Livingston URA elects Melissa Newts chair, Sarah Knoebel vice chair after state law changes board seats

The Livingston Urban Renewal Agency elected Melissa Newts as chair and Sarah Knoebel as vice chair at its meeting, after a short discussion about officer responsibilities and the board’s workload. Julie moved to elect Newts and Sarah Knoebel, and the motion carried by roll call.

The vote came amid an explanation from city staff that Montana’s 2025 legislative change to URA law requires two seats on a local URA be reserved for recommendations from the school board and the county commission. City manager Mister Gager explained that the city administratively assigned one vacancy to the school district’s recommended appointee and that recommendations from those bodies must now flow through staff to the City Commission for final ratification. “The state legislature changed URAs, and they required that URAs must have 2 seats reserved for 1 for the school board to recommend an appointee and 1 for the county commission to recommend an appointee,” a commissioner said during the meeting.

Gager described the process used by the city to fill vacancies: staff opens a call for applicants, interviews candidates as appropriate, forwards a recommendation to the City Commission and the commission votes to finalize appointments. He said the school district advised Todd Wester as a recommended appointee for one vacancy and that the City Commission ratified that selection at its prior meeting.

Board members said they were willing to share officer duties for continuity while newer members learn meeting procedure. The board also discussed training opportunities for new members and the expectation that boards follow the city’s boards and commissions handbook and open-meeting rules to avoid procedural errors.

The URA did not take additional formal action on appointments at the meeting; commissioners instructed staff to circulate future City Commission agenda postings so URA members can attend and participate when relevant.