Promoting Workforce Housing and Preventing Another Whistler Observatory Situation on Red Lodge Council's 2024 Agenda

The first Red Lodge City Council meeting of the year was led by new Mayor Dave Westwood and started with a tap of the official gavel, the banging of which was refreshingly absent from the rest of the meeting. Westwood made clear that he is dedicated to maintaining good communication and cooperation as well as clear boundaries between the legislative and administrative branches and looks forward to returning the City to its service-oriented roots.

The mayor and council discussed changing the structure of future meetings to encourage more citizen participation by providing a work session in conjunction with the City Council meetings to bring the public and Council up to date on City issues and allowing for open dialogue between the City and the public. The mayor emphasized that this is a decision that will be made by Council.

Another change will be how issues move through the Council. Westwood, as mayor, controls the meeting agendas and has stated that he recognizes the importance of Council having time to review and research proposed action items. As a standard, Council will have the option to take action on a new item or postpone action until the next meeting.

The meeting started with some housekeeping issues including electing Jody Ronning as Council President and appointing Council representatives to boards. The meat of the meeting began with a Red Lodge Area Community Foundation Workforce Housing presentation (shown below) that was met with enthusiasm by those in the room.

The meeting concluded with a new agenda item, Other Council Business, (see below) which ended with a lively discussion regarding communications with boards and tightening up procedures and processes. Whistler Observatory was used as a recent example of a project that would have benefited from thorough vetting and project review with a formalized approval process that fully involved both Council and the Planning Board.

Council then asked Mayor Westwood for his thoughts. He responded with his commitment to working with and for the Council and avoiding being a vote tie-breaker. If there is a 3-3 vote and it is not a decision that has to be made immediately, Westwood’s preference is to send the Council back to negotiations until at least four of them agree.

At the end of the meeting, the mayor and all councilmembers were smiling and looked ready to take on the challenges of the new year.