Inside Bozeman’s unconventional mayoral system

Bozeman is a unique city in many ways, one of which is its mayoral system.

Newly elected Bozeman mayors first serve two years as the deputy mayor on the City Commission, which is a group of citizen-elected individuals who act as the legislative body for the city. Then, the deputy mayor transitions to serve as the mayor for two years.

The system did not always look this way. In fact, it stems from a decision made by voters in the 2006 election. Prior to this, voters cast ballots for City Commission candidates and the candidate who received the most votes would become mayor. Current Mayor Terry Cunningham said that this system led to some problems.

“We had situations where a mayor was elected with no prior experience in running a meeting, being a facilitator of a meeting and no experience with commission meetings in general,” Cunningham said.

Every 10 years, Bozeman elects a City Study Commission that is tasked with determining whether changes to the local government are needed. In 2006, the Study Commission asked the public’s opinion about changing how the mayor is selected. Based on public input, it subsequently published recommendations to change the city charter. The charter was then put to citizen vote, and became effective 2008.

The charter said that when a mayor is elected, they will first serve two out of their four years as a deputy mayor on the City Commission. According to the charter, this system would allow for an elected mayor to gain professional experience on the commission before becoming the acting mayor.

Today, members of the current Study Commission — who were elected last year — are considering revisiting the charter. On Oct. 21, a representative from the Study Commission met with the City Commission to ask for their opinions and thoughts on a number of issues pertaining to the current government, including the mayoral system, according to Takami Clark, the communication and engagement manager for the City of Bozeman.

In the meeting, Cunningham said he believes that the mayor should be serving four-year terms in a full-time position. He said that the charter’s restrictive timeframe prevents the mayor from forming important relationships with the community.

“Think about [former President] Waded Cruzado being at MSU for 15 years,” he said during the Oct. 21 meeting. “With a different mayor every two years, that's eight different mayors she’s trying to establish a relationship with — and that’s nearly impossible to do.”

Current City Commissioner and mayoral candidate Douglas Fischer is also a proponent of changing mayoral tenure to four-year terms.

“Voters expect the mayor that they are electing to be the mayor,” Fisher said during the Oct. 21 commission meeting. “Our city would benefit from continuity and a little more time in the mayor seat.”

Current Deputy Mayor Joey Morrison will finish his term as deputy mayor in January of 2026 and will then take over as the acting mayor. In the commission meeting, he said he is also in favor of changing the mayoral election system.

“Elections are part of community change,” Morrison said. “We get to vote and say we want things to be different — then we have to wait two years to [see] that.”

According to Clark, there has not been any formal proposal presented by the Study Commission. The group is still determining if there needs to be change in Bozeman’s local government system.

On Oct. 21, Study Commissioner Becky Frank attended the City Commission meeting, where she asked the commissioners for their opinion on an alternative mayor selection system. She informally posited that citizens could vote on a mayor and then the commissioners could vote on a deputy mayor to ensure that the mayor has the necessary support during their term.

“Pretty much universally, [the commission] stated that we believed it would be more effective to have a four year mayor and that we do away with the deputy mayor system,” Cunningham said.

Clark said if the Study Commission recommends a change, it would be posed to voters in November 2026.

To learn more about Bozeman’s government and the mayoral system, visit https://www.bozeman.net/departments/city-commission.