Former city manager urges INC to restore neighborhood associations’ original advisory role

Ron Bridal, who said he served as Bozeman’s assistant city manager from 1990 to 2008 and helped set up the neighborhood program, urged the InterNeighborhood Council to review charter and municipal code language to restore the original emphasis on neighborhoods communicating needs and concerns to the city commission.

Bridal said the program was set up in the mid‑1990s to allow neighborhoods an avenue to “express needs, concerns, review of what the city commission was doing.” He told members that “the pressure was overwhelming immediately for the commission to want this to serve as information flow in the opposite direction,” and that over time the original emphasis on neighborhood‑to‑commission information exchange has “slipped.”

Nut graf: Bridal recommended that the INC review City Charter section 4.06 and the municipal code provisions he cited (chapter 2.05, sections he gave verbally) to determine whether current practices match the code’s intent and whether the charter should be clarified to restore two‑way accountability between neighborhoods and the commission.

Bridal suggested reviewing models in other Montana cities — he referenced Helena and Great Falls — noting examples where neighborhood councils have elected leaders or were given formal authority to approve projects affecting them, and suggested Bozeman consider similar clarifications.

Ending: Bridal thanked current neighborhood leaders and commissioners and urged the INC to consider whether the charter or municipal code needs revisions to better reflect the original neighborhood role.