BOZEMAN, Mont. – Zach Brown took the oath of office before a small crowd on Wednesday morning, replacing Don Seifert, who has retired, as a Gallatin County commissioner.
Brown’s swearing-in marked the first time Democrats have held the majority on the commission since 1996. He will join Republican Joe Skinner and Democrat Scott MacFarlane on the board that oversees Gallatin County.
“I will discharge my duties representing those that voted for me and also those that didn’t, and I’ll work my tail off and take this job incredibly seriously,” Brown said as he stood at a podium in the county courthouse. “Good government matters, public service matters and it’s an honor to have this opportunity.”
On the campaign trail, Brown highlighted his bipartisan work as a state legislator and with local nonprofit organizations.
“I’ve focused on and thought really hard about finding ways to lead from the middle and bring both sides together to problem solve,” he said in a recent interview.
As a commissioner, Brown said he will help the county grapple with challenges related to rapid growth.
He and his fellow commissioners will oversee a number of land use planning projects such as creating a new county transportation plan and possibly developing zoning regulations for Gallatin Gateway, which he said he has already been discussing with local residents.
Brown said he understands and is prepared for the fact that he will likely have to make difficult land use decisions that don’t have universal support but that are essential for the county’s future.
“In many respects my election was a referendum that people in our communities across the valley and across the county want our local governments thinking about thoughtful land use planning, so we don’t punt on what our county looks like in the future,” he said.
Brown would also like to prioritize the replacement of the Law and Justice Center, which county officials have long said is no longer safe or large enough but which voters have repeatedly declined to pay for.
This fall, the commissioners purchased a former shooting range in Four Corners for the sheriff’s office, reducing the needed square footage, and therefore the price tag of, a new Law and Justice Center.
Brown said the purchase is a good first step but also said the commissioners must gather voter support for a new courts building.
“I think we need to play a more aggressive leadership role in engaging the community (and) listening to what the concerns were from past proposals,” he said. “At the end of the day, we just need to have the mindset that we need to get that project done.”
Brown, 30, lives in Bozeman, making him the first county commissioner from the city in more than two decades.
“It’s really important for me as a taxpayer and community member who lives both within Gallatin County and the city of Bozeman that our two largest local governments are communicating closely, treating each other as partners and trying to problem solve all the incredible variety of issues coming at us in a collaborative way rather than a combative way,” he said.
Brown represented Bozeman in the state Legislature from 2015 until this year. Most recently, he served as chair of the Water Policy Interim Committee and ranking minority member for the House on the Revenue Interim Committee.
Brown grew up in Bozeman and attended the University of Montana. After graduating, he moved to Washington, D.C. for a year to serve as a Truman-Albright Fellow.
He then returned to Montana where he worked until 2019 as a program manager for One Montana, a Bozeman nonprofit focused on bridging the rural-urban divide. More recently, he conducted census outreach with the Montana Nonprofit Association.
While serving as a county commissioner, he hopes to continue working as a high school basketball official and may also continue working part-time at the Fork and Spoon, a pay-what-you-can restaurant run by the Human Resource Development Council.
In the November election, Brown beat Republican Carter Atkinson 55% to 44%. With the election behind him, Brown said he is focused on tackling the issues the county faces.
“The decisions that local governments and state governments make are incredibly important in our day-to-day lives,” he said. “The level of political discord and vitriol that we all think about and hear about during election season and from Washington, D.C, it can’t define how we focus on problem solving at the local level.”
