Representatives of the news media are specifically directed not to report on any of the deliberations during the executive session.

No decision may be made in executive session at the end of executive session.

We are ready to get started with our business meeting.

Thanks, everyone, for being here.

We're going to start with our roll call and start on your end, Councillor Franzosa.

Mike Riley, Helene Keeber, she her.

Megan Perkins, she her.

Megan Norris, she her.

And Steve Platt is excused tonight.

Before we get started with Good of the Order, I just wanted to ask consent of the body to move up our public comment just because we have a lot of folks here today, and we started a little late, so I think we should do that first and then do our council action and reports after that.

Yes, I'm honored to read the Reeves Across America proclamation.

With the Ben chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

So we'll ask you to come up after I do the proclamation, and then you can say a few words.

So I'll go ahead and read it real quick.

Um whereas the National Reads Across America program honoring veterans began in 2007 as the expansion of the Worcester Reese program at Arlington National Cemetery.

And the National Reese Across America mission is to remember the fallen honor, those who serve and teach our children the value of freedom with laying of Christmas reads on veterans' graves on the second or third Saturday of December of each year.

And the Reese Across America program in Bend was initiated by Ben's Hero Surrendation and the High Desert Squadron Civil Air Patrol on December 15th, 2007 at Deschutes Memorial Garden and in Bend.

And the Reese Across America program in Bend includes Ben Chapter, daughters of the American Revolution, NIS Wonger, Reynolds Funeral Home, and VFW post number 1643, honoring veterans with Reece placed on their graves at the Chutes Memorial Gardens.

The National Reason Across America program in 2024 honored over three million veterans in over 4,909 locations in all 50 states at sea and abroad, with over four million volunteers placing Rees on veterans' graves and at state capitals across America.

The Reese Across America program in Bend is an outstounding example of how we honor our veterans, the city's use, and the public honoring of the city's veterans.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Bend City Council hereby proclaim Saturday, December 13th, 2025, as Reese Across America and the City of Bend.

Move to accept the proclamation.

Second.

All right.

Moved by Council Bruggins, second by Council Francisca.

All in favor?

Aye.

All right.

Rachel, if you want to come on up.

Oh, and if you come right here to the um table, actually.

Yeah.

Is there a microphone here?

This little one right there will pick you up.

All right.

Um, I just want to say thank you for the race across America proclamation.

Um, and invite you to our we have two ceremonies now.

Um December 13th at 9 o'clock a.m.

at DeShits Memorial Gardens, and then at noon at Mount Jefferson Memorial Cemetery and Madras.

And so we just want to invite invite you guys and mayor um my region asked me to ask you specifically to please come and join us at the ceremony.

Um, and join us in our mission to remember our fallen U.S.

veterans, honor those who serve, teach the future generations about the sacrifices made to preserve our freedoms.

And this is a free event for anyone who would like to attend.

Okay, thank you so much.

Thank you.

And again, we'll hand you the proclamation, the picture.

Thanks.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you so much.

All right.

So as I said, we're gonna go ahead and move right into our public comment period next.

This is the time for the council to hear public feedback.

Um we do have one item that a couple people um signed up for for bachelor view.

I'm gonna have you hold your comments and we'll call you up when that item is called.

Otherwise, um, we'll go ahead and have everybody else commenting right now.

You will have two minutes to give us your statement.

Um Tricia's putting up our timer right here for those who are in person.

Um, the yellow means you have about 30 seconds, red means wrap up.

I'm gonna hopefully everyone can wrap up quickly because we have a bunch of folks tonight, and I want everyone to get a turn um to speak.

Please address us as a body, please know language or actions that would disrupt the meeting.

If you are disrupting the meeting, I may have to ask you to stop or leave.

Um, I don't think we'll have any problem with that tonight.

So we will have um in person Michael Baker kick us off tonight.

Good evening, Mayor.

Councilman is Michael Baker, and I have the honor of being the CEO for the Boys and Girls Clubs here in Ben.

It's officially been one month today.

Um very excited by that.

Um I wanted to first and foremost thank uh the mayor uh for support of the I Like Pie event.

We were the Joe, some of the judges there, and we were the beneficiary of that event, Scott Douglas and his team at Cascade Realities made us the beneficiary, and we'll be able to use all those proceeds to help uh the children that go to the boys and girls clubs and scholarship, the families, which we gave out over 400,000 in scholarships last year alone.

So very excited by that.

Uh and also want to invite each and every one of you, and I know that uh city manager and and the mayor have RSCP'd for the 18th of this month at five o'clock at our club right down the road.

Uh we're gonna be giving out our gold cards uh to our members.

It'll be the first time we've ever done this.

And every one of the children that's receiving that gold card has attended our boys and girls club facility, either here or the one in the East Bend, at least 105 days, and as I've mentioned before, that's a very significant number because we know if we can get a child to attend a boys and girls club 105 days in the same calendar here, they're twice as likely to graduate high school in time and twice as likely to lead a healthy lifestyle.

So want to thank the mayor and city manager for their uh coming out supporting supporting the program, and certainly you're all invited to come.

Again, it'll be a five o'clock, we'll wrap it up by 5 30, I promise to have you on the road by 5 31.

So on the 18th.

On the 18th, yes.

So uh in uh in a couple weeks.

So again, thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Michael.

All right.

Um, if we can go ahead and do we have two online, so why don't we have um do our Zoom commenters next with those going?

I don't know who's doing the timer online.

Okay, while we're waiting, I'll call somebody up in person, Carl Schumacher.

If you're here, come on up, and then we'll go to online next.

Hello, I'm Carl Shoemaker.

I live in Bend.

Um, when I was a child, uh I was in the basement of a church and I smelled a strong natural gas leak, and it made me sick.

So I know from personal experience how nasty that substance is to breathe in.

With all the new construction that's proposed in the city of Bend, um what like you to consider uh electrification as opposed to uh allowing for natural gas uh included in the new construction uh for the sake of people, including children and pets that might not have much of a choice and what happens to them uh and also the dangers of explosions from natural gas, either from people making the mistake of digging into the ground in the wrong place or in the house itself.

Time is up, yes.

It's thank you.

Thank you, Carl.

All right.

Oh, and just to because we have a lot of folks here tonight.

Um, we're gonna discourage clapping or reacting to what other folks say um because we'll have people on with different opinions here tonight.

If you want to put hands up or sort of silent things, that's great.

Um, and thank you with your signs for keeping this so that everyone can see us up here.

Ready for online now?

Okay.

Okay, so we will start with was it Peter Fargo was online?

We'll start with Peter.

And Peter, I think you should be able to unmute.

Is he unmuted?

Sorry, I'm not logged on.

Peter, if you can hear us, you can go ahead.

Can you hear me now?

Yes, we can.

There you go.

Fantastic.

Well, good evening, counselors and community members.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify.

My name is Peter Fargo.

I represent ecumenical ministries of Oregon and our members in in Bend and across the state.

I serve as our environmental and energy uh program manager, and we have the privilege of representing communities of faith and goodwill that come together to serve the community across the state.

And we advocate for policies that reflect our shared values.

And one of those values is that everyone has the fundamental right to a healthy and safe environment.

Clean water to drink, clean air to breathe, stable climate that not only uh supports life, but supports its thriving, uh, its beauty and diversity.

Um that's the golden rule for us.

That's what everybody is is here to support for everyone else, for our neighbors and for ourselves.

So what I would like to speak to you today is a focus on the health impacts of what we call natural gas colloquially, uh, but what we know is actually toxic.

And there are two studies recently conducted by Stanford University that affirm that fact.

And I'd like to read two brief excerpts.

I've submitted the details and the links to the studies uh via email, so you have that available.

The first is in one of the most important journals in the world called uh science, and it reads a single gas cooktop burner on high or gas ovens set to 350 degrees Fahrenheit can raise indoor levels of the carcinogen benzene above the levels of secondhand smoke.

I'll refer to my comments for the second uh and encourage you to consider how you can save lives here in Bend and inspire others to do the same in their communities across the state.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Peter.

And we and we did get your email with the links, so thank you.

Um okay, next would be Morgan Greenwood online.

And Morgan, if you um are able to there you go.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, my name is Morgan Greenwood.

Uh I'm the government affairs director for Cascades East Association of Realtors.

Uh thank you very much for your time this evening.

We would like to respectfully request that council pause the evaluation of any new development fees until the city has completed a necessary cost analysis, resiliency evaluation, and community education on the electrification goals and impacts.

Uh, in particular, we would like to see a complete analysis of the cost impacts to all electric residential construction and the potential impacts to housing affordability and home ownership.

In addition, the city's report assumes a 2% increase in annual electricity rates, uh, but that is not in alignment with the rate increases that we have seen locally in recent years.

Uh we we need accurate data to uh determine the realistic impact to residents, and we request a full cost modeling, including long-term operating costs and the impacts to housing development and home ownership.

Uh additionally, we would request that staff conduct a resiliency analysis that fully addresses how both the electric grid and gas systems perform in both extreme heat and extreme cold.

Many get natural gas appliances still function during power outages, and we anticipate seeing increased power outages uh as extreme weather increases in both the winter and summer months.

Um we request that the city uh conduct an analysis of the uh sites and sources of uh of electricity in order to assure that um that that the city is fully meeting their carbon their decarbonization goals.

Uh, in particular, we need to determine where the electricity that we are receiving is being generated from and by uh and ensure that we are we are uh truly utilizing all of the renewable resources that we can uh rather than electricity from um from carbon uh carbon producing forms.

Uh thank you very much for your time this evening, and again uh we would respectfully request that the council pause the evaluation of these new development fees until further research has been conducted.

Thank you, Morgan.

All right, for our online um co-match, we'll go back to embarrassing.

Um I have Julian Morale if I got that right.

Yes, Marati Green.

That's you've got it.

Wow.

And after Julianne will be sharing health.

Hello.

So you guys know my name, Julianne Marati Green.

I'm a retired flight nurse um and nurse practitioner in the ER for 40 years.

So and I've taken care of many patients that uh have this have issues that have been exposed to methane.

But tonight, what I'd like to do is talk about methane in the home and talk about what it does.

Methane has 20 different plus toxins, but one of the worst ones is benzene, as Peter showed you or shared with you.

Um benzene is known as a toxic carcinogen, and that's cancer causing.

And it is very effective at that, causing cancer.

Umzene was identified years ago, and it's also in cigarettes.

And so we're getting it all over the place, and it's been around forever.

Um they've known about it from the 20s to the eighth 1990s, about uh excuse me, benzene in the methane.

And sorry, I had to look.

But they didn't let anybody know about the benzene with the methane.

And so between 1920 and 1990s, they identified it.

They suppressed the information and did not want to lose money, so they uh didn't tell us.

Shell company in 1949 admitted there was no safe exposure to benzene, but they continue to use it anyway.

There are many more things I'd like to talk about, but two minutes isn't enough.

I could carry on.

But let me show let's talk about cooking with methane in your house and uh having benzene.

Oh, I got time.

And then um, so is that all I have left over?

Yes.

Oh, dang it.

Sorry.

All right, bottom line is we don't want to, and it's bad for everybody, and kids get sick, adults get sick.

And one more thing while I'm closing up, and um the annual cost for uh pollution and you can hand that to Tricia right there, and she'll hand it to you.

Solution and the health costs are up to 8830 billion dollars annually.

Thank you, Julia.

Thank you.

All right, next is Sherry Hell, and after Cher will be Amelia DeBose.

Good evening.

Thank you, Mayor Keebler, Mayor Pro Temp Perkins.

My name is Sherry Helt, and I'm here to testify um for working families.

I wanted when you're making policies and decisions, it's really important that you put on multiple lenses while you make these choices.

And one of the lenses that I would like to request that you put on is that of our working families.

Um you can think about two working adults with no kids, one kid, two kids.

Um the average median income is between $86,000 and $123,000 a year in Bend.

Um, these are our teachers, our firefighters, our police, our nurses, our hospitality staff, and many more.

They struggle with a lot of costs.

We all know utilities have gone up.

I don't need to tell you that you all are well aware of the costs.

And these working families struggle with every penny they make.

So if you look at your electrification incentives study here, and you go to the cost, um the gas charge goes from $791 a month to $3333.

That goes from 0.7%.

If you're making 100,000 a year, it was 0.7% of your income, and now it's 3.3% of your income.

That's a lot of money that these families could be using for daycare and other choices that they could make.

And maybe some of these choices that they would use that money to spend on would have better return on investment for carbon output than the choices that we are going to ask them to do.

Um, I would just ask that you look at our working families while you look at these policies and give them choices instead of fees or fines.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, Amelia De Beauz, and then after that, Garrett Mosher.

Sorry.

Hi guys.

Um, hi, Mayor Keebleer, City Council, and city staff.

My name is Amelia DeBose, um, and I am a Bend resident.

I lived in Bend since I was five years old.

Most of the people I love live in Central Oregon.

Um, this is my home, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Uh, however, I don't see a future in Bend where I can buy a house or where my friends can buy houses.

I also see a trend in the city's governance that puts profit and business over health, safety, and a livable future.

Um, this city and this council have multiple goals.

Um, you want to do a lot of things, including uh increase the housing and decrease the price of that housing.

You want to meet the climate goals from the community climate action plan, and many of you want to be re-elected.

These goals aren't mutually exclusive, and siloing affordable housing from climate justice will not get us anywhere.

We need to invest in the future.

Um, it's a fact that fossil fuels are a scarce and unethically controlled resource.

If we build homes in accordance with the desires of fossil fuel companies, those homes will not be built for the future.

We can make the grid cleaner, but we will never be able to make fossil fuels clean.

And RNG and hydrogen are false solutions and not options.

Phasing out fossil fuels has benefits that go beyond climate mitigation.

It is the best option for public health, for food security, for affordability, for transportation, for community, and for housing.

The people who make it seem like we have to choose between affording a home and living a healthy life, do not have Ben's best interests at heart.

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify.

I'll see you at the December 10th work session, where I hope you will advocate for a strong climate impact fee.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Garrett Mosher, and after Garrett will be Christy Kimball.

Good evening, Mayor Keebler, members of council.

My name is Garrett Mosher here today on behalf of COBA to respectfully share concerns about the potential adoption of natural gas impact fee on appliances and new development.

COBA commends this body, this body's work for your partnership with the development community, affordable housing advocates, and many other stakeholders to meet the city's housing needs.

We want to caution the city against pursuing an electrification policy that would undermine council's housing and economic development goals.

Imposing an impact fee would be a step in the wrong direction with no guaranteed emissions reductions.

We encourage council to further explore the electrification topic through a pilot program in partnership with residential home builders and or by utilizing non-monetary incentives to increase usage of efficient electric equipment.

Through a pilot program, we would have an opportunity to collect localized data on the cost of efficient electric equipment, both in development and to utility rates.

The pilot could also determine whether our power grid can sustain our community's needs, as well as measure the site and source of our power generation.

Overall, this pilot with this pilot and its data could help council make a more informed decision on the matter.

In speaking with COBA's members, they are willing participants for this pilot program, and we would welcome the opportunity to partner with council and its advisory bodies to develop the scope and goals of such a pilot.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak here tonight.

Happy to answer any questions.

Thanks, Garrett.

Thank you.

All right, Christy Kimball, and after Christy would be David Berger.

Hi there.

My name's Christy Kimball.

I'm a Bend resident and the mother of two children who inspired me to shift my career to climate in recent years.

I'm here to urge the city council to adopt a strong climate pollution fee to encourage the shift to electric appliances that can be powered with clean energy.

I want to focus tonight just on the bottom line.

We all know that we have to fundamentally stop burning fossil fuels at some point in the future.

We have to make that shift for health and welfare.

So the key questions for us today are how quickly do we have to make this shift?

And how expensive will the transition be?

Right.

Spoiler alert, the longer we wait, the more expensive it's going to be for our residents.

It's just a bottom line truth.

So I want to start first with the expensive question.

How expensive will it be to shift from fossil fuel-based appliances to electric appliances in our home that can run on clean energy?

Well, this is the very very clear information here that the cheapest time by far to build electric equipment into a home is at the moment of first home construction.

It's been proven over and over again.

It's far more expensive to retrofit a home later on and more complicated.

Another benefit at the moment at home construction is that you can build those costs of electrification into a mortgage and the resident can pay it off slowly over time, affecting their cost of living on a daily basis much less on a day-to-day basis.

The second question how quickly do we need to act?

This one's really hard to answer.

Generally, the sooner the better is what I would suggest.

Energy analysts nationwide and with a focus on Central Oregon predict consistently that the cost of natural gas for residents is going to spike up dramatically at some point in the next 20 years.

Now nobody can predict exactly when that's gonna happen.

It's like trying to time the stock stock market, right?

But we know, and they are agreed that the cost will spike dramatically.

It's estimated the cost of natural gas for home residents will go up about 140%.

Did I hit my number?

You hit your time, yes.

Okay, thank you.

I wanted to let you take the last minute.

So when that happens, this actually becomes the largest EJ issue facing our community.

The residents who are stuck on the natural gas system because they already have these gas appliances that they can't afford to replace before they're they've lived out their usable life.

Um so just urge you to think about our biggest goal is to help residents transition quickly off of fossil fuels.

Thanks, Christy.

All right, Dave Berger and then Rowan uh Lucas after that.

Mayor Keeper, City Council, David Berger.

Um, I represent local 290 plumbers and steam fitters here in Central Oregon.

I'm also a Benn City resident.

I have been for over 26 years.

Um I'd like to talk to you tonight a little bit about this electrification policy and my opposition to it.

Um I'm urging you to please look at the facts.

Um, your own study shows that the cost of moving to electrification is four and a half times more than a gas home.

When we look at the affordability of home and bend, it's a huge, huge ask of families that are just trying to make it here.

The second part of that study also shows that going with an electric home that's affordable is going to almost double the carbon uh output through the electrical service.

I just urge you to please look at that when you're making decisions.

And I have no PhD, but I have been in the industry of HVAC for the last 32 years.

My home in Bend, I installed when I built it a natural gas furnace, natural gas appliances with a heat pump as my main source of heat.

It is a very efficient way to heat a home.

It really helps with the energy efficiency, and I believe that you guys should look at uh, as Garrett said, looking at a pilot program with the different developers to look and see how that will affect our residents of the city and their costs and their affordability and the carbon output.

Um speaking from the heart here.

I just uh I just want to say please look at the facts and do what you can to make a good quality decision.

Um in closing, uh, on a cool night as it is.

I want to thank you for heating this room with a natural gas furnace up above.

Thank you.

All right, Rowan Lucas, and then after Roman will be Mike Reed.

Yes.

So hello, my name is Rowan.

I am a college student here at CCC in Bend, um, pursuing my degree in conservation.

I'm here today, instead of studying for finals, like I should be at home, um, to see that developing policies to regulate fossil fuels are a clear priority for the city of Bend.

Given the urgency of the climate crisis and the current state of federal climate programs and protections threatening the collapse of local biodiversity.

Um cannot wait for others to act.

I'm here today with Energize Bend to urge the city council and staff to pass a strong climate impact fee.

Implementing a climate impact fee is an achievable, equitable, and crucial first step towards the first or the just transition clean energy and a livable future for all.

A fee targeted at the climate cost of fossil fuel use will create tangible incentives for cleaner choices and funding and community-centered solutions.

In the city, or it is the city council's job to represent the people of Bend, not to protect the profit margins of developers and fossil fuel corporations.

We need policies that put residents' health, safety, and economic future first and foremost.

Electrifying new construction is the fastest lowest cost way pathway, excuse me, to meet our targets for reducing emissions by 40% by 2030 and 75 75% by 2050.

Please take concrete action soon, please.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rowan.

All right, Mike Reed, and after Mike will be Austin Countrymen.

Good evening, council.

My name is Mike Reid.

I'm a Benn resident and a grandfather.

I'll be quick.

Point one.

The dramatic economic growth in Benn is largely correlated with Benn's eco-friendly practices and policies.

Council should continue this pathway, supporting Oregon's affordable housing and climate goals for the future, welfare for the welfare of future generations.

Point two, make electric only homes the standard for new home construction by eliminating all the gas design, permitting, piping, metering, and additional infrastructure, the vent fans, and so forth.

Voila home costs are eliminated and building costs drop significantly.

Point three, allow gas, but shift the decision from the builder to the homeowner.

Builders can build homes faster, cheaper, and expand their market.

It shows good, and they will show good corporate show that they are good corporate citizens supporting Oregon's key goals.

If the homeowner uses gas, assess the climate impact fee to the homeowner.

The consultant's 1022 presentation left out significant cost elements, such as in-home toxic gas, air pollutants causing health harms and home community safety costs and the individual and city climate change coping costs.

The consultants RFP and also the fully voted written report backing her presentation must immediately be made public.

Full disclosure and transparency benefits to council, ensuring public confidence in this process and contributing to robust public involvement.

Lastly, Councilperson Norris must recuse herself from this policy process deliberation.

Hayden Holmes is the largest privately held new home builder in the Pacific Northwest.

And contracts with Cascade Natural Gas.

You may.

Thank you.

All right.

Next is Austin Countryman and then Tristy Osbund, Austin.

Sorry, can't read your hand ready.

Tristy will be next.

Mayor.

City Council and Staff.

Thanks for the opportunity to speak today.

My name is Austin Cutchman, and I'm a seventh grade science teacher in Bend.

I teach at Pacific Rest Middle School.

My life and my joy is getting to talk to students about climate change and getting them to find wow moments outside.

It's for me, that's why I moved here and why I spend my days outside.

I'm also an ultra marathon runner, and I continuously spend far too long days outside in Bend pursuing these amazing spaces.

I know I'm also not alone in this in Bend.

Um, due to Ben's strong ecotourism poll for people in and out of the state, policies like the Bend Sustainability Fund are vital to ensure that the wild spaces that I and we love continue their amazing state.

Um almost half of our local admissions in Bend come from energy use in buildings with the additional need for over 17,000 new housing units by 2028.

These homes need to be electrified.

Electrified homes using heat pumps allow for an 84% reduction in carbon emissions versus regular gas, which is a vital statement, and our local fight against climate change and increased greenhouse gases.

Less ecotourism, 50K is cut short due to smoke, and less of the wow moments that spark joy in everyday life.

This is my land, and this is also your land.

Thank you for considering a climate impact fund to ensure a future of recreation for both me, my students, and my students' students.

Thank you.

Thank you, Austin.

All right, Tristy Osbund.

And then Sophia Borgeson will be after that.

Um council and staff.

My name is Tristy Osbon, and I'm a trained environmental biologist, and also I grew up here in Bend.

Some of my best childhood memories are the ones many of us share camping, hiking, and swimming in the summer, and skiing in the winter time.

These activities gave me a deep sense of connection to this place.

And for a long time came with a sense of consistency.

Snow arriving in time for the holidays and mild summers that didn't include smoke from May through September.

But in less than 10 years, that consistency has disappeared, and the climate I grew up in is no longer the one we are living in.

In the last 10 years, I've also lived, studied, and advocated for the natural environment across the world.

And a few things have been made undeniably clear.

One, the climate crisis is here and is happening.

Our dependence on fossil fuels is destroying ecosystems and the places we call home.

And it doesn't matter who you are or where we are from, but the impacts are affecting everyone everywhere.

And fourth and finally, there's nowhere quite as special as Bend.

And that is why I've chosen to live here, advocating and protecting from the ecosystems that shape the way of our life.

The things we are already experiencing.

Less snowpack, more extreme heat, and longer smoke seasons.

The place we get to go home is being directly affected, and it's that that is exactly why the climate impact fee matters.

Passing this fee is a key tool to reducing the largest cause of greenhouse gas emissions in our city, as buildings account for 50% of all emissions and meeting goals already set forth by the community climate action plan.

It ensures that as Bend continues to grow, we are not locking new homes and families into a fossil fuel future that will harm our environment, health, way of life, and economy.

It truly isn't an opinion to carrot and act on the climate.

It is an obligation.

And I ask you as elected officials of our city with this obligation to protect citizens, both present and future, to see this opportunity to choose a healthier future and leave with courage and urgency to pass the climate impact fee.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sophia Borgeson, and then after that is quartz, and I can't read your last name, so you're gonna have to tell me quartz when you come out.

Sophia's next Mayor Keebler, Council, and staff, thank you for the opportunity to comment.

My name is Sophia.

I am a resident of Bend, and I recently earned my bachelor of science from Cal Poly Humboldt, where I studied environmental science with a focus in energy and climate.

I'm here to urge you to please pass a strong climate impact fee without delay.

The gravity of the impacts of the climate crisis, as well as the urgency of its call to action, cannot be overstated.

After all, the scale is global and potentially spans geologic time with uh catastrophic implications for not just the future of our species, but millions of others, uh, if we continue to spend our depleted carbon budget.

And this is exactly what the solution looks like.

Local policies that accelerate the energy transition in time and uh and in time to reach the necessary sum of reduced and avoided emissions.

It's very simple.

And I hope that you all find this opportunity to be part of the solution with real tangible impact, um, as exciting and meaningful and empowering as I would, uh, after all.

The well with the knowledge that the emissions that we avoid or create today will be our legacy long after anyone remembers our name.

Uh so please act with the urgency this crisis demands.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, quartz.

Yes, um, and please say your last name because I can't.

Uh, Calc Dam.

Thank you.

Hello.

Uh uh, sorry.

Go ahead, take your time.

Mayor Mayor Giebler, Council, and Staff.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

My name is Quartz, and I'm a resident of Redmond.

I'm a high school student, and I'm here with uh energize Benz and urge you to adopt a strong climate impact fee.

I want to speak today, like many others from a health perspective.

For years we've learned about how gas appliances affect the air inside our homes.

Gas stoves release pollutants like nitrogen dioxide at levels that would violate outdoor uh health levels.

Health standards, sorry.

Children uh living in homes with gas stoves have a 42% uh higher risk of asthma.

It's not just stoves.

Gas, gas furnaces and water heaters contribute to outdoor air pollution across across Bend.

We all deserve homes that keep us healthy.

Electric technologies like heat pumps, induction stoves, and uh heat pump water heaters remove these sources of pollution entirely.

They keep indoor air clean, reduce uh respiratory risks, and help ensure our most vulnerable aren't breathing harmful chemicals.

The climate impact fee is a straightforward way to move forward towards healthier homes.

It holds fossil fuel systems accountable for the hidden health costs they impose, while generating revenue to ensure low and moderate income households can access cleaner and safer options.

Please move forward, uh, move this policy forward without delay, especially the making it strong.

Our community's health depends on it.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

All right, next will be Jade O'Hare Volatros, and then after that, Kyla Guerrero.

Mayor Keebler and City Council, thank you for the opportunity to speak today and your focus and action on electrification.

My name is Jade O'Hare Volachos, and I live in Bend.

I'm a freshman at COCC, studying to become an environmental engineer.

I was I'm one sorry.

I'm here once again to ask you that going forward with a climate impact fee, that it is a strong one.

On October 16th, I spoke about my past dealing with malnutrition for most of my life due to food insecurity.

When I was young, I um sorry, when I was young.

And if we let the climate crisis continue, it's going to become a driver of that reality for kids and families all across America.

You can make real change to the consequences of climate of the climate crisis if you make the climate impact fee of a heavy cost with specific parameters and on efficient electric residential infrastructure.

Doing this in the long run will bring down living costs and make more available make housing more available as well as bring down Ben's carbon footprint.

This was shown in the presentation on October 22nd.

Making the climate impact fee a large cost will persuade developers to use electric infrastructure.

For developers who choose gas, paying a larger fee will go back to the homes and people who want to switch from gas to electric.

I have gas infrastructure in my foster home, my mom's foster home.

She is a foster parent raising medically fragile children, and I'm constantly thinking about their higher risk of cancer and severe asthma due to the benazine in the air, constantly lingering in the home I grew up in.

All on top of the medical issues that they were born with.

Every day I think about the world that they were going to grow up in.

How terrifying and how terrifying the uncertainty, but what's more terrifying is as we move deeper into the climate crisis, it's becoming more certain that this is an existential threat.

I'm worried that my little sisters, what will housing agriculture, school look like in the future?

We're reaching a point where the climate crisis, where damage cannot be reversed.

It is too late to be taking things slow.

This is a public health issue, an environmental issue, and an existential existential threat.

Thank you for your time, and I'll see you December 10th.

Thank you.

All right, Kylie Guerrero, and then Michaela May.

Good evening, Mayor Keepler, Council, and staff.

I appreciate this opportunity to share my testimony today.

My name is Kyla, and I have been a Benn resident since I was four years old.

Growing up in Central Oregon, I developed a deep appreciation for our beautiful local environment, including our natural spaces and the recreational opportunities that come with each of our seasons.

Around this time, every winter as a kid, my sister and I would be spending our days in the snow.

But as a fourth grader, I began to notice the decrease in snowfall each season with the shrinking snow banks on the drive up to Mount Bachelor.

The days became few and far between when we could wake up to snow covered rooftops and build snow villages with my friends, some of my favorite memories.

As the years passed, s as the years passed, snowfall gradually decreases, and the winters are only getting warmer.

Buildings in Bend are accountable for about half of Bend's climate warming emissions.

Electrifying all new construction is the fastest and most cost efficient way to meet our goals to reduce 40% of emissions by 2030 and 70% of emissions by 2050.

And these goals are also your goals, as agreed upon with the community climate action plan.

And we are not currently on track to achieve them.

If you truly want these goals achieved, we must incentivize efficient electric systems with a strong climate impact fee in new construction and current buildings.

The time to act is now, and winters cannot wait.

Our environment cannot wait, and my future cannot wait.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Michaela May and then Derek Rymers.

Okay.

Mayor Keepler, City Council and staff, thank you for this opportunity to testify.

My name is Michaela May, and I am 16.

I'm a junior at Caldera High School, and I've lived in Bend my entire life.

I am here in support of a strong climate pollution fee.

Um I support this fee because I care about the safety of our community, and I believe that this fee can play a big part in making Bend a safer place to live.

Natural gas is dangerous in multiple ways, as many other people have referenced.

Not only does cooking with natural gas cause respiratory problems and other health effects that are harmful to humans, but the way it is transported has been a danger to me, my family, and many other humans who call Bend their home.

I live and go to school within two miles of an aging natural gas pipeline, and I drive over it multiple times a day on my commute to and from school.

Human beings in our community do not deserve to be put in danger, so a company that does not care about our lives can profit.

By passing the climate impact fund, you can help encourage a transition to renewable energies, allowing us to to transition away from using dangerous natural gas that endangers the health and lives of the people you serve.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

All right, Derek and then Brennan Breen.

Hello all.

My name or Mayor Keeper, Council and Staff.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

My name is Derek Reemers.

I'm 23 years old and I am a resident of Bend.

I work as an electrical design engineer for a local electrical building design and contracting business.

I'm here on behalf of Energize Bend to urge you to pass a strong climate impact view.

To ground my perspective in this manner, I would like to briefly share where I come from.

My hometown of Gillette Wyoming is known as the energy capital of the nation, where the local economy is primarily driven by coal mining and fracking.

Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I have seen local recessions due to these coal mines and oil and gas rigs laying off hundreds of individuals.

This was due to various changes in demand for fossil fuels, like when former President Biden ordered a temporary pause of leasing on federal land in Wyoming with the intention to discourage further fracking efforts on January 21st, 2021.

Keep in mind this was Biden's first day in office, and he made this drastic decision.

Fossil fuels have been a target of regulations and restrictions that alter economics of fossil fuel of the fossil fuel industry for decades.

However, the fossil fuel industry is malleable and the skills people learn from it are transferable.

Communities and economies adapt, and Ben can do the same.

As a young engineer working on electrical projects in the area, I personally get to see the equipment that is designed to go into these new buildings.

Generally, the same appliance, gas or electric have similar costs from my research.

The main difference electrically for appliances is the installation type, which is outlined by individuals like me, the engineer.

Electrical options are not only becoming more available but are more affordable with the continuing develops and technology.

With and with Ben's efforts and moving to use more clean energy and contribute to the clean energy transition, the cost of electrical equipment compared to the traditional equipment should not be one that is delaying the climate impact fee.

I believe that the city of Bend has the capacity to take a strong and timely action on development and implementation of a climate action or climate impact fee to achieve the common goal of reducing emissions to preserve our earth.

Thank you.

Thank you, Derek.

Brennan Breen.

Mayor Keebler, Mayor Pro Tem Perkins, Council and Staff.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

My name is Brennan.

I am a 25-year-old organizer with Energize Bend.

As you all know, I was also formerly a project engineer in the RNG industry, and I've done environmental compliance and industrial hygiene and other industries.

It is extremely alarming to me and anti-democratic.

There are more fossil fuel lobbyists at COP this year in the same way that it is alarming and anti-democratic to me, that there are fossil fuel lobbyists who have spent over one and a half million dollars in the last three years fighting local governments on electrification policy in the Northwest.

The CEO of Cascade Natural Gas doesn't even live in the service territory.

She's in North Dakota.

I think it is irresponsible and short-sighted to truthfully believe that they are centering community interests over their own profit margins.

The second reason why I quit is so that I can be a valuable resource to you all.

I am an industry expert.

I'm a young person.

I'm also relatively poor.

I'm well below the median income.

And I appreciate there's a lot of nuance in these conversations, but at the end of the day, like the value proposition is insane to keep investing in fossil fuels.

We know that they are losing to renewables in terms of cost, in terms of how easy they are to install, how quickly you can bring them online.

It is more abundant, it is more available to more people, and it is less prone to being captured by corporate interests that can that can drive up costs on customers.

I think it's super important to flag as well.

Cascade just filed their rate case.

They are proposing a 17% increase on residential customers.

That's 15% higher than your consultant modeled in October.

So please just remember the community members who are showing up, who we are, what we represent, why we are here, and keep a clear directive to get an impact fee passed soon.

Thank you.

Brennan.

Because I saw a few new faces.

Thank you for coming.

Thank you everyone for commenting.

And I know some of you said we'll see you next week, but we are having our work session on this topic next week on December 10th.

There's not going to be a public comment period, but we want you to watch and follow along and listen to our discussion at that meeting if you can.

Please.

And it's also available online if you're not able to do it in person.

Okay.

That will conclude the public comment period for our agenda.

So we're going to move into council action and reports.

Okay, we can start with appointments.

So we've been all been working on various interviews for our advisory bodies.

And so we see some not all of them, but the ones we were able to complete are listed here.

Um just want to see if anyone had any questions.

Thanks, everyone, for helping with those interviews.

Um, if not, there can be a motion to approve the appointments.

Move to approve the appointments.

Second.

All right, move by councillor Perkins, second by Councillor Norris.

All in favor of approving the appointments.

I think okay.

So that puts us into our counselor reports.

Um let's start with you, Councilor Fritz.

I don't have anything to report tonight.

Okay.

We did have a holiday weekend there.

So I think you weren't maybe doing a lot.

Okay.

Councilor Mendes, that's you then.

Uh, yeah, November 20th, the City of Bend accessibility advisory committee met, and um, one of the interesting conversations I came out of that was from a presentation from Garrett Sabron on the design of the Hawthorne Bridge, in particular the grade requirements, and the question that the committee really wrestled with was whether there should be a continuous slope or a slope that was punctuated by uh horizontal resting places.

Um so I don't know that they resolved it or come to a consensus on that, but it's it's a question that I think they're still wrestling with.

Uh the transportation bond oversight committee also met on November 20th.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend due to a conflict with uh my other external uh scheduling requirements.

Um November 25th, the Bend MPO Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board met.

One of the items that we uh spent a lot of time deliberating over is about one million dollars of state highway funding that uh money that we have a wide amount of discretion over.

Uh we entertained about a dozen uh applications, and these would be for awards in uh fiscal year 28, 29, and 30, so a couple of years out.

But a couple of the highlights from that uh included funding a microtransit pilot project for Deschutes River Woods.

Deschroots River Woods is about 5500 people living there, and it is uh it scores very highly on a lot of different equity dimensions, and um they don't really have much in the way of transit service.

So this would be one way a couple of years out to try to get um an on-demand microtransit service that would give people some additional mobility.

Um other grants were safe route to school programs.

We had two grants for that, and then the city of Bend was also a grant application for a number of sidewalk connections.

Uh all except one was funded, not because it wasn't high priority, but because we hope that the city will be able to fund that sidewalk connection from other funds, and that is for the Northeast Sixth Street sidewalk uh connection.

Um I attended the Hawthorne Bridge open house, which was yesterday.

Um it was very well attended and had lots of good conversations with people who I think there's uh a lot of excitement for this.

There's you know, people ask a lot of the same questions that we get, which are things like some people still want to know why why here, what's the what's the main purpose of this bridge, which I would say it's important to recognize that this is not just a transportation project, it's also an economic development project.

This is about promoting development in the core area, which frankly has been struggling a little bit.

I think there is actually a surprising amount of activity along 2nd Street there.

I think that wasn't there just a few years ago.

So I think we're seeing this the beginnings of some really exciting possibilities, and I think something like this bridge will really help with that.

So obviously more to come on that, and uh that's all there is for me.

Oh, you know, I did I also wanted to say it is so easy for us.

I don't want to say easy, but we focus on our city work because that's where we feel we have that's that's our job.

But I also feel like we can't ignore some of the things that have been happening at the national level.

Um I feel like the in particular some of the president comments recently have been so explicitly bigoted that I I'm not aware of any precedent for these kinds of comments uh directed at uh people of different nationalities calling them garbage.

Um to my knowledge, even some of the more explicitly racist presidents that supported things like segregation did not use language as explicitly bigoted as President Trump has used.

So I feel like we I don't want to just ignore it.

I feel like we have to call it out.

I don't I don't think that we can continue in this manner.

And uh I I try to focus on our work here in the city, but I feel like we can't ignore some of the things that are being said.

Thank you, Councillor Mendez.

And um, Councillor Riley also asked me if he would have leave to speak on that tonight as well.

So maybe you can start with that, Councilor Rayleigh on that subject.

Sure.

Um so as Councillor Mendez said, and I assume maybe everybody in the room, but if you don't know, you should look look it up on video.

There's lots of video about it.

Yesterday our president called some people from Somalia garbage and their country a garbage country.

As an immigrant to this nation, I I just found his comments so offensive.

I almost can't speak about it.

I also think it's important to remember that they were frankly even kind of frightening given everything else that we're hearing and seeing from his administration about immigrants, and especially when his entire cabinet sat there in silence.

As an American, as a naturalized American, I also found his comments frankly disgraceful.

I think they diminish not only the office that he serves in that is supposed to represent all of us.

But I also think it diminishes all of us as Americans when he speaks it that way about other human beings in our nation.

And it's again particularly diminishing when people are silent about it.

So I appreciate you raising it tonight.

I believe very strongly that we're a country of immigrants.

I think that is our story.

Immigrants have always been, they still are today people who fuel the creativity, the innovation, and the dynamism of the United States of America.

They play a critical role in our local economy today and our national economy.

And I want immigrants in our community to know, especially any Somalis that are here in Bend and elsewhere in Oregon.

We do have a significant number of people from that part of the world in Portland to know that the president does not speak for all Americans or all levels of government.

I want immigrants, Somalis in particular, to know that I welcome you to our community.

I value your contributions to our community and the state, and I know that our community and nation is stronger because you are here as part of this place we call the United States of America.

Thank you.

And I just want to say agreed.

If you want to tell us everything else you've been up to.

Yeah, so I just said a couple things.

Um this one's a little late because I had missed the last council meeting, but I wanted to just express my gratitude for the Dia de Muerte celebration that happened, I think roughly November 7th or something like that as part of the first Friday downtown.

It was a super fun party.

It was fun to see all the people there celebrating and people dressed up and from little kids to older folks and dancing.

It got a little loud, but it was really, really fun, and I just really appreciate the folks who put that on and brought it to our community in a relatively rapid time frame.

And I look forward to that something that we can continue to have in the future, and hopefully the city can continue to be part of.

With Council Remendez, I was part of the MPO policy board meeting, and just wanted to thank all the folks who who applied for we had a great um list of projects, and I think we're those projects are going to help us get some good things done around safety connectivity and education for people who walk, bike, and roll in our community.

And then I went to the Hawthorne Open House last night, and it was just great to see so many people there engaged and interested in what's happening in our community and asking questions on that topic and a variety of others.

So great.

All right, Council Bergins.

Um just a couple of things.

Um have had some continued conversations about roles, responsibilities, and the future of the many different groups that are working on homelessness in our community.

The coordinate houses response office, the regional housing coalition, the governor's uh Mac group, and the homeless leader coalition leadership coalition.

Um we are going to be having some joint meetings um in the new year to kind of talk a little bit more about what our roles and responsibilities.

I I uh made the the the statement that it would be really easy for easier for us to stay in our lane as the CHRO if we knew what our lane was, um, but we don't know what our lane is right now.

So we're we're all working on that together so that we're not duplicating efforts and building on our strengths.

Um the only other thing um that I have to update is the uh the Ben Economic Development Advisory Board met on Monday and um got a couple of updates on things that the council is gonna get soon, so I'm not gonna go into that.

Um, and then heard from the Bend Central District Business Association about their um EID proposal and um had ended up having a really great conversation between BDAB and the BCDBA and um there was a an uh desire expressed to have um the BCDBA go to BDAB like once a quarter and kind of update um BDAB on on what's going on and how BDAB can maybe help and so continue that communication, which is awesome.

And it was really great to hear about the role momentum that's starting to be to build in the central district and um some things that you know that that um both we can do as council, the city can do, um, and and others to help continue that momentum, and they feel very strongly that this EID will help them with that.

And just since we're we're on the topic of of things that are on our minds lately that are impacting us, I was lucky enough to go away for the holiday.

We got off the plane on Sunday night, it was 10 o'clock, it was 24 degrees.

We're walking through the connex boxes back to um the terminal, and my son turned to me and said I cannot imagine what it would feel like to be live outside right now.

And would just like to remind everyone that if you're cold, imagine how it would feel to be uh living outside right now, and that there are many, many shelters that would really like your used coats, um, your kids' coats, your warm socks, um, your uh leftover um heater packs that you have for your hands.

That's something that that people don't think about a lot.

Those are those are gold.

Um like if you're at Family Kitchen, heater packs are the thing that they are asking for the most.

Um, and so just just to remind everyone that there are numerous places that that need this this stuff, um, and um just encourage you to be generous in this holiday season.

Great, thank you.

Council Norris.

I know there's lots of toy drives and food drives going on too around town.

Yes.

Um, yeah, and I just really appreciate all the comments about what's going on.

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in an alternate reality, and um all this national stuff is going on, and um, and we're doing our local thing here.

And I was just reminded, you know, my dad moved, was born in Mexico, moved here when he was three, um, had to renounce his citizenship, and then later on in life was able to get his dual citizenship.

And my stepmother actually passed away a couple of years ago.

My stepmom actually just sent me just a movement, I think in Ohio right now, um, some legislation that uh no dual citizenships allowed moving forward, and so it's just um you know, just kind of this othering in our culture right now, and we are a country of immigrants, and we I was at the Bend Impact conference.

Um, Sarah Odendahl's here, and there was some statistics about how growth is slowing in Oregon, and you know, one of the ways that we can actually increase growth is by welcoming more immigrants into our state and city.

So, anyways, um I uh had the pleasure of going to see our new public works campus, and um Joe just gave us a lovely tour, and it's just such an amazing building, and um just so great to see all our staff there and just all the community areas and Russ was there, just such a great um great gardening and all the ways that our staff can collaborate there.

Um and then I also went to the Hawthorne um uh open house last night, and great to see it was totally packed, and just like another example of you know the um central district and just you know dogwood, you know, moving there and just all the possibilities and how that really could be an economic vitality.

Um, so yeah, that's all that I have.

Great.

Um, so I had a couple of things.

I was able to go on a ride along with Ben P, which everyone should do when you have a chance to do with Sergeant Dixon and then um an officer whose name I can't remember right now, but he is one of our officers that has uh one of the canine units, so that we had a dog in the car with us.

Um and it was really great to go along with them and see um what they're doing on patrol, and they're really taking every kind of call.

You know, we pulled someone over for running a red light, we um checked in on an RV that was parked on someone's property that was just a neighbor who had parked it there not knowing they weren't supposed to, but um one of the officers pulled over, called someone who had an ID theft claim that they needed to make, you know, and at the same time they're all waiting.

If there's a call that they need to go to urgently, they will do that, right?

So there is a lot going on when folks are out on patrol, um, and they are doing their best to respond to every call as quickly as they can, but there are a lot of calls sitting there waiting for their response, and they have to prioritize, which was very evident after my ride along.

So I um hope folks will go do that.

I did get a chance.

Um, Senator Wyden was in town just before Thanksgiving, and we visited um Neighbor Impact where he um made a donation and talked with some folks who um are people who use neighbor impact services in their food bank, um, it's especially, and it was really impactful to hear people's um people's perspectives of how these cuts to SNAP and these threats to SNAP and other food assistants are really affecting their lives and how much they are struggling and how this action by the federal government to threaten these things is really not helping them in their day-to-day struggle to take care of their kids, to show up for work.

Um there's some talk about health insurance costs and all of these things.

So grateful for the senator to show up and listen to constituents in our community, which was great.

Um, I had one item that popped up today, I just wanted to tell council about that is um in the legal realm.

Um, the um public rights project with we've we've engaged with them before is asking for cities to join and support New York in a fight against a lawsuit that they are being sued over their sanctuary state laws, and basically um to help them bolster and to make our own um support in the position of state sanctuary laws are not um preempted by federal laws.

This has been the lay of the land for many years, but there's now court cases about it.

Um I'll forward this email on to council, but for our legal team, this is in line with all the other legal work that we've done around sanctuary law, so we should be able to sign on to this anchor.

Just wanted to make sure everybody knew about that.

Okay.

So since Council Platt's not here, that's the end of our council reports.

We do have one item out of our executive session.

Our executive session was um our city manager evaluation that we went through as council.

Um so I've got um our composite ratings and our statement that we approved to read together.

Um the ratings are on the different categories.

So Eric's overall rating was a 4.5 out of five, which is very good.

And our public statement about Eric is this.

The city council feels fortunate to have the leadership experience and perspective of Eric as our city manager.

Eric continues to lead the city forward during challenging times with a focus on opportunities to both better the organization as well as help our community succeed.

By providing steady leadership and creating a strong city team, Eric helps the council meet the needs of our community now and in the future.

We are grateful for Eric's service to the people of Bent.

So with that, what we need to do in public session now is talk about compensation.

Um we all received some comparables um in uh from Rob and our HR department.

Um, and so I think I would um open up for council.

Is there something that anyone would suggest as far as what we might do for Eric's compensation on this period?

Yeah, I mean, I'll start.

I in acknowledgement that Eric is is Eric's salary is behind other comparable cities by over 8%.

Um, and wanting to keep Eric around as as an acknowledge of the hard work that he is doing for our city.

I would um start by saying I would like to do a uh five percent increase um for Eric and um the ability to cash in about three weeks up to three weeks of vacation, which is something we talked about.

Yeah.

No, I support that very much.

I think that um you know we had some back and forth about this, but I think it's important that um we continue to make sure that what we pay here is um at least close to, if not exactly competitive, um, with um comparable salaries across the state.

I think we want to set ourselves up for that um in terms of uh longevity of the position and keeping what we have a fantastic city manager here continuing to work for us, but also making sure that you know um what we're paying compensation-wide uh wise is something that we would expect to pay in in any environment should Eric not be our city manager at some point in the future.

And and um so I don't want us to get further behind.

I don't think that's a good place for us to be either.

Um so this is sort of a compromise, I guess, between going that full 8%, but um but you know, a combination of reflecting cost of living has gone up, but also the great work that Hurt does for our community.

All right, and anybody else want to make a different suggestion or agree with the suggestion that Megan made.

Go ahead.

I was uh I mean, I I I appreciate those comments.

I think the most striking thing here is that when we look at the comparable city manager salary comp total compensation for the cities of Salem, Eugene, Gresham, Hillsborough, Beaverton, and Medford, that our city manager's compensation was over eight and a half percent lower than the average of all of those cities.

So even if we were considering um, you know, what if we had to hire a new city manager or something?

We are getting a comparative bargain in terms of what kinds of service our city manager provides, and especially considering what the compensation is, at least relative to what other comparable cities in Oregon are paying.

So I think I I can support a five percent adjustment.

It doesn't actually bring he would still be below the average compensation for these other cities, even though I think the performance probably warrants more than that.

Uh so I feel like the residents of our community can still be assured that they are getting uh a really good deal here.

This is not about um, you know, we're not gonna be able to do that.

In a lot of ways, it's not just financial okay.

All right, any other thoughts?

No, I just think that we're very fortunate.

I mean, and to add on that he's you know the most tenured on this list as well, and so I think that you know the experience that Eric brings is um is invaluable, and so um yeah, I'm fully supportive.

Yeah, and I think I don't know, this list might be a little out of date.

I think Eugene just lost their city manager and they're hiring a new one right now as well.

So that for okay.

Any other thoughts?

I think I think I can support five percent in three weeks of vacation.

Yes, okay.

Eric, any counter or thoughts about the case?

So thank you.

Um that's actually very generous.

Um, and I really appreciate the comments.

And I actually want to just turn back to the staff because it's the staff and the team that we have that I'm just so humbled to be at that to help guide the city because it's such a talented group, and the team is just really strong, and I really really appreciate the support because I think it's that type of environment that I thrive in when there's teamwork, and we're all addressing leaning into these difficult problems that require lots of different brains and different perspectives and lived experiences to do our best work.

So I really appreciate and uh the the offer and and very much will accept it.

I know I was actually a little higher than what I was um advocating for, but I'm sometimes the worst advocate for myself, so I appreciate that.

Okay.

All right.

Um, so five percent um increase with the option to um buy back up to three weeks of vacation, and we will have Rob update the employment agreement for that um for us to approve at a later date.

Okay, exactly.

So we need to make a formal motion.

I think a maybe a motion.

Okay, if you want to make sure I move um that we uh increase by five percent with the option of buying up to three weeks of vacation for Eric King.

Second.

All right, all those in favor of the motion?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Okay, great.

All right, so we have formally done that.

Thank you.

Um, okay, so we um already did our visitor section, so we're gonna move to item number four, which is the consent agenda.

Move to approve the consent agenda.

Second, all right.

We have a motion from Councilor Perkins, second by Councilor Norris.

All those in favor?

Aye.

All right, consent agenda approved.

All right, so then we move to item number five, which is a quasi-digital public hearing hearing.

So I'll open the hearing and turn to Ian for the questions.

Thanks, Mayor.

I feel like I've read this.

We did a lot of these recently.

Yeah.

Um, this is part of the process we're required to follow a state law, so there are some statements that we need to require before we get started.

Um the first one is me asking counsel whether they have any ex-party contacts or site visits relevant to this topic they wish to declare.

Seeing shaking of heads, there are none.

Next is an opportunity for anyone to declare any actual or potential conflicts of interest or other personal interests that would interfere with your ability to serve as an impartial decision maker tonight.

Seeing head shaking, none.

Next is an opportunity for anyone present uh in person or online who wishes to raise a challenge on the basis of bias or personal interest.

Not seeing any.

Uh next is a statement just letting people know that all testimony, argument, and evidence must be directed to the applicable criteria in the Ben Development Code and Comprehensive Plan that the party believes are applicable to this topic.

The failure to raise an issue with sufficient specificity for the decision maker that's council tonight, or other parties to respond to the issue will preclude an appeal to the land use board of appeals on that issue.

The failure of the applicant to raise a constitutional or other issue regarding a condition of approval with sufficient specificity to allow the decision maker or other parties to respond to the issue will preclude a claim for damages in circuit court related to that issue or condition.

And finally, if prior to the end of the public hearing tonight, a party requests additional time to present testimony argument or evidence, the decision maker may allow either a continuance or additional time, and it's discretion for parties to submit additional testimony argument or evidence to the record.

That's it.

All right, thank you.

All right, so we'll turn to the staff presentation.

Okay.

Did we did we open the hearing?

I did.

We didn't.

I explained a little thing.

I was asking.

Uh mayor, counsel Michael Selkirk with the city attorney's office.

Um I'm here to present a statutory development agreement for the development of two residential subdivisions adjacent to Bachelor View Road in Bend.

This is the same development agreement that was presented to council over the summer.

So much of what will be discussed is is not going to be new to council, and I will focus on what is new or different from the development agreement that was approved or adopted over the summer.

So just starting off with a quick reminder of where we are here.

Um in West Bend, commonly known as Bachelor View One, Batcher View Two, and Bachelor View 3.

Uh the development agreement we're talking about just covers Bachelor View 2 and Bachelor View 3.

Uh so as a reminder, again, there was a cluster of subdivisions that were approved in this area uh between around 22 and 2023.

They're all in various stages of construction.

Uh you can see the number of lots up here on the slide.

Uh the original approvals, which were before hearing as officer, um required dedication of land and construction of Bachelor View as a public street, and then the internal roads were also public.

Um at the time, and this is going to be the same as same in this development agreement as the one that you heard back in the summer, but there was a misalignment of the streets in Dv3.

And the development agreement that you heard back in the summer, and again the one you're hearing now, fixes that alignment.

It's part of a settlement to resolve some legal legal challenges that had to do with these developments.

It involves only BV2 and B V3.

And just a reminder the the agreement reduces BV2 from 44 lots to 39 lots.

Batch Review Road remains private south of, and I'll show you where this is in a moment.

South of what may be a gate along Bachelor View Road, and then the streets will be realigned.

So this change to the bat to the statutory development agreement just has to do with bachelor view two.

And it doesn't have to do with the layout.

The layout is the same as the development agreement you saw over the summer.

It just has to do with timing of some dedications.

So what's on the screen now?

This was the layout for BV2 that was approved in 2022.

This this layout has a phasing plan similar to the batch review two that's being proposed in this development agreement.

So this is the same layout that council approved back in the summer.

Joe showing you this as a reminder that the difference, I'm gonna get into this more in a minute.

Um it has to do with the phasing.

So as you'll see on this exhibit, there are three phases of this proposed layout.

Um phase one is to the left on the screen, two in the middle, and three on the right, and that's gonna be relevant to the next slide.

So I just wanted to point that out.

And then you can see and highlighted where the gated access will be.

So in July, um, in response to public testimony, council added a provision in the development agreement that wouldn't change the layout, uh, but it would change the timing of the dedication of certain public easements to ensure that uh Carolyn's place, and I'll just put this back, Southwest Carolyn's place, was dedicated to and through the entire property despite the phasing.

Um, as a result, and and I put the put the language up on the screen, I'm not gonna read it.

Um, but it basically required this development in a way that would facilitate connectivity within the area and between properties.

Um, and as a result of this, the developer was not willing to sign the development agreement.

That wasn't the agreement that was brought to council with the developer at the time.

So we are back today following negotiations with the developer simply to remove that sentence.

Um the the access concern that was raised is one that will linger.

It is there, but it's going to be raised at a future date, not in connection with this development agreement.

And we are in communication uh with the owner of the neighboring property.

So if we remove this final sentence, it's the same development agreement that was presented to council back in July, just without that sentence added.

And that concludes staff's presentation.

I don't believe the applicant is here.

Um so I think it will just be the staff presenting uh on behalf of the agreement.

Okay, or for the agreement.

Any questions for Michael about this?

Okay, thank you, Michael.

We have two people signed up for public comments.

So we'll get our big clock out again.

Um, and we have Stephanie Morrisfelder and then Peter Yonan.

So if we'll have a couple of care, Michael, if you don't mind.

Not at all.

If Stephanie is here, oh she left.

Okay.

Calling again for Stephanie Moore's Felder.

Don't see her, anyone responding.

Okay, Peter Yonin, if you want to come up here.

And Stephanie's not online, right?

No, she was in person and she wasn't online.

Yeah.

Yeah, come on up here, Peter.

And you'll have two minutes.

Okay.

And you were here for my spiel earlier, I think.

So I was don't worry about it.

Okay.

Uh, good evening, Mayor and Counselors.

Thank you for having me.

My name is Peter Yonan and I live at 61090 Bachelor View Road.

Um, I want to give neutral testimony.

I appreciated the dialogue at the last city council meeting.

I understand that things had changed had to change and revisions were made.

I appreciate the initiative in moving the process forward.

I wanted to make sure to make a quick comment on testimony to preserve my standing on this matter if needed in the future.

Thank you.

All right, thanks for being here, waiting it out.

Um, there's no further public testimony, and nobody has signed up online for this item, so I'll go ahead and close the public hearing.

I can do a motion if we're ready, unless there's further deliberation.

I move for the first reading.

I'm an emergency ordinance adopting the statutory development agreement to remove the final sentence in section 4.1.1b of the statutory development agreement previously approved by ordinance number NS-2535.

standing on this matter if needed in the future thank you all right thanks for being here waiting it out uh there's no further public testimony and nobody has signed up online for this item so I'll go ahead and close the public hearing we can do a motion if we're ready unless there's further deliberation I move for the first reading of an emergency ordinance adopting the statutory development agreement to remove the final sentence in section 4.1 point one b of the statutory development agreement previously approved by ordinance number n s 2535 I'll second that all right move by councilor Riley second by counselor perkins all those in favor aye any opposed all right there we go okay thank you and we will move on then to our one second reading this is a second reading of an ordinance to annex 10.66 acres of land in the northeast butler market village urban growth boundary expansion area i move for the second reading and adoption by roll call vote the ordinance annexing 10.66 acres and the northeast edge urban growth boundary UGB expansion area assigning a sign district and requesting jurisdictional transfer of the abutting button market road right of way second all right move by counselor minda second by councilor friends roll call vote um councillor friends aye councillor mendez aye councillor Riley abstain mayorkins yes uh councillor norris yes mayor cable yes okay um on to city manager's report all right uh a couple items so yeah as you remember from the last uh legislative session there was uh we advocated for a lot more but we did receive or the state uh a portion 10 million dollars for infrastructure uh really to promote housing uh so we are taking advantage of applying for a portion of that funding only five million of the 10 million was released for funding this is statewide so not a lot but I just wanted to let uh council know that and this is done done through business or again uh just a reminder the bill is house bill for 3031 um and so award amounts are anticipated to range from 100,000 to 2 million per project and they are they may be uh structured as a grant or for give for a givable loan or a standard loan we just won don't know that yet uh so the program requires us to act um as the applicant for the funding recipient or loanholder serving as the conduit between the state and private developers so given the short uh application window which closes december 17th the stamp staff have proactively engaged developers who appear eligible to meet criteria so we really want to burn in the hand kind of approach if we've got a project where we can get some infrastructure and get housing on the ground that's been our focus um so uh due to the uncertainty around final terms and limited fund of funding ability and the competitive nature of the grant that's why I'm just kind of sharing this all with you in my report to to act quickly and so we're coordinating the final list of projects but we're really looking for those active projects and we're putting a call out to all developers I don't have the list of exactly where they are right right now but just wanted to give you that range.

And so are we going to be selecting one that we're applying for or no we're gonna submit all a group of a whole bunch of as many as we can we've also been asked to show the need even though there's not very much money to go around by applying we are showing hey this is the need and that can maybe lead to future funding so yeah yeah and and just to when we are if we are awarded we're gonna have a quick turnaround time so we'll come back with you with with those awards and then just to let you know we've got two holiday events coming up we have the holiday parade this Saturday so there's street closures thank you counselor mendis for catching we had the on one a couple of the signs so they were December 6 on the one side was correct and then we had December 7th it's the sixth I was wondering I'm like well the parade is a six and then the tree the tree lighting is the seventh yes following what time is that the the tree lighting is right at when it gets on and then the uh parade is I believe starting at noon.

Yeah yeah and that is it okay great um okay so we're gonna adjourn the city council meeting and then we're gonna switch over to Burke can we do a quick five minute bathroom break sure okay five minutes ready go you're the

I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Band Urban Renewal Agency for what is today, December third, two thousand and twenty-five.

I moved to approve the August sixth, twenty twenty-five burrow meeting minutes.

Second, moved and seconded.

All those in favor.

Just a little background, a promissory note is a form of financial security that a developer or we can utilize to provide a note to the city that says we are gonna do these construction improvements in the future, but please allow our improvements to move forward.

This is something we utilize when there's land use decisions or a final plat needs to be issued.

There is a land use decision with a requirement in Juniper Ridge to construct a 10-foot multi-use path along the southern boundary of Juniper Ridge.

This is in line with our low stress network in our transportation system plan.

The developer is the same developer that we sold lot eight to.

So this is lot eight, all the way sort of the east end of Cooley Road.

In that infrastructure agreement, we negotiated as part of that sale.

We allowed them to seek a financial security in the form of a promissory note from Borough for those multi-use path improvements.

The cost of this multi-use path, we have estimated around just over 130,000.

Typically, with all financial securities, we require a 20% contingency as we adjust for uh costs over time.

So today the promissory note is at a value of 161,000.

We do have precedent for doing this with Burra.

We've done this before in Juniper Ridge for not only this path, but also for Cooley Road improvements related to uh the new development where Sarran is being constructed, where Tomco is now residing, as well as Pacific Power when that development went in.

We also provided a promissory note for the uh multi-use path along the southern boundary of Juniper Ridge in addition to the roadway and those other connections.

However, what we have been able to unable to accomplish is connecting that uh path all the way to 18th Street, so 18th of Deschutes Market.

We've run into some issues with the county where the path needs to utilize county right-of-way.

We've been working the last few years with the county trying to resolve some of those permitting issues.

We haven't been able to do that.

So right now, staff is recommending as part of that connection.

Is we will wait and make a recommendation to the city around expanding the UGB, at which time we can incorporate that right-of-way into the city and we can finish that construction connect to 18th.

Here's just a visual.

So the area that is incomplete is in red.

We've already completed the area in green, and the tonight the promissory note is there in yellow, continuing down the southern boundary of juniper ridge and then turning north and tying into the future of Cooley Road that is actually all now paved to date and actually goes right up to the canal and can in the future could tie into a future canal tail that goes all the way up to the north and up and around North Point Park.

A few items to note, there are other opportunities for this path to be developed.

One is the area there on the south.

If a development comes in and they are have a certain size or scale, they may be required to provide an emergency access that goes out to Scottsdale Road, which is just to the south of the arrow there.

So if that occurs, they'll have to build a portion of that trail itself with a gravel road.

So we'll have a portion of that developed to make that tie-in.

The other opportunity we have for that to be constructed as well is if a development comes in and is seeking Borough assistance for development assistance under our existing program or a future program.

We could not only provide them dollars to construct that uh path, but we can also ask them as a requirement of that development service assistance to build that path in its place.

So multiple opportunities.

The goal would be once we're able to resolve the connection there at 18th, is to complete not only the area in red but the yellow all together at one time here in the future once that's resolved.

So I'm having to take any questions, but yeah.

Sorry, what's the path to the right of way in the county area?

It's the area in red.

So what's the it what's the whole one?

Yeah, so it's a remnant portion of the old Cooley Road alignment that's actually outside of city limits and in the county.

So it's technically the Chutes County right-of-way.

Their permitting process has not allowed us to go in and just construct a multi-use path trail.

We've done multiple attempts to try to resolve that.

Uh, and we'll continue to do that as we with the new public works.

So trying to find alternative routes for even our employees to connect into Juniper Ridge.

But for now, it's it's incomplete until we can get that resolved, or we bring the right-of-way into city limits, which we would probably do through the UGB process.

Is this within the county commissioner's discretion to address?

That's a good question.

Um right now we're mostly dealing with the transportation department, but I'll let you hear the cue.

Oh, that's it.

Okay.

Is this gonna be along the future road?

No.

This path no, this path is completely separate from the road.

So the developer is already constructing a multi-use path along the south uh edge of Cooley.

So that runs all the way along the road that they've already constructed past the public works campus out to the canal.

That's already constructed.

So there is a multi-use path off of Cooley Road.

According to our low stress network in the TSP, we included a double route with the intent to be able to tie into perhaps a future uh canal trail that would be developed in the future.

Okay.

Can we use eminent domain?

Well, it's outside city limits, so that would be the challenge.

That's the kind of path to build.

Yes.

We are really frustrating to not have it be complete.

Bring it up at our joint meeting.

We've we've worked with the county staff on this a number of times, including their legal department.

The issue is partly this is both a portion that's outside city limits and outside the UGB.

And that it's proved we have not been able to resolve that issue and get a permit to construct.

We had a contractor, we had a design, and we weren't able to do it.

Is this something maybe we could bring up at the joint meeting?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Maybe let's let's could we have a proposal ready to go?

Like we could do this.

Let's talk.

Let's talk.

We have these leadership meetings, and we'll see if we can push push on this.

Okay.

So this next one's a public hearing, and we need to do that.

Do we need to do number five number four first?

Is that kind of what you were saying?

I think you need to make a motion on this, and then we can open the public hearing.

Okay, then we're going to do it.

So I would just authorize a promissory note from the Bend Urban Renewal Agency to the City of Bend in the amount of 161,000 providing financial security on rule of the multi-use path construction improvements for the Cooley Road Industrial Lots final plat.

Second.

So motion by Councillor Men or Member Mendez and second by member Franciso.

Any further discussion?

All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Motion passes.

Our second one is the CIP amendment.

Yeah.

Do you want to open?

Open the public hearing.

All right.

So this is to add the promise and route in the trail construction to the CIP for Juniper Ridge.

We've also just added about 20 grand to complete the Cooley and Talus Road improvements.

That was we had to add is a little bit more pavement as we were kind of tying those roads together along with the public works campus and what was existing.

So tonight what you see in front of you is just us rolling these dollars forward to the next biennium.

And with that, uh have any questions?

I moved to adopt a resolution amending the 2026-2030 Bend Urban Renewal Agency Capital Improvement Program that was presented.

Second, so a motion by um member Mendez again and second in by member Francosa.

Any further discussion?

Quick question.

Just Ian, do we have to like just check for public comment since it's a public hearing?

Um, assuming there is no one here.

Anyone here in the audience for comments here online?

I didn't see any sign-ups when they were handed to me.

So close the hearing.

Do the motion.

Have the motion already.

Are we good with that?

And a second.

Any further discussion?

All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Motion passes and thank you, Matt.

And with that, I think we'll adjourn this meeting of the Bend Curban Renewal Agency.

Boom.

Okay.