City commissioner appointment raises new controversy

Following the abrupt resignation of former Bozeman mayor Chris Mehl, several positions were suddenly vacant in Bozeman’s local government. Cyndy Andrus, who was serving as both a city commissioner and deputy mayor, rose to fill the vacancy left by Mehl’s resignation. The city commission then voted to promote Commissioner Terry Cunningham to the position of deputy mayor, filling the vacancy left by Andrus’ promotion. However, there was still one vacancy on the five-seat commission. On Thursday, Oct. 8, Jennifer Madgic was appointed to fill the vacancy, despite overwhelming support for another candidate.

Madgic moved to Montana in 1995 to work as a city planner in Helena. Since then, she has worked with the Gallatin County Planning Center and served as a regional director for Sen. Jon Tester, D-MT. Madgic previously ran for city commissioner in 2014 but was unsuccessful in her race.  Madgic will serve until the end of Andrus’ original term, ending in January 2022.

The only requirements in place to serve on the city commission are that the candidate must reside in Bozeman and be a registered voter. Upwards of 20 interested individuals submitted statements of interest for the position. Among them was Christopher Coburn, a Black man who is a favorite among young Bozeman residents. Coburn currently works with the nonprofit organization Bozeman Health as a systems manager for community health improvement and also serves on the board of directors for EmpowerMT, Gender Equity Montana and Gallatin City-County Board of Health.

Several of the commissioners included Coburn in their top choices of people to fill the vacancy, but the position was unanimously awarded to Madgic, despite hundreds of letters submitted by the community stating their support for Coburn. According to Andrus, who cited Madgic’s decades of experience in planning and public service, the decision to appoint her was clear. “Her application recognized and named a series of issues we are facing in the community around public health, around housing, around climate and growth as well as transitions that have occurred in our organizations,” Andrus said in a statement to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

Following the public comment period and eventual appointment of Madgic to the commission, several organizations, including Forward Montana, Sunrise Gallatin and Bozeman United for Racial Justice, published a joint statement expressing their disapproval of the decision to appoint Madgic over Coburn, a Black man. According to the statement, “Through comments thinly veiled with racism and ageism, they [city commissioners] implied that the young candidates and candidates of color do not have the hard-work ethic, collaborative mindset, or experience necessary to guide Bozeman through its challenges. What the Commissioners fail to recognize is that these candidates, and Bozeman’s young, diverse public, are the ones facing these challenges head-on. We are the ones living with our affordable housing crisis, our longstanding racial inequity, our public health disaster, and our climate emergency. Who else could be better suited to fix these problems?”

Commissioners Cunningham, Madgic and Wallner, along with Mayor Andrus all responded to the statement, saying that while they disagree that the process was undemocratic and laden with racism, they would make efforts to listen to the public in the future and include the youth in local government. However, Madgic said she is not considering giving up her seat and will serve until the end of her term.