During their Feb. 6 meeting, City Commissioners will be asked to approve a resolution calling for an election on the question of conducting a local government review and establishing a study commission to do so.

The resolution has to include language on how many members the commission will include and the estimated cost.

Staff is estimating that the cost will be $150,000.

They estimated $125,000 in 2014.

They made no recommendation on the number of members, but said that the 1994-96 commission had seven members and the 2004-06 commission had five members. In 2014, commissioners set the membership at five, but voters didn’t call for a local government review.

Local government review on June ballot

Montana law requires that all county and municipal governments ask voters every 10 years if they want to conduct a local government review and establish a study commission.

The review is not of those currently in office but of the structure of the existing local government.

The first review was conducted in 1974.

Both the city and the county must adopt a resolution by March 11 calling for an election on the question of conducting a local government review.

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That question to voters will be on the June primary ballot.

If a majority of voters are satisfied with their existing form, the process ends.

If a majority of voters opt for a local government review, qualified electors can begin filing as candidates for the study commission. Candidates may not be elected members of the local government, including neighborhood council representatives, according to a city memo.

The study commission election would be on the November ballot and present their findings and recommendations in 2026 or 2027 for consideration by the voters.

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In a December memo to City Commissioners, staff had recommended an estimated $150,000 for the study commission.

During the Jan. 2 commission work session, City Manager Greg Doyon said it’s “not an inexpensive process.”

Doyon said that depending on the number of study commission members, the city likely won’t have space to support their meetings so they may need another space that would have additional costs. The study commission also has the ability to retain employees and services that would also be funded with taxpayer dollars, so he said staff will probably adjust the estimate upward when they bring a draft resolution to the commission.

A study commission can recommend changes to the existing form of government; a change to one of the other forms of government authorized under state law; draft a charter; recommend municipal-county consolidation; recommend disincorporation; or make no recommendation. A municipal study commission may also recommend service consolidation or transfer in cooperation with a county study commission, according to a city memo.

The city has operated under a manager form of government since 1973.

In 1986, the city commission adopted a charter on the recommendation of the 1986 study commission to give itself self-governing powers.

That group also recommended maintaining the manager form of government for the city.

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Great Falls had an alderman form of government prior to 1973, according to the city clerk’s office.

In December 1972, a group of citizens placed a petition on the ballot for a special election to change to a commission form of government with the intent of hiring a city manager, according to Bill Bronson, a former city commissioner.

Bronson was a high school senior at the time and chair of a government education project sponsored by the YMCA that took a public stance in favor of the manager form of government.

The proposal passed in the special election and became effective in March 1973. An election was held for commissioners at that time and the new commission appointed the first city manager, Dick Thomas, who had been the manager in Arvada, Colo., Bronson said.

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That form of government was in place until the charter was adopted in 1986, which maintained the manager form.

From 1973-1986, the city had operated with five commissioners and the highest vote getting commission candidate became the presiding officer and ceremonial mayor for a two-year period, Bronson said.

The 1986 study commission recommended electing the mayor at-large but retained the two-year term.

In 2014, the question of a review of the City of Great Falls’ form of government failed at the primary election by a vote of 6,983 opposed to 3,954 in favor.

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The 2004-2006 study commission had five members who made one recommendation, by a 3-2 vote, to increase the size of the commission to six commissioners and one mayor. That change wasn’t approved by voters.

It was the same recommendation made by the 1996 study commission that failed with 16,000 opposed and 7,000 in favor, according to city records. The minority opinion of the 2006 group that the additional $19,950 in annual taxpayer expense could be better spend on policy offices, firefighters and parks, according to city records.

The 1994-96 study commission included seven members who made three recommendations, to elect the mayor to four year terms, increase the size of the commission and to establish neighborhood councils. The voters only adopted the neighborhood councils.