‘The information is going to be in one place’ with final report
By Jack Reaney SENIOR EDITOR
On Monday, Nov. 17, the Big Sky Governance Study will share its final report with the community in a 5:30 p.m. meeting at The Wilson Hotel. For those unable to attend in person, the meeting will be available via Zoom.
The meeting builds on the most recent presentation in July, in which the study team revealed three potential scenarios: limited incorporation, in which Big Sky would become a municipality; comprehensive incorporation, with a bigger municipal staff, more departments, more capability and higher costs; and creation of a new county.
The fourth scenario is for Big Sky to maintain its status quo. Big Sky would remain unincorporated, and a detailed exploration of this option will also be included in the final report, now ready for public eyes.
“Participants will gain deeper insights into the three scenarios presented at the July 22 public meeting, which are also fully detailed in the final report,” an Oct. 23 press release stated. “The study team will present evaluation results that the community can use as a resource when considering future governance options, should they choose to explore them.”
As previously reported, the study team chose to delay its report by a few months to allow time for dust to settle on numerous governance changes—primarily statewide legislation like Montana property tax law reform, and local impacts from Senate Bill 260 and millions of dollars in voter-approved Resort Tax bonding.
“We just slowed the roll a little bit to make sure we understood, because we didn’t want to come out with a report that was instantly irrelevant,” Meg O’Leary, consultant and public engagement leader for the study, told EBS in a phone call. Residents can find the final report on the governance study website after the meeting.
O’Leary said the final public meeting will be a good opportunity for the community to interact with the study’s lead author, Dylan Pipinich, and to process finalized information in real time with fellow engaged community members.
“This [report] is a resource. It’s going to be a report that has details that have never been detailed before, very specific to these scenarios,” O’Leary said.
Once the report is published, the community will be responsible for any potential change in governance—the study team will no longer be involved.
“The big win for this whole project is that the information is going to be in one place, and people can do with it what they want,” O’Leary said.
