's not actually a lot of money in the grand scheme of infrastructure projects.

Do you know like about what percentage that CCPG has is covering that infrastructure?

Year one was around 350,000.

Um and it looks like year two will be right around that same amount.

Uh it does go up uh as you kind of further along in the usage of C D BG, but the first two years are right around 350,000.

So not a whole lot of money.

Uh I have an August 1st deadline on the Fowler project to or on the Family Promise Project.

I gotta get about 150,000 out the door uh to meet that timeliness uh requirement for HUD.

So 350,000, how much would you estimate the whole infrastructure project is costing family?

Uh that'll probably it won't cost uh family promise anything, but uh it'll probably be right around 400 to 500,000 for that infrastructure.

Okay, not bad.

All right.

One thing I didn't have in here, but the other thing that you know to to Brit's point about leading or supporting in the realm of this is also, you know, we have grants that go out to affordable housing uh nonprofits, obviously.

Uh we have two big grants that went out to uh Haven Family Promise and HRDC uh to the tune of about 350,000.

So that'll kind of be kind of a uh a meta initiative in housing.

We're always going to continue to support those those nonprofits who are really focusing their efforts on that lower end of the how housing spectrum so that internally we can focus on that sort of missing middle.

Did you have anything, Ms.

Romo?

Just one last question in reference to the affordable housing ordinance.

Um I see cash in the foresale and parking, and you mentioned that there were some other ones.

I'm assuming that you've seen some be super successful in other areas that have been blooming such as Bozeman.

Uh where would you go next if you tried to look at housing ordinances?

Uh in terms of incentives.

Uh-huh.

That's a good question.

Um, you can do things like when a new employer comes into the community uh creates um uh fees associated with the number of employees that you're bringing in, but that requires a nexus study.

And so there's some things that I've I've uh implemented in Park City, Utah in the past that have kind of helped to not necessarily spur the creation of affordable housing, but create a sustainable source of revenue for those sort of housing efforts that you really want to pursue.

And so I'll have to, you know, I'll have to get out get with you offline on what are some of the best practices that other communities are implementing.

Our affordable housing ordinance, you know, A, we're pretty limited, you know, uh inclusionary zoning uh was kind of taken away from us.

Uh interestingly enough, I was on the uh I was in your position, I was on the Khab board uh uh back in 2017 through 2020, so I'm no stranger to uh working on this stuff.

Um but the but but the reality is the toolbox of of housing support kind of uh incentives and things like that is pretty limited in a state like Montana.

And so you can't just look at say, oh well, Bend Oregon is doing this, let's just do what Ben Organ does because a lot of those things are not in our toolbox here in Montana.

So I have some some thoughts on that, but I would rather uh do a little more studying and get back to you offline.

Pret.

Mr.

Fonteno.

Thank you, Chair.

And Brian, with your question, I'll just add one thing.

You know, there is a there is a reality, a future, and it doesn't exist right now, but but it could exist.

I mean, if there were a more dedicated funding stream for housing, we wouldn't need that affordable housing ordinance at all.

And so there are other, you know, there are other ways of accomplishing these goals.

The the housing ordinances, as you can see, right, it it you're constantly changing and updating it, refining it.

There's another way to do it, but we don't have uh dedicated funding stream.

So this ordinance is our way to provide those incentives.

Uh could you give us a bit more details on what's going on with the uh for sale provision?

Or what is that and what she's saying?

So, you know, with those four sale units, uh, for example, if you have a luxury uh condo, uh they're not always interested in um building a unit in a you know, let's say uh a 40-unit uh condo complex, having one of those set aside for uh affordable homeownership.

And so what we would like to do is create a cash and loo option that reflects um the the value of the unit.

And so with the cash and loo provision right now, it is it's based on like the differential of the rent that you're offering at at affordable versus what it could get market rate, and that's kind of where how you land at that.

Obviously, that formula doesn't work for a for sale project.

And so finding out how can we um incentivize developers to honestly, uh if we're being candid, I I would prefer for them to to pay the cash in loo than build build the unit because that allows us to go and and really use those dollars in a more leveraged way rather than getting one unit, I can get cash and loo and maybe do bridge funding for a 200 unit LITEC project.

And so that that's how you can leverage those dollars on the for sale side.

And so you have to have an amount of money that really reflects the um the value of of uh of not getting that one unit.

And this is it's it's a tricky art, um, but it's it's also something that's been done around the country.

It's not it's not uncommon.

And so I'm I'm confident that we'll be able to get to a point where we have uh a lot we have a pretty steady source of funds coming into uh the housing fund that we can utilize for those other projects that are really higher priority than getting one unit in a luxury condo complex.

Mr.

Hill.

Yeah, so um this I guess is related to housing, um, but perhaps something that I think would be very interesting to think about is you know, I think there's a big emphasis that's been you know, a big increase in supply that we've seen, and we've got this um all these areas in Bozeman where we've got a lot more density than we've had before, but in many ways uh we haven't created any more like walkable neighborhoods, and we kind of have all this, we almost have you know, density is great, you're increasing supply, it's gonna bring prices down, like the housing prices, but you're also creating all these neighborhoods where everyone's gonna stop their getting their car.

And I guess I was interested in levers the city might have to incentivize developers to I I know in you know the downtown pocket mixed use and you know it gets talked about a lot, but just um I think as a city, just thinking about ways to get more walkable neighborhoods and not just downtown.

And I don't know what leaves uh what levers the city has, but I think it would be interesting that that it for this forward as uh one thing to potentially think about if people are interested in that.

Yeah, I don't I I think that that is um that point, you know, going through this consensus building effort for the Fowler project, uh walkability has has come up repeatedly in our interviews with stakeholders.

Um that's something that people are clamoring for.

You know, that they don't want to be car reliant, um, although in a in a community like Bozeman Montana, it's it's kind of part and parcel with being a resident here.

But the reality is um we can do things to sort of incentivize uh walkability, uh good design, you know, uh interaction between uh the built environment and and the natural landscape.

I think you know that's what people are looking for.

That's what that is what we're trying to accomplish with the Fowler Housing Project.

Um and I think the Fowler Housing Project really can serve as a template for uh what the city can do when it steps into that home ownership space, taking those things like walkability, um the built environment with uh natural environment, all of those things can be taken into account, but we've got to land this uh Fowler project and make sure that it's something that the community is proud of and the community points to as okay, they did this one right, let's repeat that.

Ms.

Nagamore.

Sorry, a couple more questions.

Um I think you mentioned uh in the community housing stewardship program, some of that would be for rental unforgiving.

What does that look like?

Because most Litech projects have to manage that in-house usually, right?

What's what's what do you see the city's role in?

I see the city's role is is sort of um stewarding the stewards, making sure that you know, for example, with those LiteTech projects, they have a 15-year compliance period.

Um, you know, it is it is incumbent on the city to ensure that those units, because of the city's investment of time, energy, and resources, that those units are being uh used and and uh properly um you know that that the tenants are being properly screened and in adherence to the light tech guidelines.

So it's more about with those with those particular light tech units, it would be more about okay, what does your uh property management uh agreement look like?

What is your plan for stewarding these units for the next 15 years to ensure that A, they stay affordable and B, you stay in compliance so that you don't lose those tax credits.

So that's what that would look like.

I don't envision the city taking on a role of going and income qualifying people.

Um that that would be too heavy of a role for the city, and that's not that's not playing to our expertise.

There are plenty of nonprofits out there who have that capacity, but oversight to make sure that those things are happening, that is something that the city can step in and make sure that we're not losing uh light tech properties.

Fine.

And and just to follow up on that, I think there are a number of um below market rental units in the pipeline that are not light tech.

So the stewardship of those is gonna be important.

Yep.

Yeah.

Mr.

Fontenton.

Thank you, Chair.

I just wanted to give an example to Ms.

Nakamura's um to Brian's answer to Ms.

Nakamura's question.

So for example, um, there was some misinformation in the community about how fast our LiteTech, the LightTech projects were filling up.

There were some, you know, some um accusations that they that they were unrentable or not being rented.

Um, what we found when we looked into that was in fact there are some examples of some of these um LITEC units.

I'll use the Beaumont as my example of one that was done well, that got fully booked up months before their anticipated deadline because they managed it properly, they communicated well, they treated their customers well.

There is another example of another um management company that didn't do so well, and there's they still have vacancies in those properties.

So I think it's important and incumbent upon us to make sure that the um that the units that are available that we have worked hard to make available um are rented up or leased up.

And so that's the type of accountability that we can provide to the management companies who are we gonna praise those that are doing well, Beaumont, and we want to um hold accountable those that that are not uh performing well.

Yeah, I guess for LightTech projects, there's usually like a nonprofit partner like HRDC as a common partner.

Are they not doing that role, I guess?

Like are they is that not fall under the purpose?

HRDC doesn't steward does not provide stewardship for all of the Lite Tech projects.

So for example, um for example, DEVCO does their own uh property management.

Um several LIT tech developers have uh property management uh departments within their structure.

And so ensuring that those folks are doing the right things, so we don't hear stories uh in the news about people living in dilapidated apartments.

And I think to Britt's point, you know, the the Beaumont, when it's done right, the Beaumont leased up in five months.

Um which just to me illustrates the importance of getting these LightTech projects right because when done right, the demand is there.

The demand for those units is there.

Um, but you've got to have a property management company that is stewarding those units properly, and I think that's where the city can play a role.

Um my last question goes back to the um housing incentives.

Um I know you're new to this role, so maybe you don't have like a full answer, but would you say that the incentives as they are now are being utilized or that's been tapered off or change in how much they're being utilized, given that there's been changes in parking and the UDC and stuff like that?

Yeah, I think that the current incentives have been really effective.

I think that uh if you if you look at the pipeline of projects coming on board, uh like it shows that the incentives work.

Um I'll be honest, parking was probably the most enticing of those incentives for the longest time when it comes to housing, uh parking has been the tail that wags the dog.

And so if you could give people relaxations on those parking requirements, it really can make some projects pencil that otherwise wouldn't.

Um not having that tool is gonna be difficult to replace.

And so we'll have to think hard and strategically about what what sort of incentives uh are going to actually spur that and really move the needle on, you know, does Project X pencil with this incentive help it pencil?

Yeah, and maybe this is a question for community development, but like are there any projects that maybe if they express interest in using the incentives, and then now those they're seeing kind of a changing landscape.

Not yet, not yet, but I mean it it doesn't take you don't have to be a uh fortune teller to know that when that park when the parking requirements are gone, the parking incentive ceases to have uh the value that it had.

So I'll just add that the parking requirements don't go away until I think October.

October.

Oh, yeah.

So currently we're under the same AHO that is happening.

Yep.

So we need to figure this out before October.

That's when the um state law will rule.

Mr.

Hill.

Sorry, I just got one more question, which is probably um which might not have an answer, but I guess um it's kind of lies at the intersection of data, which was in the first part, and then housing is I guess does the city know where I guess on like an economist, like where the who's getting the surplus from from developments like I guess I kind of wondered like the landowner versus the developer and the cost of building.

And I know the city can't get project-specific data from a private developer, but I guess I was just always thinking um to what extent do we know developers' margins and kind of all that type of thing, and how it and how does that inform the like the the policies that the that uh you know are being proposed and and implemented.

I don't know that I have been in this role long enough to adequately answer your question.

I know that there's some rules of thumb in terms of what a developer is expecting to make back in terms of profit.

Um and those there's some pretty general rules of thumb that I can speak to.

But I can't I have not been in this role long enough to know where the city what what role the city occupies in sort of determining that and how that might influence our housing policies.

I haven't been in the role long enough to do that.

Thank you, Chair.

So um I can think of two ways um that we that we analyze that.

So um first example I'm gonna use is an urban renewal.

So when when a developer comes in and they uh there's they want to do a project, they make a list of what we call eligible costs, right?

Eligible costs are simply what can we legally pay for with TIFT dollars with public tax dollars?

And they generally are, and there's a whole list of them in the statutes, but they generally are sidewalks, streets, pipes, right?

Things that are public infrastructure generally.

So if we're gonna, if the commission is gonna give the developer um money to provide that infrastructure so that they don't have to provide it up front, we ask for a lot of information from them.

We ask for their pro forma, we ask for their um you know their financials, and then we take that information and we give it to a third independent third-party um anal um uh financial group, and they look at it as well, and they give us back a report.

And this metric that we go by in urban renewal is unduly riching the developer.

We we we are going to we're we are all about not unduly riching enriching the developer.

But we also have to be mindful that there is a margin that they have to achieve, or they're not gonna do it at all.

And so there's an industry standard that that the um um who do we um Baker Tilly, I believe is our uh is our analysis uh analyst.

So there's an industry standard of rate of return, and they and then they give us a report, and if the rate of return is within the industry standard, we present that to the commission as um we recommend that you approve this, and then we talk about it, and then they do or don't.

That's in the urban renewal side of things.

And the affordable housing side of things, um, they're required to submit uh an affordable housing plan.

And that affordable housing plan is reviewed by our office by Brian in conjunction with the other uh planning documents that are required, and in that plan are uh is data about their um about their project, some of their performance numbers, because we are not trying, we our our goal is to gain affordable housing without um over overpaying for it.

Um so those are two examples I can think of.

Thank you.

Last call for questions to the presenters before we start the discussion.

Okay.

Does anyone on the board have a motion regarding the economic development and housing program?

Work plan, that is.

And of course, we can also entertain, I believe, motions to amend it and then approve as amended.

I'd offer a motion to approve the economic development and housing program elements of 2026-2027 economic economic vitality board work plan.

Do we have a second?

Seconded.

We have the motion and it is seconded.

Um I will uh uh conduct the vote by roll.

Ms.

Nakamura.

Okay, are we not discussing anything?

Do you want to have some discussion before the vote?

Oh, I'm sorry.

I yeah, absolutely.

I got a sense there was no comments, so um yeah, does anyone have any comments before we vote?

No comments.

I guess I'll just say a few more comments.

Um again, this feels like your staff's work plan and less like our work plan.

So maybe if if possible, when you guys come back in March, kind of have some clarity about what you see as participating in, or if you want us to give us give that feedback, that would be helpful.

Um in the economic vitality side, development side, I'm excited to look at the vitality strategy update.

Um I have some thoughts about the focusing on the traded sector over the local sector, but that seems like a more appropriate time to have that conversation when we look at that plan again.

Um yeah, I think that would just help us get an idea of what we might be sinking our teeth into this this year.

But thank you guys for both your works and presentation.

Any further comments?

Hearing none, are we now ready to vote on the plan?

Ms.

Nakamura?

Yes, Mr.

Hill.

Yes, Ms.

Stein, yes.

Ms.

Larson?

Yes.

Ms.

Romo?

Yes.

And the chair votes yes.

Uh the vote is unanimous, yes.

We approve the plan.

Thank you all.

With the action items for this meeting being complete, that closes out that portion of today's meeting.

Um, we move on to FYI and discussion.

Does anything have anyone have anything for this portion of the meeting?

Mr.

Fontenan.

Thank you, Chair.

I just wanted to foreshadow for the board next month's meeting topics, we'll take Ms.

Nakamura's uh advice and provide some um some clarity on where we think the input of the board would be most effective.

Also um we'll be you will be looking at the work plans for belonging and Bozeman and uh public art and then lastly, um if I recall, Chair um uh Rogers had asked for a couple things.

She asked for some security training, so I'm gonna see if we can maybe fit that in to next month if possible, and then um she had asked for some Roberts Rules training.

I was working with our clerk's office on that.

I don't have an update for you on that, but um, but I will hopefully next month.

Thank you.

Excellent, thank you.

Um anything further before we adjourn.

Hearing nothing, this meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.