Business
MSU expert to advise chamber on local governance for Big Sky
![Avatar photo](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/outlaw-partners-46x46.jpg)
![Avatar photo](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/outlaw-partners-46x46.jpg)
Published
7 years agoon
Posted By
Outlaw PartnersBy Amanda Eggert EBS Senior Editor
BIG SKY – The Big Sky Chamber of Commerce is tapping into a local resource, MSU Extension’s Local Government Center, to research governance options for this unincorporated community.
Local Government Center Director Dan Clark will meet with the chamber’s board of directors in early 2018 to help guide his research on governance options for Big Sky, which is largely run by a series of separate boards and organizations but lacks an overarching decision-making body.
Clark will be examining what Montana law states about options open to Big Sky, which has the added complexity of straddling Gallatin and Madison counties. He’ll also present on advisory and decision-making frameworks other communities around the state have implemented.
Big Sky chamber CEO Candace Carr-Strauss said the chamber regularly fields calls from concerned community members who have a stake in how decisions about infrastructure and local needs unfold. “Everyone’s urgency becomes our emergency,” Strauss said. “I’m taking [these calls] and saying, ‘How can we orchestrate these conversations so everyone can participate and be informed?’”
Such issues include transportation; energy, water and sewer infrastructure; and affordable housing, a subject this community has wrestled with consistently in recent years.
Clark’s contract will be paid out of the $25,000 that the Big Sky Resort Area District tax board appropriated to the chamber this June, to undergo a strategic planning effort.
Strauss said incorporation is not part of the scope of this effort. “The incorporation topic is a separate topic. We’re just trying to answer the question: How do we better operate as a community with what we have now?’”
“I think the opportunity to incorporate was probably a long time ago and the complexity of the community is only increasing and making it more challenging to achieve incorporation,” Clark said, adding that the last community in the state to incorporate was Colstrip, in 1996. Two currently incorporated communities along the Hi-Line will likely disincorporate in the coming months, dropping the state total to 127, he said.
Clark points to Missoula County as one area pertinent to this discussion. The only municipality that exists in the county is the city of Missoula, but there are a handful of other places like Bonner, Frenchtown and Seeley Lake that are run by community councils. These councils are elected and act in an advisory capacity to represent the concerns of their constituents to Missoula County commissioners, he said.
Clark said another option might be the establishment of what’s called a multi-jurisdictional district, which could address the fact that roughly half of Big Sky’s geographic area lies in Madison County, with the other half—and the more heavily populated part—lying within Gallatin County.
Many of the options that Clark will be looking into would require approval from county commissioners on both sides, but Clark doesn’t foresee that being an obstacle.
“I don’t know why they wouldn’t,” he said, adding that it’s easier for a county commission—which is generally tasked with delivering state services at the local level rather than managing small and dense communities—to deal with one entity instead of thousands of individuals.
If it’s decided that it’s in the community’s best interest to implement some form of local government, details about that entity’s structure, including its membership and authority, will come later. He said the members of that entity would likely not be paid—although their expenses could be reimbursed—and would not have lawmaking or taxation authority.
It’s also possible Big Sky might decide its best not to continue in this vein at all. “At the end of the day, the community of Big Sky may say, ‘Yeah, what you’re proposing, Dan, it doesn’t really fit,” he said, adding that the prospect of another layer of government may be unappealing to some.
But, he added, it’s also possible that the solution Big Sky finds could prove groundbreaking for the state. “Changes to future law [could] allow much more governing structure in places like Big Sky, Big Fork, Gardiner [and] River Rock, by Belgrade,” Clark said. “It’s kind of exciting because you’re on the cutting edge.”
The Outlaw Partners is a creative marketing, media and events company based in Big Sky, Montana.
![](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ebs_logo_white_220px.png)
![](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ebs_logo_white_220px.png)
You may like
Upcoming Events
july, 2024
Event Type :
All
All
Arts
Education
Music
Other
Sports
Event Details
CALL FOR ARTISTS: Paint anytime from June 1-28EXHIBITION & SALE: June 29 - July 31Calling all artists and nature enthusiasts! Get
more
Event Details
CALL FOR ARTISTS: Paint anytime from June 1-28
EXHIBITION & SALE: June 29 – July 31
Calling all artists and nature
enthusiasts! Get your paintbrushes ready for an unforgettable experience at
Paint Under the Big Sky, a thrilling plein air event set against the stunning
backdrop of Big Sky, MT, Chet Huntley’s “The Last Best Place”. Don’t
miss this chance to unleash your creativity and be part of a vibrant artistic community.
What is Paint Under the Big Sky? PUBS is a plein air event for all painters of any ability (over the age of 16). Sponsored by the Big Sky Artist’s Studio & Gallery and the Big Sky Artists Collective, a non-profit organization whose mission is to foster a strong community of artists in the Big Sky area, the paint-out hopes to introduce painters to our extraordinary landscape for an opportunity to create, meet and have fun. Plein air painters record our landscape for generations to come.
Artists are invited to travel to Big
Sky, MT to paint anytime between Jun 1 – 28, and participate in the exhibition
and sale of paintings from June 29 – July 31.
Come join us! We have a great
place to paint and are welcoming and fun!
Don’t miss out!
Time
June 1 (Saturday) 1:00 am - July 31 (Wednesday) 11:55 pm
Event Details
Embrace the freedom and serenity of movement in nature with our rejuvenating morning yoga class on the Mountain Lawn. Allow the fresh mountain air and gentle guided yoga practice
Event Details
Embrace the freedom and
serenity of movement in nature with our rejuvenating morning yoga class on the
Mountain Lawn. Allow the fresh mountain air and gentle guided yoga practice to
invigorate your day of adventure ahead. Complimentary. Weather
permitting.
Time
June 1 (Saturday) 7:00 am - August 31 (Saturday) 7:00 am
Location
Montage Big Sky
995 Settlement Trail
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by GAS for ride information.
Time
June 10 (Monday) 6:00 pm - August 19 (Monday) 6:00 pm
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by GAS for ride information.
Time
June 17 (Monday) 6:00 pm - August 26 (Monday) 6:00 pm