Are 12 Butte-Silver Bow commissioners too many? Voters will likely get a say in 2026

Members of the influential group endorsed the move, for now, and will work in the coming weeks on framing other parts of the potential ballot measure — the most important being a lower proposed number of commissioners.

The commission could ultimately recommend that 12 seats be reduced to seven, or six, or five or another number, but the ballot measure is likely to include only one specific number as an option.

The commission voted 8-0 to include a reduction option in a mid-term report in January and now a subcommittee will hash out suggestions on a lower number and other possible issues.

They could include whether a mayor is part of the council, if that person is elected separately or appointed by commissioners, and if the mayor’s duties are to be largely ceremonial.

They might recommend that someone is chosen as council chair instead having a mayor. There are numerous ways other local governments are set up and the subcommittee will likely look at all of them.

The group will explore other questions too, including whether commissioners should be part-time or full-time and how they’re elected — at large or by districts or a hybrid model of the two.

A smaller council is the second major issue the Study Commission has tentatively endorsed as a ballot measure that could fundamentally change the way Butte-Silver Bow’s consolidated local government is led and managed.

On Oct. 27, the group tentatively agreed that voters should decide whether a professional city manager (or city-county manager here) oversees day-to-day operations instead of an elected chief executive. The group endorsed that on an 8-0 vote, too.

No final decisions have been made on whether to put the issues on the ballot next fall. The commission is seeking more public input and researching options and has until early July to make recommendations official.

But the preliminary backing on 8-0 votes certainly indicates strong support for putting certain questions on the ballot.

The Study Commission addresses timing and other issues in an Op-ed that will be posted online Thursday in The Montana Standard that includes links for getting more information, reviewing past meetings and noting ways to relay questions and comments. The Op-ed will appear in print editions of the Standard soon.

The Commission spent weeks encouraging residents to fill out a public survey and 421 responded by the time it closed on Oct. 31. At least 375 responses were needed to be considered a statistically significant survey.

The group discussed the council matter for more than 30 minutes Monday night before endorsing it as a ballot question.

Cindi Shaw noted in the survey, 63% of respondents think 12 commissioners is too many and another 8.9% are unsure. Only 27.5% said 12 was “about right.”

Shaw served on Council from 2007 through 2022, many of those years as chairwoman, and she was on the last study commission Butte-Silver Bow had from 2004 to 2006.

“The broad brush on this is that most people think we don’t need 12,” Shaw said. What the new number should be on the ballot hasn’t been determined, she said, but “it looks like something needs to be changed as far as reducing the number.”

Commission members Mary McCormick, a former historic preservation officer in Butte-Silver Bow, and Chad Silk, a longtime firefighter, also cited public opinion.

“I am in total favor of putting this on the ballot and I’m very excited to see where it goes with what the community truly wants,” Silk said.

Cindy Perdue-Dolan, who served on Council from 2015 to 2018, said she hasn’t spoken to a single person who has said “let’s keep the same number of 12 commissioners.”

Rayelynn Brandl, chairwoman of the Study Commission, said she did hear a dissenting point of view during breakfast at the M&M on Monday.

“I had a person tell me that they felt that 12 was appropriate because it was representative of the neighborhoods,” Brandl said.

The person also said folks in rural parts of the county need to be represented on council, Brandl said, and if the number of commissioners is reduced, “that could further reduce their footprint.”

But Brandl said she thinks reducing the number is a good idea and the surveys indicate “support from the majority for that to happen.”

The Commission plans to conduct another survey after its mid-term report comes out in January. It will seek opinions on more refined questions and issues.