Bozeman City Commission Regular Meeting – April 21, 2026
Bozeman City Commission Regular Meeting – April 21, 2026
The Bozeman City Commission met on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, at 6:00 PM in the Commission Room at City Hall. The meeting included approval of amended minutes from December 16, 2025, a consent agenda of seven routine items, a mayoral proclamation for Arbor Day, two special presentations (economic impact of Yellowstone Fiber and IT operations), and a unanimous vote to enter a cooperative agreement with the Ukrainian municipality of Kopychyntsi. Commissioners also discussed interim zoning, a request from Montana Public Service Commissioner Brad Molnar, and various community FYIs.
Consent Calendar
- Items G.1–G.7 approved 5-0 without public comment:
- G.1 Accounts Payable Claims Review and Approval
- G.2 Task Order 11 with Sanbell for Mendenhall Sanitary Sewer Replacement (5th–7th Avenue)
- G.3 Annual Montana State Historic Preservation Office Certified Local Government Program Grant
- G.4 Rejection of all bids for Water Reclamation Facility Solar Generation Project (to be rebid later)
- G.5 Gran Cielo Phase 3 Major Subdivision Preliminary Plat – subdividing 4 lots into a 42-lot subdivision for single-family and townhouse/rowhouse uses (Quasi-Judicial)
- G.6 Resolution of Intent to Create Special Improvement Lighting District 797 for Urban + Farm Phase 2
- G.7 Resolution of Intent to Create Special Improvement Lighting District 798 for South Range Crossing Subdivision (SRX) Phase 4
Public Comments & Testimony
- Marilee Brown (resident outside city limits) urged the commission to request an expanded environmental study for the Airport Authority’s expansion, noting the study only considers airport property and has a comment deadline of Thursday, April 23 (midnight). She asked commissioners to also notify the county commission.
- John Meyer (homeowner) criticized the commission for not holding a public conversation about a moratorium on development, accusing Deputy Mayor Fischer of avoiding the topic. He also claimed Commissioner Bode failed to disclose a relationship with a paid lobbyist who testified against an affordable housing initiative, and called for systemic changes to affordable housing in Bozeman.
- Owen Minton (MSU senior, renter) urged the city to evaluate adopting ASHRAE Standard 189.1 for municipal projects to improve building sustainability, water use efficiency, and indoor environmental quality.
- Mary Bateson (resident) requested that the commission publicly discuss interim zoning options to temporarily halt large developments and demolitions in the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD) until its update is complete and a new historic preservation officer is hired.
- Leisher (MSU senior) praised the new wetlands ordinance as “the most progressive in Montana” but asked the commission to enforce the mitigation hierarchy (on-site first, then local credits, then distant credits) to avoid developers purchasing credits 90 miles away at Twin Bridges.
- Macy Schmidt (MSU senior) opposed House Bill 664 (2025), which repealed numeric nutrient standards for Montana rivers. She urged the commission to support petitions reinstating numeric standards to protect water quality and aquatic habitats.
- Commissioner Brad Molnar (Montana Public Service Commission, District 2) gave a 10-minute presentation asking the City Commission to send a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by April 30, 2026. He argued that Northwestern Energy is transferring 370 MW of low-cost coal-fired electricity (from Colstrip Units 3 & 4) from rate-based to market-based, which would allow Northwestern to sell that power to a data center rather than to Montana retail customers. He stated the energy is valued at $300 million by the state, but Northwestern’s FERC filing values it at zero. A letter of support for reconsideration would help protect ratepayers and reduce property taxes. He noted he and Commissioner Puccinelli are intervening without commission funding.
Discussion Items
- Approval of Minutes (F.1) – Commissioners debated two amendments to the December 16, 2025 minutes. The first amendment (pass 4-1) required listing all eight speakers in favor and eleven opposed to the 90-foot B3 height increase, including the five who cited the affordable housing ordinance. The second amendment (fail 1-4) would have recorded Deputy Mayor Fischer’s desire for robust public discussion and Commissioner Madgic’s desire for a work session on the height issue. The minutes as amended were approved 5-0. City Attorney Sullivan noted the city’s policy designates the video as the official record; minutes only record actions, not verbatim discussion.
- Mayoral Proclamation – Arbor Day (I.1) – Mayor Morrison proclaimed Friday, April 24, 2026, as Arbor Day and encouraged citizens to plant trees. City Forester Alex Nordquest noted tree-planting events at Boulder Creek Park and Westbrook Park on Friday from noon to 3 PM.
- Special Presentation: Yellowstone Fiber Economic Impact (J.1) – Grace Gilbreth (Project Director, NRMEDD) presented an economic impact analysis showing the Yellowstone Fiber network generated over $135 million in total economic activity across three study periods (2015, 2022-2024, projected 2022-2027) and supported more than 1,400 jobs, with over 80% of value retained locally. She highlighted the open-access model, local control, and $105 million in total investment (initially catalyzed by $4 million in local bank financing secured by early city leadership and 12 public land easements). The network serves as a model for other communities.
- Special Presentation: IT Operations (J.2) – IT Director Scott McMahan described the department’s four focus areas: cybersecurity (currently a shared role), application support, systems administration, and help desk. He noted support for over 30 city departments, 110 servers, 650 network devices, and a help desk that addressed over 2,000 tickets in 2025. He warned of an uptick in phishing scams targeting the development community, using city logos and demanding wire payments. He also announced email domain changes from @bozeman.net to @bozemanmt.gov and the website change to bozemanmt.gov effective April 27, 2026.
- Action Item: International Territorial Cooperation with Kopychyntsi, Ukraine (K.1) – Economic Development Manager Brit Fontenot presented a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign a non-binding agreement with Kopychyntsi (Ternopil Region, Ukraine) through the Cities4Cities initiative. The partnership focuses on four pillars: economic development, governance, education/schools, and veterans services. Fontenot noted existing relationships, including a sculpture by Jim Dolan (“Mustang”) standing in Kopychyntsi’s main square. Mayor Bogdan Kelichavyi joined via video and expressed support, noting that two Bozeman volunteers have stayed in Kopychyntsi and created a family. The resolution passed unanimously 5-0 without public comment.
- FYI / Discussion (L) – Commissioner Sweeney requested future discussions on: (a) writing a letter to FERC regarding Commissioner Molnar’s request, with a deadline of April 30; (b) interim zoning to pause large developments in the NCOD during its update. Commissioner Bode supported examining the FERC letter and noted the airport expansion’s impact on greenhouse gas emissions (the airport sector is the fastest-growing in Bozeman’s inventory). Deputy Mayor Fischer and Commissioner Bode both expressed interest in the FERC letter. City Manager Winn noted staff would investigate the airport’s environmental study involvement.
Key Outcomes
- Minutes of December 16, 2025 approved (5-0) after first amendment passed (4-1) to list all public comment positions on the B3 height issue; second amendment failed (1-4).
- Consent Items G.1–G.7 approved unanimously (5-0).
- Arbor Day Proclamation issued.
- Resolution for partnership with Kopychyntsi, Ukraine approved (5-0). Next step: potential delegation visit to Bozeman in fall 2026.
- No formal action taken on the PSC/FERC letter request; staff will explore feasibility and may place on a future agenda.
- No formal action on interim zoning; Commissioner Sweeney’s request for a public discussion noted.
- City Manager announced: (a) installation of over 400 stop signs at 328 uncontrolled intersections, to be completed by 2029; (b) a turbidity monitoring violation at the Water Treatment Plant due to a monitor left in calibration mode for 28 hours – no effect on water quality, but a public notice will be issued; (c) the 2026 National Community Survey is open until May 5.
- IT department warned of phishing scams targeting developers and announced domain changes effective April 27.
Meeting Transcript
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.
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