Bozeman Voters Expand City Commission and Create Wards

Bozeman voters approved amendments to the city charter that will expand the City Commission, establish geographic wards and change how the mayor is elected and serves.

The amended charter increases the commission from four commissioners and a mayor to six commissioners and a mayor. Commissioners will be required to live in the wards they represent.

Six ward boundaries still must be drawn. A neutral group will recommend the boundaries before the new structure takes effect with the 2029 city election.

Changes to the mayor’s term

Under the existing system, the mayor serves two years as deputy mayor before serving two years as mayor. The amended charter creates a full four-year mayoral term.

The first mayor elected directly to a full four-year term will be chosen in 2029 and will take office at the first City Commission meeting in January 2030.

Carson Taylor, chairman of the Bozeman Government Study Commission, said the current arrangement can leave a mayor with limited time to carry out campaign commitments.

“They elect a mayor, there’s been a campaign, the mayor has made promises or said, ‘This is what I believe,’ and then you’re not the mayor for two years,” Taylor said.

Ward election question remains unsettled

Unofficial results showed a narrow lead for allowing ward commissioners to be elected only by voters in their respective wards. The outcome of that question had not been finalized.

The charter changes also create a compensation board to recommend pay for commissioners and the mayor. They expand public-engagement provisions and call for a full-time city staff member to work with neighborhood associations and the Inter-Neighborhood Council.

Taylor said the Study Commission sought to give residents more information about when they could participate in city decisions.

“One of our themes was, let’s try and minimize the surprises by making people more aware of what the situation is,” Taylor said.

Implementation timeline

The Study Commission is scheduled to meet again Nov. 18 to finalize the charter language and develop an implementation timeline.

Bozeman will retain its commission-manager form of government. Elected commissioners will continue setting policy, while the city manager will oversee day-to-day administration.

Voters approved the previous governing framework in 2006. The amended charter will begin changing the commission election structure in 2029.