Researchers to share three potential scenarios for Big Sky government
EBS STAFF
On July 22, the Big Sky Governance Study team will hold their third public meeting to discuss survey results and possible government scenarios with Big Sky residents.
The study team last held a public meeting in January and projected its third public meeting for March, which was eventually postponed to summer. A July 8 press release from the study group shared that the upcoming meeting will be held at The Wilson Hotel starting at 5:30 p.m., and virtual attendance is available via Zoom.
“We are looking forward to presenting the overview of the public engagement efforts including the 360-plus survey results,” stated Meg O’Leary, a consultant with M2O group and community outreach coordinator for the study. “The community worked hard to give this team direction by giving feedback, concerns, comments and sharing their values.”
The study team will present three potential governance scenarios selected based on “community priorities and feasibility” for further research, according to the release. Since launching in September 2024, the fact-finding study has intended to identify scenarios to inform Big Sky residents of the expected outcomes of potential governance options.
The release explained that the July 22 meeting will include reflection on the past 10 months of work, including the survey which closed in late February with “great” community participation, O’Leary told EBS in May.
“Throughout the study, community feedback consistently highlighted top concerns and those conversations and themes will be summarized in the outreach section of the agenda with time for audience discussion,” the release stated.
Part of the reason for the four-month delay between meetings, study leaders explained, was Montana’s busy legislative session which included a pair of bills that passed with direct impacts to Big Sky’s housing infrastructure and service district boundaries.
Recent changes to Montana property tax policy is another consideration.
“We decided to hit pause, because there’s some big changes that happened a couple weeks ago in how you view things—not only from a local election status, but also from a state legislation status that has changes all over the state,” said Dylan Pipinich, study leader with WGM Group, in the Madison-Gallatin Joint County Commission meeting on May 14 in Big Sky.
The July 22 meeting will include a period for public Q&A, moderated by O’Leary.
