Bozeman rewrites its rulebook?

Morning. It's 76 and sunny, with maybe two more days like it before the weekend yanks us into the low 40s and the season's first snow. Enjoy it while you can. Your ballot also lands Friday, and at the bottom sits a question about how Bozeman governs itself, which is where we start. Then a renters' scramble at Stadium View, Southwest's new summer flights, and the library's great book giveaway. Coffee's on.

Mail ballots land Friday (Oct. 9), and near the bottom, past the congressional and legislative races, sits the first rewrite of the city charter since voters adopted the current one in 2006. The Local Government Study Commission, a panel voters elected to give the charter its once-a-decade look, is recommending an amended version. You decide first whether to adopt it, then a set of linked questions on the details that only count if the charter passes.

Here is what it would do. It adds two seats to the commission, taking it from four commissioners to six, and splits the city into wards for the first time, so each commissioner would live in and answer for a slice of town rather than all of it at large. A companion question asks whether ward voters alone pick their commissioner or the whole city still does. The plan would also hand the mayor a single four-year term, with the commission naming its own vice mayor, in place of today's two-years-as-deputy, two-years-as-mayor ladder.

All five study commissioners backed the rewrite, pitching it as sharper representation for a city pushing toward 60,000. A campaign called Keep Our Charter wants a no, arguing the 2006 charter works and that some of the new rules on consulting neighborhood groups reach too far. If it passes, the charter takes effect July 1, 2027, and the first ward elections wait until 2029. Ballots mail Friday; Election Day is Nov. 3.

The Bozeman Public Library starts a roughly $1 million renovation of its children's room on Nov. 9, paid for mostly by private gifts to the Library Friends and Foundation. Through Oct. 28, its Big Checkout invites families to haul home as many kids' books, movies, and audiobooks as they can carry, on loan until March, because every item checked out is one the crews don't have to box and store.

A few dates worth a note. Youth programming pauses Oct. 18 through Nov. 6, the children's collection goes dark Oct. 29 through Nov. 3 while a smaller Mini Children's Room is set up, and the library throws a See Ya Later party for the old space Oct. 23 from 3 to 5 p.m. The new room should be ready by late winter.

• Stadium View renters got 72 hours to clear out. Some tenants at the Stadium View apartments were ordered this month to vacate their bedrooms within three days after the city's building official found structural problems that made the units unsafe. The building division and fire department are overseeing repairs tied to defects in the original construction, and MSU says it will help any students who come to it find somewhere to land.

• Southwest is adding Bozeman to its summer map. Starting next June, the airline will fly nonstop Saturdays to Austin and Phoenix from June 3 to Aug. 2, and bring San Diego service back four days a week. Further proof that the valley's real summer problem is everyone else wanting in on it.

• Belgrade may finally tame "malfunction junction." The city is weighing a signal or a roundabout for the one-stop-sign tangle where Madison, South Broadway, and Colorado meet, and the council put up $675,000 to buy nearby land as a first move. The town just wants "a solution that will just make it easier and safer for everybody," said city spokesperson Whitney Bermes.

Sunny and near 76 today and tomorrow, then 79 and breezy Friday before winter clears its throat. Rain moves in Saturday and snow mixes in Sunday, with a high around 42 and an overnight near 27. Enjoy the T-shirt weather while it lasts, then go dig out the scraper.

WhiSKI Wednesdays at Wildrye Distilling, ski films and giveaways, 6 to 8 p.m., free, with 15% of the bar going to the avalanche center. A fitting way to summon the snow that's actually coming this weekend.

Thursday (Oct. 8): The Bozeman Doc Series opens its 12th season at the Emerson's Crawford Theatre, 7 p.m., $12. Season openers here tend to fill the room.

Thursday (Oct. 8): Three Forks Music Night with Kyle Austin at Bridger Brewing, 6 to 8 p.m., no cover. A pizza, a pint, and no reason to stay home.

Friday (Oct. 9): Adam Ray at The ELM, shows at 6 and 9:30 p.m. ($53 to $71). The week's splurge, and a loud one.

Friday (Oct. 9): The Bozeman Fall MADE Fair takes over the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, 5 to 8 p.m., with local makers and the first twinge of holiday-shopping guilt.

The Gallatin County Fairgrounds now has an RV dump station and the county's first food-truck grease-disposal setup, a $180,000 pair that runs $10 a use. "Grease actually can clog sewer lines," the health department's Britney Krahn explained, which is the least glamorous sentence in today's issue and also a genuine public service.