Bozeman Magazine

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute  at Montana State University will host a virtual Friday Forum on Sept. 12 to discuss local government study commissions, as well as city and county government structures. The forum “Should We Change Our Local Government Structure?” will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. via Zoom. It is free and open to the public. During the event, representatives from city and county study commissions will report on their progress and explain their plans for engaging the public as they decide whether to recommend changes for voter consideration during a future election. Once every 10 years, voters choose whether to review the structure of their local governments per the Montana constitution. Faced with historic growth, voters in both Gallatin County and Bozeman decided to create local government study commissions in May 2024. In November last year, five citizens were elected to the city study commission and seven to the county study commission. Current questions facing the commissions include whether three commissioners are enough to govern the second most populous county in Montana and whether city commissioners should be elected from specific districts or wards rather than at-large selections. Participants must register before 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 12. Ahead of the event, attendees will receive an email from Zoom with a link and login instructions.  Friday Forums occur on the second Friday of the month from September through May and are hosted by OLLI at MSU, which is a program of Academic Technology and Outreach. For more information, visit  montana.edu/olli/offerings  or call 406-994-6646.