BDC Members and Affiliates,
I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Mihelich, City Manager of Bozeman last Friday. Our interview is in a 10 Questions format and is certainly more Rolling Stone than 60 Minutes. I think you will find Jeff’s responses insightful and timely.
Jeff Mihelich began as Bozeman's City Manager on May 26, 2020. Jeff is an International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Credentialed City Manager with 28 years of experience in large cities, small towns, and counties including his most recent term as Deputy City Manager and Chief Operating Officer of the City of Fort Collins, Colorado.
The role of the City Manager is to operate at the will of the City Commission with a focus on policy, long range planning, and strategy. Key areas, as identified in the City’s Strategic Plan, are:
10 Questions with Bozeman City Manager Jeff Mihelich
[The following interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.]
JP: What is something interesting about yourself most people don’t know?
JM: I am horrible at golf. JP: Then you are definitely going to need me on your team! Our team tied for First Place in the Governor’s Cup.
JP: What keeps you up at night right now?
JM: It is hard to grow City Operational Elements in Bozeman because of the state tax caps. Only about 30% of every dollar is recaptured by the City. So, tax caps are a challenge—one possible answer is a local-option sales tax. Solving this challenge is critical to how we keep pace while maintaining vibrancy and quality.
JP: Tell me about the most important strategies you have developed as a City Manager.
JM: a) Be a good listener — Lead by example, good intentions and good listening lead to good outcomes. Get to know the human being you are communicating with.
b) Be more open minded— especially about risk and development, in its purest form — when a Development Community member has an initial conversation with the City, ask “Is this project going to benefit the community?” If the answer is “Yes” then figure out how to make the project happen, as opposed to taking the old approach of “Does it fit the codifications?”. This old view is unrealistic today.
Only through teamwork and mutual benefit can we expect to make a better Bozeman. It is a lot like the role of the Offensive Tackle in Football—he must protect the quarterback by guiding incoming problems around the quarterback—it is a very demanding technical position.
c) Quality, in internal processes and external results, is key—I am going to raise the bar —we want to be a “Best Practices” community. We must strive for continuous improvement on all fronts, from the best tasting water, to the most novel bike path, to a successful approach to affordable housing, etc. The City should function this way and should expect a similar commitment to quality from the Development Community. We can achieve this in a more zen, holistic, and effective way if we are not always turning to the literal codebook every time a member of the Development Community brings a question or a project.
JP: Tell me about a moment that could be described as “a fork in the road” for you?
JM: I was working in Algonquin, IL (a suburb of Chicago) when it doubled in size to about 40K people and then recession hit. My kids were strong track athletes and training in Midwest weather is rough on track participants. The question going through my mind—the fork in the road was “How do I both move to a large city and improve my kids outdoor athletic opportunities and their potential for college athletics?”
I found Surprise, AZ (sub of Phoenix) with a population of about150,000 and a 300 sq mile planning area. This was a place where 40% of all homes were in foreclosure and I would have to lay off 40% of the staff. This process was very, very painful, but gave the Surprise a chance to reset the foundational processes and allowed remaining staff to take on several responsibilities and expand their core competencies to really accomplish many things. In the end, I took the challenge and helped Surprise, AZ adapt, and gave my kids the resources to become amazing track athletes in college.
JP: What do you see as your toughest challenge, thus far, in Bozeman?
JM: How we ride the wave of growth and simultaneously maintain the beneficial aspects of our community is the big challenge. Growth communities like Bozeman have intense development pressures. People move here for a reason and often want to institute immediate stasis for only their benefit. This attitude does not help build a community.
JP: Would you say you lean toward “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”?
JM: I have a hard time working with people who call me and say, “I have just moved here and I want you to serve my interests…”, without their first embracing, understanding, and contributing to our culture.
JP: What can we do about city staffing?
JM: Our Development Team is borderline overworked. We must also take care to avoid layoffs in the event of a potential slowdown. Many of my previous communities worked on sales tax and it is a double-edged sword, for some communities, sales tax was up to 40% of total revenue. The Montana model is somewhat recession-proof as property tax-driven state.
I want my staff to share in Bozeman’s Quality of Living. Our recent Compensation Study has moved staff compensation and Quality of Living upward. I want to be able to compare ourselves to the Ft Collinses and the Eugenes. The big question is how do we pay for it? Development Fees is one option, I think that many Developers I talk with would be happy to pay more, in fees, to increase staffing, if such increases meant they could get consistency and guaranteed timelines.
JP: What is one of your favorite quotes?
JM: Ben Franklin’s “If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality.”
JP: What is the key point you would like readers to take away from this interview?
JM: We are in this together—When the Development Community isn’t getting the answers they need for a project, or when City processes delay project timing—we must collaborate more diligently to succeed. Here are a few of the projects, and the delivery dates, I am working on to make Bozeman a more competitive regional development environment:
Most importantly, if the City provides a more collaborative, agile model for Development Review and Approval, and an easier, more efficient PUD process, the Development Community must reciprocate by being thoughtful and acting in good faith when negotiating using this new, more collaborative model.
JP: How would you like citizens to get to know you?
JM: One-on-one meetings are very valuable, but can take weeks to calendar. I like it when people meet with me to share a perspective, in addition to trying to solve a problem. Citizens can also engage with me by attending some of my public events such as the Chamber or the League of WomenVoters.