Bozeman Economic Vitality Board Meeting - February 4, 2026
Bozeman Economic Vitality Board Meeting - February 4, 2026
The Economic Vitality Board (EVB) of Bozeman, Montana, met on February 4, 2026, to onboard new members and discuss the 2026-2027 two-year work plan with a focus on economic development and housing. Following staff presentations and board discussion, the board unanimously approved the economic development and housing elements of the work plan, deferring the belonging and public art components to the March 4, 2026 meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Daniel Cardi (Bozeman resident) spoke twice. First, he requested that the board record dissenting opinions in its minutes and forward both majority and minority views to the city commission, arguing that dissent plays a vital role in constitutional democracy. Later, during the work plan discussion, he urged the board to prioritize local sector jobs over traded sector jobs and to focus on raising wages in local area jobs, citing a 2019 study on high-tech growth effects in the UK.
Discussion Items
- Onboarding Presentation: Deputy City Clerk Alex Newby presented board norms, procedures, and ethics, emphasizing the "one body, one voice" principle, communication rules, and attendance expectations. In response to Mr. Cardi's earlier comment, staff noted that official minutes are the video recording and that providing dissenting opinions is not city practice. Commission Liaison Douglas Fisher said he would work to convey points of friction in board votes to the full commission.
- 2026-2027 Two-Year Work Plan – Economic Development: Staff Liaison Britt Fontenot outlined work plan items including traded sector business development, workforce development, the child care portal (supported with $25,000 in city funding), MSU Innovation Campus support (with urban renewal district and PDZ zoning), and annual market data reports. He proposed updating the five-year Economic Vitality Strategy in 2027, which would involve board leadership. Fontenot noted that the department has limited capacity and that adding work requires removing other items.
- 2026-2027 Two-Year Work Plan – Housing: Community Housing Manager Brian Geyer (newly hired) presented housing work plan items including: using CDBG funds ($350,000/year) for Family Promise water/sewer infrastructure to enable transitional housing units; revising the Affordable Housing Ordinance (cash-in-lieu rates, for-sale provisions, and new incentives to replace parking relaxations lost under state law effective October 2026); advancing the Fowler Housing Project (a city pilot for workforce homeownership with land trust restrictions); updating the housing needs assessment (last done pre-pandemic); and establishing a housing stewardship program to monitor compliance of LIHTC and other below-market units.
- Board Questions & Discussion: Board members asked clarifying questions about staff capacity, incentives for developers (e.g., innovation campus PDZ, TIF), potential walkability design levers, and the role of the city in monitoring LIHTC property management. Member Natsuki Nakamura requested clearer guidance on where the board could contribute, particularly on the strategy refresh and CDBG planning. Some members expressed interest in the housing needs assessment update and exploring additional subsidy sources.
- Public Comment on Work Plan: Daniel Cardi reiterated his request to prioritize local sector jobs over traded sector jobs, stating that the traded-sector multiplier effect does not guarantee living wages.
Key Outcomes
- Motion passed unanimously (6-0) to approve the economic development and housing elements of the 2026-2027 EVB Two-Year Work Plan.
- The belonging and public art components of the work plan were deferred to the March 4, 2026 meeting due to staff unavailability.
- Staff will provide the board with a clearer outline of expected board involvement at the next meeting, and will arrange security training and Robert's Rules training as requested.
Meeting Transcript
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.
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