Bend City Council Work Session and Regular Meeting – April 17, 2024
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Bend City Council Work Session and Regular Meeting – April 17, 2024
The Bend City Council held a work session from 3:30 p.m. to approximately 5:00 p.m., followed by a break, and reconvened for a regular meeting at 7:00 p.m. The work session focused on quarterly updates to council goals (environment/climate, water conservation, permit improvements), capital improvement program priorities, Hawthorne Bridge design alternatives, council compensation, and a committee stipend program. The regular meeting included proclamations, public comments, approval of the consent agenda (with two items pulled separately), a public hearing on the Downtown Economic Improvement District, a resolution for a multiple-unit property tax exemption, and authorization of a major contract for the Public Works Campus.
Consent Calendar
- Approved en bloc: minutes of April 3 work session and regular meeting, OLCC report, EIPD quarterly report, amendment with Slayden Constructors for Southeast Area Pump Station (not to exceed $684,034), purchase of two Pierce Velocity fire engines (not to exceed $2,636,800 plus up to $200,000 for changes), and Water Wise Communities Rebate Pilot Programs. Councilor Norris recused from item D (Slayden amendment) and item E (fire engines) was pulled for discussion before being approved.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Karl Schemecker: Urged council members to visit the 7-Eleven at Franklin and 3rd Street late at night and talk to people experiencing homelessness, then walk along Franklin to the former Rainbow Motel and Hawthorne Street to understand the community.
- Kathy Austin (former mayor of Sebastopol, CA and committee member): Expressed strong support for the council compensation committee's recommendations, emphasizing that health insurance and cost-of-living adjustments are critical to enable diverse community members to serve on council.
Discussion Items
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Council Goals Quarterly Update (Work Session)
- Eric King (City Manager) reported: 94% of 50 action items are complete or in progress; highlights include full police staffing, approved right-of-way code, transportation fee, and progress on climate action. Colin Stevens (Community Development) presented permit review improvements: residential first review average 31 days, commercial 58 days, and new dashboard data showing time permits wait for pickup. He noted a future code update related to auto-dependent uses in convenience commercial zones, at council direction.
- Cassie Lacey (Senior Management Analyst) provided a deep dive on the Community Climate Action Plan (CCAP): greenhouse gas emissions increased cumulatively from 2016 to 2021 but decreased per capita. She reviewed achievements (solar installations, home energy score, EV readiness) and challenges (capacity for outreach, delayed community green tariff). A CCAP update will kick off in May with adoption targeted for spring 2025. A resolution on electrification of city facilities is planned for August.
- Lori Faya and Dan Denning (Water Resources) reported on water stewardship and conservation: the Deschutes Basin Water Collaborative is working on regional water management; new groundwater allocation rules from OWRD may affect Bend; the city applied for a new groundwater right. Dan presented conservation measures: a turf removal rebate program (Lawn High Desert) attracted nearly 50 applications; the city aims to reduce water use by 7.9 billion gallons by 2040. Council expressed support for potential additional staffing resources.
- Committee representatives: Neil (ECC) emphasized need for capacity to advance climate goals; Corey Harlan (CAB) highlighted the Climate-Friendly and Equitable Communities grant for the Bend Central District, including a multimodal gap analysis and low-car district feasibility study.
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Capital Improvement Program Follow-up (Work Session)
- Ryan Oester (Engineering Director) proposed delaying Bond and Reed intersection ($4M), 3rd and Reed intersection ($10M estimated), and scaling back Galveston corridor improvements to free up $10-12M for additional biking/pedestrian projects (Butler-Boyd, Bend Bikeways). Council discussed trade-offs between promised traffic bottleneck relief and multimodal investments. After debate, council indicated support (5-2) for the delay plan, with a caveat that if external grant funding materializes, the projects could be accelerated. A formal decision will accompany the supplemental budget in June.
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Hawthorne Bridge Alternatives (Work Session)
- Garrett (Transportation) and Bob Goodrich (Dowell) presented four bridge form types for the Hawthorne overcrossing: two-tower cable-stay, single-tower cable-stay, extradosed, and steel truss. Cost estimates range from $28M to $36M. Staff will conduct public outreach on May 29 (virtual open house) to gather preferences, with a final council selection expected in June. Maintenance costs differ: cable-stay ~$15,000/year, steel truss ~$5,000/year. The project budget includes $26M from ODOT plus potential additional federal funds.
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Council Compensation Committee Update (Work Session)
- Brooke Olsen (Associate City Attorney), Judy Stigler (chair), and Lou (vice chair) presented the committee's recommendations: increase mayor stipend to $50,000/year and councilor stipend to $30,000/year (based on 60% of mayor), provide health insurance (high-deductible plan) and a $3,000 annual wellness stipend for all councilors, and implement an annual CPI-based adjustment. The committee emphasized removing financial barriers to broaden representation. Council unanimously expressed support for moving forward with an ordinance; a final vote will occur after an intervening election.
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Committee Stipend Program Review (Work Session)
- Stephanie Betteridge (Chief Innovation Officer) and Andres Portella (Equity Director) reported on the advisory body stipend pilot: 75% participation (73 of 92 members), with feedback that cash cards are cumbersome. Recommendations include continuing the program, expanding to ad hoc committees, improving reimbursement (direct deposit or checks), promoting the program earlier, and gathering diversity data. Council supported these recommendations with annual reporting.
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Public Hearing and First Reading: Downtown Economic Improvement District (Regular Meeting)
- Ben Hempsen (Economic Development Manager) presented the ordinance to renew the Downtown EID for 2024-2027 with a rate increase (from $0.29 to $0.32 per square foot). One testifier, Scott Breeze, supported the EID but recommended a one-year renewal to build trust. Council approved the first reading unanimously.
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Resolution: Multiple-Unit Property Tax Exemption for 445 NE Penn Avenue (Regular Meeting)
- Alison Platt (Core Area Project Manager) and Hiatus Homes representatives (Jesse and Ryan) presented a 59-unit micro-apartment project with 18 deed-restricted middle-income units (80-120% AMI). The tax exemption is valued at $1.28 million over 10 years. Financial analysis showed the project is not viable without the exemption (IRR of 8.5% with exemption vs. 3.6-5% without). Council approved the resolution unanimously.
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Authorize Guaranteed Maximum Price Amendment #3 for Public Works Campus (Regular Meeting)
- Joe Wells (Facilities Architect) presented the final major contract for the Public Works Campus: a $78,907,904 amendment to Kirby Nagelhout Construction, bringing the total contract to $119,466,980. The project is on budget ($130M total) and on schedule for completion by end of 2025. Features include LEED Gold certification, 600 kW solar, net-zero energy design, and equity subcontracting goals. Council approved the amendment unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Votes: All consent agenda items and regular agenda items passed unanimously, except for the CIP delay which had a 5-2 consensus but no formal vote yet.
- Directives: Staff will bring back ordinance for council compensation (May), CIP decisions (June), Hawthorne Bridge selection (June), and Downtown EID second reading (June 20).
- Referrals: Future work sessions on tree code (June 20), joint meeting with Urban Renewal Agency (May 15), and CCAP update (ongoing).
- Next Steps: The council will receive a report on the trip to Warm Springs (MOU signing) and on the U.S. Conference of Mayors homelessness discussions.
Meeting Transcript
And I think that's a good one. They already got it. I didn't think one really both anymore. And then I'm not scared of either when I see it. I can't even leave it. All right. Let's see. Yeah, I mean, Mike's okay. Let's go ahead and get started. Okay. So this is our session hearing here. Anyone just gotta laptop. And your mic meeting. Okay. Are we good? Okay. All right. So this is the work session of the Ben City Council. We're gonna start with our council goals quarterly update. We have a lot to get through before our business meeting at seven, and we are gonna take a break. We're not gonna do all that all at once. So try to find a natural breaking spot around five eight or five PM or so, but we'll see. Um and we're gonna start with the quarterly update. Okay. I'm gonna set this up here, and just as a reminder for council for those watching, every quarter we walk through the council goals that you work so hard on when you first take office. Um and put uh we work as a team, both council and staff putting our goals and work plan. We have the placemats in front of you to see the bigger picture, and then each quarter we we'd like to have a focus on one of the goal areas tonight's gonna be environment and climate. Uh but before we get into the substance of that goal area, we want to just provide you with a few highlights. So I will cover that. Um, and then I'm gonna turn it over to Colin who's gonna provide you an update on our permanent activity and just the process improvements that we have been every month communicating on uh activities that uh have uh transpired. And we'll hear from our environment and climate uh efforts through Cassie, uh, and then uh our water conservation program and some everything ranging from some rules that are being proposed at the state level down to uh some conservation programs and updates there, and then we'll end with participation from our boards and committees. Um I know we've got some folks in the audience, so we'll make sure we have room for that. All right, if you could all find advancing. So just goals by the numbers. Uh most of the projects, as you know, that we have listed the the 50 actions that cover the five goals and 13 strategies, they're pretty complex. Um of those have actually been carried over from the previous uh goal period, or they maybe started and frame were framed up and now we're we're executing. We're making good progress. Really ever when you add up the complete and in progress, 94% in complete or or progress. The four not started, which are on the cusp of starting, uh include the growth plan that is going to be a focus of your July quarterly update. You're gonna get a bit of a preview if those of you on the community building subcommittee in May will be talking about some of that on the needs attention. Um that the one item there is the gun safety uh measures that really the legislature in 2023 had uh or twice 2021 or 22. I'm losing track of my time for every time they try people walk out, right? So that's what's happened. So it's really moved. And it's being held up in the court. So we have a placeholder for it, but um that that one definitely needs attention or clarity, particularly from uh judges. Um so just some highlights from where we left off last quarter. Uh since uh since J January, we have uh been successful with the wildland fire engine grant that you approved in January. We are um fully staffed in our police department for the first time in quite some time. We've have offers, accepted offers.
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