Good evening, everyone.

Startled our city manager as we're getting this meeting underway.

Um, thank you for being here as we call this meeting to order of the Bosney City Commission Tuesday, April twenty first, twenty twenty six.

Um, we're glad that you're here this evening.

Uh, a few things just as a point of order for how to participate as we go through the meeting this evening.

Um, if you're in the room this evening and you want to provide public comment, you'll have that opportunity with each associated action item as well as during general public comment.

For anyone listening online and you are using the streaming feature, you'll be able to provide public comment the same way.

Um, but after we prioritize public comment in the room, just use the raise your hand feature.

And of course, there are two other ways passively that folks can engage with this meeting as well, by either tuning in to channel cable channel one ninety or listening in via the call feature by calling the number that's on any of our agendas to be able to participate as we go.

Um, on general public comment on non-agenda items, as well as on our action item.

So just making sure that folks know that those are the various opportunities.

Thank you.

All right, moving on to changes to the agenda.

City Manager, do we have any changes to our agenda this evening?

Good evening, Mayor.

We have no changes tonight.

Thank you.

We will move on to FYI.

And we'll start with FYI from the Commission.

Are there any FYI from the Commission this evening?

Yeah, Commissioner Bowie.

Thanks, Mayor.

Yes, I've got a few FYIs.

First, um, Earth Day is coming up this Saturday, April 25th.

It's at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds.

Um they say that it will come alive with music, a pop-up local food court, and inspired exhibits from local businesses, nonprofits across the region, uh, from our morning 5K fun run to children's activities featuring the Earth Day Magic Show from Random Acts of Silliness and talks on composting, water wise tips for your garden and lawn, a live Raptor presentation.

There's really just something for everyone.

So I encourage you all to head on down there this Saturday and see um what everyone's put together there.

And then I also want to look up that cleanup week for the city is this same week.

It's kicking off on the 25th.

You can pick up your bags and safety vests and um uh gloves and things at Earth Day.

There'll be a city booth there for all of your needs.

You can also sign up online.

And then um, you know, you kind of in your own dispersed manner get to pick up trash around town, and there's a number of different drop-off locations for the vests that they'll give you.

Um you actually get to just leave your your bags in a visible place along the roads and our um uh waste folks at the city will pick that up and um take it for you.

So yeah, I hope you all will consider joining us in cleaning up our streets and our trails around town.

And then lastly, I just want to share with my fellow commissioners that I attended the Extreme History Projects talk on um the red light district and what they found when they excavated some sites um where the new hotel is going to be built.

And it was a really cool talk.

Um they found a number of keys, a bunch of different like pottery shards, uh, a couple different glass bottles, some of them with really specific maker marks, one of them that's even um marked with the Gallatin County Corner Drug Store, um, a drugstore that used to be in the same building that Chine's is currently um posted up in.

You can see that that um sign for that drugstore actually painted in the alley on the side of the building.

So anyway, there's a bunch of cool findings, and they they can you know present all of them, but they're currently cataloging hundreds of items that they uncovered, and um they will be looking for some places to exhibit them, likely in the Extreme History Project building.

And then they're also um negotiating right now with uh the hotel themselves to potentially display some of the items in their lobby, which I think would be so very cool.

So um stay tuned for that, and I'm sure there'll be more opportunities to see all the things they found.

Thank you.

Yeah, Commissioner Magic.

Thanks, Mayor.

Um I have two, and they're not nearly as exciting.

Um the transportation board meets here at six o'clock.

And then next week on Wednesday, which is April 29th, I'm doing a walk with the commissioner commissioner with Commissioner Sweeney of the Bozeman Creek Corridor.

We're gonna meet at City Hall at 515 and walk as much of the corridor as we can until we kind of hit the end of town.

Great, thank you.

Presumably walking in the water, crawling under mainstream.

Waiters, fishing polls.

Just want to make sure everybody knew where we're in it to break.

Scoop it gear.

Yeah, Commissioner Sweeney.

Thank you.

Um I just want to quickly um thank our um new urban renewal board, uh, TIFF board.

They went extra long on their meeting to approve um with one or two amendments, work plans for all of the new um or all of the existing urban renewal districts.

Um, and a shout out also to the Historic Preservation Advisory Board who went long on their meeting as well to go through a lot of different points with the consultants who are rewriting the NCOD design guidelines.

So always just appreciate when our citizen volunteers on our advisory boards kind of go above and beyond to really get the work done.

So thanks.

Thank you.

Seeing no further FYI from the commission, do we have any FYI from staff?

I do.

Mayor, a couple of things that uh are noteworthy here.

Um you may have seen uh we put out a press release, but we're putting a stop to unsigned intersections in town.

And when I came to college here a while back, that was one of the things that um caught my eye was the uncontrolled intersections all over, particularly in our old part of town and down here, and it was always uh you knew in Bozeman that you yielded to your right.

And um, that's not true anymore with as a growth of our city, the growth of traffic.

Um that's not always known to everybody driving our street.

So I appreciate the effort by our transportation director, Nick Ross and his team.

They're doing this uh as other duties is assigned when they have time.

Um but we are um going to install over 400 stop signs uh at 328 intersections in Bozeman.

Uh we're gonna start that work right away.

We think that um based on our current workload and our staffing, it probably is gonna take um uh uh through 2029 to get all of them done, but we're going to uh start in the neighborhood north of Montana State University first, which seems to be our area of most conflicts.

Next year uh we'll do the Valley Unit Neighborhood Northeast neighborhood, and in 2028, uh we'll start on the west side of town, 2029.

We'll cover the far west side and south side.

Um this is gonna be an important reproof uh improvement.

Um Nick and his team have done analysis.

We're not gonna put four-way stops at every intersection.

We think it's important to keep traffic moving in one direction based on the road conditions and then our traffic plans, but um at least two of the four will be signed with a stop sign.

Um I let the commission know I want to let the community know that uh we had a turbidity monitoring violation at the water treatment plant a couple months ago.

And uh we want uh it's gonna go out in the water bills, so everybody will be aware of this.

Uh it is a required notification that the city make of the lowest violation.

So it's a tier one.

Um we have time to do it.

We have to get the message approved by DEQ, which we've done.

Um, but what a what a turbidity uh um one of our monitors was placed in calibration mode, and so that was good.

We calibrated it as we were supposed to, and then it did not get placed back out of calibration mode, so it was offline for a 28-hour period.

Now we have redundant monitors, so we did monitor the turbidity, and turbidity is water cloudiness.

It's not a sign of pathogens or any other issue, it's the cloudiness of water.

We have very clear drinking water, it's very important to us.

But um, we did monitor we did monitor the turbid and individual filter acts.

I don't mean to get too technical here, but it's a pretty technical thing, and and um but there was one sensor that that wasn't set.

So we we uh acknowledge that our we set in place a new policy of training for our operators and a new alarm that's gonna get more attention if this would ever happen again.

We're convinced it's it's not.

We've done uh our drinking water was safe all through it.

There's been no um challenges with that, but unfortunately, uh we take a lot of pride in the water we um provide this community, and um we're also transparent when we misstep.

So it's it's repaired and everything's fine, and though those notices will go out in the next water bill.

Lastly, the 2026 National Community Survey is open to all participants.

We do this every two years, and it is a survey done by cities across the nation to help us understand how our residents feel about the services they receive.

So we're benchmarked against other communities.

Uh Bozeman does pretty well compared to other communities.

We're proud of the services we provide.

This is another touch point for um our local government to uh connect and really in important ways ask how we're doing.

So there's a lot of written questions in there about the economy, mobility, community design, utilities, safety, natural environment, and more.

The cert the link to the survey uh can be found under the news section at Bozeman.net, soon to be boseman.gov, as we'll hear in a minute.

Uh, and we encourage everyone to participate by um by May 5th.

Several in the community were selected at random and received paper surveys.

If you got one of the paper surveys, we ask that you not fill it out again online, as that would be double surveying certain people.

So yeah, we're excited about this, and we will have the company uh come to this commission meeting and give a public presentation later this year once the survey result the surveys closed and the results have been analyzed.

And uh yeah, we're looking forward to that.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Moving on from FYI to commission disclosures.

Are there any disclosures from any members of the commission related items this evening?

Okay, seeing none, um, we'll move on to our minutes.

Um Commissioner Bodie, would you help us out with a motion to kick us off?

Certainly.

I move to approve the regular meeting minutes as submitted.

Second.

Great.

It's been moved and seconded.

I understand that there may be proposed amendment.

Is that still the case?

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Yes.

Um I move to amend the December 16th, 2025 meeting minutes to reflect the following two changes during public comment on item I 1, beginning at timestamp 12756, that the written meeting minutes will record all eight individual speakers' positions in favor of the increase to 90 feet height limit in the B3 zone, and the 11 individual speakers position opposed to increasing the 90 feet, citing the affordable housing ordinance for those five speakers who listed that as a reason not to give away additional height.

And during conversation following the motion to return to 90 feet allowed in B3 at two hours 29 minutes, 19 seconds.

The minutes will record Deputy Mayor Elect Fisher's desire for a more robust public discussion with advisory groups on the B3 height issue, and the minutes will record Commissioner Magic's desire for another level of discussion and input from the community and a work session with the public on the B3 height issue.

I'll second okay.

That amendment's been moved in second.

So these are two separate amendments.

This is one amendment for uh effectively saying who is a supportive and opposed um in the public comment section on of the first item, and then the discussion after the motion was made, comments from the deputy mayor, then Commissioner Fisher, Commissioner Magic.

Correct, yeah, right.

At the time, Commissioner Fisher.

Yes.

Do you have uh written language for those just so we're not uh for our clerks to be able to make that change?

Okay, great.

Absolutely.

Um do I get a moment to just speak to it?

Yep, please.

Um our written meeting minutes are inadequate as a public record of proceedings.

I acknowledge and thank the staff for their diligent work to bring us a better solution.

Uh Granicus is not always within our control.

Um, for example, the April 6th community development board meeting, all sound was lost.

Um I've made this particular motion in hopes of amending the written record to preserve the public grievance around an issue with the adoption of the new UDC and a record of two commission members' willingness to address this grievance with a public discussion.

Thank you.

Um Deputy Mayor.

So I'm I would just be curious how is this different from like what we normally, you know, what the video as I understand it is our meet record of uh apologies.

Our video is our record of the official minutes.

Um wondering just how this would be different from what we normally approve.

And I'm just scrolling through the minutes to the section.

I you said I won.

Correct.

Is this uh did we I guess my question is did we did we miss something in our in our normal minutes, or is this is this um um we we list we have a lot of people commenting on the height issue in our in our minutes and we have their timestamps.

Uh I'm I'm unclear of why what what the require you you're you're asking for us to capture what they're saying.

Yeah, do I get to respond?

Yep, absolutely.

Yeah, this is just like a regular item.

Yes, so um the point is that digital video recording can be lost or damaged.

And you know, I understand that staff is currently working on a better solution for written meeting minutes.

The first public commenter is recorded as having a specific position on the height, but the other public commenters are not.

And so for posterity, I think it would be good to have each public commenter delineated.

Um I look for written meeting minutes, um, having done research in the minutes before on certain things.

It's important as a record to be able to understand what was proposed, what was discussed and questioned, um, what were grievances or issues, and how was the decision arrived at?

This is a public duty of transparency.

So we have two motions then.

Right?

Two proposed amendments, correct?

Sorry, two amendments.

One to um make, I guess, our our our public comment in these minutes consistent.

And then the other one is to put some more detail into that motion to amend it.

What did you say 22919?

Yes.

Yeah, I struggle when our minutes say, you know, half an hour or an hour of time that elapses and it simply says discussion.

Sure, but we have plenty of other places in the in these minutes where we're we talk about discussion and and in other minutes.

Um that is absolutely correct.

Is there I just I'm just unclear how to make a decision here.

We we've you know, we've always approved these things.

We we we have we have said that the that the video is our record, essentially, and this is just a quick just a capture with timestamps.

Any advice on sure is there anything that yeah if if Greg has anything to add, I'll take a shot at this.

Um this is a uh the city has always designated the video, identified the video as the as the minutes, the actual record of the meeting.

The timestamps are um meet a uh uh was an effort um to uh allow people to uh go to specific areas of the meeting if they want to hear a specific commenter.

Um I understand Commissioner Sweeney point, Sweeney's point about the first one.

I think this is a thread that if you pull it, the whole thing can be unraveled at any point.

So if the commission desires to make those corrections to this these minutes, you can do that.

I think there are other parts.

I don't know where you stop in terms of changing one thing for a specific reason, then we could change other things for other reasons too.

We are, as um as I've indicated previously to you, are looking at other cities, other government bodies, examples of meeting minutes to maybe bridge that gap between what we've traditionally done here and the official record, which is the video.

So I I understand the issue.

I think if somebody wants to know exactly what somebody said, that's the intent of the video.

That's the intent of the time staff.

It's not to capture the essence of a conversation.

Okay, no, I appreciate that.

Yeah.

So back in maybe the early teens when the city commission really started robustly recording their meetings, that's when that rule changed to that.

The recording was the official record of the meeting.

So the idea of minutes is a very ancient parliamentary concept.

Um the common parliamentary procedure is that minutes only record what was done and not what was said.

So if you look back in the city's history at some of the sort of historic minutes, there's like almost verbatim discussion about who said what.

That's not the way that common parliamentary procedure intends minutes to be set up.

So when the change was made, we matched that common understanding for the written reflection of the record by simply putting things like what was the motion, what was the vote, um, public got up, who said who gave comment?

So that sort of brief synopsis is kind of a reflection of that common understanding of parliamentary procedure.

Any further discussion from anyone else on the commission?

I I have a question for um Commissioner Sweeney on the second motion.

Um yeah, I I understand the interest in having a little bit more um narrative written out on this the discussion section, but I I didn't hear you um suggest discussion language for all of the other discussion points.

Is there a reason that that one in particular is one that you lifted up and um why why not uniformly make that that change across the whole minutes?

I think we should do that.

Um I think we should have better meeting minutes that are more descriptive.

Um there are cities doing it currently, um, and I'd like to see us get back to that.

Um I chose this one because it was in response to the public comment.

Um, but also it it very accurately makes the point that we do not describe enough in our meeting minutes for people to understand why their governing body makes decisions.

And I think it could be suggested that our Montana Constitution and the right to know suggests that there should be a transparent process if we were to lose the video or to lose the sound, as we did on April 6th.

Having a written record as a redundancy and as the classic form of recording, I think is our our duty.

I I hear that, and I just worry about the picking and choosing of which discussion sections we're going to um expand upon.

So um, yeah, I'm feeling some discomfort at um highlighting one and not also adding that context to the others.

Yes.

I also was not sure how much time I would be given or if I would be given a second and be allowed to speak to it at all.

So I tried to make it as concise as possible.

If anybody else wants to amend different parts of the discussion, please do.

I would second that.

Okay.

Commissioner Magic, anything you'd like to add?

Um I get the desire to have redundancy, and I tend to agree with that.

Um, but I would want, as Commissioner Bodie mentioned, uniformity within our minutes.

I'd like them to be a backup as much as possible.

But I have followed that trend in my uh span as a government employee of very thorough minutes to what I see today, which I feel are a good summary.

I think I'd like to know uh from the city manager, it's there is work being done kind of looking at what other kind of state of the art minutes.

Terrific.

Um we should be doing state of the art what's kind of common in the industry.

It is really helpful to me if an amendment is made at this meeting, any of our meetings to get that in advance, so we have an idea and can kind of think and compare and so forth.

So I feel like I'm a little caught off guard here.

Sure.

Um I'll just offer a few thoughts and then I'll kick you back over to the deputy mayor.

Um I I think I generally don't feel a whole lot of uh I think I I feel similarly that yes, if we're working on a system, um we're working on policy to to update the way that we do this and doing it one at a time isn't necessarily the right way.

At the same time, I don't see too much harm in in some of these proposals on this, even though maybe you know, picking some seems arbitrary than trying to do all of them, but understanding um the the intention of Commissioner Sweeney.

I think generally I would feel more okay with the first amendment than to for one of us to editorialize what another set of commissioners said on something, um just that I hadn't reviewed it with that level of uh robustness to to opine on whether that that seems right to me.

But um as far as adding just who is a supportive and opposed doesn't feel um doesn't make me nervous.

Yeah, deputy mayor.

I just I'm just fearing that this is veering into a talk about our policy on minutes and how we're you know, and and I feel like that's that's a that's not appropriate for this motion right here in front of us, and especially with a fellow mayor who's halfway around the globe at three o'clock in the morning and waiting for us to get to them.

So I just I I I've I'm gonna vote no on these on both of these.

Um they may be valid, but I feel like our minutes comply with what our standards are, we could have a discussion, and maybe we should have a discussion about how we take our minutes.

Um but but given that these minutes are presented, they meet the you know, they follow the policy.

The actual record is the recording.

We have the timestamps.

Um I want to I don't want to pull on that that that twine to and and risk having a whole bunch of other stuff coming up here right this moment.

Sure.

Any further discussion on this before we poll the commission?

Okay.

Mr.

Newbie.

Okay, so for amendment one, Commissioner Sweeney.

Aye.

Commissioner Fisher.

No.

Commissioner Bodie.

Aye.

Commissioner Magic.

Aye.

Mayor Morrison.

Aye.

So the first amendment is approved four to one.

No one the second.

Uh on amendment to Commissioner Sweeney.

Aye.

Uh Deputy Mayor Fisher.

No.

Commissioner Bodie.

No.

Commissioner Magic.

No.

Mayor Morrison.

No.

Second amendment uh fails four to one.

Um, sorry, one to four.

Um now to the main motion.

Any discussion on the main minute motion.

Okay.

I'd just like to say that I appreciate the additional um context and time stamping here, seeing the individual commenters' names on there.

I think is an improvement if people wanted to reference those in particular.

And um, yeah, just appreciate the detail.

It it really highlights uh as our minutes have for a very long time that uh if you go provide public comment to the legislature, they ask you to spell your name, and we don't.

Um so it's uh our clerks making their best guess, and I'm seeing a lot of names, or I'm like that person who's never been here before, but they're they're they're twin um has um but I will be supporting these minutes.

Mr.

Newbie would you poll the commission?

Commissioner Bowdy.

Aye, Commissioner Magic.

Commissioner Sweeney.

Aye, Deputy Mayor Fisher Fisher.

Mayor Morrison.

Aye.

Amended minutes are approved.

Moving on to our consent agenda, um, we will open it up now for public comment on our consent agenda this evening.

Any public comment in the room this evening on consent items G1 through is it G7?

G7.

Second request for comment in the room and one final request for comment in the room.

Mr.

Newby, are we seeing any public comment requests online for our consent items?

Mayor Morrison, I see no request for public comment online.

All right, we will bring it up here for a commission motion and vote.

Commissioner Magic.

Yeah, I move to approve consent items one through seven.

Second.

They have been moved and seconded.

Mr.

Newby, would you poll the commission?

Commissioner Magic.

Aye.

Commissioner Sweeney.

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Fisher.

Aye.

Commissioner Bodie.

Aye.

Mayor Morrison.

All right.

Our consent items are approved five to zero.

And now we'll move on to general public comment on non-agenda items.

Um for anyone in the room this evening that's wanting to give general public comment on non-agenda items, um, you can step up to the podium, give us your first and last name.

You will have three minutes to offer your public comment.

Um, when you introduce yourself, please just tell us a little bit about um your relationship to the city.

Do you own property?

Do you own a business?

Do you live?

Do you rent?

However, you'd like to describe your relationship and why you're giving comment to us this evening.

Um you will have three minutes.

Uh it'll start green, then it'll go to yellow when you're down to your final minute, and then it'll turn red, and there'll be a little beep to tell you that your time is up.

Um I will also say we have um a guest in the room this evening who requested additional time for public comment um and it without enough time to make a um an agenda item for a special presentation.

I will recognize that individual when they're ready to give public comment, but they will have 10 minutes for their for their presentation to this commission.

Um without further ado, turn over to public comment.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Marilee Brown.

I live just outside this the city of Bozeman, but I'm bringing to you an issue that affects Bozeman.

I recently attended the airport authorities expansion um environmental study.

Um they published the wrong address.

It was hard getting to it.

And I discovered that their environmental study only studied issues within the airport so that they could get federal funding from the FAA.

It did not study water usage in the valley, it did not study in um any other impacts like noise or gentry coming in or anything that is going to impact our cities.

I had a long discussion uh with the people there.

And the consultant said that if we're concerned that the study should be expanded and extended the time limit because it's due this Thursday.

You can find it, by the way, on the airport project site and comment by the midnight on this Thursday.

But more importantly, governments need to weigh in to say the study should include how the airport expansion with all of its jumbo jets and all of the issues that are going to be coming in.

I mean, we're not talking about doubling the airport size, we're talking about quadrupling it in the next few years.

So if you care, here's what needs to happen.

You need to tell them yourselves that you want extended time and an expansion on the study.

Hopefully they'll listen.

They don't have to listen, but hopefully they will because they care about our community.

And also let the commission, the excuse me, the county commission know because they will have more say in this.

So please figure out a way with fairly short notice here within the next few weeks to let the commit the county commission know that you would like an expanded study.

You would like people to be able to weigh in.

I think people care about being able to weigh in on things now.

So please, please, please um help to take care of this.

And thank you for listening to me.

I think I'm about out of time.

Thank you.

And um, for the record, this Ms.

Brown sent sent that email to me with more information.

I'll forward that to the to the rest of the commission so that that's available.

And let everybody know.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Hi there.

My name is John Meyer, J-O-H-N, M-E-Y-E-R.

I'm a Bozeman resident.

I'm a homeowner.

Uh I wanted to address a few things.

Um Deputy Mayor Fisher, I remember when you were running for office, you talked about a moratorium on development to uh address some issues that we're having in town.

And now it seems like you're scared of having that conversation with our city.

So I'm just curious if you're gonna open up that discussion because it's important to protect our neighborhood character.

Uh I heard and ask if there are any public disclosures when you guys first started talking.

And I've recently found out that uh Commissioner Bodie was in a relationship with lobbyists, a paid lobbyist.

And so that lobbyist was testifying against the citizen initiative for affordable housing, and that was never disclosed.

That seems inappropriate for Commissioner to be in a relationship with paid lobbyists and not disclose that.

We need systemic change in boson if we're going to address the affordable housing issue.

It's not good enough to do one-offs like Bridger View or some tiny concentrated low-income affordable housing project.

We need complete systemic change.

And you might think that's anti-capitalistic, Deputy Mayor, but that's what we need is true change in our city.

That's why we're asking, we've been asking for a long time for the city to adopt some sort of policy that requires true affordable housing.

You've had the opportunity to do that through the cash and move water rights.

You've had the opportunity to do that through the wetlands.

You continue to say no, and we haven't heard anything about what is the alternative.

What are you proposing as an alternative systemically?

There's nothing.

It's just crickets all the time.

The last thing I want to address is uh the proclamation for Arbor Day.

I read it and it sounds nice.

And then you look at the very bottom, it says fiscal impact.

None.

It's really easy to say a bunch of good sounding stuff, but when the rubber hits road, who cares if it sounds good?

You have to actually say we're gonna we're gonna protect the trees.

A great example is Canyon Gate.

That used to be an amazing growth, old growth, cottonwood.

Now it's gone.

The developers say we're gonna build workforce housing.

There's nothing.

This was years ago.

We need you guys to step up and look out for the public.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening, everybody.

My name is Owen Minton, and I'm a resident renting in the city of Bozeman.

As a senior studying mechanical engineering at Montana State University, I study a lot of uh thermodynamics and fluid dynamics, which play a large role in how we design and build efficient building systems.

I am here tonight to talk about how the city of Bozeman can lead by example in sustainable construction as our city continues rapid growth.

Specifically, I want to encourage the commission to look into adopting Ashray Standard 189.1 for future municipal projects, as well as investing incentivizing private sector construction to follow the same standard.

Ashray Standard 189.1 serves as a comprehensive standard for the design of high efficiency green buildings and serves as the technical basis for the International Green Construction Code.

This standard goes beyond simply looking at basic energy efficiency as it provides a framework for construction, site sustainability, water use efficiency, and indoor environmental quality.

We all know Bozeman is a rapidly growing city, and the buildings we construct today will have an impact on our foot city's footprint on the environment for decades to come.

By implementing Ashray Standard 189.1, we could ensure that our city builds a more resilient buildings with lower long-term operational costs for taxpayers.

It is for these reasons that I respectfully request that the city staff evaluate the feasibility of integrating Ashray Standard 189.1 into Bozeman's municipal construction requirements for future building code updates.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Hello.

Um, Mary Bateson, Bozeman resident.

Thank you for your attention.

Please open the discussion of an interim zoning ordinance while the neighborhood conservation overlay district, NCOD, is being updated.

Please publicly discuss the legality and options for interim zoning so that citizens can understand this fully.

Please listen to your own advisory boards, councils, and citizens.

You've heard me say this before.

To ignore this request erodes public trust.

There is no need to make the Bozeman City Commission unpopular.

Please do not erode public trust in our government.

It should be possible to enact an interim zoning ordinance to temporarily prohibit new large developments and demolitions within the NCOD until the NCOD update is complete and until the city can hire a new historic preservation officer.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Hello.

And I'm a senior at Montana State University.

In September 2025, the Bozeman City Commission approved an updated wetlands ordinance that strengthens local protections.

This is a considerable feat described by the Galton Watershed Council as the most progressive wetland code in Montana, Montana, though this is only the beginning.

A study published last year in environmental research confirms that wetlands are a critical carbon sink and an effective tool for climate mitigation.

Another paper published in aquatic sciences found that wetlands across the U.S.

are being lost at high rates due to urban development, a pressure that threatens Bozeman wetlands.

Today I'm asking the commission to ensure that enforcement on the site on of on-site mitigation is consistent with the new policy's ambition.

Focusing efforts on wetland mitigation order of priority, Section 38610100 in the new ordinance.

The code now requires developers to seek on-site mitigation first, seek on-site mitigation first, meaning developers must find an adjacent site to offset environmental impacts.

However, this is very expensive.

Do we think developers will want to pay for on-site?

Second in the order, local credits should be bought within the East Gallatin Watershed Wetland Bank, but right now no such bank is present in the region.

Soon, however, developers will be able to purchase local credits from a wetland bank on the east side of Bozeman.

This is extremely important for keeping wetlands in the watershed.

But will there be enough acreage in the bank for the amount of development expected for the Bozeman area?

As a last resort, developers can purchase credit on a private ranch 90 miles away at the Twin Bridges Wetland Bank.

This bank is not present in the watershed.

This right now is the cheapest option for developers.

Failure to enforce ordinance will lead individuals to pick this option.

Wetland protection is not an anti-growth sentiment.

It's how we build a city and community that can handle what is to come.

The droughts, the fires, the floods, the warming.

The science is clear and our policy is in place.

Now I hope, like many others in the community, that this ordinance is enforced.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Hi, my name is Macy Schmidt.

I'm a senior studying environmental science at Montana State University.

In October 2025, Governor Greg Gianforte approved House Bill 664.

This bill repealed numeric nutrient standards for Montana Rivers, giving agricultural industries and wastewater treatment plants more leeway when it comes to discharging contaminated wastewater into Montana's rivers and streams.

In place of these long-standing numeric standards, a more subjective narrative standard will be adopted.

The passing of this bill will deepen the potential for further nutrient pollution of Montana rivers and streams as nitrogen and phosphorus are introduced in excess to water.

This can increase things like algal blooms and nitrification, which both which alter nutrient cycling and restrict oxygen in the water.

This causes decreased water quality and impaired food and habitat structures for aquatic organisms.

The purpose of pollution standards is to mitigate these impacts.

Numeric standards have been successful in this as they are well researched and clearly established and explicit in their expectations.

Narrative standards, on the other hand, leave much room for interpretation and do not set a clear precedent for environmental expectations.

The shift in pollution pollution standards has the potential to lead to a myriad of issues.

And this decision is unaligned with the values of Montana citizens and our respect for clean and stable environments.

Montana legislature should reinstate numeric nutrient criteria and water quality monitoring should be expanded to ensure our water remains healthy.

With this in mind, I hope that Bozeman City Commission supports any petitions to reinstate the numeric new pollution standards.

Without external pressures such as this, there will be no political incentive to create a change, such as reversing the environmental damage of House Bill 664.

Not only do these solutions provide stark environmental benefits, but the economic costs that come along with environmental degradation will decrease greatly.

Environmental policy, especially regarding water quality and availability, is especially pertinent in the face of climate change and in Bozeman as our current drinking water systems are already under increasing pressure.

Changes like these start small, so I urge Bozeman City Commissioners to be aware of this issue and to act to protect our waters whenever possible.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any further public comments?

Can we uh Commissioner Molnar, can we do online public comment and then we'll bring it over to you?

Does that work?

Okay.

Thank you.

Mr.

Newby, do we have any online public comment requests?

Mayor Morrison, I see no request for public comment.

Okay, definitely there it is.

Um coming up is uh a member of the of the PSC, uh District 2, correct?

Um, Commissioner Brad Molnar, um, who uh reached out and asked for an opportunity to share um uh a project and opportunity.

Um so we've agreed to give him 10 minutes for his testimony since we weren't able to notice it properly for this meeting for a special presentation.

Uh Mr.

Duby, would you be able to help us out with a 10-minute timer for Mr.

Mulnar?

Yep.

Sorry, Commissioner Mullar.

Okay, well, uh thank you for this opportunity to address this body.

I would like to thank you, Mayor Dewey, for giving me the extra time.

This is very important uh issue.

Um, here are constituents, actually, the eastern third of Gallatin County is my district, and everything I vote on affects everybody across the state.

So we share their concerns and we share our personal concerns.

Two of those are concerns that are in my presentation, property taxes and utility rates.

I'm supposed to announce at the order of our president that Commissioner Pinocchio and I joined together.

We're actually interveners at the FERC level because we represent so many people.

But the majority of the commission withdrew their comments from FERC after they met with Northwestern's lobbyists in a closed meeting.

And that left nobody at the federal level to represent the ratepayers.

So Commissioner Pinocchio and I are doing this on our own time in our own nickel.

For several years, the press has been covering the fact that Puget Sound and Energy was transferring their coal strip generation capacity, Northwestern Energy at no cost.

Due to the lack of capital expenditure to build a plant, this will be the this is the lowest cost electricity in the United States.

To build that plant today would cost approximately $800 million.

To give you an idea as to how that affects this, Yellowstone Gas Plant, also in the press a lot, cost $303 million to build.

We rate-based it at $265 million.

No matter what happens to the cost of natural gas, no matter how much you use, the largest portion of your bill that comes from that plant will be covering the construction cost, the capital expenditure.

So in this case, there's none of that.

It's put coal in, spark comes out, it's really cheap.

As we speak, okay, integrating this electricity into our portfolio of rate-based energy was going along as planned.

The Northwestern filed with FERT to change the energy from rate-based to market-based.

The PSC did not learn of this until long after the intervention deadline had passed.

Northwestern Energy kept it a closely held secret.

As we speak, these 370 megawatts are slated to be used by new customers for two years, and then by a data center, as indicated in Northwestern Energy's most recent filing of their integrated resource plan.

Retail customers were never considered as recipients, even for the short term.

This energy is not only among the lowest cost energy in the U.S., so it would generate the lowest utility bills in the nation, but would also lower property taxes across Northwestern Energy.

This will be the largest economic driver in Montana, the amount of discretionary cash that it will free up.

The to give you an idea, Cold Strip Unit 4, uh recent that part of the boiler raising the required by North Ross Energy is selling that energy at $16.30 a megawatt.

You're paying $70 out of the exact same plant, which is the highest cost in our entire portfolio.

All I'm asking for at this time is a letter of support filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asking that they reconsider their decision that the Coal Strip 370 megawatt share not be valued at zero.

The state says it's worth about 300 million dollars in their uh assessment for taxes.

That's how they did what they did.

And return the energy to rate-based under the control of the Montana Public Service Commission by use of uh for use by Montanas as opposed to under the control of Northwestern Energy to be sold to the highest bidder slash data center.

Yes, we've already lost.

We are requesting a rehearing of reconsideration.

They did this through conflated statements of those supporting the transfer of use, and we need not rely on such a cannery.

Truth and law are our weapons.

My last filing had no findings of an uh incorrect reading of law or prior rulings.

The uh uh last Friday, Northwestern filed a request that they reject my filing, my latest filing for the reconsideration.

Twenty-four pages into it, they never found a factual error.

Everything was correct.

You can quote this, and nobody's gonna, even Northwestern agrees I'm right.

So the letter, okay.

Uh the letter that I'm asking you to uh uh send must be post it by close of business April 30th.

That's when the period for reconsideration ends.

Once they rule, the opportunity is lost.

After that, we need a plan B.

I have two plan Bs.

I don't want to use it.

I would rather have them reconsider.

For the benefit of our shared constituents, let's work together on this cooperation.

Might just work.

To give you an idea, when I was a commissioner with color in his hair, I had waves, I didn't have cowlicks.

You may remember the Miss Misty, Mountain States Transmission Intertag.

Northwestern wanted to build it to deliver green energy to California.

It's called a green energy line.

And I really didn't trust what I was hearing.

So I got the maps and it connected into Coal Strip.

Then they put a device in Townsend to shift all those electrons into California.

The green energy was coming from Coal Strip.

They had two big collector lines going around the state to connect with existing wind farms and proposed wind farms to gather it, put it in the line at the bus at Townsend, and ship it.

FERC said that if this project failed, and it was a private deal, it wasn't Northwestern doing rate based.

If it failed, ratepayers would cover the cost of the collectors.

A million dollars a mile, it was huge.

I went to five uh commissions, asked them to write a letter to the uh uh FERC and say, look, it's a private deal.

Raypayers shouldn't be on the hook if it fails when they get all the profit if it succeeds.

Brooke said they would reconsider Northwestern dropped it.

Uh two years later, uh California said they no longer buy coal.

The entire thing would have failed.

You'd still be paying for the collectors.

And Northwestern was bankrupt when they built it.

We're building it.

And you don't know who, I don't know who your default provider would be, they would have had to sell everything.

So what is what is this not?

A lot of people want to put things into it.

This is not a vote on data center pro or a con or how to implement them into the portfolio.

That's this.

This is Northwestern just filed it.

Their large customer tariff.

My filing may cure insomnia.

There's we'll give it to you.

If you have any questions, give me a call.

This is not a referendum on coal versus renewable.

No matter how this ends, Cold Strip 3 and 4 will be fully functioning.

This is about who gets the lowest cost electricity in the nation.

You have many local uh people that don't struggle.

This is a a real measurable.

It will reduce their rates almost 50%.

So that's all this is about.

Northwestern Sapter Run three and four.

It's not that they lose it.

They that's what they told the other commissioners, and that's why they rejected.

So with that in mind, uh real quick, I have a minute and fifty-four left.

Real life deal.

And uh paper and uh uh and a record in Helena, they're talking about a record winter drought becoming a record summer drought.

If our hydro stops performing or reduces the function, we have to go and buy power in the open market.

In January 2024, 35 below zero.

Northwestern had six weeks to fix a pipe in at Cold Strip.

They didn't do it.

They shut it down in the middle of 35 below.

We had to buy a thousand megawatts of a thousand megawatts and thousand dollars a megawatt for a thousand for five days, came to 39 million dollars.

This won't be five days.

This will be all summer, all fall and all winter until the next spring.

If we have these 370 megawatts, we don't have to buy that.

We have it.

Can you imagine the riot in the streets if they find out that they are paying a thousand dollars a megawatt and they're selling it for 50 bucks to the data center?

Montana made.

This is for all the bombs.

So with that, feel free to contact me anytime.

The letter is just a template, modify it as you see fit, but remember that there is a character limit for page and a half.

When you are ready, matter of fact, I'll just send it to you, uh, Mr.

Mayor.

I'll send you the uh number at FERC, I'll help you download upload it.

It's not as easy as it sounds.

And I'll also send you how to look at all the documents that are in the filing with 23 seconds left as a politician.

I've never finished on time before.

Thank you for this opportunity.

Yeah, thank you, Commissioner Bullnar.

And similarly to our previous public commentary, I'll forward on the materials that um that the commissioner sent to me as well.

So we are wrapping up uh our general public comment on non-agenda items, and we have a mayoral proclamation, and then we have a few special presentations before we get to our action item this evening.

Um, if I'm reading that all correctly.

Yes.

So without further ado, I will um issue our 2026 Arbor Day, Mayoral Proclamation, and uh I will offer it to is Alex Dilnerm, Alex Nordequist, our uh city forester, um, and then invite any members of the public to join us uh this Friday from noon to three at let me pull it up.

Um, and then invite any members of the public to join us uh this Friday from noon to three at let me pull it up.

Because it's two parks, Boulder Creek Park and Westbrook Park for some tree planting with our friends at the Galton Watershed Council.

Whereas in 1872, the Nebraska Board of Agriculture established a special day to be set aside for the planting of trees.

And whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed for the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska.

And whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world.

And whereas trees can be a solution to combating climate change by reducing the erosion, erosion of our precious topsoil by wind and water, cutting heat and cooling costs, moderating the temperature, cleaning the air, producing life-saving oxygen, life-giving oxygen, sorry, and providing habitat for wildlife.

And whereas trees are renewable resource giving us paper, wood for our homes, fuel for our fires, and countless other wood products.

And whereas trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas, and beautify our community.

And whereas trees in our city are sorry, whereas trees, wherever they are planted, are a source of joy and spiritual renewal.

Now, therefore, I, Joey Morrison, as mayor of the city of Bozeman do hereby proclaim Friday, April 24th, as Arbor Day in the City of Bozeman, and I urge all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and support efforts to protect our trees and our woodlands.

And further, I urge all citizens to plant trees to gladden the heart and promote the well-being of this and future generations, signed and proclaimed this 21st day of April, 2026.

How do you want us?

So yeah, it's not a good thing.

Oh, wait, just like a jack and friday.

Trying to work on a forecast.

We had a we had decent weather last year, a little windy, but um it seems to always come around to find a way to inconvenience some tree planting.

Um, but really excited to be able to get out there with the community this Friday.

Now moving on to two special presentations this evening.

City Manager.

Thank you, Mayor.

The first presentation is fiber as economic infrastructure, and it's economic impact analysis of Yellowstone Fiber and project that the city's been uh intimately involved with for a number of years, uh, and has since taken new um leadership and role in rolling it out.

Uh has been uh a great thing to watch for our community, and I'll let Britt uh Fontenau, our economic director, introduce it.

Thank you, Mr.

City Manager.

Good evening, Mayor, City Commissioners, Deputy Mayor Fisher.

My name is Britt Fontena, your economic development director.

I'd also like to acknowledge to my left um some members of the Yellowstone Fiber Board who are here tonight, and uh the CEO of Yellowstone Fiber is also in the audience this evening.

So my name is Brit Fonteno, I'm your economic development director, and in just a moment you're gonna hear a presentation by Grace Gelbreth.

She's a recent Montana State University graduate in economics, so perfectly suited for this work, and is currently the projects director at the Northern Rocky Mountain Economic Development District.

So tonight she brings a data-driven perspective to one of the most important infrastructure conversations facing communities today, broadband as a foundation for economic growth.

In her presentation, Fibrise Economic Infrastructure, retitled community infrastructure and economic development, um Grace will share the results of a comprehensive economic impact analysis of Yellowstone Fiber, formerly Bozeman Fiber study that was commissioned by the City of Bozeman's economic development department.

This work builds on a vision that the city began more than 13 years ago, recognizing early that high-speed, redundant, affordable and reliable internet service is as essential as roads, water, sewer, and power to our region's future.

Through a locally driven nonprofit open access model, Yellowstone fiber has evolved into a critical asset supporting innovation, enabling remote work, and strengthening Bozeman's global competitiveness.

Grace's analysis demonstrates that this investment is not just about connectivity, but it's about long-term economic value, generating over 100 million dollars in regional activity supporting jobs and keeping more than 80% of that value local.

So tonight she will walk you through how fiber infrastructure is shaping Bozeman's economy and why it serves as a model for communities across the country.

So please help me welcome Grace Galbreth to the podium.

Thank you.

All right.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Grace Gilbreth, and like Britt said, I'm a project director at the Northern Rocky Mountain Economic Development District, and otherwise known as NERMED, that's a lot shorter.

In my role at NERMED, I get the opportunity to highlight the hard work of others and to demonstrate its economic impact on the community.

And today I'll be sharing with you one such example, which is the development of the Yellowstone Fiber Network.

I appreciate your time tonight, and I know I have about 10 to 15 minutes, so I'll get started.

And decisions that we make about infrastructure today are what determine whether Bozeman is a growing community, whether companies leave or stay, whether families can afford to live here, and whether opportunity expands or constricts.

And I'm here today to show that community built fiber functions as essential economic infrastructure and what many now consider as a fourth utility along with water, power, and heat.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with our organization, this finding this presentation is based on the findings from an independent economic impact analysis prepared by the Northern Rocky Mountain Economic Development District.

We are a regional economic development organization, and we have been serving Gallatin and Park County since 2006.

We work closely with local governments and businesses to support sustainable economic development and strategic decision making through research, which is our specialty.

All right, so for a little background, Yellowstone Fiber began in 2012 as a city-led effort to address the need for reliable broadband infrastructure.

And local leaders at the time recognized that high performance connectivity is essential infrastructure for long-term economic development.

In fact, it was the city's early actions that made the network possible.

The first $4 million in financing for the network from local banks was secured through local leadership, and this enabled the product's launch.

And taking the project from concept to construction during this period.

Crucially, the city also provided 12 critical easements on public land for the construction of fiber huts.

And without these easements, the network could not have been built.

And as the network proved its viability, it attracted more than 101 million dollars in additional private investment.

And today, in total, approximately 105 million dollars has been invested to build and continue to expand this network across the valley.

All of this at no cost and no risk to the task taxpayer Bozeman.

This large-scale long-term infrastructure effort was made possible by early public leadership and sustained private investment.

Our economic impact analysis evaluated multiple phases of development and operations.

We chose the period of 2015, the period of 2022 to 2024, and a projected period of 2022 to 2027 for Yellowstone Fiber.

We selected these periods of time as they represented large periods of expansion activity within the network.

We created our analysis using operating budgets, local data, and standard economic impact multipliers.

Today I'll walk through some of the key takeaways from that report.

Fiber as a long-term economic infrastructure development and its local impact, how the fiber network structure drives affordability through competition, why fiber stands apart as a future-proof technology, and what this means for the community over the long term.

Fiber is a foundational infrastructure in the modern era.

The effects of this infrastructure show up in economic activity and where that value stays once it's created.

I'd like to highlight a few key figures from our report.

The Yellowstone Fiber Network generated over 135 million dollars in total economic activity across our three study periods, and it supported more than 1,400 jobs across those three study periods.

I would like to emphasize that these are just the jobs that are directly attributed to the construction and operation of the network, and that these jobs should be understood as a conservative estimate of the potential job counts.

This doesn't, this does not include jobs enabled by the network.

But of those 1400 jobs directly attributed to the network, over 80% of the value generated by those jobs is retained locally.

This is only the tip of the iceberg.

Once this infrastructure is in place, firms can expand locally and talent can stay here.

This shows up in sectors such as technology, cybersecurity, photonics, and advanced manufacturing, as well as the growth of remote work in the area.

These effects are harder to quantify directly, but they are central to understanding the network's long-term impact and should be highlighted.

The numbers I have shown you on the previous slide do represent real economic impact, but it doesn't capture the full picture.

At the household and business level, this infrastructure provides reliable and high capacity service.

It supports remote and hybrid work, which has increased significantly in the area since the COVID years and is now a persistent part of the modern economy.

It supports education and healthcare services.

And here in Bozeman, that's not a matter of convenience, it's a requirement.

It also improves resilience dramatically for the customers.

Schools, hospitals, and businesses experience significantly less downtime on the Yellowstone Fiber Network.

Many of these institutions, including the Bozeman School District and the hospital were original anchor tenants of the network and help to establish its early viability.

For schools and hospitals, especially, this reliability is critical.

Even short disruptions can interrupt learning, delay care, and create risk.

For these institutions, downtime disrupts essential services to the community.

This is where fiber can make a difference.

Fiber networks are built with redundancy, meaning multiple pathways for the data to travel.

So if one line is interrupted, traffic is automatically rerouted, and this allows operations to continue without interruption.

Because of this, services can continue even during disasters.

Another feature is that fiber can firms can scale and compete nationally and globally without having to leave the region in order to do so.

This reliability and performance can also help attract and retain a workforce that now expects this level of connectivity.

Many of these benefits are not fully captured in the economic totals I just presented on the previous slide.

And because of this, the numbers I've shown you should be under should be understood as a conservative floor and not the total impact of this network.

The broader effect is a more productive, more resilient local economy that can now operate at a national and global level while remaining local.

And these outcomes are not incidental, they're driven by the structure of the network itself.

The structure of the network is built in order to drive customer benefit.

The open access model allows multiple providers to operate on one shared network.

This model is different from conventional internet service provider models because the infrastructure is shared among multiple providers, internet service providers, ISPs, rather than controlled by a single company in a monopoly structure.

Since no single provider controls the infrastructure, providers have to compete directly for the customer by offering better service, pricing, and reliability.

This structure enables competition, much in the same way that public the public road system enables multiple transportation systems.

This idea also follows basic economic principles that when providers compete, they have to offer a better experience in order to attract customers.

Through competition, customers gain choice and they're not locked into a single provider, and the local ownership of the providers ensures affordability and reinvestment rather than profit extraction flowing to out-of-state providers.

By separating infrastructure from the service delivery itself, the network creates healthy competition within the system, expanding affordability and quality to its customers.

Now that addresses the question of affordability.

The next question is how does it perform?

And that comes down to the technology.

And I want to acknowledge that, of course, satellite and fixed wireless have roles to play in the more remote areas of Montana where things like geography give people no other choice in order to access service, but they face structural limits and are not scalable for use in a growing hub like Bozeman.

First, they're externally controlled, so pricing and long-term availability are set outside of the community.

They also rely on shared bandwidth.

For example, low Earth satellites, I think Starlink can provide about 10 gigabytes per second of capacity per satellite shared across all the users within the satellite's region.

And as more people begin to use the system, the performance declines.

In contrast, fiber can deliver that level of capacity exclusively to a single home, which is the fastest anywhere in the country.

Performance is also affected by terrain and weather.

Both of these services can be affected by adverse weather and geography, so it's not as reliable.

They're also less scalable as demand grows for service in a growing community like Bozeman.

And fiber addresses many of these limitations directly.

It's locally owned and controlled, so decisions stay within the community.

It provides dedicated capacity with symmetrical speeds and low latency, meaning users can send and receive information equally quickly, and the performance does not degrade as more people come online.

Fiber is also not dependent on weather terrain in the same way as wireless systems because the cables are underground and protected from the weather.

Because in order to scale, you just need to upgrade the technology on the ends of the fiber cables, not the cables themselves.

When view when you view these things together, these characteristics define infrastructure, not just telecom service.

And because it's infrastructure and not a one-off solution, that means it's also replicable.

Bozeman is currently the only community in Montana pursuing this model, and among very few nationally doing so today.

And what stands out in our research is the role of the city in making this venture possible in the first place.

This reflects a forward-thinking approach to infrastructure policy and a willingness to take a long-term view on community investment.

Bozeman demonstrates this model is also replicable to other Montana communities.

It's an open access public-private approach that is community-driven and can scale to other cities across the state if given the chance.

Because of that, this report is now being used as a case study by communities across the country, and they're looking to Bozeman as an example of how to approach broadband infrastructure in a different and innovative community-driven way.

And that level of national attention honestly reflects the city's leadership and the policy decisions that made getting to this point possible.

This is not just a simple telecom project.

The Yellowstone Fiber Network is long-term economic infrastructure that delivers durable benefits.

Local leadership and forward thinking planning made this possible.

And I want to acknowledge that these investments take time and significant capital in order to achieve, but they create benefits that continue to build and compound long after that initial investment period.

So more connectivity leads to more business activity and greater resilience, each reinforcing the other as time goes on.

Bozeman chose to invest in infrastructure that keeps opportunity local and supports long-term growth, and the outcomes that we've demonstrated today are a direct result of that investment.

Our full report is available on the NERMED website.

And if you'd like to explore the findings in more detail, or if you'd like to reach out to me directly with any questions, uh that would also be welcome.

Thank you, and I appreciate your time.

Thank you.

No, Mayor, I'll I will conclude.

I'll make a concluding comment, which is simply that this project uh that's um started 13 years ago is probably one of the most impactful projects that I've ever been a part of, um, evidenced by what you saw, the numbers you saw tonight.

Um I would just re-emphasize how economic development is the long game.

I say that a lot.

Um, and again, this project uh is an example of how patience persistence and um uh focus and and sort of vision can really pay off.

And uh so I'm really proud of this project.

I'm proud of the team that that led it in the in the early days, and I'm really proud of the team that uh is leading it today.

So thank you for your time.

We really appreciate the opportunity to celebrate that with you.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Okay.

Next up, our final special presentation of the evening.

As usual, Britt's being um extremely modest on the role that he played.

Um, 13 years ago.

And um this likely would not have happened without Brit's efforts.

And I'd he talks about the long game.

It's true, and we're seeing the fruits of that, all those efforts years ago.

So thank you for that, Britt.

Next up is information technology operations, and this is a rare occurrence that we have the director of information technology, Scott McMahon uh gets to address the commission.

Welcome, Scott.

See if I know how to work a computer.

Thank you, uh City Manager Wynn.

Uh Mayor, Commissioners, uh, appreciate the opportunity to take a few minutes tonight to uh really at a high level, kind of go over some information technology operations and kind of continue this telling our story presentations that you've been seeing from other departments.

So appreciate the opportunity to do that.

So the the IT department doesn't really have divisions per se.

We're not really big enough for that.

But this what this represents is kind of the four major areas of focus, or if you want to call them buckets of work, and that's kind of how we're gonna look at this tonight.

So cybersecurity, application support, systems administration, and then help desk.

You'll see cybersecurity is in red.

That's because right now there isn't really a single person that's kind of dedicated to that.

It's kind of a shared uh role across the entire IT team, and I would argue across the entire user base at the city.

We all need to be kind of that cybersecurity minded, but we are looking to hire someone specifically for that role soon.

So that's why I had that in red.

So it brings up this question of you know, who do we support?

And so the IT department is considered an internal services department.

So, what does that mean?

That means that most of our effort is spent assisting departments across the city.

And so it's all departments.

There's really over 30 if you look at it as uh departments and divisions.

Uh and so what we do is, and then if you'll add my little graphic there for you.

So there's a kind of a sampling of the different departments of the city.

Um, but really we do a lot of policy development.

So if someone uh has an issue or there's something coming up, working with the legal team a lot, just kind of looking at the ethical use of technology and how we want to do it, uh, how we can be transparent to the community and things of that nature.

We do a lot of solutions research.

So, again, a department will come to us and say, we have this problem, and we can either say, hey, we already have this tool that you can use to fix that problem, or if they don't, then we'll do a lot of solution research and kind of come back to the table with hey, these are some options you could consider to solve that problem.

Uh we do a lot of review of contracts along again with Greg's team, uh, just kind of looking at the technical aspects of those contracts and making sure that uh we're in a good place there.

But we do also serve the public in a lot of different ways, and and some of those ways are we deploy and support the main website.

We also help Tecami's group, the communications group, with uh all the social media channels that we have.

Uh think about all of the engagement tools that we have, we're supporting those.

We're also uh any of the online services.

So if you want to go online and pay your utility bill, you want to go online and apply for a permit, we're supporting all those kinds of functions for the public.

So that's kind of how we're impacting the public.

So let's talk uh the first little bucket of work here.

So application support.

So three folks are in that area.

Tom Cannon's the application support manager.

By the way, I stole Nick Ross's slides.

You guys probably saw these before because I liked them.

I like the format.

So Cole Shapers, the web web and social media, and then Kyle Hamburg doing some application support and integration uh for us as well.

And so these are some of the things that they do.

There are a lot of applications at the city.

We use a lot of applications.

These, the list here is kind of like the main kind of larger applications that this group is supporting.

Noveline, everyone hears that word all the time.

That's our main ERP, so thank all things finance, HR, community development, uh, so it's a pretty large system.

Also, you know, all the electronic plan review stuff that we do.

Think of Granicus, I know that was mentioned tonight, but basically, that's our website, that's our engagement platforms, that's the agendas and packets that the clerks use to have these meetings work uh on the public safety side of things, all the body cams, all the in-car systems, all the stuff in the fire trucks that's technology related, we're supporting those things.

Um then laser fees, which everyone knows of as well, all the public documents that we're uh spending out, setting out there for folks to look at.

So that's a sampling of some of the things that they do.

Let's talk uh systems administration.

So Albert Mayo is the systems administrator manager, and then Dave Baumberger and Ryan Heemstra are both in that group doing different system admin functions.

And so here's some of the things that we do in that space.

So server infrastructure.

So you can imagine all those applications I was just talking about, they have to run on something.

And so the server infrastructure that we have throughout the city is where all those applications run and what allows people to do their work.

And we support around 110 servers.

Those are not all physical servers.

We've obviously we virtualized over the years, so a lot of virtual servers, but that's uh that's a fair number of servers.

Uh think of the city and all the buildings that we have with staff all over the all over the city.

They have to have a way to kind of communicate with each other, talk back to these software applications that we're talking about.

And that's where the citywide network comes in.

And it's interesting that we had the uh Yellowstone Fiber discussion tonight because we have a lot of Yellowstone fiber connections, and that's what allows all of our staff to kind of talk to each other, get to the internet and do the things that we do.

And so that's switches and routers and firewalls and all those, that access point on the wall, all those kinds of things.

And so there's like about 650 different network devices across the city that are being supported.

Disaster recovery.

So we have some things in place that allow us to have uh suffer some loss, like whether it's a hard drive or a server or an internet connection that so that we can keep on working, so there's some disaster recovery pieces in there.

Cybersecurity, can't emphasize how important that is.

That's our antivirus, anti-malware, all of our intrusion detection stuff that we're doing, um, whether it's at a treatment plant or here at the city hall.

And then just communications in general, email, all right, desk phones, cell phones.

I mean, we have over 300 cell phones now that we're supporting.

So that's the uh systems admin side, these two pictures, these are actually pictures of the Bozeman Public Safety Center.

So that's the data center over there.

So the cabinets are kind of like the racks where all these physical servers reside.

The other one is a really messy looking uh uh switches and routers and things that'll again allow that connectivity to happen.

So and then the last little bucket we'll talk about is the help desk.

And so we have John Lorf, who's a public safety support technician, Dan Richie's over at the library and doing public safety, and then Kate Falls Down is kind of a general IT support technician.

Um I can't say enough about these people before I kind of go into what they do.

There really are, they're they're out in the trenches every day.

These are the guys that are at the face of our department, they're out there talking to even commissioners, right?

When you guys come to our office and we need a cell phone fix or something, these are the folks that are doing a lot of that.

Can't say enough about how much they do.

Um that help button, you know, when you when something's going on, you want to hit that button, these are the group that's the group that kind of helps out.

So anything PC, laptop, printers, um, you know, over a thousand devices supported there.

Uh they do a lot of training, so we're trying to make efforts to help our help city staff be more efficient in the use of whether it's Word or Excel or the website or whatever it might be.

So they do a lot of that.

Uh they support all the audio visual systems throughout the city, so like in this room.

Um, and they addressed over 2,000 tickets in 2025.

So that is the end of that's a real high-level kind of operational, some of the operational things that we do.

The the rest of my time I'm going to spend on a couple of public service announcements that I think are really important for the community to hear about and to see.

So the first one, we are seeing a pretty significant uptick in text and email phishing scams going around the community.

The one that we're most concerned about right now, or that we're seeing a lot of uh is specifically to the development community.

So developers and different people in the community that are in that space are getting emails or texts acting as if they were coming from the city, they're not.

They have taken our logo off our website, for example, and made it looks like an authentic letterhead, and they maybe they may throw Aaron George's name on there.

And basically the gist of these are saying, Hey, this is your project, this is what's going on.

You have fees of 5,000, 10,000, whatever it might be, and you need to wire that money to the city.

So it's pretty it's it's pretty sophisticated.

They're like I said, they're using our logo, they're using different things.

This is happening across the nation right now, actually, not just in Bozeman.

And so the FBI has a bulletin out, we'll talk about that in a second.

But basically, um a lot of the stuff is beyond our control, but we are taking some steps to try to mitigate things as best we can.

And what we're doing, there's a currently a red banner at the top of our website warning citizens about this.

We have sent emails specific to the development community uh about this as well.

We are um trying to do some redactions right now of some public documents.

So even though it is public information, we're trying to do some redactions on some documents on laser feast that will help this as well.

Uh to comedy the communications group has done social media posts, and then uh we've also had a news item on the uh on the website.

So a couple things for the community to know.

The city will not ever text or email you and tell you that you have to wire as money.

So if you ever see that, immediately know that's a red flag.

Um watch for that sense of urgency.

So usually it's like, man, you've got to answer this, and you've got 24 hours or 48 hours to do this, or your project's gonna be at risk, whatever that might be.

That's always a kind of a giveaway that that sense of trying to get you to act quickly.

And then really look carefully to see who it's being sent from.

All the ones that I've seen that citizens have given to me, it's clearly not from the city, it's a different totally different email address.

Um, and then you can always call the city directly.

If you ever get an email or a text that you're concerned about that you don't think is legit, you can call the uh the main number, that 582 2300.

And then this there's a link here for this FBI link or FBI article.

If someone in the community wants to read that FBI bulletin, just go to the city's website, click the red banner at the top, and you can get to this FBI bulletin.

It'll kind of give you some additional ways you can protect yourself.

All right, so the next thing we're gonna talk about just real quickly, hopefully, is email address and website domain changes.

So what are we doing?

We have changed our email addressing scheme.

So we have uh changed from first initial last name at Bozeman.net to first name dot last name at Bozeman MT.gov.

So Bozeman MT.gov is our new domain.

And so for example, my email, S McMahon at Bozeman.net is now Scott.

McMahon at Bozeman MT.gov.

And the same holds true for all of our generic emails.

So if you're a member of the community and you're using comments at Bozeman.net, it's now comments at Bozeman MT.gov.

Um our city website domain will also be changing.

It has not changed yet.

It'll be changing uh April 27th.

So next Monday, the domain change will go into effect on our website.

So why are we doing this?

So the federal government, right, encourages adoption of a.gov domain for all government entities, basically.

And there's a number of reasons for that.

Uh to enhance security, you can see here enhance security, establish trust, and ensure authenticity.

And they're also increasingly requiring a.gov to get access to certain funding like grants for cybersecurity and things like that.

Um the interesting thing is.gov domains are restricted.

So not just anyone can go buy a dot, you don't even buy them, but no, not anyone can just go get a.gov domain.

There's a verification process that you have to go through.

And so when we did our domain back then, it was uh um then Mayor Cunningham and City Manager Wynn had to actually sign a couple things.

And there's a process you go through.

And so that can give people trust that uh it's truly is a government domain.

Uh so what we're really after is reducing citizen confusion and citizen concern about whether or not they truly are on a government website.

Is that email that I just got really coming from the government or is that coming from just some corporation?

So the dot net kind of lends itself very much to anyone can have a.NET, right?

So um, and then also you'll see that most of our peer cities and counties, they're all going through the same thing.

And so really close to us.

Galvan MT.gov, they're kind of following the same format Belgrade MT.gov, billionsmt.gov.

So we're kind of all seem to be following kind of a similar uh format.

So this is the this is the critical slide here is what do citizens need to know about these changes as they go into effect.

The old city of Bozeman emails will continue to work for at least one year.

So don't fear that I mean if you send an email to the old Bozeman.net addresses, just know that we will still get those emails for at least a year.

Um that being said, I would encourage members of the community to please update those emails as soon as you can, just because that way you're set for the long term.

Uh this is really important as well.

The navigation of the city website is not changing.

So, yes, the domain name is going to be www.bosemanmt.gov as of Monday next Monday, but the navigation itself is not changing.

So, what does that mean?

It means that if someone in the community has bookmarked a particular page that you just love about our website, that bookmark should still work.

In the event that it doesn't, please just navigate back to the new website, Bozeman MT.gov, go back to that page you bookmarked and just update your bookmark.

So hopefully that doesn't happen, but if it does, that's the solution for you.

Um that's it.

Thank you for your patience as we make these important changes.

Thank you for the opportunity to share a little bit about what we do.

Great.

Thank you for uh that special presentation.

Um I I think uh our IT director, uh Scott McMahon, is typically seen by members of the public probably uh scurrying around at the beginning of a meeting if Zoom is not activating or not responding to us, and we're having uh you know the break glass in case of emergency uh needs that that it gets to come in.

I also just you don't have to note.

We saw a clean shaven Scott McMahon on those slides for the I for me the first time.

Um so that was an exciting, exciting slide to have on there.

Um following Director Ross's lead on those.

Um moving on to our one action item for this evening.

Um Mr.

City Manager.

Thank you.

That was actually Scott's high school graduation picture.

Saw that just after color film came in.

The uh this is a pretty special item.

Um a bit of a passion project for our director of economic development, Britt Fontenau.

Um the mayor's been involved, as have others, but this is a resolution that's coming before you tonight.

A resolution of the city of Bozeman authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement on international territorial cooperation with the community of Kopchinski.

And I'm gonna stop there because Britt is uh Britt deserves to talk about this.

It's something he's been working on for a lot of years, and it's it's it's a really great thing.

Thank you, Mr.

City Manager, for that introduction.

Um this has been a bit of a passion project um for me personally, but it's also I think um uh I mean I'm gonna illustrate why it's a passion project for this community.

Uh but I'd like to start with Mayor with your permission.

We're gonna kind of go off script a little bit in that.

We have a couple of guests uh that are joining us this evening.

We have Mayor Kelachavi on the line uh from Kopchins to Ukraine, and uh we also have Mr.

David O'Keefe on the line.

I believe Mr.

O'Keefe is in Connecticut, so not quite the time difference that that uh Mayor Kalachavi has, but um, but we have these two two gentlemen on the line.

Uh and if with your permission, I'd just like to give them a moment to introduce themselves to you, and then in return, again, with your permission, if the city commission could introduce yourselves to them, then I would like to then start my presentation.

Great.

Thank you.

Um, Bogdan and David, are you are you here with us?

Yeah.

Great.

Um, we've got them both.

Great.

So Bogdan, would you mind just introducing yourself to the city commission and to the to our community?

And then David, you can go next.

Yeah, sure.

So good evening.

Uh the uh mayor, the city manager, uh the uh the city commissioners.

Um my name is Bogdan Khalichavi.

I'm a mayor of Kopuchin State Municipality.

It's uh Western part of Ukraine.

Um as you will see on the presentation, we already have some um uh experience uh of uh cooperation uh between our citizens and uh Bozeman is uh definitely not an empty sound in this far away land uh in my town uh especially.

Uh it's a great honor to be here with you to share this moment.

Uh and uh we already are applying for some projects to do some uh more cooperation uh possible.

Um but uh I would on behalf of my citizens of uh uh my colleagues from my town, uh I would be uh really glad uh to uh start this cooperation uh officially as well.

Thank you, Bogdan.

David?

I'm David O'Keefe.

I'm uh I'm the U.S.

partner for Cities for Cities, which is a non-government organization based in Vladiv, uh, Ukraine.

And what we do is help create intermunicipal partnerships.

We've created and are supporting uh more than a hundred throughout Europe and the United States right now.

And we are very pleased to be part of this uh new area of cooperation that Bozeman uh is about to enter into.

And uh it's gonna be very exciting.

Uming both municipalities and the strengths that they bring and their creativity and innovation.

Um I think this this partnership is gonna be really special.

We look forward to seeing uh what it brings in the in the years to come.

And we stand by to support and facilitate this with whatever is needed to make it successful.

Thank you.

Thank you, David.

Mayor.

Yes, thank you, uh Director Fonnow and um Bogdan and David.

It's great to um share some space with you guys again.

Um it's been a couple months since we last got to connect.

Um my name's Joy Morrison.

I get to serve as the mayor of the city of Bozeman.

Um I think when we last met, we explained a bit of the quirky system that happens here um that I was elected two years ago, so served as deputy mayor for the for two years, um, but have only been our mayor for about the last four months.

Um but yes, really looking forward to this conversation this evening.

Um and just to uh uh echo some of what I think came up in our first conversation that Bogdan was elected um at quite a young age as well.

I think was 30 when he was elected mayor, 30 years old, sworn in as mayor.

So feeling some uh international uh youth solidarity with uh with our uh our guest this evening.

I'll uh hop in next.

My name is Emma Bodie, and I am a commissioner.

I was elected this November, although served um earlier through uh an appointment to a vacancy.

And I'm just really excited to meet you all virtually and talk more about the relationship between our two cities I think I'll say good morning.

It's my understanding it's quite early in the Ukraine, and I'm sorry that we're not holding our meeting at midnight, which sometimes we are here at midnight, but that would have been more convenient for you.

Bogdan.

Um my name is Jennifer Magic, and I'm happy or pleased to say that I have Ukrainian roots.

Uh the last name Magic, believe it or not.

Uh has been Americanized a couple of times.

My great-grandfather came here the turn of the last century, and have been told he came from the Ukraine, seeking kind of the American dream.

So I feel a certain kitten ship.

Thank you.

Um it is a pleasure to meet you gentlemen uh virtually.

I'm can tell you that this community um has a lot of solidarity with the Ukraine on display um frequently.

There are many Ukrainian flags across the community.

Um for a while there, there were a lot of sunflowers with blue ribbons.

So um it is a pleasure to meet you and um join in this work that we'll be doing.

Thanks.

Mayor Kalachabi, I'm Douglas Fisher, I'm the deputy mayor.

Uh I've I've been on this commission now for about two years, was elected this fall uh to a four-year term.

I and I you may not be able to see this, but there is the Ukrainian flag on our podium to here right next to our Montana State flag and the United States flag.

And I I have to say it looks really nice, and I think we may want to keep it there for a long-term addition.

So I'm glad to have this.

I'm glad to have this discussion.

Thank you, Mayor, for the introductions.

Thank you, Commissioners, Deputy Mayor.

I really appreciate you introducing yourselves.

So we're going to move into the presentation now.

I first met Bogdan Kelachavi in Kyiv, Ukraine in November of 2018.

At the time, Bogdan was working for an organization called Global Communities.

And um he was a young economic development specialist who was really uh honestly taking care of me, looking after me as I was uh presenting material at a conference of mayors in Kiev.

Um through our I was there for about 10 days, and through our conversations, I learned a lot about Bogdan, his family, and his his desire to like you, serve his community uh and give back, not only to his community but to his country.

And so we we have uh maintained our relationship, our friendship over the miles and over the years.

And so after the invasion on February 5 of 2022, I reached out to Bogdan and of course offering my um so whatever support I might be able to conjure up in such a circumstance, which is quite limited.

Uh however, um Bogdan reminded me that it wasn't a something that I the thing that I could do wasn't a physical thing.

It was more of a uh the spirit of not forgetting about what's going on over there.

And he reminded me about the 24-hour news cycle uh and how um Americans' minds will move on to other things.

And uh, but I promised him that I wouldn't forget.

And tonight I uh I'm following through in that promise.

Um, first let's start with a little geography.

Where is Kopachinski?

Kopchinsky, Ukraine, as you can see from the map, is uh slightly southeast of Lviv, a community or city that you probably hear about in the news from time to time.

They still suffer from uh missile attacks uh and and um it's it's not always a safe place to be.

Uh and if you know to the north, to the top of the screen there, you'll see Kiev, the capital city um of Ukraine, where I first met Bogdan many years ago now.

And the pronunciation of Kopchinski is as I've tried to put it in phonetics here, phonetically, Kopachinski is how you pronounce the community.

So what we know about recovery, and I think about our own um explosion downtown when I think about this.

What we know about recovery in a community is that it happens locally, and and it's the people that are responsible for the recovery by sharing their experiences, sharing their knowledge, sharing their empathy, and sharing their work.

And so um, and this is what I'm suggesting that we have an opportunity to do through this partnership agreement.

I as I mentioned, I first met Bogdan back in 2018 in Kiev.

Um, my role there was providing uh a glimpse of how to do economic development from the bottom up as opposed to the top down at the time.

I was communicating with uh um many mayors from several oblost from around the country.

It was very eye-opening to me, and it reminded me how much I had to learn, not just what I had to give, but what I could receive.

And uh it was very eye-opening to me, and I and I actually learned an enormous amount there.

Um and then I'd also like to point out how committed this community has been to supporting Kopchinski uh over the years since the invasion.

And the photograph you see in front of you there is um are those are local Bozeman people in that photograph who traveled to Kopchinsky to support, and Bogdan's kneeling in the front there, um, who traveled to Kabacinsky using their talents and skills to try to support a community that was undergoing an enormous transformation transformation due to conflict.

Um architects, engineers, um, health professionals, um, and uh uh and a variety of different different people who just wanted to make a difference.

Wrong one, sorry.

So the reason this is a unique opportunity for our community is because there is an existing relationship already in place.

We're hitting the ground running with uh with these relationships, and as in my previous slide um uh mentioned, it's about the relationships.

It's all about relationships.

Economic development is about relationships, it's not about money.

Uh it's about the relationships between people.

And so we are not strangers to the people of Kopchinski, and I think that that existing relationship, pre-existing relationship will drive uh will drive our success.

Secondly, we are really good at our civic institutions are really solid.

I'm really proud of this organization.

We have a lot to share.

We have some things to learn, but we have a lot of things to share.

And our track record of success, I think, will be it will offer some interesting models uh for Bogdan and his team in Kopchinsky, and then also what can we learn from them as well.

Um so we I I know that we are a credible, trusted partner, and I know that Kopchinski is also a credible and trusted partner.

They are a resilient community.

Um they uh Kopchinski hosts a uh hosts a hospital, a very important hospital, a piece of civic infrastructure.

Uh they uh that hospital treats the community, it treats the war wounded, uh, it has a very important role to play in in their community and the surrounding areas.

Uh they're they know what it means to get back up uh after being knocked down.

They're a resilient community, they are also an optimistic community, they're a hopeful community, and they have a visionary leader.

Bogdan is a visionary leader.

Um his heart for public service, like yours uh is is extremely large.

He cares about his community, he cares about his people, he cares about his country.

And that's a really important um foundational element.

And they're already doing this work.

Kopchinski is already partnering with communities around Europe, uh, trying to uh create have come up with creative solutions to issues that they're that they're struggling with.

They're not waiting until the cessation of fighting to start rebuilding.

They're doing it now, and we can be a part of that.

So there are four pillars to the proposal that I'm suggesting.

Uh they include economic development, governance, and governing and governance, education and schools, and veteran services.

Now, each one of these areas is not one that I just came up with on my own.

This this these four were chosen in consultation with Bogdan uh and his team and uh Cities for Cities as well to um so that we can because in these areas we know we have something to offer, and we know we we may have something to learn.

I'm gonna talk a little bit more detail about these in in just a moment.

So the proposal that I have come up with for this effort includes a model and a mentor uh type of type of effort.

And what that means is our goal in each of those areas that we'll get into in a little bit more depth, would be the goal would be to offer a model of what it could look like if, and then a mentor that's connected to that model who has experience in implementation, so that there is a long-standing and firm relationship connecting the um the peer in Kopchinsky to the peer in Bozeman.

So that when when um the inevitable challenges arise, there's a there's a person that's available and interested and committed to supporting their peer through this implementation process for whatever that model might look like.

The research that I've done demonstrate that this particular model is a low-cost but high impact.

And that's what we're after.

This isn't a we're not trying to um uh we don't have a budget for this.

It's not about the money, it's not spending money, it's about relationships.

So low cost, high impact.

It's very important.

So, in the area of economic development, areas of exchange sharing and learning include economic diversification, entrepreneurship, innovation, and believe me, they already have a toehold in all of these areas.

But what can we do to provide some some additional sharing in this space?

Sustainable growth, infrastructure, small business development and education and workforce development.

These are all areas of interest that we have an opportunity to explore.

In governing and governance, these areas on the slide here are all um uh uh these are all areas where I have a lot of confidence in the city of Bozeman and our and other partners, local government center, for example, at MSU, where we can have a information exchange that strengthens uh not only our own community but also helps um strengthen Kopchinsky in terms of um governing and governance to the areas that I've that I've listed here.

Education is education in schools is a very important uh component of this work.

Uh the children of Kopchinsky are the future of that country, and it's really important that the that they are that the those that are being educated uh are uh done so thoughtfully and intentionally, and we might have some things to share.

Everything from virtual exchanges between administrators or teachers and students, curriculum, uh curriculum exchange, workforce development skills, and even down to the physical space for the learning environment.

All of these areas I feel like we have something to share and to learn.

And then finally, veteran services.

What we know from our own experiences in our community is that when veterans return from their service, particularly combat veterans, they uh there's there's likely a need for some level of support.

Not always, but uh in many cases there there are.

And so what can that look like?

And I'm very proud of the community that we have for what we do as a community to support our returning veterans.

Montana State University has a uh nationally recognized veteran center.

I think there is some opportunity uh for modeling something along those lines.

We have a nonprofit organizations that uh that support veterans in a variety of different ways.

We have a VA here uh in Bozeman, and um health care and mental health is uh is a really important part of uh returning veterans um opportunity to for support skills training, support networks, and and most importantly, reclaiming a sense of purpose in civic life and civic contribution.

Um I think we have something to share, and I think we have something to learn.

So tonight's not the first time that I've been talking about this potential project.

Um you can see on the screen I've still solicited quite a bit of support from around uh the community, from around the state, because the people that I talk to feel like this can make a difference, um, not only here, but also in Kopchinsty.

So the list you see there uh are uh aside from Bozeman Sunrise Rotary, where I'll be presenting at 6.30 on Friday morning.

Um all of these organizations have agreed to be a part of this um uh this effort in some way, in some meaningful way.

I'd like to remind the commission that this agreement on international territorial cooperation is non-binding.

Um this framework is meant to set a structure and um uh create a f just that a framework.

But each community has the opportunity to to uh get out of this agreement uh if they so choose.

Uh I don't expect that, but I just wanted the commission and the public to be aware that the agreement that you are considering this evening is a is a non-binding agreement.

I also wanted the commission to know that uh we received two public comments that I'm aware of uh on this topic, both of both in support of this uh of this resolution.

And what you see there in this uh last slide is a um a sculpture by our very own Jim Dolan.

Many of you have seen the herd up on the hill there as you drive to Helena.

You know, I uh I often mistake them for actual herd of horses as I'm driving by because the tails in Maine are um they have um they're not static.

And so it's it's quite it's really cool art.

Well, Jim Dolan uh gifted one of his horses to the people of Kopchinsky um as a as a gift from our community, and it sits in their town square today.

And so um the horse's name is Mustang.

And um we're really we're really proud of this connection and um really proud of this relationship.

So, Mayor, if you will allow, um I'll leave it on this slide, but I do have a mo a uh motion and vote language slide as well.

But if you would would allow um Mayor Kelechavi to make some remarks at this stage, I think that would be really helpful.

Thank you.

Yes, absolutely.

Mayor, are you with us?

Yes, uh I'm with you.

It's uh it's so nice to see this uh slides and the presentation and uh spark some memories um of uh things that we've done already uh with uh with uh some citizens and some volunteers uh of uh your municipality uh and uh also we have some uh some citizens of your of your or your city that live in in my town and uh and now there is uh even a family created uh out of this out of this partnership.

It's uh it's so nice to see this uh slides and the presentation and uh spark some memories uh of uh things that we've done already uh with uh with uh some citizens and some volunteers uh of uh your municipality uh and uh also we have some uh some citizens of your of your or your city that lived in in my town and uh um now there is uh even a family created uh out of this out of this partnership and uh and they asked me just uh two weeks ago that they're coming back to Ukraine and they asked me to uh be the godfather of one of the twins, and that's kind of like uh just so it's just uh so and uh you you cannot imagine, right?

Uh how far all these um relationships can go and uh different projects and different ideas uh when people have the similar um uh mindset.

And uh also would like to express my gratitude to Brit.

Uh uh I I truly can call Brit my friend as well, and uh I learned already so much from him, and uh we've been in touch for many years already, and uh all these great initiatives and projects uh that uh he brought uh on his uh department uh it's it's just amazing.

And I also remember that in 2022 I had an opportunity to visit Bozman.

Uh and uh I was hosted by Brit and I also had a chance to see uh some of the places and uh school uh I had the chance to uh have a discussion and conversation at the university and also uh uh Rotary Club, uh some private businesses, uh and also the group of people from the organization called Ukraine Relief Effort.

Uh so it's it's it's a great uh pro I'm so proud that uh we can uh at least discuss this and continue this in more like formal way.

And uh I just cannot imagine uh how far will all this uh go uh with different ideas and projects, and I'm also very happy to um meet meet you all the uh dear commissioners uh and uh uh yeah we already met with mayor and the city manager.

So thank you.

Thank you, Bogdan.

With that, Mayor, I'll just uh mention uh the next steps while I pull this motion language up.

So if we are if if you agree to this evening and and vote to approve this memorandum or excuse me, this um resolution, we are working towards a delegation from Kopchinsky to visit Bozeman potentially this fall.

Um there's a lot of a lot of details to be worked out clearly, uh, but with the support of Cities for Cities and some other organizations, uh we think we we might be able to make that happen.

So um I'll keep you all informed and posted on when how that shakes out, and I'll be reaching out to you at some point to um engage in this in this effort.

So I really appreciate your time.

Um and I unless you have questions for me, I have your motion language on the screen.

Great.

Thank you for that presentation.

Thank you to our guests for uh for joining us.

Um especially the the mayor that's uh yeah gonna be starting his day soon at this rate.

Um before uh moving to a motion and public comment.

Uh are there any questions for Britt.

Yep.

Commissioner Body.

Thank you.

Britt, can you go back to the slide that has all of the um partners that are willing to support?

I just didn't get a chance to look all the way to the fact.

Yeah, thank you for asking.

Awesome, great.

Yeah, I I'm excited to see Bozeman School District on there.

Um I I was just wondering about the education connection and feeling like, oh man, those aren't those aren't people in this room.

Um so it's great to see them on the list.

And of course you've done your homework there.

They were enthusiastic supporters when I reached out.

Thank you.

Any more questions?

Yeah, Deputy Mayor.

Actually, could you go back a few more?

There was a slide that had it looked like the mayor the Kopach uh Kopachinski City Commission.

Uh City Council.

They're sitting at a table having oh, I think that's a dinner.

Is that a dinner?

Deputy Mayor.

I'll I'll I'll pull it this one.

Is that the is that the city council?

Uh no, sir.

That's that's uh Bogdan and and some uh friends and others having dinner, if I'm not mistaken.

I was also thinking about it.

Yeah, I was gonna be devastated to learn that uh um they they sit around a table and have dinner together and wef I can comment on this.

Sure, please.

Uh yeah, this is a special dinner actually.

Uh because at the beginning we had some shorter interactions with volunteers from Bozeman, they would be coming down back like just for a couple of days or like for two weeks.

And actually two of them stayed.

And one uh lived here for one year, and the second one lived here for almost two years and was married.

So that was like a moment when we hosted them.

They arrived late in the evening, and we hosted them with Adina.

Uh knowing that two of them are staying.

Well, thank you for that extra perspective.

Maybe any further questions for Britt.

Okay.

I have no questions either.

Thank you.

Um, before bringing up here for a motion and discussion, um, we will open it up for public comment.

Any public comment in the room this evening on this resolution.

Second request for comment in the room.

And one final request in the room.

Mr.

Duby, are we seeing any public comment requests online?

Mayor Morrison, I see no request for public comment online.

Okay.

Seeing no request for public comment.

We'll bring it up here for a motion discussion and vote.

Um I think our motion language is coming back.

Great.

Thank you.

Um I think we are at Commissioner Magic.

Commissioner Sweeney.

Thank you.

What a privilege.

Um I move to approve the resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement of international territorial cooperation with the community of Kopeshinsky, Ukraine, through the Cities for Cities initiative.

A second.

It has been moved and seconded.

Would you like to speak to your motion?

I think this is wonderful and heartwarming in a troubled world.

And I'm particularly excited for all the school kids that are going to get the benefit of really feeling like we are a global village from this effort.

Um I went to Irving School, and it was at the time the international school, and we had an international day where every classroom was a different country, and we had passports, and it instilled in so many people a love of travel and the recognition that we are a global human society.

And so starting and planting that seed young.

Um this is a great initiative.

So I'll be supporting it.

Thank you.

Deputy Mayor.

I'll like all that.

I I would agree that you know there's a lot of darkness on international news these days, and this is a bright spot.

I'm really glad to be part of this.

Um yeah, I agree.

There's a lot of opportunity here with those list of partners.

Um I'm proud to report that Irving School remains the international school.

Um there's a world language initiative uh that's alive and vibrant in our Bozeman School District.

I think there's plenty of opportunity here.

Um and I would look forward to certainly welcoming a delegation from Kopachinski uh this fall.

It would be certainly fun to host and have a dinner.

Commissioner Bode.

Thanks.

Yeah, I will also be uh very supportive of this motion.

I just want to thank Britt for bringing this to us and um really doing a lot of groundwork in this community and and connecting over there to um Kopachinski and the folks in Ukraine.

I know this has been a passion project of yours, and you put in a lot of hours that are unpaid for this, and I'm just excited to formalize a partnership um where um we can really recognize the efforts that you've put in.

Um and I I also um yeah wanna thank um Mayor Kelachavi for um trusting the process here and uh taking a risk on us.

I I think uh it's yeah, a very supportive community here.

Um I also just want to, you know, my my little passion project.

I'm already thinking about the the things that we can work on.

Um and I I particularly like the the Cities for Cities um framework that's uh a knowledge exchange.

I think so much of um the type of charity that we are asked to do is is financial and um I see this as not actually even even charity, it's an exchange.

It's it's an opportunity for us to learn from another community and provide something that um we can't even put a monetary value on to another community.

So um I I think that's really strategic and something that um we as a city are uniquely positioned to offer.

So on that front, I uh just immediately thought about our wastewater treatment plant as you were going through these slides and some of the really innovative things happening over there with um using natural technology of wetlands, and I just wonder if that could be um a useful strategy for Kopacinski.

Uh but anyway, I don't actually know that much about the ecology there, so I'll I'll leave it to the more involved minds.

Um but all about to say I'll be in support.

Commissioner Magic.

Yeah, thanks, Mayor.

Um thanks to the good comments from my hello commissioners.

Thanks to Britt.

This is exciting and excellent.

I think I would just uh continue.

Um Commissioner Sweeney's thoughts about the support, not only in this community, but this country for the country of Ukraine.

Uh it might not appear that way all the time based on the news of the day and the amount of time that has passed.

But there is a tremendous amount of support throughout the United States, it's for the country and people of Ukraine.

Um and it's exciting to be connected in this way with the community there.

And I'm supporting the leadership.

Great.

Thank you to my colleagues.

Um first and foremost is uh is a big uh uh appreciation and and and thank you for this opportunity that's coming from the leadership of of Brit, um Britt Fontaneau and and Mayor Kela Chavy.

Um the that decided to say, hey, let's uh let's move this beyond ceremonial and make it into something practical.

Um knowing that tonight is really the first step in codifying this relationship, and there's more uh iterating and conceptualizing to come.

Um but it is similar to to the comments of my colleagues.

Um, I'll say since you uh didn't get to have uh an hour-long early morning meeting with uh with the mayor, um he's a force.

Um uh Kopachitsi is really lucky to have um his leadership and and just comes across as uh so deeply one fierce um but caring and the love of his community, his region, his country, and the beauty of Ukraine that we didn't get to see quite as much of tonight um comes out in how he speaks and and what he values and how he talks about his community and the the pains that it's experiencing and the pain that Ukraine is experiencing.

And I I think many Americans and and certainly true of I think the really the ethos of Bozeman is that we've recognized for a long time, uh, whether it's through um military action around the world or seeing the the reverberations of other countries waging war on one another, um, we are deeply connected to one another.

We may want to believe that uh what affects us stays within the city limits of Bozeman or within the boundaries of the state of Montana or within the the borders of the United States, and we know that it's deeply untrue, um that we are deeply connected to one another and and our mutual um mutual prosperity makes our community safer, makes our world safer.

Um I'm really excited to see what uh what opportunities come up.

Um I know uh um Mayor Kelachavi knows that uh we have a podcast.

Um we'd be uh grateful to have that conversation and um perhaps a longer conversation about um governance and leadership in community um if that would be something that he'd be interested in, I'm sure we can follow up.

Um but I'm I'm really honored to enter into this this uh this agreement with uh with a really lovely community and a really incredible leader.

Mr.

Newby, I think we're ready to pull the commission.

Commissioner Sweeney.

Aye, Deputy Mayor Fisher.

Commissioner Bodie.

Aye, Commissioner Magic.

Aye, Mayor Morrison.

Aye.

Motion passes five to zero.

Moving on, um, and thank you again to to Britt and to our to our guests to David and Bogdan for for joining us this evening.

Hopefully, they've hopped off already to move on to the rest of their things.

They're see they're seeing it through.

That's what I'm talking about.

Um really grateful for your uh your time with us this evening and and grateful that you were able to um hop on knowing that it was a very early early time for um the mayor.

Um moving on, we have uh just FYI.

Any further FYI from the commission this evening?

Yes, I think.

Yes, Commissioner Sweeney.

Thank you.

Um I just wanted to respond to some of the public comments earlier tonight.

Um I was really grateful that the young man, Owen, said actuary standard 189.10 times in his public comment because I was furiously trying to write it down.

Unfortunately, um it's probably the case that we're not allowed to require something like that.

But I appreciate the uh the push.

Um is it possible to have a conversation about that?

Um public service commission testimony about writing a letter to FERC.

Can we have a discussion about that or not really?

I'll I have a few questions on that that maybe if you want to, however, you want to answer that.

Uming that the deadline is next next Thursday.

Yeah.

Um, and we would need to, if if the whole commission is gonna sign Oxford letter, we would need to notice that at a meeting.

That means we basically need to make a decision as to whether we want to put that on our agenda by this Thursday.

Um, but we're not going to make sure if there's anything else that we need to consider with that.

Yeah, since it wasn't noticed, um, the commission can't take action on that tonight.

I also got a text uh mid-meeting from Natalie Meyer sustainability.

She uh coordinator, uh, she she wants to look into it.

It's not a slam dunk for her yet.

And so I think that would be important perspective that the commission would want to hear before he took this action.

Thank you.

Wonderful.

Um, and then I just have one final FYI discussion item.

Um I would like to ask my colleagues again to please consider having a public conversation about interim zoning.

We have heard our former historic preservation officer and members of our community development department staff say that the type of development applications we are seeing were never even thought of when our NCOD design guidelines were created.

And the current design guidelines are simply not adequate to regulate a five-story building in historic residential neighborhoods.

We are currently facing litigation over the inadequacy of our design guidelines, and I would not want to see us facing even more lawsuits because we are not equipped with a robust and defensible code to regulate these new types of development applications in historic neighborhoods.

I believe a pause is prudent.

We are currently engaged with consultants to address this deficiency in our current regulatory framework because the citizenry has asked us to.

Any further FYI from the commission?

Yeah.

Deputy Mayor.

You know, extends I'm good.

We don't comment on special on special reports.

I just want to extend kudos to the vision that the city had in 2013 when it was you know, starting up uh both Yellowstone Bows and Fiberworth is now Yellowstone Fiber.

I was on the city commission in, I mean the uh Bozeman School Board in 2015 when the city came to the uh I believe to the school district to ask for the city's partnership in this.

Um I'm proud to say that the the school district said yes, and and it's it's proved to be um you know a great benefit to this community.

So um it really speaks to partnerships and and I'm glad that the city and it speaks to vision, and I'm I'm glad the city provided both.

Thank you, Commissioner Bode.

Um yeah, I I just want to put my my second behind um being interested in looking into um the proposition that uh Commissioner Molner brought to us.

I I'm not ready to say I want to support it and definitely see it on next week's commission meeting agenda, but um I I support having Natalie look into it and giving us a recommendation um in advance of the agenda being posted on Thursday.

Um then secondly, I I just want to lift up the comment we got from Mary Lee Brown about the airport authority airport expansion, and just note that our greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the last couple of years, that um transportation sector, particularly from the airport, is one of the fastest growing sections of our greenhouse gas emissions as a city.

And so um I'm just curious if um Natalie Meyer was involved in or commented on this plan or or if there is any need for a kind of city statement on um some of our our climate goals as it relates to the airport expansion.

I will ask tomorrow.

I'm not aware that the city has been involved in uh the airport plan at all.

Typically, we don't get involved in the airport um as it's not in the city limits and they are um governed by the airport board.

But I will talk to Natalie tomorrow and see if confirm that.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Um I just one more comment I'll make on that is that um our our way that we calculate the greenhouse gas emissions is related to whether the flights end in Bozeman or start in Bozeman.

And I I think it's kind of an imperfect calculation because somebody might fly into the Bozeman Airport and then go on a trip to Big Sky or to Belgrade or I don't know, somewhere else in the um the state.

And so I I think maybe an ask we could make of the airport authority in relation to kind of environmental impact is um a way to help us better capture what portion of flights into the Bozeman Airport is actually our greenhouse gas um impact and be able to separate that from the potential impact of of other communities.

Any further FYI from the commission?

Sorry, I forgot to mention I would also lend my it lend support to uh serious consideration of Commissioner Molner's uh request.

And I I will leave it to Mr.

Mayor, you and the city manager and staff to see how that is, but I think it it might behoove us to just notice something on the agenda for the 28th, given the our our um deadlines, and we can always pull it off later.

But um, but I would leave that discussion to higher powers here than yours earlier.

Thank you.

Any further FYI?

Any FYI from staff?

Okay, seeing no further business to come before the city commission, this meeting is adjourned.