Bozeman, MT Public Conduct: Loud Party Ordinance (2026)

Section 24.05.020 of the Bozeman Municipal Code treats a loud or unruly gathering as a public nuisance and makes the people behind it pay. It defines a loud or unruly gathering as two or more persons on private property, or a permitted gathering on public property, whose loud or unruly conduct constitutes a threat to public health, safety, quiet enjoyment of residential property or general welfare, including violations of chapter 16, article 2. Incidents of domestic violence are excluded.

The responsible person is anyone with a right of possession in the property, including an owner or tenant, a permittee, or anyone accepting responsibility. The term also includes the landlord of another responsible person and the parents or legal guardians of responsible persons under 21. The responsible person need not be present, so the section imposes vicarious as well as direct liability.

On the first response to an address, the officer tells any responsible person at the scene that a loud or unruly gathering exists and that responsible persons will be charged for special security services required for subsequent responses within the next 12 months. Only one warning is given. Warnings to responsible persons who do not reside at the premises are delivered by certified mail. Later responses within the warning period make all responsible persons jointly and severally liable for the city's costs.

Subsection D bills a reasonable charge for the responder's time and actual costs of equipment used or damaged, plus an additional 33 percent for administrative overhead. The bill is a debt owed to the city, and failure to pay within 30 days is a violation of the Code. If the city must sue, the responsible person also pays costs of suit, attorney's fees and costs of collection. The fines in subsection E are in addition to those charges and are payable whether or not the same person was responsible for a prior gathering at that address.

Subsection F directs the Bozeman Police Department to strictly enforce state law on alcohol service to minors and to contact a minor's parents or guardians, or have the school do so, when a minor is found with alcohol or narcotics or intoxicated at a gathering.