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.
Council Goals Quarterly Update (Work Session)
Capital Improvement Program Follow-up (Work Session)
Hawthorne Bridge Alternatives (Work Session)
Council Compensation Committee Update (Work Session)
Committee Stipend Program Review (Work Session)
Public Hearing and First Reading: Downtown Economic Improvement District (Regular Meeting)
Resolution: Multiple-Unit Property Tax Exemption for 445 NE Penn Avenue (Regular Meeting)
Authorize Guaranteed Maximum Price Amendment #3 for Public Works Campus (Regular Meeting)
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.