[0:00] OK. We're good. All right, um, we'll start with roll call, and I see we've got
[0:07] Grace, Michelle, Taylor present, and John online. So we were all, John, can we get
[0:13] a sound check?
[0:15] Check 12. hello John checking in for duty visual of yeah perfect all right. We have
[0:23] full board privates present. As with every meeting, we will begin with public comment
[0:28] for items that are not on the agenda. Is there any public comment for items that
[0:34] are not on the agenda? Bringing up, uh, bringing up our new sergeant with me, uh,
[0:41] I guess for the record, Sergeant Dan Hayden, Gunton County Sheriff's Office, uh,
[0:45] introducing Sergeant Sean Sean Torstall. He's our, uh, new sergeant for the canyon
[0:49] section. Fantastic. Welcome. Welcome.
[0:55] Definitely did not prepare a speech or anything, but that's all right. You're on
[0:58] the, no, just I guess a little bit about me. So, um, I've been in the sheriff's office
[1:02] for a couple of years. I was with Boston police for 18 years before that, um, and
[1:07] so I'm new to the canyon, obviously looking forward to it. Um, it's kind of a weird
[1:11] full circle for me because I actually, before I was in law enforcement, I was in
[1:14] marketing and I was worked at Moonlight before or when Moonlight was its own beast
[1:19] before that. So, um, yeah, excited to be here, so. You guys have questions, need
[1:24] anything, certainly come find me and happy to help folks. Well, awesome. Welcome
[1:27] back. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comments on agenda items? Just a reminder
[1:34] for the board and Tammy, uh, will kick me if I don't say this. Reminder to everyone
[1:38] we gotta schedule our photo shoot for the new board members and our website that
[1:43] we've been trying to do for a couple of months. So hang out after the meeting so
[1:47] that we can arrange our calendars together. Can we just get the photo done right
[1:52] after the meeting?
[1:56] Oh yeah, good point. OK, good point. Screenshot, screenshot. That's right. OK. Any
[2:03] other comment? OK. Hearing and seeing no more, we'll move on to our next agenda
[2:11] item, which is our consent agenda. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion to approve
[2:16] the consent agenda as opposed as presented, sorry, not fully late. It's been moved
[2:22] by Michelle, seconded by Mr. Kissel. Is there any further board discussion? I just
[2:28] have a few finance points. Um, cash and investment, we are position remains solid.
[2:33] Um, interest income continues to perform well for the fiscal year. July resort tax
[2:39] collections were up 26% over July 2025. Uh, and approximately
[2:47] $353,000 in grant appropriations and bond proceeds were paid out in July. And
[2:54] first debt service payments on both bonds were made in July. So Thank you, Grace.
[3:02] Any further board discussions? Fairly. Just a quick general, just a general observation
[3:09] we've, we've been seeing these double digit or, you know, 20-30% increases over previous
[3:15] years and I just, um, like for us to keep an eye on that to ask ourselves is, is
[3:21] this a, a rising tide or is it due to some outliers, um, or some combination thereof,
[3:29] uh, we're doing a lot of, you know, long term forecasting these numbers are. Pretty
[3:36] aggressive. Uh, I just wanna caution us in, in making assumptions for every month
[3:42] behaving like this, that's all. Oh, and, and John, I think one thing to note is,
[3:49] you know, we didn't have the one and only open this time last year, so that's a new
[3:52] collector that did not exist. And so I don't, there's some big moves, um, with such
[3:58] a facility and, uh, on our book. So the only thing that is genuinely predictable
[4:04] is when new logic facilities come out. I mean, that's like a for sure there's a,
[4:08] there's a bump. I think to John's point is like. Natural growth, where does that
[4:13] stop and where does it plateau? Yeah, I understand for sure. Great. Good points,
[4:18] John.
[4:21] OK, um, is there any public opinion?
[4:27] You're seeing none, I'll call the vote. Although all those in favor of approving
[4:31] the consent agendas that you have by saying hi. Hi. Hi.
[4:36] I motion passes unanimously I would voted that. OK, going on to old business subcommittee
[4:43] updates.
[4:46] First, um, Jenny Christiansen with BISRD for the Big Sky Fire Department in our local.
[4:51] No major updates. We're working to bring forward an update with them at the next,
[4:56] um, board meeting, which is the JCC is their quarterly one, and I just wanted to
[5:00] take a moment to congratulate the newly appointed Chief Bolton on their side, and
[5:04] we're excited to work with him in his new position. Community investments. Um, we've
[5:10] been working on application review and preparing for the review of the large scale
[5:15] requests. Um, we have a couple of agenda items later in the budget, budget amendment
[5:19] and grant request over review that we'll dive into a little deeper on. So I'll keep
[5:24] it short and sweet today. Awesome. Thanks, Danny.
[5:32] Uh, Jackie Hans with Mizrad. I'm gonna do the next two. County relations subcommittee
[5:37] has been pretty low key, not a lot of updates. Uh, there's a smattering of us that
[5:43] are meeting very regularly with county commissioners at this point. Um, we are working
[5:49] really hard towards continuing conversations around the TED, and so, um, we are
[5:57] carrying that ball forward relationally as much as possible with that subcommittee.
[6:02] Danny, did you have anything you wanted to add to that? And then legislative subcommittee,
[6:06] we are working really, really hard on um the TED district. We continue to meet regular
[6:13] or weekly. Um, those technical documents are still in process. Um, we are,
[6:21] we have a lot of things we're tweaking with those technical documents right now and
[6:24] so we're looking to wrap that up by the end of the month. Um, we plan to do a TED
[6:29] presentation at the Joint County commission meeting coming up on October 7th. Um,
[6:34] I did, last week, I solicited all of the, both commissions and this board for items
[6:41] for the Joint County commission meeting agenda. So, if you have anything, please
[6:44] send that in. Um, and I plan to send out a draft agenda by the end of this week.
[6:50] Anything, Tad? I'll just, uh, let the board put him on notice that for that October
[6:56] 7th meeting you will have the infrastructure deficiency report and the comprehensive
[7:01] development plan to review prior to us submitting them to the counties because we
[7:05] will make that an action item like this board of the October 7th meeting is to approve
[7:09] those reports to be submitted. Thank you. Thank you. So we'll get the reports beforehand
[7:16] and approve them on 10/11, OK.
[7:22] Kristen Green of Bizrad, uh, I have the next to finance and operations. Uh, we met
[7:28] last Friday. Uh, we had a pretty busy agenda. You'll see, um, 3 of our agenda items
[7:35] that Grace and Michelle have looked at on the upcoming agenda today, um, the financial
[7:41] dashboard. Um, FO 27 budget amendment and then the employee handbook amendment as
[7:47] well through finance and operations, uh, so I don't spoil that.
[7:53] Um. Properties and facilities, uh, we will be meeting. I just sent out an invite
[7:59] for October 1st, uh, so the meeting is coming up for that. Um, since we haven't met,
[8:06] not a lot of updates, but we've been working on a maintenance issue in one of the
[8:09] buildings at the corner property, um, working through that, and then, um, trying
[8:13] to get a meeting on the books with the engineer, um, who has some updates on the
[8:17] site plan that was requested last year. That's good. Thanks, Kristen.
[8:29] No questions board. All right. Um, we're gonna move on to no, no update on
[8:37] transportation. We're still trying to get a meeting lined up with MDT. I do have
[8:41] an update. Oh great, sorry, we did get a, uh, update. I think the community is well
[8:46] aware we did not receive our build grant, and we have a, a debrief being scheduled
[8:51] with the federal highway, um. Sys or a federal highway department, I think the last
[8:58] week of September I just got an email from MDT last night trying to schedule that
[9:03] so I gave him some availability. So once we have that debrief I can report back.
[9:08] Or Danny can report back on why we didn't get that build grant, we'd like to understand.
[9:15] Um
[9:18] OK. Um, it was just a discussion, but any questions from members of the audience
[9:25] on anything we just covered.
[9:28] OK, we're gonna move on. Financial dashboard discussion. Excited for this agenda
[9:36] item. Go ahead, Grace, Kristen, whoever is gonna handle it. Um, right now this is
[9:43] just for everyone's awareness. These are, these are fake numbers. They're Close to
[9:49] the, the totals are close to what our actual collections are, but we didn't until
[9:53] we got the template correctly, we didn't want to populate it with real numbers. Um,
[9:57] and so this is for everybody to review and offer, please offer feedback and let us
[10:02] know how we can make it better. So this is gonna be a work in progress. I'd prefer
[10:08] not to spend the next 20 minutes giving feedback on this, but I have people email,
[10:13] um, Kristen and Grace separately their comments on it and how we can improve it.
[10:18] This will be something that will be publicly available. It's something the team's
[10:21] been working on a long time. I think everybody's aware, um, we post the collection.
[10:27] Very regularly anybody can find those, but there's some other metrics that we felt
[10:31] it was very important that we shared with the public and so that is this dashboard
[10:36] that we are currently working on and I will stress it's gonna be an evolving dashboard
[10:42] and so it's not gonna be perfect the first time we put it out and, and it will continue
[10:46] to evolve. So appreciate. You guys working on this, so thank you very much. So I
[10:53] think end of next week, if you could email your feedback to Kristen, CC Grace and
[10:58] I so that I'm aware there's some other feedback that came from the committee regarding
[11:02] this, um, focus mainly on the layout and do we have the right metrics on here.
[11:10] Um.
[11:13] We can work and tweak with it over time as Kevin was saying, but in the background,
[11:17] in addition to this, what's being worked on is I, I think we have handouts which
[11:22] Kristen's going to circulate to the board right now, and John, Kristen can email
[11:27] you this after the board meeting, but, um, we didn't wanna overwhelm the board pack
[11:33] with this, but it's the chart of accounts which has been, um, now documented, reviewed
[11:38] by our CPA, uh, with Holmes and Turner. This along with the dashboard and we're seeking
[11:45] feedback on this as well so end of next week feedback on chart of accounts and the
[11:49] dashboard, um, and the objective of the dashboard is to really get a high level overview
[11:56] of all of the, the figures that the board sees as key performance indicators, um.
[12:04] These are two items that fall under uh uh variety of financial reporting that we
[12:11] provide as an organization. Uh, I've mentioned this in the past few board meetings.
[12:15] Christian and I continue to work on, I think we're calling it the financial reporting
[12:20] guide. Did I get it right that time? And, um, as a reminder, we are using different
[12:27] numbers in different ways, um, and at different times. For example, when we set our
[12:33] budget, At the very beginning of the year, the budget is one of the documents that
[12:37] we utilize as a guiding document for operation over the course of the next couple
[12:43] of years. It's forecasted out for 3 years. And over time what we do is uh itemize
[12:51] line items in that budget we then approve those as we're going through our cycle.
[12:56] A good example of that is we just set the impact areas based on what we had budgeted
[13:02] in the um June. Uh, finalization of that budget and then as we're going through the
[13:08] course of the year, we are reporting out on resort tax information in a variety of
[13:13] different ways. One of those is, for an example, is a mailer will be going out to
[13:18] the general public based on all the applications and the budgeted amounts that you
[13:22] set last, uh, last meeting. Uh, another example of that is in November, we'll be
[13:28] going through our audited financials that uses entirely different terminology. And,
[13:32] and so one of the things that is outlined in this, um, very large guide of financial
[13:37] information that is ultimately gonna turn into, uh, the premise for partially the,
[13:43] the new board member orientation, we're gonna do, uh, a board orientation around
[13:48] all of the different documents that are in the financial guide. Um, and particularly
[13:52] looking at the glossary, there are times where we're using words interchangeably
[13:56] that aren't necessarily the right words to be using, for example, like restricted
[14:00] and reserves. Are those one and the same? No, they are not, and, and how we use this
[14:06] information, so. November timeline is what we're targeting to actually have that
[14:09] glossary done along with samples of all the different items that we have and what
[14:14] you'll see is over the course of the year, how they're all laying out in sequence.
[14:18] So, you know, we start our fiscal year for the upcoming year really with the budget
[14:23] process and so that continues on as we move into making decisions about where our
[14:28] dollars are allocated and where our commitments are. So, more to come on that, but
[14:33] This is, uh, a really important document. This dashboard is a really important document
[14:37] so that you all are feeling like you don't need to scrub through every single financial
[14:42] statement to find the key indicators of performance that you're looking for. So,
[14:47] um, please take a good look at this. We'll probably need to run draft 2.0, uh, once
[14:54] again through a board meeting and we'll probably learn a little bit more from that.
[14:56] But as Kevin said, it's a constant evolution. Awesome. Let's work, you guys. Don't
[15:02] let perfection get in the way of good work, is that what you said? Yeah, there you
[15:06] go.
[15:10] OK. Any comment?
[15:17] All right. Hearing the scene then we'll move on to our next agenda items which is
[15:21] Center for the Arts Progress report.
[15:29] Do my best to walk through too soon. OK, slide home and just let me know. Good morning,
[15:34] everybody. Brian Erlba, executive director of the Arts Council. Katie Albean, development
[15:39] director for the Arts Council. We just thought we'd present a brief update on what
[15:44] we have going on at the Center for the Arts.
[15:48] Yeah
[15:51] These are just some of the numbers since we opened the building just a little less
[15:56] than a year and a half ago. Partnered with um 60 different organizations, held more
[16:02] than 80 different programs, and we've had more than 3000 people walk through the
[16:06] doors. I think one of the coolest things is we've been able to offer. Almost 5
[16:14] times more youth programming than before. Basically, before we opened the art center
[16:19] doors, we just weren't offering that much programming dedicated to youth, and that's
[16:23] one thing we've been really able to do since we the doors.
[16:32] This is just a list of some of the people we've partnered with over the last year
[16:35] and a half.
[16:40] And this is our current construction phase scope of work. We have separated it into
[16:45] phase 1 and phase 2. We don't really intend to. Pause between the phases, but we
[16:52] can if we need to, um, but that would, that would still allow us to open the building
[16:58] once phase one was completed. Um, so most of the really phase two is just that 2nd
[17:04] floor interior filled out and the basement built out. And right now we are slated
[17:10] to still begin construction, uh, around the 1st week of November. It's exciting
[17:20] Just some of the financials to date so far, we've raised almost $5.5 million. That
[17:25] does include the resort tax million dollars from last year and a million dollars
[17:31] uh verbally committed for this coming year. We've spent about $1.1 million already
[17:38] in the project. And you'll see the estimated cost. I, we put estimated because we're
[17:44] still working on some of the final numbers, but our goal is to keep the total project
[17:49] right around that $10 million dollar number. And so far we've received significant
[17:55] donations from Resort Tax, YCCF, World Mountain Land Company, Mortgage Foundation,
[18:00] and more than 50 individuals, including 2 $500,000 conventions this summer.
[18:08] And the 250 and 250.
[18:13] It's just a little uh snapshot of where we are right now. We're just kind of finalizing
[18:17] construction documents with the architects, um, working on the final pricing schedule
[18:23] with those. Also Looking at ways to keep that cost where we want to
[18:31] be, value engineering, uh, we're submitting permits, just finalizing our owner's
[18:37] rep. Uh, big thing is we're trying to secure temporary space for the classroom and
[18:44] arts council offices. And right now our last event is first weekend in November with
[18:50] Diado de Mortos. And started construction shortly after that. Couple of things to
[18:57] add on here. Um, one of the things that we're really focusing on with the value engineering.
[19:04] is keeping the scope. And unfortunate thing about how we've designed the building
[19:09] is that really with the exception of the pottery studio, most of our spaces are kind
[19:13] of black box spaces, um, in the sense that they can be used for anything, you know,
[19:18] whether it's a gallery, a show, meeting, a classroom, whatever. You've got some specific
[19:23] things like a floor that'll be good for movement or um some extra ventilation in
[19:27] one of the classrooms, but other than that, there's not like a lot of heavy Um, specific
[19:33] things, so we can keep the scope of what we have planned without really changing
[19:38] much. Um, the other thing is, what was I going to say?
[19:46] Maybe that'll come to me.
[19:54] Maybe one of you will ask that.
[19:57] Are you still in the base facility? Yes, that's what I was gonna say. So there you
[20:02] go. Thank you. Glad we planned that beforehand. Yeah, yeah, go team, um, yeah, so
[20:07] we're keeping the base facility or we're keeping that rental, um, the additional,
[20:13] like all of the additional youth classes that we've been able to do and some of the
[20:16] other adult classes, um, that is all related or that growth is related to the fact
[20:21] that we have this extra, so, so-called extra building space to use for programming
[20:26] so we can do. Simultaneously, which is really why we are building out this whole
[20:30] building and doing the remodel. And in the meantime, we, while we're doing construction,
[20:35] we'll keep the base rental, but we still need to move all of those other classes
[20:39] so that we can keep the momentum of the, the programming that we have because it's
[20:43] definitely been fully utilized and needed.
[20:51] Great. For any further questions?
[20:58] Awesome. When is construction complete?
[21:02] Summer 2028. Page 1 and 2. Yeah, that's what we, yeah, cool.
[21:10] Members of the public, any questions?
[21:15] But And I have a big sky chamber. I'd hop up and I can, um, we've been using the
[21:21] space, I think we all been, and we should, we shaped the space. Um, will there be
[21:25] meeting space large enough that perhaps resort tax meetings can be hosted there?
[21:29] Not that I don't appreciate it don't feel that's a room house, but, um, just recently
[21:33] we were like, oh, we, we move resort tax meetings there so we host. We got a room
[21:38] back here, Brad.
[21:41] Yes, the answer I think is yes.
[21:46] Great. Any other questions for the public? Awesome thanks you guys check out the
[21:51] website bigstyres.org because there's a whole bunch of community events happening
[21:55] in this last month before we start construction. Questions. Thank you. Thank you.
[22:03] All right, moving to the next agenda item Gallatin County Wellness District update.
[22:13] Hi Laura Sean, uh, Now the chair of the new Gallatin County Hospital Wellness District.
[22:20] Um, just wanted to give you a brief update. We became official as trustees on July
[22:26] 1st, and we've had two board meetings since then. Um, you can go to the next slide,
[22:32] and it's all the tedious stuff that has to happen when you first start a board. So
[22:36] we focused on, um, electing and determining terms, so they're staggered terms so
[22:42] that we all don't come off at the same time, which is normal practice. So I'm acting
[22:48] as chair, Sally is the vice chair, and Katie is our clerk, which is secretary treasurer.
[22:54] We did have two public readings of our bylaws, worked on those. Uh, those bylaws
[23:02] have been approved and recorded with Gallatin County. They're very similar um to
[23:08] what was adopted by Madison County, so we kind of worked separately collectively
[23:14] on those. Um, we've established our meeting cadence, which is we have another meeting
[23:20] for tomorrow morning and then yet another one before year end. Um, we also had to
[23:26] do a lot of resolutions that just are sort of board conduct kind of things and authorizing
[23:33] to be able to open a bank account and all the ways we will be transparent and open
[23:38] and have open meetings um for all to participate in. Um, and we're started working
[23:46] on defining how our grant policy will work so that we will be able to, um, Figure
[23:53] out when we're gonna take applications for grants, when those will be awarded, and
[23:58] what the uh process will be, but we're trying to make it as similar for our applicants
[24:04] as what they already go through when they apply um for various other grants around,
[24:09] so using some of the same software, etc. so that it doesn't become like a whole new
[24:14] learning curve for everybody. And so next steps on the next slide in. Um, uh, is
[24:21] simply that, uh, we had to do all this stuff separately, um, and I think Mike Rowe
[24:26] is gonna talk about the, um, Madison side board, but we're definitely operating as
[24:32] two independent boards at this moment. Cause we had to get through all this other
[24:36] stuff before we can now focus on working on defining our inner local agreement that
[24:41] defines how the two boards collectively work together. So that is our goal is to
[24:46] try to have that inner local agreement figured out before the end of the year. Any
[24:52] questions? Tomorrow morning, when and where is your meeting? Uh, I said morning and
[24:58] I'm sorry, it's 2 o'clock. OK. It's a late morning, um, but, uh, we are at the
[25:05] hospital, um, conference room upstairs, and then there's a team meeting link too.
[25:12] So I sent that to Danny and Tammy, and it's posted at the post office in water and
[25:18] sewer board. Perfect. Thank you. Mhm. Any questions? It's super
[25:26] exciting, Laura. Yeah, super exciting. I have one last question. Um, you had initial
[25:32] 31, and 2-year terms after reelection. What will your terms be? 3 years. OK, yeah.
[25:40] Awesome.
[25:43] All right, um, I'm gonna, Laura, if you'll hang on because I wanna, um, get through
[25:47] Mike's update and then I'll open it up for questions as well from the audience, so
[25:53] we'll get Mike's update. Is he here? He should be pulled forward, Mike, if you wanna
[25:57] unmute yourself, we should be able to hear you. And how's that? Can you hear me all
[26:01] right? We got you. Awesome. Well, good morning. Thanks, uh, to all of you for your
[26:06] support of the district and the efforts that we've been underway with, uh, for now,
[26:10] for a few years to get it established. Um, it is exciting to see this coming to fruition.
[26:16] Um, it is a ton of work. I won't, uh, kid you about that. Um, what Laura just went
[26:21] over briefly is, uh, sounds easy, but it's, it's actually a lot. Uh, we just completed
[26:27] our third meeting yesterday. Uh, we struggle a little bit with meeting locations
[26:30] because we have to be in Madison County, uh, on advice of, uh, Kim Beatty, who's
[26:36] our legal counsel as well. So we've been meeting at Moonlight. Our next meeting is
[26:40] now scheduled for, uh, 9 a.m. on the 2nd Tuesday of December, and the location of
[26:47] that has not yet been determined, but it most likely will be, uh, somewhere at the
[26:51] resort. Um, as Laura said, we've adopted bylaws. They're basically clones of one
[26:58] another. Yesterday we adopted a conflict of interest policy that's an important,
[27:02] uh, compliance step for Montana law. Uh, but we also went to some lengths to make
[27:07] sure that, uh, we allowed trustees to be involved in other things in the community.
[27:12] This, this to me is critical because when you look at the Mont the Madison County
[27:16] side of Big Sky. Um, it's, it's quite fascinating to study this thing, as, as you
[27:22] may know, um, there's less than 500 registered voters. In Madison County, uh, in
[27:29] the component of Big Sky, however, there's $28.7 billion of property value there.
[27:36] Um, approximately 7% of the state of Montana sits in the Madison County side of Big
[27:42] Sky, and that's based on the just released Department of Revenue's certification
[27:47] of value for property taxes for this current fiscal year. That's kind of a stunning
[27:51] number, um, $545 million of taxable value, $28.7 billion of market
[27:59] value. Um, so we're working through this very carefully to make sure that we comply
[28:04] with the law and we do what we have to do with regard to the SB 260 requirements.
[28:11] We're in a very different place than the Gallatin County side because our district
[28:16] is a separation of the existing Madison Valley Health District where Gallatin is
[28:20] brand new. Ours is actually a split of an old district, so Gallatin does not have
[28:26] the SB 260 obligations, and we do. Um, what those obligations amount to is that for
[28:32] the next 8 years we have to levy, don't have a choice, we must levy the voter approved
[28:39] mills that existed in the Madison Valley Health District prior to the separation
[28:44] of the, the, the two districts, and that turns out to be 4.8 mills. Um, the projected
[28:51] tax revenue from that for, uh, this current fiscal year in total is
[28:57] $2,619,466 of which we have to pay, uh, 70% of it
[29:05] or 70% of it is allocated back to the Madison Valley, uh, hospital district, which
[29:10] is $1,833,000 and change. And the remaining 785,000 approximately will remain
[29:18] with the Big Sky Hospital District, um, this year, and we will we expect to see our
[29:25] first, uh, collections coming with property tax collections in roughly December January
[29:31] time frame. Kim Beatty's been, uh, absolutely magical in helping us work through
[29:36] the Madison County officials and folks at the state level as well to make sure we're
[29:41] following the law and doing all of this properly. Um, we absolutely will not go back
[29:47] to the voters to ask for any kind of changes to that levy. Um, we, we are stuck with
[29:53] that sharing provision, and if we did get a change to that levy, it would, well,
[29:58] first of all, we can't, we can't levy less than the 4.8. And if for whatever reason
[30:03] we wanted to do more than that, we would have to share it is what we believe to be
[30:07] the case. So there's no reason why we would do that just to send more money down,
[30:11] uh, to the other side of the county. On the grant making side of this, so we do have
[30:16] some money available for this year, um, as Laura mentioned, we've been mirroring
[30:21] each other on some of these things. The grant making policy was adopted in a first
[30:26] reading yesterday. Second reading will be in December, and, uh, we will start. Receiving
[30:32] grant applications for this year, this fiscal year, um, later this year. So that's
[30:38] kind of, uh, where we stand on the interlocal agreement with the Gallatin side. We
[30:43] do have a draft of that, uh, that we've been working on, and I have not yet shared
[30:47] that with Laura. We will be doing that very soon. Our goal, and as Laura said, we
[30:52] have to maintain separateness because we're in very different places. Uh, we actually
[30:56] have revenue. Gallatin at this point does not, for example, so that there's lots
[31:00] of differences that we have to acknowledge. Uh, but we're, we're going to do the
[31:05] best we can to collaborate with each other on everything possible to reduce administrative
[31:10] costs, to align ourselves on grant making, and to make sure that we're being responsible
[31:15] to the taxpayers who are funding the Big Sky Hospital district on the Madison side.
[31:22] Um, so I think that's the majority of what I have to update. Um, I'd be happy to
[31:28] answer questions. You may have a few, so go ahead. Bored.
[31:34] Mike, can you repeat the $2 million something something something $466 that's your
[31:39] 4.8 collections this year? This is, this is based on the certified value from the
[31:46] state of Montana of $28755 million with taxable value of
[31:53] $545,722,000 with $4.8 million if. Nobody protests their tax
[32:01] assessment. If everybody pays, that would generate 2,619,466. OK, but
[32:09] obviously there's conditions there, so it won't be that number. It'll be close, um,
[32:14] and then the Madison Valley Hospital District will, will get 70% of that, which is
[32:18] 1,833, and we will retain 785. We, we, I should mention also we,
[32:26] we did adopt a budget yesterday. Um, and because we're brand new, it's, it's virtually
[32:31] impossible for us to predict what's going to happen. Our budget does include the
[32:35] $50,000 grant that BISRAD has, uh, graciously offered us. Uh, we do have finally,
[32:42] as of yesterday, we got a PO box, so we have an address, and with that we can open
[32:46] our bank account, and I expect to, uh, have either me or Paula Cleary, who's our
[32:51] clerk, uh, come to you and ask for that to be funded here in the next 30 days or
[32:57] so. Um, but yeah, so our budget has the $785 that we get to keep plus the
[33:04] $50 from you guys, um, and then we're anticipating around $120,000 in expenses, uh,
[33:12] for administration, grant administration, accounting, legal, etc. and that's a very
[33:17] generous number. I won't, I won't be at all surprised if it comes in much less than
[33:21] that, uh, but I do think it, frankly, at some point we're gonna need some staff.
[33:26] To help manage this, um, much as you do with your board, uh, it's hard for us to
[33:31] work because there's only 3 of us. And so no two of us can ever get together without
[33:36] creating a public meeting that has to be announced and, um, you know, all of the
[33:41] rigmarole that we all go through for public meetings, right? So, uh, having a staff
[33:47] person who I can work with as the chair to get them to do the groundwork on things
[33:51] and bring it forward to the board will be hugely helpful. I don't think that's a
[33:55] full-time position. It's a very part-time, especially right now, and I, I don't think
[33:59] that'll happen for maybe. I don't know, 6 months or more, but um I think there, there
[34:03] will be some, some, some staffing requirement.
[34:09] Makes sense, Mike. Can you remind the members of the public what, what's the, the
[34:14] pay down or the step down with the Madison Valley Hospital District over the next
[34:18] 7 years? So they get 70% this year, we get 30%. How remind yourself. Let me, let
[34:24] me speak to that. And by the way, because this is such an early year, the board and
[34:28] its budget. Yesterday decided to set aside 60% of that first year revenue for
[34:35] a capital reserve. Um, the board isn't restricting money. That money is just being
[34:41] allocated to the side for now, uh, and we're, we're going to put together a long
[34:47] range financial plan and some long range financial planning concepts that will, will
[34:51] help us, uh, to manage the funds better, but I personally believe. That we can amplify
[34:57] the benefits of the Big Sky Hospital District manyfold by creating some reserve funds
[35:02] and, and keeping a bit of a, if you will, a rainy day fund, but more importantly,
[35:06] it's a fund that can help us deal with major issues that may arise from time to time.
[35:10] To answer your question specifically, it's 70/30 for this first year, the second
[35:16] year, third year, and fourth year it's 60/40. Uh, the fifth and six years, it's 40-60
[35:23] where we keep 60%. And the 7th and 8th years it's 20% to Madison Valley, 80% to us.
[35:31] I have modeled if you take that 28.7 billion of market of market value and 545 million
[35:38] of taxable value and you project it forward with a conservative 2% growth rate, which
[35:45] as we all know for Big Sky it could be dramatically different than that, uh, but
[35:49] just assuming a 2% growth rate. The total of those $4.8 million over the
[35:57] eight year sharing period would be approximately $22.5 million and the portion of
[36:04] that $22.5 million that will come to the Big Sky Hospital District is approximately
[36:09] $12.2 million. So it's, it's a substantial amount of money, uh, and I think we can
[36:15] do a lot with that. It's also something we need to be very careful about creating
[36:20] the right kind of governance around it, um, so that we produce something that's meaningful
[36:25] and lasting for Big Sky, not just current but longer term. Very helpful. Thank you.
[36:31] Ford, any further questions for Mr. Rowe? OK,
[36:38] for, for both Laura and Mike, um, where are we at on setting bank accounts up? I
[36:42] would love to get you all going so that you can start to hire whoever it is that
[36:47] you need support. Ken's been doing a tremendous job of covering the gaps. We're probably,
[36:53] uh, nearing the tail end of that, I would imagine, into this, uh, into the calendar
[36:57] year. So I, I'd love to begin to get you all going on your own. Well, super close,
[37:03] um, I'm sorry, Laura, did you wanna answer? Well, I, he just got their post office
[37:08] box. We'll find out tomorrow if ours is also now approved so that we can move forward
[37:14] because you can't open a bank account without without a post office. So I think we're
[37:18] very, very close. Great. I haven't seen a signed inter local agreement from either
[37:22] party, so just make sure to add that to your next agenda item so that we can get
[37:26] that done, um, just some like basic, uh.
[37:34] If you have a draft of that that we're supposed to be reviewing, I don't believe
[37:37] I've seen it. Can you forward that again for me? Be happy to. Thank you very much
[37:43] for sure and for the board's knowledge in our MOU, so, um, as part of the negotiation
[37:50] around 260 and, and the lawsuit that, um, BISRAT funded through a variety of plaintiffs
[37:57] around the Madison County portion, the original understanding was that there were
[38:02] going to be 9 permanent mills, so the numbers that Mike is speaking about are significantly
[38:07] different than what our original projections were. About half of what they were,
[38:12] primarily because the 9 permanent mills were influenced by a uh additional piece
[38:19] of legislation that passed at the same time. That piece of legislation, um, basically
[38:25] unraveled the permanent mill, am I getting this right, the permanent mill, um, law
[38:32] and went back to, I just the reason I'm pointing this out is This organization entered
[38:37] into an agreement with the Madison Valley Hospital District with assumptions. The
[38:41] assumptions were 9 permanent mills along with any voter approved mills. The dollar
[38:46] amount around that was significantly different than what we're seeing today coming
[38:50] in as a result of a transition that happened both in the legislative session as well
[38:55] as decisions that were made from Madison County. Yeah, Danny, if you don't mind,
[38:58] I can, I can speak to that a little bit. So under Senate Bill 542 that was passed
[39:04] at the same time that Senate Bill 260 was, um, the legislature required any special
[39:10] taxing jurisdiction that had permanent bills to, uh, convert those permanent bills
[39:16] into dollars in one of two different ways. The, um, option that Madison Valley Hospital
[39:22] District chose is they took the revenues that those nine permanent mills. Generated
[39:29] in 2025. They took the taxable value of the district in 2026 and figured out the
[39:36] number of mills that would need to be applied to the taxable value in 2026 in order
[39:42] to generate the same number of dollars in 2025. Um, that turned in that took the
[39:47] 9 mils to 4.8 and it's that 4.8 according to. Senate Bill 542, once you converted
[39:55] that mill levy, that's the mill levy that you basically reset it, and that's the
[40:00] mill levy that you have to charge in perpetuity. So that's how you got from the 9
[40:04] to the 4.8. The intent of the legislation, whether it worked correctly or not, we
[40:10] can debate, but the intent of that legislation is to take the same number of dollars
[40:16] that you generated under the 9 mills. And bring that forward under the 4.8, and how
[40:23] it grows is in your change of taxable value. If your taxable value increases over
[40:29] years, your 4.8 million is going to generate more revenue. Perfect. You know, and
[40:35] it, it's worth mentioning as well that there were, um, at the time that it was being
[40:41] negotiated, there was about a 1.3% additional mill that was being levied by Madison
[40:48] Valley Hospital District, um, that goes away. So, and we've studied this to try to
[40:54] see if we could preserve it or phase it out over time, um, but that, that turned
[40:58] out to be, uh, you know, roughly $5 million over the eight year time period. But
[41:03] we're not able to preserve that without a vote of the electorate, and if we did that,
[41:08] then it would, we think, have to be shared, so we're not going to do that. So there's
[41:12] an immediate tax reduction that has been realized. Um, it's not substantial for a
[41:17] lot of, I mean, it's literally, it's about $410,000 across the entire $28.7 billion
[41:23] of property value or maybe $70 for the average homeowner, but it is nice to see a
[41:28] little bit of tax relief, uh, that did come as a result of this.
[41:33] Yeah, that's what I was gonna add is going from 9 to 4.8 is definitely mixed because
[41:39] there was a, a property tax savings by Big Sky residents, which is great to see.
[41:44] Be careful because as Kim said, that 9 to 4.8 reflects the change in property values.
[41:51] So you're the property values uphill across the board kind of almost doubled. So
[41:57] the actual dollars of tax that a particular taxpayer is paying stayed roughly the
[42:03] same. Got it. Makes sense. And it's a 50% reduction in what we were originally, roughly
[42:10] what we, as a result of it not being 9 mL and 4.5. It's substantive. Well, no, no,
[42:16] actually not because the property base is double. Hold on a second, Mike, please.
[42:21] Well, the take home I'm getting is $700,000 that wasn't there before for this community
[42:26] is now available. Perfect community. So a major success and a lot of work that went
[42:31] into this. So great success story. Hey Mike, can you tell us who's on your board
[42:35] and what the terms are for each of those board members? Yeah, um, so I'm the designated
[42:41] chair for this year. We reelect officers every year. Paula Cleary is our clerk. She
[42:46] has a term of 2 years. My term is 3. And uh Heather Morris is the 3rd trustee. She's
[42:53] the vice chair with a term of 1 year. And as Laura said, uh, we each stand for re-election
[42:59] for 3-year term. So it's always a 3-year term going forward. Yeah, thank you. Great.
[43:06] Board, any further questions for Laura or Mike? OK, I will open this up to the public.
[43:11] Questions for Laura or Mike.
[43:17] Oh come on. What did you work so hard on this? I know this is awesome. This is so
[43:22] exciting. I'm sorry, this is your Mike, you might have already said this, but so
[43:26] one of the things that we'll be doing is overlaying, um, our health and wellness,
[43:31] uh, impact area over the next several years. And just seeing how the influx of the
[43:38] additional dollars that Kevin was referencing, which are of great benefit, um, can
[43:42] help resort tax to be able to hopefully free up some additional dollars in other
[43:46] areas. That's been our intention from the very get-go. When do you expect the first
[43:49] grant to actually go out?
[43:53] As I mentioned, we set aside approximately 60% for a capital reserve of the 785,
[43:59] so it's about 470 that we're setting aside, um, with the grant policy just having
[44:05] been released on its first reading after yesterday's meeting, we need a second reading
[44:09] in September. Um, it's possible we could get some grant applications as early as
[44:14] our December meeting and then start making some grants perhaps as soon as next March.
[44:20] Um, I do want us to be careful about assuming that there's gonna be a dollar for
[44:25] dollar transfer of the big, the, the BISRAD health agenda to the Big Sky Hospital
[44:32] District. We need to be very thoughtful about that. Um, again, among other things,
[44:36] this is purely funded by the Madison County taxpayers. And so we have to think about
[44:42] how we achieve a balance over time with Gallatin and how best to merge together the
[44:48] interests of both counties and BISRAD and the community as a whole. We've written
[44:53] the grant making policy, and I think it's very important you know this, we've written
[44:57] the grant making policy to speak broadly to the Big Sky community. Um, effectively
[45:02] reaching into and beyond Madison County, so it's not our, it's not a, a restriction
[45:08] that we have to only support Madison County. We can support beyond that, but we have
[45:12] to be very thoughtful about how we do that, um, and to be res responsible to the
[45:17] voters. Are you seeking a representative from each organization to engage in that
[45:23] discussion? I'm just wondering how we bridge that gap. You know, right now we've
[45:29] just begun to dip our toe into the water of understanding community health needs
[45:33] and assessing those. We had a presentation yesterday from Doctor Catherine Burkeney
[45:37] and Kelly Hames, uh, from the Big Sky Medical Center. Um, they talked about their
[45:42] community health assessment for us so that we can gain a better, broader understanding
[45:46] of things. Um, and so as, as we begin to focus on developing that health assessment,
[45:52] uh, over time, this will become clearer. It's gonna take us a while. And that's partly
[45:58] why I'm saying let's park some park money in a reserve until Laura and I and you
[46:03] and really the community as a whole can come together around this and figure out
[46:07] what's the best way to, to allocate funds and how to do it.
[46:14] Thank you. Awesome. Any other questions? Please. Well, Katie Alvin, uh, my question
[46:21] is, um, can you somehow explain the different existing entities or initiatives
[46:28] that have been acting under this sort of health and wellness umbrella and how that
[46:35] those might fit with the new districts? Um, not sure I understand the question. We
[46:42] have a health and wellness coalition that's been operating for 3-4 years now, and
[46:49] maybe curing you, uh, if you're it. Sure, yeah, so the Health and Wellness Coalition
[46:54] started in 2020 and has evolved. Can you come forward? Yeah, could you step up and
[46:59] state your name on the record so people can hear. I wanna make sure Mike can hear
[47:02] all this too. Hi everyone, Karen Volden, executive Director of Wellness in Action
[47:06] and facilitator for Health and Wellness Coalition. We've been working together since
[47:11] 2020 and have evolved over the past couple of years, but the primary organizations
[47:16] involved are Wellness in Action, Bozeman Health, Be Well Big Sky. We have representative
[47:20] from Community Support Group and Aging Well in Big Sky, uh, BSCO is participant of
[47:26] that. Bienvenitos, swim Rock, um, so we try to cover the spectrum of everything from
[47:32] prevention to crisis and medical needs within that. Is that answering players at
[47:38] the table? Yeah, and then how is that? Does will that continue in addition to the
[47:44] wellness district, or how, how will they work together? I'd say it's a great question.
[47:48] I was standing up to kind of ask something similar because we actually just went
[47:51] through a strategic planning initiative with consultants with that data survey that
[47:56] we led. This winter, and I'd love to present to both the Gallatin and Madison County
[48:00] boards if that's possible to share what findings we have from that information and
[48:05] how we can help inform the priorities and greatest needs of the community. But I'd
[48:09] say our goal as a coalition is really to help provide that vision for what's needed
[48:14] in the community and how this funding can fill gaps of the service availability perspective.
[48:20] We actually, in our board meeting yesterday, we talked about inviting you, uh, actually
[48:24] to come to our December meeting to begin some of that conversation. Perfect. I'll
[48:28] get that on my calendar. And I wear two hats cause I'm on the coalition as well as
[48:35] on this, this new um board, but the board itself is not gonna be composed of all
[48:43] of the um people who are doing the work in our community. The coalition is that,
[48:48] um, and they will end up feeding us. Um, data and describing needs and
[48:56] documenting a lot of research has been going on to understand the needs of the community
[49:01] and that will inform this wellness district board about how to make warning allocations.
[49:09] Let's see. Thanks. Excellent. Any further questions? Um, quickly, Laura.
[49:18] Sally has 1 year terms. Do you have 3 and Katie has 2? Katie is 3 and you're 2. OK.
[49:29] And just to reiterate, the Gallatin County meeting is tomorrow at 2 o'clock at the
[49:36] hospital conference room. Madison County, your next meeting is the 2nd Tuesday of
[49:40] December, which I looked is December 8th at 9:00 a.m. location TBD. Correct. Thank
[49:47] you. Awesome. And, and thank you, Terry. Yeah, we will look forward to when we can
[49:54] meet collectively as one. Combined board because as Mike said it's a little awkward
[49:59] with just 3 members you can't really do any work outside of board we know all about
[50:04] it. It would be great. I'd like to hear involving the coalition in in your next meetings
[50:10] because they were absolutely um fundamental in getting this established and need
[50:14] to be included in every step as this continues on. Great, thank you, Laura. Thanks,
[50:20] Mr. Rowe. Good to be here. Take care. Thank you Mr. Chair. Mr.
[50:28] Chair, is there still a couple minutes left for discussion, or do you want to move
[50:31] on? I see that we're go ahead, John. I, uh, I just want to plant a seed really or
[50:38] water a seed that came from another board member at BISRD about an opportunity here
[50:44] as we're navigating this relationship with these new wellness districts. I think
[50:50] because Biz RD is mostly here to alleviate local property taxes, we have a new property
[50:58] tax entity that has the capacity to give grants out in the community, and I'm grateful
[51:06] for the discussion that's happening between, you know, organizations in town who
[51:11] are trying to figure out who are we applying to for grants. And so I think the discussion
[51:16] between BISRAD and the wellness districts should be robust over the next year or
[51:21] two, and defining what that relationship might be. It might be something like BISRAD
[51:27] creates health and wellness grants to each of the hospi uh each of the hospital districts,
[51:34] and then they Are granting out and deciding where to spend those funds in the community
[51:40] more effectively potentially than we can because we have so many priorities at BISRD.
[51:46] I am just wondering if there is a way for us to alleviate a little bit of that selection
[51:50] pressure on individual grants and essentially partner with the wellness districts
[51:57] we have one larger appropriation and then they figure out how to actually distribute
[52:01] those funds, um, that to me. Seems to be more in the spirit of what BISRAT actually
[52:08] does, um, and, uh, and I think it's setting precedent for the future. Um, and I also
[52:15] wanna make sure that this is not really my idea. It came from race, and I'm probably
[52:20] mumbling it a little bit. I'm just really excited about it, especially as resort
[52:25] taxes. Needs and the work that we're doing continue to grow year over year, and it
[52:31] would be really nice to alleviate some of that pressure. Thank you.
[52:36] I really like that idea and I, I'm looking at Grace, um, to continue the discussions,
[52:43] uh, with, with the, um, both wellness districts or hospital districts because I do
[52:48] think that has a lot of merit that they become the wellness experts for our community
[52:52] and, and they make those decisions. I'm, I'm, I like the thought and would love to
[52:57] see how. Matures. It's not too dissimilar from the ideas that have been circulating
[53:03] around the um Parks and Trails district, which is primarily focused around funding
[53:08] the BSCO operations and match with BISRAD, but I could see them in the future becoming
[53:14] a similar grant making organization and this philosophy could be carried out with
[53:19] that group as well. Yep, I like it. It's a good thought process. Thanks, John, for
[53:23] bringing that back up. Any other? Hopefully we'll have 2 less. Impact area budgets
[53:31] on our dashboard. Well, I think they would still say on our dashboard. It's just
[53:34] a bucket though. It just wouldn't go, we wouldn't have to be reviewing all the applications
[53:39] of those buckets, we'd leave that up to those individual boards. So, I like it, it's
[53:44] a good concept. Great OK. Moving on, MOU for water and sewer
[53:52] efforts. This is an action item. So we've alluded to this the past two meetings.
[53:57] Um, as I think the entire board and general public are all acutely aware, we have
[54:04] 3,
[54:07] Water and sewer districts within Big Sky, a newly formed Firelight Water and Sewer
[54:12] District, a canyon Water and Sewer District which has existed. Um, for the seven
[54:18] years that the 1% has existed to support the Canyon, uh, pipeline and, um, pump
[54:26] station, which is the primary use of the $12 million that was allocated in 2020 from
[54:33] the voters when the 1% for infrastructure went into place. Um Big Sky Water and Sewer
[54:40] District, uh, at our request, presented in our June, maybe it was the July meeting.
[54:46] Um, what is the big picture integration of all three of these organizations and what
[54:51] are the needs? Uh, I heard $100 million articulated as, uh, the needs of the three
[54:57] projects. Um, and ultimately, I believe the, the end game is that both Firelight
[55:04] and the Canyon Districts would ultimately wind up, um, merging or being assimilated
[55:10] into the larger Big Sky Water and Sewer District, although lots of details to get
[55:15] worked out before then. Uh, since 2020, when seven years ago, it's hard to believe
[55:20] it's been seven years that we've had this commitment for this project in the Canyon
[55:25] District. Um, has been on our books for that entire time. Um, in, uh, winter of
[55:33] last year, you actually put in place a resolution which would, uh, release the $12
[55:39] million commitment in June of 2027, and that has been helpful, I think, in actually
[55:45] accelerating. Uh, our fisher cut bait situation related to these projects that have
[55:52] been sitting pending for quite some time, and, um, everyone has been working very
[55:56] diligently to ensure that they're going to happen. Um, one of the tactics for the
[56:01] Canyon District specifically was focused around a targeted economic development district,
[56:06] which we have now, um, proposed a larger, um, a
[56:13] larger philosophy around how we're going to address the water and sewer deficit in
[56:19] the community, and this MOU is very connected to that effort and the fact that there
[56:25] is confusion around why it is that that the community of Big Sky is focused around
[56:31] Um, the Canyon Water and Sewer District, particularly as it relates to the impacts
[56:36] that may happen related to development. And so, um, for clarity's sake, and this
[56:42] will be included in our packet to both the Madison and the Gallatin County commissions
[56:47] with the, the TED effort, uh, Um, we wanted to be very clear and upfront about what
[56:52] our objectives are here. And, and primarily they're around improving water quality,
[56:57] uh, on the Gallatin River, which is, uh, impaired, it's been designated impaired
[57:03] by the Department of Environmental Quality. So, I'll just, it's kind of like a, um,
[57:09] a pretty wordy document, but I'll highlight the, the main objectives of what we're
[57:12] all working on. To create additional reuse options as a reminder to the community
[57:18] and, and everyone else, um, Big Sky is the largest zero discharge community, and
[57:23] as a result of that, the treatment that we have that is going through the Big Sky
[57:26] Water and Sewer District is, uh, really at the highest level of, of treatment that
[57:31] you can get in the state of Montana. And if you look at the, uh, disposal that Big
[57:37] Sky is putting in to The Gallatin River, it is essentially zero,
[57:43] because we choose to reuse our, our water, and that's part of this larger plan that
[57:49] we're all working towards, um, with the TED TIF and trying to address not only the,
[57:54] the fiscal impact that $100 million. On these projects, but also the water quality
[58:00] impact that all of these projects has. And so enhancing the overall system resiliency
[58:06] is an objective through this MOU, um, and providing flexibility during maintenance
[58:11] and emergency events, balancing wastewater flow flows across the region, um, as the
[58:17] system, uh, and water quality protection and water conservation priorities evolve.
[58:23] Uh, help to fund a portion of regional wastewater and fire suppression infrastructure
[58:27] improvement. Fund connection of qualified existing Big Sky homeowners and deed restricted
[58:33] workforce housing units to the system without cost to the homeowners, homeowners
[58:37] or housing unit. Um, in particular, for example, Ramshorn down in the canyon is a,
[58:43] a pretty major player in the Canyon Water and Sewer District. And, um, as a result
[58:48] of them having an existing system, there will need to be some form of subsidy that
[58:52] helps get them into the, into the plan. And then lastly, but not least important,
[58:57] require developers to pay their pro rata share of costs and expense expenses to connect
[59:02] new developments that are not deed restricted workforce housing projects. And why
[59:06] this is important is, first off, the um the existing development that is happening
[59:12] down there, in particular with the quarry, we have a letter that has been submitted
[59:16] to all parties from the developer. Um, denoting that they are willing to kick in
[59:21] those dollars when the time comes. Um, that will go in our packet with the, uh, TED
[59:26] presentation and the binder that is submitted on October 7th to the Gallatin and
[59:31] Madison County Commission, along with this MOU. And the main objective here is really
[59:37] working to be super clear about what it is we're trying to achieve relative to the
[59:42] canyon water and sewer District. And Um, and I think this MOU helps to outline that.
[59:48] I hope that it's clear that we have commitment from, um, not only the existing development
[59:53] that's going to happen down there, but as well as from the governing entities that
[59:57] are working to actually move this, these three projects forward, all of them very
[1:00:02] important, um, and as a reminder, that's the, the connection. Of the canyon to Big
[1:00:08] Sky Water and Sewer District, it's the connection of firelight, um, to the Big Sky
[1:00:13] Water and Sewer District, and as a result of all of that, we are beginning to push
[1:00:17] into an accelerated need to have a commitment for the Wor Phase 2, which is our state
[1:00:24] of the art plant that will allow all of those systems to connect into that. Johnny,
[1:00:29] did I miss anything? Nope, you didn't answer. Thanks. Thank you. Excellent. For,
[1:00:36] any questions?
[1:00:43] Members of the public, any questions or comments?
[1:00:51] Uh, I just, I can't help but make a finer point on this, cause as, as groups have
[1:00:57] been working on, um, this for years working on soaring the canyon, and now that it's
[1:01:02] one of the major pillars of our TED effort, if you could bring that MOU back up real
[1:01:07] quick, buddy, I just wanna stress that The, one of the critiques or concerns that
[1:01:15] keeps coming up is if you sewer the canyon, it's gonna be overdeveloped. And, and
[1:01:19] that is the very, very strategic language that was put in here on to address that
[1:01:25] is we wanna use public tax dollars to fund existing Big Sky homeowners. And so that's
[1:01:31] hooking up the homes that are in the canyon because um if you don't follow this closely,
[1:01:37] they already have a septic tank and a drain field. And so it's just gonna be A new
[1:01:41] expense for them to hook up to this, to this district that, of course, taking those
[1:01:46] septic and drain fills offline is gonna help the Gallatin, and we want to encourage
[1:01:49] that. And the way we encourage that is we provide public tax dollars to hook up the
[1:01:54] existing homeowners. The other very important thing is we have made it a commitment
[1:02:00] via this MOU to use public tax dollars. for deed-restricted housing units. And so
[1:02:06] this is actually a, a, a tactic of, of smart growth of providing a subsidy to
[1:02:13] de-restricted workforce housing so that we can continue to promote more workforce
[1:02:18] housing for this community. So, sorry, Danny went through this, there was a lot in
[1:02:23] here, but that was like The most important things in the whole MOU to me were at
[1:02:27] the end, and I just wanna make a finer point of that for, for the members of our
[1:02:32] community is I'm really um proud of the work that's happened with the Canyon District,
[1:02:37] the Big Sky Water and Sewer District, Firelight, as well as um BISRA involved in
[1:02:41] this MOU and, and I'm just very thankful to everybody that's worked on it to get
[1:02:47] it to this stage. And I think this addresses a lot of concerns. It's in now in black
[1:02:51] and white. Without any further comments or questions, I will call the vote. All those
[1:02:57] in favor of signing this MOU please signify by saying aye. Uh, yeah, we need a motion.
[1:03:04] Sorry, thank you, Jenny. I would take emotion. I was sounds like I was making it
[1:03:09] on my monologue, but let, yeah, I'll take emotion first.
[1:03:15] I'll make a motion to approve the MOU for monitoring. One second. Thank you, um,
[1:03:23] for the discussion, I guess I get a little excited. I've been waiting for this MOU,
[1:03:27] so it's great to see it. Is there any further board discussion?
[1:03:33] Is there any further public comment?
[1:03:38] Hearing in CNN, I will now call the vote for signing the NYU. Hi, hi, hi, hi. Motion
[1:03:45] passes unanimous. I have 2 more to voted 5. OK, thank you. Moving on, uh, FY 27 budget
[1:03:53] amendment. Let's do as an action item. So this is coming to you from both the community
[1:04:00] investments and the finance and operations subcommittees, um. One of the things that
[1:04:06] we have been, well, picking up from where we left off in the last meeting when we
[1:04:13] placed all of our commitments into Impact areas, we left $150,000 kind of dangling
[1:04:21] out there. That is not best practice. I would not like to do that moving forward,
[1:04:25] and I would like for us to put money specifically somewhere so that the, the public
[1:04:29] knows where it is. And so one of the things that um we were unpacking in uh post
[1:04:35] meeting was how are we going to handle those, those dollars. Um, one of the, the
[1:04:43] Additionally, um, as a result of the last meeting, we placed $600,000 into a
[1:04:51] very specific reserve account, which will be on your glossary, um, for a very specific
[1:04:56] purpose, which is to support the transition as a result of SB 260, um, and create
[1:05:03] a soft landing for the Big Sky School District in the event that a petition that
[1:05:09] is actively being circulated throughout Big Sky. Um, is successful in requesting
[1:05:15] withdrawal from the Ennis School District. Uh, we're touching on a lot of SB 260
[1:05:21] stuff today. Um, as a result of 260 and the eight-year stepdown that we mentioned
[1:05:27] earlier today with the, the wellness district, um, we're using that same standard
[1:05:32] with the Big Sky School District, um, with the knowledge that, uh, as a result of
[1:05:40] the step-down period, um, there would be foregone revenues. That the school would
[1:05:45] have already received and that was what we placed $600,000 into that account for
[1:05:50] or that reserve for um moving forward we need to generate a little bit of additional
[1:05:56] dollars to make it whole that number is $887,000 so we have a little bit of a gap
[1:06:04] there and the proposal from um both. Subcommittees is to place that
[1:06:11] $150,000 into the school fund so that we're beginning to get that thing um completely
[1:06:18] completely full. Um, I communicated all of this to Dustin yesterday. Uh, they did
[1:06:24] pass a resolution, um, which is simply in the event that The withdrawal
[1:06:31] happens, the Big Sky School District has passed a resolution to say we will accept
[1:06:36] those new students coming into the Big Sky School District. Um, in addition to the
[1:06:42] $150,000 we made a decision in, um, I think it was June
[1:06:50] for $600,000 to go towards the Big Skywater and sewer districts, engineering
[1:06:57] and next steps for continuing forward with the, the, the bigger picture of how we're
[1:07:03] gonna connect the canyon. Um, as a result of that, we need to handle that somehow
[1:07:10] in a budget amendment, which is in front of you and being proposed. Um, in addition
[1:07:16] to that, We are also, um, as an organization, evaluating where our
[1:07:24] capacity is as we move into a decision and a discussion around the upcoming
[1:07:31] application that all three parties have submitted to Our grant cycle for this upcoming
[1:07:37] year and specific to capacity, we're looking at um what do we have available in remaining
[1:07:44] 1% dollars as we move into the upcoming years. Um, we have a, a general number
[1:07:51] from the water and sewer districts, uh, which is, um, roughly $30 million is what
[1:07:58] Johnny told me is, is what the request is going to be coming into resort tax. We
[1:08:03] have a lot of mechanics. That we need to work out to understand the timing of our
[1:08:10] commitment and what our debt service, annual debt service commitment would be spread
[1:08:15] out over time in the event that the $30 million and that's why I was asking all those
[1:08:19] questions. Hey, what are we talking about in terms of a monthly commitment? We have
[1:08:23] discussion to have around that, which is great. All this is to be said. What we need
[1:08:28] to ultimately understand is what is, what is our capacity to be able to um support
[1:08:34] whatever the request is. Um, we're still running some math on that and we'll be bringing
[1:08:38] that forward in the next meeting. Um, but what was clear to us is, um, as a result
[1:08:45] of all of that, next year, we might have a decision where it would be very helpful
[1:08:51] for us to start off on a clean slate. As a result, and what I mean by clean slate
[1:08:56] is all of our obligations that we have in FY 28, um, if there's any way that we can
[1:09:01] handle them at FY 27, we're suggesting doing so. And another obligation that existed
[1:09:08] as a result of how cold smoke and the bond process evolved. is a water tank
[1:09:16] that was needed um over on the cold smoke property that was budgeted for and, and,
[1:09:21] and our budget showed $2 million coming out in next year. So what we have in front
[1:09:27] of you is a proposal to essentially um shore everything up in 2027, so that as we
[1:09:35] engage in the discussions with all three water and sewer districts, we have a, a
[1:09:39] clean slate that we would be starting on and it's like 28. And so, um, the summary
[1:09:45] of all that, Jenny, if you want to scroll down, um, There's two places that we can
[1:09:52] pull those dollars from to begin to shore things up, and I, uh, the proposal that
[1:09:56] is coming before you is actually to bring the total commitment up to the school district
[1:10:00] to the full amount for $887 to actually get all that taken care of and, and clean
[1:10:06] as we close our fiscal year. And so, the proposal is to shore up the $887,000 commitment
[1:10:13] in the reserve for the Big Sky School District, um. The budget originally
[1:10:20] included a park bond prepayment, um, from the 3%, as a reminder, that
[1:10:27] bond is in the 3%, not in the 1%. Um, we had budgeted $2 million we're recommending
[1:10:34] moving that down to 1863, uh, which would allow us to then take that plus the $150
[1:10:41] that we left on the table to bring it up to the 887. Heads are nodding, everyone's
[1:10:46] tracking. Um. That shores up the 150. In addition to that, we're proposing that
[1:10:53] the canyon, uh, I'm sorry, that the cold smoke water tank payments, which otherwise
[1:11:00] would be in FY 28, come out of FY 27, and the the area that we would pull those dollars
[1:11:07] from would be in the cold smoke prepayment reserve balance. I know that we're trying
[1:11:12] to pay off cold smoke as quickly as we can. Um, it's the recommendation from these
[1:11:18] committees that we actually, let's pick that back up next year when we can start
[1:11:22] off on a clean slate. Um, and this would, in addition to the $2 million that is being
[1:11:29] committed would leave a balance in the 1% collections that we can also add into our
[1:11:35] projections as we're moving into next year. I just threw a whole lot out there, um,
[1:11:42] questions.
[1:11:47] John, Grace, you guys have been closest to all those thoughts. This, this just for
[1:11:52] a reminder, John, this is blending into multiple years. John and Grace were on the
[1:11:57] subcommittee for finance in the proposed budget. That subcommittee is now Grace and
[1:12:04] Michelle, and this is also coming from Community Investments, which is Taylor and
[1:12:09] Michelle. OK, so Grace, Michelle, just make sure. The triangle. We've had time to
[1:12:16] digest it a little bit so it just feels clean to be able to kind of short like to
[1:12:21] Danny's point, clean things up. Fiscal 28, we start fresh and Schools handled. Mhm.
[1:12:29] Water tank is handled. Certain easy chunkable things we can just handle right now
[1:12:35] and be done.
[1:12:38] Yeah, I just have one little question. Fully support this. Makes sense. Clean slate.
[1:12:43] Love it. Um. I mean, Danny, I think the very last thing you mentioned was there's
[1:12:49] probably gonna be a balance, uh, in the 1%. Is there a particular strategy on why
[1:12:56] we can't use some of that balance to just make our $2 million our fund goal? I understand
[1:13:04] the pulling 137. To get us to the school. I'm just curious what that, if you have
[1:13:10] a sense of magnitude on that balance. I mean, back of the napkin, I get it's around
[1:13:15] 400 to 500K. Um, after the 2 million for the water tank and 600k for the,
[1:13:23] uh, the canyon, I think that would be, I think that would be moving 1% funds which
[1:13:29] require voter approval into the 3% bucket. You got me. You're right, sorry about
[1:13:35] that. Uh, no, I rescind that. I was just curious if there was any overage to get
[1:13:41] there, but that makes a lot of sense. OK, thanks. Great question.
[1:13:48] Public, any questions or comments?
[1:13:56] I didn't entertain emotion.
[1:14:01] I'll make a motion that we approve the FY 27 budget amendment summary as presented
[1:14:07] in our board packet. Second. The moves by Grace seconded by Michelle. Is there any
[1:14:14] further board discussion? Any public comment?
[1:14:22] Hearing and seeing that, I'll call the vote. All those in favor signify by saying
[1:14:26] hi. Hi, hi, bye. Motion passed unanimously and 2 were voted. I think OK,
[1:14:33] just for the board's awareness when budget amendments like this happen, all of our
[1:14:37] budgets and the public's awareness, all of our budgets are on our website under governing
[1:14:41] documents. The modification happens. Kristen updates the main spreadsheet that we're
[1:14:47] utilizing with an asterisk saying budget updated as of just for everyone's awareness.
[1:14:52] Thank you. All right. Next, uh, agenda item employee handbook, retirement contributions.
[1:14:59] This too is an action item. Don't let Christ.
[1:15:05] Uh, so just a little background, um, BISRAD first adopted the 457B retirement plan
[1:15:12] in 2009, and I was three quarter time employee, I think one, and,
[1:15:20] uh, at that time there was not a, um, post-tax or Roth contribution option as part
[1:15:26] of the plan. Um, since that happened, I think it was in 2013 that the Roth post-tax
[1:15:32] became an option for contribution. BISRAD up until this point had never matched um
[1:15:38] the post-tax portion just pre-tax amount and um as we switched payroll softwares
[1:15:45] in July that came to light, um, the finance and operations subcommittee um decided
[1:15:51] it made sense to match both announced. Regardless of how the employee decides to
[1:15:56] contribute their dollars, um, it's still the 6.8% match, um, and this amendment is
[1:16:02] just adding something in the employee handbook to formalize that decision and, um,
[1:16:09] and just any, we didn't have anything actually about the retirement plan in the handbook,
[1:16:13] so just adding that. This is not a fiscal impact currently. It's
[1:16:21] simply a procedural impact. The mass isn't changing. None, none of the numbers are
[1:16:27] changing or impacting anyone, but we need to shore it up at the handle, OK.
[1:16:37] Board, any questions for, well, let me understand the motion first. I'll make a motion
[1:16:42] that we approve the employee handbook amendment. 2, moved by Gray, seconded by Taylor
[1:16:48] for discussion.
[1:16:53] Procedure. Hold on.
[1:17:02] Hearing season and I'll follow those whatever signify by saying I I I. Hi. Motion
[1:17:09] passes unanimously. I too order to go to that. OK, moving on to the next agenda item,
[1:17:14] which is new business. FY 27 grant request overview. This is a discussion. Let me
[1:17:21] speak this.
[1:17:25] You've heard enough. Uh, sorry, I can't control the screen and speak at the same
[1:17:30] time, but, um, applications have come in. Huge, huge thank you to all the applicants
[1:17:36] that have participated in this process. It's a big lift for everyone. Um, what you're
[1:17:41] looking at on the screen is just kind of the overview of the request. Um, or come
[1:17:46] see me on your way out. I have your binders. I know you can't wait for your homework,
[1:17:50] and John will get with you to get you yours as well. Uh, this year we got requests
[1:17:55] through our annual grant cycle, 32 projects, just a little bit under $7 million.
[1:18:01] Um, we did have something new this year. We had a few requests that were flagged
[1:18:06] as ineligible. So it's the first time that that's happened in the 3 or 4 years, maybe
[1:18:10] 5, that we've had these eligibility requirements in place. Um, so Danny and I reviewed
[1:18:15] them, and then we met with Taylor and Michelle to discuss a little further. Two of
[1:18:20] them, I think really simply came down to rounding errors that they weren't meeting
[1:18:24] that matching funds minimum by 1% point or less. So we decided as a group to give
[1:18:29] a little grace and I'll give them 2 days to make an update to their application.
[1:18:34] Um, we did receive a third one that unfortunately just got flagged on multiple things
[1:18:38] and there was just too many things to update, but they were invited to come back
[1:18:42] and apply for the micro grant, so that opportunity does still exist. Um, I really
[1:18:47] wanna thank Taylor and Michelle for the time of going through it. It was a weird,
[1:18:50] uncomfortable conversation for all of us and I'm sure for applicants as well. Um,
[1:18:54] we could put a lot of thought and energy in these eligibility requirements. Um, We
[1:18:58] hope that we don't come across this in the future and if we do, we may be, we may
[1:19:03] or may not be giving as much grace in the future. Um, those criteria are there for
[1:19:07] a reason, but we appreciate everyone's we're gonna use this as a learning moment.
[1:19:10] We will not be giving the grace in the future. So it's like it's, it's, this is an
[1:19:16] opportunity for everyone to hear from staff and board that. Everyone being the, the
[1:19:23] applicants, we look at what you submit to us, we use what you submit to us, and in
[1:19:29] the event that at a minimum, make sure that you're hitting all of the eligibility
[1:19:34] requirements that are in this thing because like Jenny was saying, like there were
[1:19:38] a few that just seemed like they were rounding errors. We're not gonna validate your
[1:19:43] rounding errors moving forward into the future, so sorry to interrupt, but I wanted
[1:19:47] to put a fine point on that. Um, yeah, and on that note, most of you, I appreciate
[1:19:52] everyone that took up the time to meet with me. I'm more than happy to answer any
[1:19:55] questions through the application process. Um, but yeah, here's the kind of high-level
[1:20:00] overview of the second page. I'll flip to it here in a minute for the public's sake,
[1:20:03] just kind of shows where the requests are falling within those impact area budgets.
[1:20:08] Um, later this week, I'll be reaching out to all of our partners that did apply to
[1:20:11] share more details on next steps, when to expect Q&A, and some details on the review
[1:20:17] meetings in October. I'll give you all your physical binders and send some extra
[1:20:21] data to you all via email after this meeting. I didn't want to overwhelm you all
[1:20:25] last night. Um, but Michelle Taylor, Danny, anything else? This is great, by the
[1:20:30] way, thank you, love this. The one that we flagged is ineligible, it's likely going
[1:20:36] to apply for a micro grant, so we did pass them an opportunity with that. Um But
[1:20:44] yeah, 32 is the most we've seen in a few years as well. Here's the thing I, I, I
[1:20:48] would also just say generally to everyone. The budgets that you fill out for the
[1:20:52] projects, while they seem like they're tedious and we're not looking at them, we
[1:20:56] use them very intentionally. And so when you're filling these things out, like we
[1:21:00] got one this year that Had expenses of like $240,000 and then revenues for that particular
[1:21:08] project at like $430,000 or something, more than one actually, yeah, multiple, which
[1:21:13] we'll we'll clear up in Q&A, but yeah, so you're like your budgets matter, it's what
[1:21:18] we're actually validating your receipts that you're submitting to us against and
[1:21:22] so like it's also what the board's deciding they want to fund as well, yeah, yeah,
[1:21:28] yeah. And be smart in your forecast, please, because obviously. We've seen that already
[1:21:32] where the forecast was something very different from what came in at the requests
[1:21:37] for this year. Well, and I'm already looking at, we get this every year. It was like
[1:21:41] 27, we want 7 million and even less next year it's gonna be less, and that's, that's,
[1:21:45] and that's never similar every year. Everything. So please help us with your forecast
[1:21:50] as you see this board and staff does a lot with that information.
[1:21:57] Oh, I forgot to mention the one request Danny did talk about at large scale. Submitted
[1:22:01] by big scale audience who are on behalf of all three in the range of $20 to $30 million
[1:22:05] but we'll, there'll be lots more discussion on that as well to come.
[1:22:11] Excellent. Or any further discussion?
[1:22:19] Members of the public, the discussion on this agenda item. It's me and says Jenny,
[1:22:26] what are the dates that we review the application? Tuesday, October 20th and Thursday,
[1:22:30] October 22nd. Great.
[1:22:37] Right. We will move on to the next agenda item. Michael Grant Big Sky Early Childhood
[1:22:43] Alliance. This is an action item. I like this. We have Tory in here, but before we
[1:22:48] start, I just wanted to let the board know I've started this little tracker as we
[1:22:51] go through these potentially every month just so you see where we're sitting at.
[1:22:55] Thank you. We've awarded two so far this fiscal year.
[1:23:00] Awesome. You're asking tomorrow.
[1:23:05] Hi.
[1:23:08] Uh, Kimberly Hall, president, CEO of Greater United Way, thank you for your consideration
[1:23:13] of this application. The Big Sky, um, Childhood Alliance was started about 18 months
[1:23:20] ago with the intention of creating an infrastructure to bring together funders, um,
[1:23:27] from. Writers, businesses, and community members to have a cohesive voice and messaging
[1:23:35] as we've moved the needle on childcare, including accessibility and affordability
[1:23:40] across the entire region. Um, this group specifically focuses on challenges within
[1:23:46] Big Sky, um, and how we can continue to advance this. Um, a lot of great things have
[1:23:51] come out of this alliance, um, and we're hoping to continue it post the update within
[1:23:55] the study that NRMA did. Um, we held off on asking, um, for funding to continue this
[1:24:02] to see where that landed and what that information told us, and the group collectively
[1:24:06] decided that we wanted to continue to, uh, meet and advance this. So as the facilitator
[1:24:12] and convener of this group, we're asking for funding to support this.
[1:24:18] Staff questions. Oh, go ahead. Staff feedback. You've got the scoring apparatus that
[1:24:23] we've created, and the main reason this one is being recommended for partial funding
[1:24:27] is just because it's scored low on the funding history and this being a request of
[1:24:33] ongoing request annuity.
[1:24:38] And Kimberly you're tracking on that feedback because we don't wanna use the micro
[1:24:43] grant for reoccurring and so that's, that's we would very much rather see you guys
[1:24:48] go through a regular grant process. This is, these are kind of for one-off startups
[1:24:52] is how we, how we traditionally handle. Yeah, it's just the amount we and we're very
[1:24:57] conscious of that ourselves. I mean we've been operating, uh, in the valley for.
[1:25:02] 50 years and that's why we didn't come back like exactly 12 months or 13 months.
[1:25:07] We're very cognizant of what we need, so I acknowledge and recognize that and we'll,
[1:25:10] we'll make note to be more conscious of that. We also try to seek additional funding
[1:25:15] to support this effort, not just come to you to ask for this. Um, we also, uh, Greater
[1:25:21] Gallatin United Way used unrestricted funds for about 8 months to support this initiative
[1:25:26] directly. Do you know what the dollar amount was of the unrestricted funds that Greater
[1:25:31] Gallatin used towards this initiative? Probably about 45,000 to $15,000 yeah. It's
[1:25:38] meaningful. Or
[1:25:43] What is an alliance event as opposed to an event, right? Like the, the 8435 is gonna
[1:25:50] be funding an alliance event, but then the answer over here is, is funding going
[1:25:56] to offer is going. Is funding requests to offer an event, and the answer is no. Yeah,
[1:26:04] so tell me what the difference is between an alliance event and an event. There is
[1:26:08] a distinction. What, um, I, I think we're thinking of opportunities to bring folks
[1:26:15] together that might exist outside of just the alliance. So if we're having like a
[1:26:20] community meeting or something like that, that would be an extension of that. We
[1:26:23] also use some of those funds to fund like coffee and food and travel and things like
[1:26:28] that.
[1:26:32] Basically it's staff time to an alliance event would be your organization getting
[1:26:36] together and having something. An event event would be inviting, yeah, OK, that's
[1:26:42] what I was sorry, thank you. Good question. What do you see as kind of the, the next
[1:26:48] round of deliverables, and I, I understand. The Greater Gallatin, let me just repeat
[1:26:55] what I think is, is happening here just make sure I got it straight. Greater Gallatin
[1:27:00] is the convenor. You're working with, uh, Morningstar. You're working with Discovery.
[1:27:04] You're working with, um, Gallatin and, and getting everybody together and keep the
[1:27:09] talk and the collaboration going. You guys just produced, uh, uh, an an report that
[1:27:15] we reviewed, I think, two meetings ago. They did not though. That was the NRMA produced
[1:27:21] that. That was NRMA, but was it done through this group? I'm just trying to understand
[1:27:25] what conversation needs me to help. Thank you for that clarity. And so I'm just curious,
[1:27:31] what do we see the deliverable for this next phase? And is this a, is this something
[1:27:36] that Greater Gallatin sees as a perpetual Yes, well, we have identified
[1:27:43] early learning and youth opportunity as a key priority area for us regionally as
[1:27:48] a need, um, and this alliance came out of entities beyond just the providers but
[1:27:55] also funders, um, Big Sky Resort, uh, Big Sky Chamber coming to us and saying we
[1:28:00] need a centralized voice. So we were approached as, can, could you facilitate this
[1:28:05] as a somewhat neutral entity to help administer this? We have a child task force
[1:28:10] that we run in the region as well. So it seemed like a good alignment for that. Our
[1:28:15] goal is to figure out exactly that, what are those initiatives. To help move the
[1:28:19] needle in advance on accessibility and affordability. So taking the feedback from
[1:28:23] that initial study from Neuromed, which we were huge components of, I can say we
[1:28:27] were the ones trying to raise a flag saying yes, we need to advance this. The data
[1:28:31] changes as fast as we get it. Um, and so I think the next piece of this is business
[1:28:37] engagement. How do we, the accessibility is there. And so one piece that came out
[1:28:40] of this was Child Connect, which is a, um, uh, technology, and this was through the
[1:28:46] Big Sky Child Care Alliance, but also just Child Connect in general. Regionally,
[1:28:50] how do we look at childcare. And make it more transparent. So how can we see where
[1:28:54] there are available openings, how much does it cost? And now we're looking at affordability.
[1:28:59] How can we help businesses support this through a, through a, through a subsidized
[1:29:02] program. So putting that infrastructure in place. So there's 3 subcommittees that
[1:29:06] operate as part of this alliance to support that. So I think, um, business subsidies,
[1:29:12] creating some innovative solutions around sustainability, which is what that study.
[1:29:18] Uh, kind of concluded is that we need a sustainable, uh, model for childcare programming.
[1:29:23] And so what does that model look like in bringing together not just the providers
[1:29:27] but like I said, the funders as well and community, right. Everyone in this room
[1:29:32] who benefits from it. Childcare is not a childcare issue. It's a workforce issue.
[1:29:36] It's an economic development issue, so we take that role very seriously. And, and
[1:29:43] I guess I I understand the, the elegance if you will, the benefit of having a convenor
[1:29:51] of the different providers here as well as with the employees. I understand it. Uh,
[1:29:56] it also shows why in Kimberly what I hear is this gonna be an annual thing? Is this
[1:30:02] something Greater Gallatin is like we're gonna lean into this and we wanna provide
[1:30:05] this role for the Big Skype community in the foreseeable future, OK. And so that's
[1:30:11] why all those things. Lead to why this should be in our annual allocation cycle so
[1:30:16] that we can really see more of a thought. This application does doesn't get a lot
[1:30:20] of details, right? It's very vague when I read it, I was like, well, I'm not quite
[1:30:24] sure what we're doing with this. And so it just reinforces why this is not the appropriate.
[1:30:31] Um, Uh, process through our micro grant application for something that's gonna be
[1:30:37] a multi-year, not a perpetual effort, and I'm not saying it's the wrong bucket. What's
[1:30:42] that? The wrong bucket. Yeah, I just, there's, I, I would like to just see more of
[1:30:46] a, um, of a strategic plan. What are the deliverables each year? How are we gonna
[1:30:51] do it? And I'm, and you're answering some of my questions today. But like I said,
[1:30:54] it reinforces why this is just not the appropriate. Venue for it, but I think we've
[1:31:00] gained a lot of traction too, and I think A lot of the community could say we have
[1:31:04] developed coordinated messaging which I think has been beneficial just around childcare
[1:31:08] in general, um, and outreach and marketing and things like that. I'm sorry, I'm not
[1:31:12] saying you haven't made traction. I'm just saying for our board to evaluate these
[1:31:16] things and just, hey, hey, and, and I understand we're in a bit of a pickle right
[1:31:20] now because you don't have anything in our annual application, but I would just say
[1:31:24] next year it needs to be at our Twitter. Or the questions.
[1:31:36] I'd entertain emotion.
[1:31:39] Mhm I make a motion to partially fund this request to the other amount of
[1:31:46] $8,435. I'll second that.
[1:31:54] Good question.
[1:31:58] What that amount it sounds like in this application would fund any alliance events
[1:32:03] and training and development, not overhead. I appreciate the training and development.
[1:32:08] I'd actually like to understand more about that, but that's a different conversation,
[1:32:11] but I do think if, if we're gonna fund something. Yes, we are. I'd rather do the
[1:32:17] training and development for our providers.
[1:32:21] Further discussion
[1:32:24] Same thought process.
[1:32:28] Taylor John?
[1:32:34] No, I agree with that.
[1:32:40] And I hear what you're saying, Kevin, cause I agree. This, I feel it's Again, we're
[1:32:45] going back to the same thing we did last week too with or last last month, yeah,
[1:32:49] yeah, same thing last week I know. And I hear what you're saying, and I agree and
[1:32:54] Do you just cut them off at the knees, which sounds horrible, but it's, how do we
[1:33:00] Give something still and then moving forward looking at a different funding mechanism.
[1:33:09] OK, um, I would like to open it up for public. I've already done discussing, so we
[1:33:15] have a motion to fund. It's 8435 is what. Yeah, so, um, I would like to hear some
[1:33:23] comments. I'd certainly like to hear from the childcare providers, and I see one
[1:33:27] of them in the room at least on the benefit to your organization, Mariel, as well
[1:33:33] as
[1:33:43] Hi everybody. Mario Huan, executive director of Morningstar Learning Center and also
[1:33:48] the education representative for the coordinating council. Um, Tori and I have worked
[1:33:53] together very closely, um, with the alliance meetings and also the education group,
[1:34:00] so similar to the Wellness Coalition that has existed for however many years we have
[1:34:04] an education group like Women. Those, um, and so we have partnered very closely with
[1:34:11] the Early Childhood Alliance. Um, they are definitely bringing the discussion beyond
[1:34:17] like the education group is really about like coordination amongst providers, um,
[1:34:23] and making sure that we're filling gaps and, and needs in the community like we've
[1:34:28] heard before about the Arts Council doing PIR Day, art programming, like that's kind
[1:34:32] of what the education group has been doing, um. The alliance has been much more focused
[1:34:38] on things like the childcare report, um, and business relationships and stuff like
[1:34:46] that, especially because as individual entities, if I go to talk to a business about
[1:34:52] sponsorship, generally speaking, I'm there on behalf of Morningstar, not on behalf
[1:34:56] of like all education and childcare entities in Big Sky. Um, so that's one of the
[1:35:01] roles that I have seen the alliance. Play and it's a, you guys all know it's a really
[1:35:07] big complicated issue for what's best for kids, what's best for families, what's
[1:35:13] best for our economy, and so having additional brains and feet on the ground for
[1:35:20] that has been great. Mhm. So you support, I'm just, yes, is this something that Morningstar
[1:35:27] supports? Yeah, and we actively participate in it as well. Thank you. That's what,
[1:35:32] is there anybody here from Discovery or? OK, thanks Maria. Ma'am, can you give us
[1:35:37] just, uh, oh, go ahead, can you just give us a sample of what a training or development
[1:35:41] would, would actually, what this would cover. Of course I'm hearing a couple of different
[1:35:46] things so I just wanna make sure we're so Tory Sprolls, I'm the director of youth
[1:35:51] opportunity at Greater Galaxy United Way and the facilitator of the Big Scary Early
[1:35:54] Childhood Alliance. Um, we are currently in the process in, uh, one of our committees
[1:35:59] in kind of developing exactly what those trainings and professional development opportunities
[1:36:03] look like in coordination with education group as well. Uh, one of the main things
[1:36:08] that we're trying to look at too is how do we Do better at also coordinating what
[1:36:15] the providers are offering. So between our infant care through our 3 to 5 year old
[1:36:19] care through that sort of thing too, and having more conversations at the higher
[1:36:22] levels around kind of how everybody's coordinating together too. So, one of our goals
[1:36:27] right now is to figure out what that professional development might look like and
[1:36:30] what events might happen in the future related to that. We have a lot of Ideas around
[1:36:35] how to bring the community into this conversation a little bit more effectively.
[1:36:38] We have a lot of great players at the table for the alliance, um, but one thing we're
[1:36:42] missing is a lot of parents and families in the community to provide feedback too.
[1:36:45] So some of those professional development or training opportunities might also be
[1:36:49] some of those gatherings of getting some more input, um, from families as well. Does
[1:36:54] that help answer that question? It does. Thank you. Thank you. Mhm.
[1:37:00] Great. Any further public comment or questions? Well, great, thank you. Sarah, if
[1:37:04] you wanna unmute yourself, we should be able to hear you.
[1:37:10] Cool, can you hear me? We sure can. Hi, y'all. So, uh, Sarah Thompson, executive
[1:37:17] director of the Northern Rocky Mountain Economic Development District, who serves
[1:37:21] Park and Gallatin counties and includes, um, Big Sky. I'm here to support Greater
[1:37:26] Gallatin United Way's $25,000 micro grant request for the Big Sky Early Childhood
[1:37:33] Alliance. I understand, um, just kind of hearing what you all are talking about with
[1:37:37] like the annual grant, and maybe that would be a better approach. Um, you know, considering
[1:37:42] that pushing this to an annual grade create a funding gap, especially since this
[1:37:46] is kind of mid-strategy and we're really pushing through to, um, kind of on this
[1:37:50] momentum and especially considering the work is looking to expand the cost by the
[1:37:54] end of the year, um, I'm just hoping that, uh, we can continue with this momentum,
[1:37:59] especially bringing families and businesses in. Uh, we've been working alongside
[1:38:04] Greater Gallatin United Wei on childcare studies covering both Gallatin and County
[1:38:07] and Big Sky, including the most recent 2026 Big Sky Childcare market analysis that
[1:38:13] we presented to you all at last month's BIR board meeting. We're also a stakeholder
[1:38:18] in the alliance itself. We've been part of the conversations early on, uh, from,
[1:38:24] you know, all of this where the, you know, big data collection gurus, um, all the
[1:38:28] way to the convenings that are happening right now, and, um, it wouldn't, you know,
[1:38:33] be in existence without, uh, Greater Gallatin United Ways expertise, um, in this
[1:38:39] game, and Early, you know, it's been stated and you all have expressed that is that,
[1:38:44] yeah, what we, what this work has shown us is that affordable childcare is critical
[1:38:48] need in Big Sky. It's often what decides whether a family can stay. In the community,
[1:38:54] it's not nice to have alongside housing, um, or, you know, just wages, it's Combined
[1:39:00] and tangled up in both, so demand for care isn't easy enough, we're seeing, you know,
[1:39:05] um, a lot of interesting information even um coming out the the data that, you know,
[1:39:11] it's ever evolving. And even though that we have done the analysis, the way forward
[1:39:16] has to, you know, fit the workforce that's actually Big Sky and make sure that childcare
[1:39:21] providers can keep their doors open. And so, uh, I think this, um, being part of
[1:39:26] this alliance and Greater Gallatin United Ways push, um, leading of it for the past
[1:39:31] two years really shows their commitment to supporting Big Sky's families, employers,
[1:39:34] and the economy. Uh, this request, you know, the fund funding year 3 would really
[1:39:40] start putting the groundwork into action. Uh, further expand on that, you know, strategy,
[1:39:47] planning, and, um, which actually can help reach families, strengthen the workforce,
[1:39:52] and build the, you know, a resilient community. So, we are in support of this, uh,
[1:39:58] funding and we are excited to, um, continue to be part of it. Thank you. Thanks,
[1:40:04] Sarah. Uh So, Kimberly, in your application, it says, can this project or program
[1:40:12] still take place if the Michael grant was not awarded and, and about the box that
[1:40:16] was checked is no. It just still move forward with the motion on the table, $8400.
[1:40:22] Yes, it will not be as robust of a priority with that, um, quite frankly, uh, because
[1:40:28] it does cover our cost to put this on, so we'll have to redirect.
[1:40:38] Or any further comments or questions on the motion on the table? Can I type in real
[1:40:44] quick? Sorry, we did get one piece of written comment after our the board packet
[1:40:49] had gone out. It is up on the screen for you. Um, it's from Brian Rodriguez, program
[1:40:53] officer at Yellowstone Club Community Foundation, in support of this project. A little
[1:40:58] more flavor in there as well. Great. As everyone's reading it, I just, you know,
[1:41:05] my, my comments, Kimberly, as I, in, in, in group is I really see the need for this.
[1:41:10] I mean, it's similar to what we were just talking about. We have the coordinating
[1:41:14] council that's working on all the applicants. We just went through um the wellness
[1:41:18] coalition and them coordinating amongst themselves, and I really do applaud this
[1:41:23] effort as far as um the. Greater Gallatin working with the, the childcare providers
[1:41:29] in this community to help coordinate. I think ultimately that leads to more efficiency
[1:41:34] and, and on a better product. It actually helps our resort tax board out, so we're
[1:41:39] not having to referee in between different applicants on things a lot of times. And
[1:41:44] so I see the need for it. I just, um, just gonna say I'm thankful for you guys doing
[1:41:48] this, and I hope that this mission can continue. And I just want to make sure you
[1:41:54] have the funds to continue this mission until we can get this in the right grant.
[1:41:57] Yeah, we appreciate that. We want to create solutions. We're not trying to create
[1:42:00] more work, and I think that it came out of just having a lot of silent conversations
[1:42:04] to help facilitate kind of a unified infrastructure for that, especially considering
[1:42:09] how much is actually being invested in childcare, millions of dollars, resource tax
[1:42:13] alone. So there's a lot of dollars going into it, and it's a very complex riddle,
[1:42:17] and I don't think it's ever going to be solved. It just needs to. We continually
[1:42:20] worked, um, and just having, I think just as speaking as just one board member having
[1:42:28] this in our annual, um, grant application as we've talked about but also looking
[1:42:32] at a multi-year strategy how are we doing this? What are the deliverables and then
[1:42:36] as importantly is having all the childcare providers stand up here with you and saying
[1:42:40] yes we see the benefit on this so that this board is then a very easy decision we
[1:42:44] see this alliance, we see the unity and uh. It's my conference. OK, I'm gonna shut
[1:42:51] up and call about. All those in favor of the motion on the table signified by Say
[1:42:57] aye. Aye, aye, aye. OK. All those opposed I
[1:43:06] OK, motion passes. I would have voted opposed because I would have won save a little
[1:43:12] bit more money, but at least for for this year. But as long as you can get along
[1:43:17] for one more year and we see you next year, we would like to see you at our annual.
[1:43:21] Appreciate what Greater Gallatin's doing for our community. So thank you, Tory. Thank
[1:43:25] you.
[1:43:30] OK, um, last agenda item, well, second to last agenda item, we have the community
[1:43:37] week schedule discussion. Matt. Um, Community Week is in its
[1:43:45] 5th year this year, which is crazy. Um, just wanted to give you all a peek at the
[1:43:49] schedule. We're still working on a few final details, but events are online at communityweek.com.
[1:43:55] Invite the public. Thank you all that participate. Huge thanks to this team, the
[1:43:59] chamber team, and all of the other organizations that are partnering with us on events,
[1:44:03] um, quite a few familiar events and a few new ones sprinkled in there this year,
[1:44:07] and we're just looking forward to. Another fun week, the first week of October, and
[1:44:14] Questions for anyone?
[1:44:17] The only thing I noticed on the agenda when I was going through it last week is we
[1:44:21] don't have an aches and issues before the joint county commission meeting. That is
[1:44:25] what how we've been doing it the last few years, um, community we kind of fills that
[1:44:30] gaps everything out is the, yes, and then the spring is when it's the more formal,
[1:44:34] yes, yeah. I like the CPR training. That's cool. Yeah, the hospital reached out.
[1:44:41] They just got team members certified to do that. So yeah, a new opportunity for the
[1:44:47] community to learn something that will ultimately give back and the health care screening,
[1:44:52] get your flu shot. Yeah, great. Well, that's like I'm feeling healthy this year.
[1:44:59] They won't see, they won't see and cholesterol screenings. It's great. I appreciate
[1:45:04] yours and everybody's chambers, everybody's work on it. I think Community Week is
[1:45:08] the success keeps building, so it's awesome. For any further comments? Members of
[1:45:16] the public, any comments on Community Week?
[1:45:21] OK. Hearing and seeing no more further comments on that, I'll entertain emotion.
[1:45:29] So move. Oh wait, sorry, I messed up. That's my 2nd mess up today if anybody's keeping
[1:45:34] score. Any public comment for items that are not on major I know.
[1:45:46] Awkward silence is done, now I'll entertain him. So moved. Meeting adjourned. Thank
[1:45:52] you, everyone. John, stay on and for the public, we're gonna move into a closed session
[1:45:57] for employee reviews. So I would kindly ask you to go out of the room. You don't
[1:46:01] have to leave, but you can't see. Yeah, you don't have to leave, but you can't see
[1:46:05] here. We'll do OK. After the timing, got it. All right, everyone pull your the new
[1:46:12] Zoom link so that I share my scheduling right now. Yes, yeah, I can do it. Yes, yes,
[1:46:18] at home sitting in my table. Do you have some.