How are Forms of Local Government Defined?

The 1972 Montana Constitution Article XI, Section 3 requires the legislature to provide optional or alternative forms of government (emphasis added) that each unit or combination of units may adopt, amend or abandon by a majority of those voting on the question. In 1975, the legislature responded to this constitutional mandate by enacting 7‐3‐102, MCA, which provides that each unit of local government in Montana may adopt one of the following forms of government:
• Town meeting form
• Commission form
• Commission-presiding officer form
• Commission-executive (council-mayor) form
• Commission-manager form
• Charter form

The form of government refers to a particular structural arrangement of the law‐making (legislative) and law-enforcing (executive) structures of the local government. For example, in the commission for of government, the law-making (legislative function) and law-enforcing (executive function) duties are both carried out by the commission, no single elected or appointed official is serving in an official chief executive role. By comparison, the law-making function in the typical council-mayor form is carried out by the town or city council, while the law-enacting duties are the responsibility of an elected mayor. In the commission-manager form, on the other hand, law-making is solely the responsibility of the elected commission while the ordinances adopted by the commission are then carried out by the city employees under the supervision of a city manager.

Even though there is significant variation in the structural arrangements within each form, the forms of government listed above are the forms of local government generally encountered throughout the United States. In Montana, however, the commission form is currently only utilized in county government as no citizens of any of the incorporated municipalities in the state have chosen the commission form of government.