Study will identify benefits, drawbacks of incorporation and other local governance options
By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR
In 2023, an intentionally diverse group of 12 Big Sky community leaders took a new approach to exploring a politically charged topic: incorporating Big Sky as a municipality.
On Sept. 13, those leaders presented what they learned at a Big Sky Resort Area District board meeting—BSRAD had created a board subcommittee for the topic and paid for a third-party consultant to lead the exploratory group over the summer. During three sessions totaling 12 hours, the group listened to opposing views and reframing problems into opportunities.
The next step came in February: BSRAD voted to pursue a fact-finding study about local governance options, including incorporation.
With approval during BSRAD’s Feb. 14 board meeting, BSRAD issued a request for proposals the following day. After the RFP period closes in April, BSRAD will review them in a public board meeting. In May, BSRAD will choose a firm, aiming for work to begin by June 1, 2024. After one year, the vendor is scheduled to deliver a report by June 1, 2025.
“The intention here is just following through on our commitment to explore governance options within the community,” said BSRAD Executive Director Daniel Bierschwale.
He pointed out that many Big Sky community members hold strong opinions about incorporation. “What the community doesn’t have necessarily are the facts and data behind what the actual impacts of incorporation would or wouldn’t be. So we hope that this becomes a meaningful document for the community to ground their decision making.
“It will chart out a path forward should the community want to pursue the actual process of forming a municipal government. But the intention of this report is not to have a position, one way or the other,” Bierschwale told the board.
Answering a public comment about whether this study addresses the possibility of creating a county, Board Chair Sarah Blechta clarified: “Any and all governance options. This is not specifically about incorporation.”
Been there. Done that?
Before voting to issue the RFP, the board asked for public comment. David O’Connor stepped forward, speaking as a former Big Sky Chamber of Commerce board member and current member of the subcommittee exploring incorporation.
“By my count, I think it’s my fourth incorporation group [in Big Sky] that I’ve sat on in the past 20 or so years,” O’Connor said. One was backed by the chamber, he recalled, and “inherent bias” got in the way. The other two were community member groups, lacking power and funding.
“After all of that experience and 20 years of considering this question, I stand here today and I still can’t tell you my opinion on whether or not we should do this,” O’Connor said.
“And one of the main reasons I can’t is because of what Danny [Bierschwale] referenced earlier,” he added, speaking to the lack of objective facts surrounding exact ramifications, costs to every resident, and legal options within Montana. O’Connor said it’s “very appropriate” for Resort Tax to sponsor the fact-finding study, because it lacks inherent bias and has an active and engaged board.
“That’s why I am so emphatically in support of the proposal that’s in front of you now, is that it seeks to handle this in a different way than it’s been handled before,” O’Connor said.
In Big Sky’s history of conversations about incorporation, O’Connor said misinformation and misconceptions have been common.
“The remedy to fix that—so that we as a community can make an informed, responsible decision about the things that affect our lives—is, we need facts,” O’Connor said. “[Facts] that say exactly what will happen if we take action A, or action B, and what that will cost the community or what it will cost our households.”
O’Connor said if the Big Sky community does not support this BSRAD-backed study now, he does not see a reasonable time and group to pursue such a study.
“If not this, then what?” O’Connor asked.
Details from the RFP
The “Scope of Work” section of the RFP states the main objective of the Incorporation Exploration Study.
“The District seeks an experienced consultant(s) who has ideally worked in a resort community and understands the complexity of local governance (particularly in the West), municipal structure, financing, and legality, as well as the dichotomy of rural and urban needs. The consultant(s) will complete this project by collecting and analyzing data, engaging the public and stakeholder groups, and drafting a factual study. The Incorporation Exploration Study will act as an impartial tool for citizens to make an informed decision regarding the structure of local governance in Big Sky,” the RFP states (page 5).
In that same section, under context and considerations (page 5), the RFP states that Big Sky’s population grew roughly 176% between 2010 and 2020, from 1,398 to 3,854 residents within the BSRAD boundary. In addition, since 2020, “Current community growth rate is unknown due to constraints of publicly available data,” the RFP states.
It adds an additional piece of statewide context.
“Montana became a state in 1889, while Big Sky as a thriving community has only existed for the last few decades, the last community to incorporate in Montana was over 20 years ago.” That community was Colstrip, which incorporated in 1998.
Bierschwale said BSRAD’s subcommittee—which includes O’Connor among the dozen community leaders—has been engaged with the Montana Association of Counties, and the Montana League of Cities and Towns, both “a wonderful resource,” he said.
However, being more than 25 years since a Montana community incorporated a municipal government, Bierschwale and Blechta said it’s possible that BSRAD may need to hire out-of-state—despite BSRAD’s desire to support a local or regional firm.
“It may not be a Montana company that can do this,” Blechta said, noting the importance that BSRAD spends taxpayer money most effectively on the study.
Bierschwale said the quotes from firms may be “wildly varied and not necessarily cheap.” For BSRAD’s recently completed Big Sky Community Capital Improvement Plan, vendor proposals ranged from $75,000 to $330,000—in that instance, BSRAD decided the least expensive option was also a strong fit.
“This is going to be a heavy lift, but we’re excited about it,” Blechta said.
The RFP asks the vendor to include in its study: general citizen engagement; data gathering, research and trend analysis; engagement of Big Sky stakeholder groups; and community interviews across the state of Montana “with an analysis of resort tax and non resort tax communities.”
A review of prospective vendors will take place at BSRAD’s public board meeting on April 17.
