Instead of two week rotating stints, local organizations partner to subsidize year-round employee’s rent
By Jen Clancey STAFF WRITER
In the winter, James Dalpiaz is able to predict how his day will look as soon as he wakes up.
“I pretty much know when I’m gonna be in a plow truck when I wake up and look out my window,” Dalpiaz said. That’s because Dalpiaz is the Montana Department of Transportation’s first employee who lives year-round in Big Sky.
Dalpiaz moved to Big Sky in December 2025 after seven local organizations teamed up to subsidize his rent. It’s a partnership that helps to address response times to Montana Highway 64 and U.S. Highway 191 issues—from slideoffs, to patching, to plowing.
Brad Niva, CEO of the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, explained that Dalpiaz can track problems like potholes and guardrail repairs along MT 64 because he stays in the community.
“He kind of, quote unquote, ‘owns the road’ now, and knows what’s happening,” Niva explained. Any regular Gallatin Canyon driver will also recognize Niva’s name from the Gallatin Canyon Road Conditions Facebook page, where he updates members about MDT projects going on in the canyon that week. The line of communication between Niva and MDT’s regional maintenance crew is what opened conversations about affordability in Big Sky.
MDT employees are required to live within 45 miles of the communities they maintain. Often, they can afford to live right in the towns and cities, Josh Ritchie, MDT’s Bozeman maintenance chief explained.
“But this wasn’t the case for Big Sky,” Ritchie said. “It was just a struggle, almost impossible. So this employee housing, where we’re getting help from the community, is really something that’s different than we’re doing in a lot of different areas.”
Big Sky Resort Area District, the Big Sky Chamber, Big Sky Community Housing Trust, Lone Mountain Land Company, Big Sky Resort, Big Sky Owners Association and the Big Sky Transportation District have all contributed funds to pay a portion of Dalpiaz’ rent so he can live here year round. Before then, MDT would bring maintenance employees to Big Sky and rotate them out every two weeks, just as they had begun to learn Big Sky’s challenging terrain.
Ritchie and Niva agree that this model of subsidizing rent for MDT employees can be used in places with similar cost of living struggles, like Whitefish. Niva also thinks it’s a good try-out to inspire subsidizing rent for other workers in Big Sky, like teachers and nurses.
“I think that’s something that we as a community could continue to look at … this worked, and so now we’ll see what we can do in the future,” Niva said.
Dalpiaz isn’t alone in maintaining U.S. 191 and MT 64. Maintenance technicians Katie Purcell and Matt Workman, work with Crew Leader Charlie Totten, Superintendent Cody Johnston, and Section Supervisor Josh WIlliams to take care of highways. Totten explained that the job varies everyday.
“ We do a lot of maintenance, but we do something different every day, and it’s always to help the road and help the community,” Totten said.
Repairing the potholes, guardrails and surviving close calls
Some things to know about MDT maintenance: snow plows are mandated to drive 35 MPH and if they aren’t—for instance on hills with wet snow—they’re going as fast as they can; and as Ritchie put it, drivers should slow down when crews are working on roads. In a Big Sky conference room with the MDT maintenance crew, Ritchie described the importance of slowing down.
“ We just wanna go home safe,” Ritchie said. “I really worry about the staff out there, especially [on] 191, 64. There’s not much room for them to do their work without interfering with traffic flow. So they’re out there trying to get the work done as soon as they can, but I really worry about their safety.”
According to Josh Williams, speeding and inattentive driving leads to dangerous situations for MDT when they repair roads. He’s worked closely with the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office to request an officer to oversee work zones.
In 2018, MDT employee and Billings resident Jeff Dyekman was hit and killed by an impaired driver on a worksite. No MDT employees have died at worksites since, but it’s a problem in states throughout the U.S., and employees in the room shared that close calls happen all the time.
“All of our maintenance techs, their lives are really on the line out there doing this kind of job, so it’s really important,” Ritchie said.
The MDT crew hopes to continue strengthening their relationship with the Big Sky community through events like the Big Sky Farmers Market and communication about projects. Dalpiaz reflected on the reason why he was drawn to the unique position in Big Sky.
“The nuances of it interested me a lot, like being … in the community,” Dalpiaz said.
