MONTANA ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION CENTER
Member Spotlight: Kate McMahon & Bob Horne by Melissa Nootz
K
ate McMahon and Bob Horne have been helping Montana communities from Baker to Troy for 16 years, working in local government or as expert consultants on issues including parks and trails, proposed coal plants and slaughterhouses, growth policies, housing, zoning, subdivisions, and everything in between. They first met in 1993. Kate was working in Champaign, Illinois, and Bob was working in Jackson, Wyoming, but they both attended a National Planning Conference in Chicago, and their connection blossomed into a lifetime partnership. “What can we say, we’re planning nerds,” Bob explained. “On family road trips, we would drive our two boys nuts as we critiqued sign codes, landscape ordinances, and architectural standards of the towns we drove through.” Luckily for Montana, they put down roots together in Whitefish to face our state’s unique land use challenges. Kate and Bob are in deep agreement about their frustration with the legislature interfering with local control. This kind of top-down control can impair local governments from achieving their What’s your motivating issue? Kate: Community planning Bob: Grassroots collaborative community planning Why I belong to MEIC: K ate: T he k nowle dge able and ef fe cti ve conservation staff. Bob: It’s a local grassroots organization, where it’s easy to engage with the organization’s staff and state leadership. What I want to pass on: Kate: I want to leave the planet in as good of shape or better than it is now. Bob: I want to leave a legacy of successful communities where people can participate and make a difference.
community’s vision, such as addressing climate disruption or meeting clean energy goals. It also undermines practical solutions to meet basic needs for regular Montanans — housing, for example. In the last few years, both Whitefish and Bozeman have adopted forward-thinking programs to produce affordable workforce housing through programs such as inclusionary zoning. The 2021 Legislature enacted a bill prohibiting this program, despite overwhelming testimony against the bill. All over Montana, planners like Kate and Bob are dismayed that the legislature is eliminating tools that communities rely on to address planning and quality of life issues. Their commitment to grassroots advocacy motivates them to support the MEIC program staff and mission. This legislative session was riddled with the most widespread harmful policies they ever witnessed, they said. Seeing bills die, only to be resurrected and attached to different bills “was like watching a horror show where the serial killer keeps coming back,” Kate said. She said citizens shouldn’t become complacent or relax once a bill dies. Additionally, state government isn’t subject to the same public notice requirements as local governments are. Bob witnessed short notices for hearings that restricted public participation to a minimum throughout the session. It’s for these reasons that Kate and Bob see MEIC’s role closely monitoring bills and quickly updating members as critical to the legislative process, and it’s the reason they continue to support MEIC as active members.
Clean and Healthful, it’s Your Right, Our Mission.
17
