The Bend City Council met on September 6, 2023, in a hybrid work session (5:00 p.m.) and regular meeting (7:00 p.m.) at City Hall. The work session focused on public safety system updates, camping code enforcement, hate speech and discrimination response, and the system development charge (SDC) methodology update. The regular meeting included proclamations, public comments, consent agenda approval, legislative hearings on the Stevens Road Tract urban growth boundary (UGB) and building code amendments, and contracts for the Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) clarifier rehabilitation. Council also received committee and city manager reports.
Council Schedule Requests: Councilors Broadman and Perkins requested work sessions on the public safety system (with presiding judge, district attorney, and police chief) and camping code enforcement updates. These were scheduled for October 2023. Council expressed support.
Addressing Hate Speech and Discrimination: Equity and Inclusion Director Andrés Portela and Accessibility and Equity Manager Cassandra Kehoe presented on community experiences of bias incidents and crimes. They recommended: 1) building a regional coalition for shared response, 2) creating a formal council response process with legal and equity teams, 3) continuing the Human Rights and Equity Commission (HREC) resource guide for community members, and 4) updating the sponsorship program to include a safety plan for hate and extremism. Council unanimously supported the recommendations and noted the importance of proactive and timely responses. Councilor Méndez suggested also addressing large-scale hate events.
SDC Methodology Update: Chief Operations Officer Russell Grayson, Senior Policy Analyst Sarah Hudson, and consultant Deb Galardi presented proposed changes to water, sewer, and transportation SDCs. Key proposals included: tiered rates for single-unit dwellings (by square footage), a single per-unit rate for middle housing (duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes), continued exemptions for affordable housing and temporary shelters, expanded exemption for childcare to all systems, expanded SDC deferral program to all development types, and a location-based transportation rate for the core area (data-supported 25-30% reduction). Council gave direction on several questions:
Stevens Road Tract UGB Amendment (First Reading): Senior Planner Damian Stennick presented the proposed amendments to include 261.66 acres (owned by Oregon Department of State Lands) in the Bend UGB, following House Bill 3318. The concept plan includes ~147 acres for housing (up to 2,500 units, 700 deed-restricted affordable), a 28-acre community park, commercial land, and a future school site. The first reading advanced unanimously. Second reading and adoption scheduled for September 20, 2023.
Building Codes Amendment (First Reading): Staff presented a housekeeping item to add state-removed pedestrian protection requirements (covered walkways) into Bend Municipal Code. Unanimously approved first reading.
WRF Primary Clarifier Rehabilitation Contract and Loan: Engineering Associate Dade Pettinger and Financial Accountant Joe DeVall requested authorization for a $2,436,720 construction contract with 2KG Contractors, Inc. (lowest of three bids, within engineer's estimate) and a Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan from Oregon DEQ for up to $4,000,000 at 1.97% interest. The project includes replacing sludge collector mechanisms in two clarifiers (from 1981) and concrete repairs, with completion by April 1, 2025. The project budget is $4 million; actual loan amount will be limited to project costs. Council approved both items unanimously.
Okay. All right, let's go. Okay. We are gonna begin. Excuse me. We're gonna begin the Bennett City Council work session tonight. Um so we are gonna start with a couple of council schedule requests and start with you, Councilor Broadly. Thank you, Mayor. Um first item uh first request is requesting an update on the public safety system. This stems from conversations um I've been having in my capacity as our representative to the public safety coordinating council um and counselor Perkins and I are working together on this to request an agenda item. Um and it's a request to presiding judge Ashby, district attorney gunnels, Chief Krance to come and discuss some of the current reality of uh public safety needs in our community. Um Council Perkins, I don't know if you want to fill in more. Yeah, I mean I think we've we've all either seen on on social media or received emails that are that there's a perception that that we are asking that certain laws are not being enforced um or that we've directed at the police department or the DA to not enforce laws, and so we we um we most certainly have not done that, and so we wanted to kind of talk about what the reality of of the public safety system um and what our actual role is with um with public safety. And and in a I think related to that, and I won't speak for Councillor Campbell, but I know it's an issue she's been following, is on the public safety coordinating council. Um community interest in the gaps between um enforcement when it comes to measure 110 and possession, and we've heard a lot of mention of you know local ordinances sort of gap filling with state law, and uh just want to give the community some clarity about what is actually possible there. Okay. Um anybody have any questions about that? Everyone okay with us having a session on that? Yeah, sounds good. So hopefully the hopefully presiding judge, the DI and Chief Crance can come. Um look to schedule that in October if there's kind of support for that. Great, thank you. Yeah. All right, and then we had another one from both of you as well. Yeah. Um when we uh passed the camping code when was that? Well, it was last November. Last November put into effect in March. We we had talked about um revisiting it um and just seeing if there are any small tweaks or or you know, recalibrations that um needed to be done to um make it more effective. Um and so we are just wanted to have a uh session on on revisiting that. And the two areas that at least I've heard of and open to any other suggestions from council, but um differing regulations related to our recreational vehicles, RVs, and then the buffer within shelters. We've heard from service providers, you know, related to potential needs for differing regulation within those buffers as something to at least discuss. Yeah, and I'd be interested to hear from our people on the ground. How's it going? Okay, um, and have to be improved. So it's yeah, I think that that request syncs up with our intention of uh every six months we do a certificate code to check in. So again, I'll look to do that in October. Great as well. Sounds good. Great, thank you. Great. Okay. All right, support for both of those. Great. Okay, so we're gonna move on to item number three, addressing hate, speech, and discrimination in our community. And we have um Anderson and Cassandra here. So go ahead. Uh mayor. Uh counselors, uh, thank you for inviting our team to speak on hate speech and discrimination. Um my name is Andrés Portella.