Study commission approves release of survey responses in randomized, redacted format

The Bozeman City Study Commission voted 4–1 on April 24 to authorize the city clerk’s office to fulfill a public‑records request from the Gallatin Valley Sentinel for raw survey data, but ordered the material released in a randomized, per‑question format and redacted to remove personally identifying information from long‑form responses.

The motion, offered by Commissioner Barb and seconded by Commissioner Becky, directed the clerk to provide every response to each survey question as a separate list — rather than grouping all answers from individual respondents — and to redact privacy‑sensitive details in written answers. "I move to authorize the city clerk's office to fulfill the records request submitted by the Gallatin Valley Sentinel and in doing so find that to balance the privacy issues of those who responded with the requester's right to know, the raw survey data only…