The Bozeman City Study Commission voted 4-to-1 on April 24th to release raw survey data to the Gallatin Valley Sentinel in a "scrambled" format that separates responses by question while breaking the link between individual respondents' answers. City Clerk Mike Maas presented the decision as a balance between Montana's constitutional right to know and right to privacy, noting that demographic questions combined with written answers could allow respondents to be identified. Commissioner Deanna Campbell dissented, arguing the scrambled format would lose important context, such as what specific neighborhoods are concerned about. The majority, including Commissioners Barb Cestero and Becky Franks, emphasized that the city had promised confidentiality to survey participants and that scrambling responses is standard practice. Personally identifiable information will be redacted from written responses before release.
The commission spent the remainder of the meeting reviewing draft charter language for a new Article 7 on public engagement and neighborhood associations. The Cestero-Franks proposal would require neighborhoods to be divided into no more than 20 associations, mandate full-time staffing support, and require neighborhood associations to demonstrate "consensus-based advisory input." Multiple public commenters objected to the consensus language, including Mary Bateson and Allison Sweeney, who argued it could allow single individuals to derail traditional majority voting and unnecessarily burden volunteer organizations. Chair Carson Taylor defended the term as encouraging agreement-seeking rather than mandating consensus. The proposal to cap neighborhoods at 20 also drew concern from commissioners Deanna Campbell and Jan Strout, who worried it would limit organic growth of existing associations. No votes were taken. Cestero and Franks will revise the draft incorporating feedback from the Inter-Neighborhood Council and the Sentinel's alternative proposal, with the revised language returning May 1st.