Bridget Carberry Montgomery is a wife, mother of 3 girls, public school employee, small business owner, city councilor and community volunteer. She is a long-time Urbandale resident committed to building sustainable and equitable communities, supporting public education and fighting for common sense solutions to problems facing working Iowans.

 

An Iowa native, Bridget was born in Newhall, Iowa and is the daughter of a public school teacher and a large animal veterinarian.  She was raised in Iowa City and is a proud graduate of Iowa City Public Schools.  She graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California with degrees in Political Science and History.  She promptly returned home to the University of Iowa to complete a graduate degree in Urban and Regional Planning with concentrations in Housing and Economic Development. She is a 2002 graduate of the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute.

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Public service is a long-held value of Bridget's, practiced in both her professional and volunteer life. For nearly ten years, Bridget worked as a Neighborhood and then Senior City Planner with the City of Des Moines. She advised neighborhood associations as they developed and implemented neighborhood-level action plans related to housing, infrastructure, commercial development, parks, and community engagement.

 

In 2007 Bridget and her husband Tony, moved to Urbandale to raise their growing family. They chose Urbandale because of its quality schools, safe neighborhoods, excellent parks and trail system, and overall quality of life.  In 2008, Bridget left her paid work to focus on raising her family and volunteering in her community.

 

Since then, Bridget has become increasingly involved in serving the residents of Urbandale.  She was on the Urbandale Plan & Zoning Commission from 2009 -2017, including one year as the Chair.  In this time, she additionally served on the city's Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Budget Committee for a number of years. She also has led efforts to develop an Aquatic Center in Walnut Creek Regional Park and in 2017 she led Friends of Urbandale Fire Station #43, which successfully advocated for the passage of a bond referendum for Urbandale’s newest fire station. In 2020, Bridget was elected to the Urbandale City Council where she advocates for Dallas County residents and their concerns. 

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Bridget continues to advocate for public schools, teachers, and Urbandale's children. She has served on three Waukee Community School District Boundary Committees, lending her planning expertise to help create new boundaries, recognizing the need to both adapt to the growing district and also to maintain a strong sense of community.  She was also very active in the Walnut Hills Elementary PTO from 2009, until her youngest daughter moved on in 2021.

 

Bridget is an active volunteer at the Waukee Area Christian Services Food Pantry, which serves residents of Dallas County. Through her volunteer work at the food pantry, she has become an advocate for food rescue as a way to address food insecurity and waste reduction and now serves on the Board of Hunger Free Dallas County. She also serves on the Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity Advocacy Committee.

 

Bridget and Tony are also small business owners, and are partners in four Orangetheory Fitness franchises in the Twin Cities.

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The Montgomerys are members of St. Boniface Catholic Church where Bridget has taught Faith Formation and serves on the Community Outreach Committee.