All right, welcome everyone to our city council business meeting.

Um we'll start with roll call on your end, Councillor Platt.

Steve Platt, he him.

Megan Norris, she her.

Megan Perkins, she her.

Melanie Keebler, she her.

Ariel Mendez, he him.

And um we should be joined by Councilor Francosa online hopefully soon.

And then Councilor Riley is excused tonight.

All right, so we're gonna begin tonight with good of the order, and we have um a statement that I'm gonna read on Black History Month because it is Black History Month right now.

Um so I'll go ahead and read the statement and then we'll get into some of our other topics.

Um in observance of Black History Month.

I want to share some of the history and highlight our local community colleges long-running season for nonviolence and black history month programming.

The city of Bend remains committed to promoting an inclusive community that will not tolerate intimidation, injustice, prejudice, and racism.

Dr.

Carter G.

Woodson began a celebration that would eventually evolve into Black History Month in 1926.

In 1976, Black History Month became federally recognized.

In 1986, Congress passed a public law officially designating February as National Black History Month.

Black History, however, transcends a single month, week or day.

It is American history.

And while our formal recognition may happen in this moment, we commit our work in our words to creating a future that strives to be more equitable and more inclusive than our past.

It's important to remember that Oregon's legacy is permeated with intolerance and hate.

An early version of the state constitution banned new black residents in Oregon and made it illegal for them to own real estate, make contracts, vote, use the legal system, and intermarry.

This past is also present in Bend today.

In 2017, Deshaun Adderley, a 14-year-old black child, took his own life after being the target of racist bullying and harassment in school and online.

In 2021, Barry Washington Jr.

was killed in downtown Bend.

We're committed to honoring the lives of Barry Washington Jr.

and Deshaun Adderley with the continued guidance of their families to support their and the community's.

Together we can celebrate the past and present triumphs of the black community while continuing our efforts to challenge a preface oppressive systems, its drive toward that more equitable future.

So again, there's a lot of great uh events happening this month for all of us to attend.

We've got some flyers that have a QR code that you can use to find out more and to sign up in RPT for those.

Again, um all the COCC events are free and open to the public.

So I encourage folks to attend and thanks for receiving that statement.

All right.

Um so moving into good of the order.

Um we don't have any letters.

Um our staff uh shared some um testimony that we've been giving already to the legislature.

Things are moving fast, so we'll continue to send those as they're aligned with our legislative priorities.

We did miss an appointment um late last year to replace Morgan Greenwood, who's not working for COBA anymore with Garrett Mosher, so I'll take a motion on that for the home committee.

I move to approve the appointment.

Second.

All right.

Move by Councillor Platt, second by Councillor Mendez.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

All right, unanimous.

Great.

All right.

That will bring us into council reports.

Counselor Francosa, are you ready to go first?

Um.

Okay.

Excellent.

I could go last.

Make Steve go first.

Counselor Platt, I mean, sorry.

Happy.

It's been a busy couple of weeks.

I was able to pop in just for a moment at the at the Benn Fire and Rescue and Rewards based banquet.

I'm sorry, I wasn't able to stay for the whole thing, but just to see our first responders there in their finery on a very chilly night.

It was uh it was really nice to do that as well.

Um was able to attend the planning commission uh meeting this last uh this last time around, and I just want to you know let us let remind everybody that those are hardworking folks there who are really digging into the into the real core of the issues for us to try to make things a little bit more clear when they come to us.

So I really appreciate the work that they're doing.

Um I've also met met with some local builders uh to talk about both um uh their affordability issues, their um their electrification views, uh, and then any issues that they have about how we can make uh community commercial work a little bit better throughout our community.

Uh and that's basically the punchline.

Thanks.

Great, Councillor Norris.

Um I had some out of work uh out of town travel, so I do not have anything to report.

Okay, counselor Perkins.

Um yeah, I think today I had a great meeting um with some individuals from um Mosaic.

Um, and specifically we talked about a lot of things, all the great important work that Mosaic does in our community um from you know um community health care to vaccinations to an eating disorder clinic to the Mobile Street Medicine Program, um, which is uh really key for people.

They they put on backpacks and literally go into Juniper Ridge and go into to other areas and and help take care of some of our more vulnerable uh neighbors, and so I was just glad to to hear that that their work continues and of course they all will always need our support.

Um I testified today on uh uh recreation liability um uh at in front of the Oregon legislature virtually um wanted to share uh BDAB had we had a meeting on Monday.

We talked about the economic development strategy, so I'm not gonna sh uh talk about that because we'll we'll get to that.

But uh interesting, something much interesting.

Um, heard from Nate white from Visit Bend.

And um actually tourism is not down that much this winter.

Um it's only down about four percent and um he said only 30 percent of the people that come to Bend in the winter go to Mount Bachelor, which I was was really surprised by that figure.

Um, and did not know that.

And they that a lot of that they attribute to the fact that we don't have any slopeside hotels, um, and so people have to be in the city and doing other cool things.

And it also means that we have lots of really fun things to do in the winter that don't involve Mount Bachelor.

So thought that was interesting.

Um got to tour kilned, which is going to be a new, a very large co-working space in the old mill, um, filling an empty building.

Um they have um co-working spaces all over the west coast, um, and it's gonna be really cool, and they have a uh meeting spaces that you can use even if you're not a member, so that's gonna be nice for our community.

Um attended the um the uh regional housing council and the coordinated house list response office um uh joint meeting where we talked about we're sort of trying to figure our way through roles and responsibilities and uh where we want to go and how we want to make sure that we are including not only Deschutes County but also Jefferson and Crook County in and the work that we're doing, and that was a really great meeting.

Um, and I've been meeting with a lot of um the people that are that serve on the human rights and equity commission uh just to to have conversations and and um figure out ways forward and then um that's about it, and just just to be sassy, I just want to say go patriots.

What is sassy in this room?

Sorry, Burma.

All right, Councilor Mendes.

Uh yeah, thank you.

On Monday the 26th, uh Mayor Keyboard and Councillor Riley and I met with some Patrosa residents to talk about ways that the city might support or otherwise facilitate uh developing commercial amenities in that neighborhood.

And we are taking steps to address what kinds of things we can do to promote commercial activities citywide, but there may be some specific opportunities at Petrosa.

So I'm grateful to the mayor for following up on that.

On Thursday, January 29th, the Transportation Bond Oversight Committee met, and most of the discussion focused on this question of expanding into a larger role.

So this would be a larger transportation advisory committee.

And there's multiple dimensions to this question because of course we want to know well, what does that look like and what would the code look like?

A lot of the discussion focused on you know, it will continue the oversight role that they've had, but also expanding to other capital projects as well as potentially things like operations and maintenance.

It was a wide-ranging conversation, but they are going to write the council a letter including their recommendations for us to consider.

And so I expect that at a future date.

Councillor Franzosa and I met to prioritize infrastructure projects for the State Department of Transportation.

So this is through the Central Oregon Area Commission on Transportation, and I'll leave that to Councillor Franzosa to discuss because I think she's um she's been more involved on that.

Um and then the last thing I will mention is I've had some conversations with some neighbors who have uh residents who have been uh struggling with how how to best mitigate or deal with the burden of ongoing construction.

And this is something that if you live next to a place where there's construction going on, of course you have impacts, and what usually happens is it's it happens and it's very intense and hopefully short duration, but in some cases it can be a lot longer.

And this is an area where I feel like um maybe there's an opportunity for us to do better.

So I haven't quite figured out how to chart a course forward on that, but I I do think it's an area that um we might want to take a look at.

And that's it.

Okay, great.

Councilor Franzosa.

Thank you.

I'm ready now.

Okay.

Um no one mentioned it.

A couple people, well, actually, mayor, you'll probably mention it.

Um, I really enjoyed um the town hall a couple Sundays ago with our two local or two state reps and our um senator and former city councilor Anthony Broadman.

Um, and I I just thought the community brought up some really great points, and I think one of the takeaways for me was um look at what advocacy can do.

Uh Senator Bradman is championing a bill on um, I think it's pronounced K trucks, um, which are such really cool, innovative um small vehicles uh that really would benefit small businesses.

Um, and uh so that was due to advocacy from one of our local local frequent advocates.

So um kudos to John Halen and um thanks to our senator.

Um and the ODOT um you know, meeting uh with the internal team to talk about Odot capital projects and how the city um kind of can take a position and try to advocate for needs within our city, which really I think primarily are around um bike and ped safety on highway 20 as it goes through town, um, but then also hopefully to get some improvements at the empire interchange.

So we have a meeting on the 12th where we'll um meet with the whole Central Oregon committee, which represents all the count the three counties and all the cities, and um hopefully we'll have kind of some good discussion there and then more reporting out after that.

Yeah, that's what I have.

Okay, great, thank you.

Thanks.

So I spent most of the last week in DC, which I'll get to, but before um I took off for that, we had our small group BPRD meeting, and we're working up to our joint meeting, which I think we set it in March.

March 17th.

March 17th.

Um, so we'll be finalizing the agenda for that next month on some topics to discuss with BPRD, which will be great.

Um Ariel mentioned the Petrosa neighbors meeting, which was really great.

Um we also um had this week a meeting with uh Mayor Fitch and uh Councilor Zucker and staff from Rudman to talk over some shared issues.

Um it was good to stay connected with them, um, and they're also we work together on COCO as well, which we have a meeting on next week.

It's gonna be focused on short session because that's we only have one meeting during the short session because it's so short.

Um, at the U.S.

Conference of Mayors conference in DC, um, really good to be with mayors from across the country.

There was a real theme about frustration with federal immigration enforcement, how that is impacting all of our cities from border cities in Texas to cities in Michigan and Minnesota and our cities in Oregon.

Um we were we we were able to have um some remarks from Mayor Fry of Minneapolis, which were very powerful.

Um and there were other Minneapolis mayors there because this is affecting small towns, suburbs, other places, um, this surge of activity and um frankly unlawful enforcement that's happening.

So I followed up our statement at our last meeting with a statement in the Ben Current newsletter as well, just affirming our support for our um our immigrant community and our request for um you know accountability and basic basic um compassionate and fair enforcement of our immigration laws.

Um I we have a meeting with LCA tomorrow to help continue to firm that up, and then I believe the resolution is being worked on to go to HREC as well next week.

So we should be able to hopefully get that done by the second business meeting in February, but that work will continue.

Um okay, I think that's it for council reports.

So we'll move to our visitors section.

Um we have quite a few people here tonight, which is great.

Um so the general rules, um, if you're in person, you're gonna come up and sit at the table.

You will have two minutes to speak.

Because we have a lot of people, I'm gonna be pretty strict on it tonight, so please try to keep an eye on the timer that Ashley's gonna put up here.

Um, and you'll see the yellow light at 30 seconds and red light um when the time is up.

Thank you, everyone with your signs for keeping your signs.

We can see them, but they aren't blocking anyone behind you.

Appreciate that.

Um language or behavior that disrupts the meeting.

Um, if you do do that, I'll have to stop you or potentially ask you to leave.

I'm not too worried about that tonight.

Since we have a bunch of people here tonight, let's try to have a um no reactions to people speaking so everyone gets to say their um piece, even if you disagree with it.

Let's just let everyone have a chance to share their opinion with us tonight.

Um and so we're gonna start.

We only have a few online speakers, so I'm gonna start with them, and then we'll move to in person.

Okay.

All right, let me know when you're ready for online, and we can we can start with Sarah Odendahl.

If we need a minute, we could do a couple people in person and we get in it.

Oh, there we go.

Got it.

Okay, Sarah, you can unmute.

Okay, can you guys hear me now?

Yep, we can.

Thanks, Sarah.

Go ahead.

Okay, awesome.

Thanks.

Um, good evening, Mayor, counselors for the record.

My name is Sarah Odenall.

I uh have the pleasure of serving as the CEO of the Bend Chamber, and I am a resident of Bend.

I am here tonight in support of the City of Bend's economic development strategic plan.

The chamber has engaged with city staff throughout this process, and I want to thank the economic development team for their collaboration and for welcoming input from the business community.

As you all know, a strong, well-resourced economic development program at the city level is essential to Benn's long-term prosperity.

Our local businesses are the backbone of this community.

They provide jobs, contribute to the tax base, and help support the services and quality of life we all value.

A clear strategy focused on business retention and growth is especially important right now as employers navigate workforce challenges, rising costs, and ongoing ongoing uncertainty.

This plan recognizes that supporting existing businesses is just as critical as recruiting new ones, and that resiliency, innovation, and inclusivity must be central to Bend's economic future.

That alignment matters to our members, and it matters to Bend.

I'd also like to support uh testimony that you'll hear later tonight requesting that a pilot program to assess and collect data on all electric homes prior to establishing and implementing a fee on natural gas appliances.

As I've shared previously, access to real local data will be critical as the city works towards electrification and broader reduction of fossil fuel use.

We urge the city to thoughtfully consider this pilot as part of part of your decision making next week.

Thank you for your leadership and your continued commitment to a strong sustainable forward-looking economy for Bend.

I urge your support of the economic development plan, and I look forward to working with Katie and the team as it's implemented.

Thanks, Sarah.

All right, next will be Brian O'Guri.

Did you still want to speak, Brian?

If you can, we'll unmute you.

Brian, you can go ahead.

Oh, Brian dropped off.

I guess not.

Okay.

Um next would be Alan Spector.

Oh, I appear to be unmuted.

Is that correct?

Oh, you are.

Go ahead, Alan.

Perfect.

Mayor Keebler, members of Bend City Council.

My name is Alan Spector, manager of external affairs for Cascade Gas.

We value the opportunity to work with the City of Bend toward collaborative solutions for decarbonization, and are proud to serve over 40,000 customers in the Bend community with affordable reliable energy.

Resource adequacy and the role of gas and electricity and jointly serving a balanced energy system are extremely timely and important topics.

The decisions made regarding decarbonization and potential implementation of a natural gas fee.

We'll have ripples across the community in terms of resource adequacy as well as energy and housing affordability.

Because of the complexities of these issues, we believe it's essential that decisions be made as a part of a robust public process with presentations to city council from a broad range of community subject matter experts, including both the serving gas and electric utilities.

Following recent interest in Cascade presenting on renewable natural gas, Cascade requests the opportunity to present on our RNG efforts in Washington and Oregon, and is also available to present information regarding our dual fuel system pilot, resource adequacy, and other information to support the city's decision making process.

Given the inclusion of Pacific Power and upcoming conversations during the council work session on February 11th, we believe the work session would be an excellent vehicle for this information.

However, we're also amendable to presenting to council as soon as practical following the 11th.

Regardless, as we've shared in the written comments last week, we urge the city to delay providing guidance on a fee level or furthering discussions on an ordinance until Cascade and other members of the community are able to share information with the full city council to help inform well-designed policy.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thanks.

Thanks, Alan.

Okay, so that will do it for our online commenters.

So we'll start having our in-person commenters come on up.

And I'm gonna call who's who's up and who's on deck so people can be ready.

Um so first we'll have Michael Baker and then John Stark will be after Michael.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Michael Baker.

I have the honor of being the CEO for the Boys and Girls Clubs here in Bend.

I just wanted to uh a couple give you a couple updates, good updates.

Uh we are we have extended our hours on Monday through Friday for teens till 7 30 p.m.

So if you have any teenagers out there, it's totally free to be a member of the Boys and Girls Clubs, get them involved.

Uh we've tried to make that as easy as possible for them, which is very challenging.

Um secondly, uh we are also open starting this Saturday for the first time ever.

From 10 to 4.

And uh those of you that were able to participate with the mayor as well, uh, and handed out the gold cards to the members.

Those kiddos get to come for free on Saturday, so that's something that's gonna be a nice perk for them.

And the other children that need the service will be a $10 fee for the day, and we'll certainly be able to scholarship those that need it.

But again, uh the club will be open, and I wanted to encourage each and every one of you, if you're available, on the 24th of February, uh, from 4 30 to 6, we'll be having our annual meeting.

It's not your typical dry annual meeting.

It'll be fun and uh have an opportunity to have a little interaction with the kiddos, and uh we'll be giving out some really nice awards to not only some of our members but specifically to some of our key supporters of the boys and girls clubs as well as uh staff members of the year.

So be honored to have any one of you come and attend the the event.

Um again wanna thank you for the continued support and always know that uh the doors are open for you to uh come in and see the tremendous asset that's literally a couple hundred yards down the road from from this facility.

So again, thank you all very much for your support.

Thanks, Michael.

All right, John Stark, and next will be Justin Gottlieb.

Good evening, Mayor Council.

I'm for the record, I'm John Stark.

I'm CEO of Economic Development for Central Oregon.

I'm here as part of a later presentation on the economic development strategic plan plan for the city of Bend as a stakeholder in the process helping to construct the plan.

Uh we look forward to working with the city in an integrated way, citing our Bend area director in City Hall as part of a uh renewed contract that we recently signed.

Uh and we're super excited to help achieve the intended outcomes uh within the plan.

Business retention, expansion, early stage company support and recruitment is part of our business model.

And the plan clearly outlines the leveraging several new tools uh for incentivizing companies here in the area and several existing tools such as the tax increment financing programs that you have, uh future redesignation of the opportunity zone uh program, which is actually underway as we speak.

All in an effort to keep businesses thriving here in Bend.

This is well documented in the plan.

We look forward to being part of the city's economic development department, the newly formed economic development department as we execute this strategy.

And I just really appreciate the opportunity to share our perspective this evening and uh thank you for your support going forward.

Thank you, John.

All right, Justin Gottlieb, and then after Justin will be Robin Church.

Justin Gottlieb, uh, thank you, Council.

Uh I'm here today speaking on behalf of uh the independent canners of Central Oregon, documented here and discussed in the Source Weekly article last week.

600,000 improperly disposed of containers, and one in four voters based on uh past public vote.

Uh I've been very angry at the governing organizations, be the BCD and Borough.

Uh I haven't been this angry since Parks and Rec gassed 109 geese and fed their remains to the homeless.

Unethical bureaucratic behavior.

Uh Mr.

Bresla speaking for uh the property owners in the district, voiced a discriminatory ideology and a fundamental misunderstanding of addiction.

Uh Wi Fi, mobile technology, petroleum, energy are all very dangerous civic addictions, much like uh alcohol cigarettes, cannabis, sugar, coffee, and I could go on and on.

Addictions are essential to the functioning of commerce, and as to dignity, uh help us build it.

I invested 40 dollars in this haircut and put on a suit and tie out of respect and dignity to this space of assembly.

Uh I found it in everyone's trash last night.

Uh don't call me undignified or a drug addict.

Uh, in terms of the BDC, Eric, Ms.

Mayor, you need to take everyone who was mentioned in this article and lock us in that conference room upstairs until we come up with a better plan or a new one.

We're tired of being ignored.

Thank you.

Thank you, Justin.

I'll leave this if anyone didn't see it.

You can hand it to Ashley and she'll take it for us.

Thank you.

All right, Robin Church, and then after that, Craig Renkert.

Good evening, counselors.

Thank you.

My name is Robin Church.

I live in Bend, volunteer as a wildfire risk assessor and serve as secretary of the Project Wildfire Neighborhood Coalition in advance of your wildfire resiliency workshop on February 25th.

We wanted to share some information with you and encourage you to adopt R 327 ahead of this spring's construction season.

R 327 is shelf-ready code grounded in decades of wildfire research focused on ignition resistance.

It establishes common sense construction standards that reduce risk from Ember exposure and structure-to-structure ignition, which is a common driver, dominant driver of uh catastrophic destruction in dense communities that are experiencing wildfire.

Our area ranks 11th nationwide for the number of homes facing moderate or greater wildfire risk.

This represents an estimated 15.3 billion dollars in reconstruction value, a staggering level of exposure.

Bend is growing, so we need to ask ourselves to what standard will we build.

Design is not just about safety, it's also about financial and economic resilience.

Wildfires disrupt lives, tourism, recreation, local businesses, and tax revenue.

Preventing loss protects the foundations of our community and economy.

Wildfire resistant construction adds relatively little build to the building costs for new homeowners while significantly reducing the risk of widespread loss.

Almost half of wildfire disaster recovery costs fall on local communities.

Studies of LA, Lahaina, and Colorado suggest for every one dollar invested in wildfire resistant construction.

$210 in future economic losses could be avoided.

In fire-prone regions like ours, building wildfire hardened homes is fiscally prudent.

Thank you, Robert.

That's public policy.

Thank you.

I'm gonna have to cut you off.

I'm sorry.

We have your written comments that you sent in as well.

So thank you.

I appreciate that.

All right, Craig Renkert, and then Lon Lenev from the Nebbe is after that.

Thank you.

Mayor and Councillors, I'm Craig Rinkert.

I live a short distance outside the current city Bend City limits.

As a member of the Project Wildfire Neighborhood Coalition and the president of the Deschutes Market Road Firewise community, I've been involved in mitigating local firewire wildfire risk for six years.

I've in those six years I've been forced to evacuate my home twice.

Today I come to you as a resident of the rural community supporting the adoption of R 327.

I would like to thank the city leaders and staff for working with the county to reduce the risk of wildfire spreading from Juniper Ridge to surrounding private property, eliminating unsanctioned camping east of the railroad and creating a temporary camping area between the railroad and highway 97 is a step in the right direction.

Additionally, Kevin Moyardi and Lawrence Street from with the county led the work creating a shaded fuel break around much of the perimeter of Juniper Ridge.

These actions reduce the risk of surrounding homes being consumed by fire.

Eight years ago, I built a new home just east of Juniper Ridge that incorporated the provisions of R 327 based on my own research on how to increase the chances of a home surviving a wildfire.

We have witnessed with other wildfires there are never enough firefighters to protect all homes.

Fire science evidence demonstrates that one key factors in preserving a home during a wildfire is home hardening.

Building fire resistant homes now is much less expensive than retrofitting them to meet standards we know work.

Wildfire protection is unlikely to be successful if it is implemented on an ad hoc basis.

This work needs to be a community-wide effort.

All members of the community must follow the standards that fire science demonstrates reduces risk.

Implementing R 327 is a step forward in the in creating a community that is more resistant to loss during a wildfire.

I urge you to implement R 327 wildfire building code standard now so that the new homes built this year will be more resistant to for wildfire for generations to come.

Thanks, Craig.

All right, Lon, you're up, and then Todd Torzin is after that.

Good evening.

I'm Lon Lane, a resident of Bend, and I'm heavily involved in wildfire preparedness as well.

And I currently co-chair the Project Wildfire Neighborhood Coalition.

Tonight I'm representing that coalition whose membership voted overwhelmingly to ask the city to formally adopt our 327.

We've asked the same of Redmond, LePine, and Deschutes County.

And as you may know, Deschutes County voted to adopt it last week.

Sisters has already adopted it.

Well, this new code doesn't address existing buildings.

It's an important forward-thinking step that, if adopted by the city, would greatly improve the survivability of the approximately 30,000 new homes expected to be built in Bend over the next 20 years.

Very importantly, it addresses with one of the three key pillars of effective wildfire mitigation management, which is home hardening, defensible space, and sound emergency evacuation planning.

The coalition is a subcommittee of Project Wildfire formed in 2023, and we support their mission by improving fire adapted redness one neighborhood at a time.

By that we mean we recruit, educate, and support any community wanting help, and then we help them ramp up their fire safety capabilities.

I will close with a personal observation.

I've a directly I've directly assessed untold numbers of properties to help improve fire preparedness.

We have and will continue to make progress, one property and one neighborhood at a time if needed.

But what is really needed is code adoption, like we are asking for this evening.

Whether it focuses on home hardening or defensible space, the only way to really accelerate regional wildfire safety is to require it of all property owners.

We need codes and regulation with teeth in them.

Otherwise, as we do now, we are simply relying on people to voluntarily do the right thing, and that's a slow road.

Better than nothing, but nowhere near what regional progress would look like if every city in the county would adopt, implement, and enforce best practice wildfire preparedness code, such as would be accomplished with the adoption of R 327.

Thank you, Lon.

Thank you.

All right, Todd Torzin and then William Dalvest.

It's coming down.

Hi, I'm Todd Fortson speaking on behalf of the Southern Crossing Neighborhood Association.

October was a good month for our neighborhood district because council voted to move up the timing of the Bond Reed Market Roundabout Project and Council approved money to start working on a further south bridge over the Jesuits River.

A very big thank you to all of us, from all of us to you.

Transportation issues also galvanized our community.

We had double the turnout at our annual meeting, and the enthusiasm expanded our board from three members to eight.

Also at our meeting, Ryan Oester used the presentation he gave to council to discuss the upcoming capital projects in Southern Crossing.

However, the community was rather upset when he told them that a two-lane through roundabout was not being proposed for Bond Reed Market, even though the number of residential units in our area is doubling.

To make sure we are listening to our members, we just finished the transportation survey.

We got 249 responses on our three question survey.

Traffic congestion was the number one concern, followed by emergency evacuation and first responder access.

Reed Market is the area of greatest concern, followed by Bond Brookswood.

Our goal is to collaborate with the city and other neighborhood districts on a follow-up survey in a public meeting looking at possible solutions.

We would like you to hear the community's feedback comparing the city's plans to other options.

I again invite you and staff to meet with us and discuss the issues.

I appreciate the three counselors who took time last May to come to Wood River Village and understand the issues in more detail.

Thank you for your time.

Thanks, Todd.

Thanks, Todd.

William Dahlquist and then Greg McAvoy.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is William Dahlquist.

I'm coming here simply as a concerned neighbor to talk about the unsafe traffic conditions in the Summit West neighborhood.

I speak on behalf of myself and many of my neighbors who, for the last several years, have been attempting to find solutions to the unsafe situations on our streets.

We've called, we've sent emails, we've filled out online forms, and as a last resort, when the situations have posed immediate dangers to our health and safety, we've called the police.

However, for all the attempts we've done, we've had to prove to the city that a problem exists there.

There have been no changes and very little action taken by the city to fix anything.

Well, improvements could be made throughout the area and the city.

I wish to specifically address the section of Skyline Ranch Road between Northwest Crossing Drive and Slilo Lane.

I'll leave some maps here.

This is essentially the entrance to the new and still under construction Discovery West neighborhood, and subsequently sees a lot of traffic, traffic that includes three very high risk types of traffic, construction, school traffic, the shenanigans that go with school traffic, and a large amount of tourism traffic because of the rentals in the area.

Add in the huge amount of pedestrians and bike traffics, and the lack of proper traffic control will lead to a disaster.

The one thing we did have for a bit last year was a radar gun.

However, once that was taken down, there was no significant follow-up in any sort of traffic mitigation.

I know that according to the rules right now, you really only put speed humps on roads that are longer than three blocks.

And I know that Skyline Ranch right now in that section is only three blocks long.

However, given the amount of complaints and the fact that construction's already begun on connecting that section of Skyline Ranch Road with the rest of Skyline Ranch Road, obviously exceeding that three block limit.

I would urge that that rule is ignored or at the very least re-looked at.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

And it's not the street you just talked about, but I just want to let you know on your street, there is a traffic calming that we just talked about in a meeting that is part of the neighborhood street safety program.

And our work session last week was all about street safety and new standards.

So I encourage you to check that out.

Thank you.

And I did reach out to some people from that committee.

Thank you.

Okay.

Greg McAvoy and then Mark Gentle.

Good evening.

My name is Greg McAvoy, and I live on 20526 Southeast Murphy Road.

And I'm here tonight to ask the council to consider lowering the speed limit from 35 miles an hour to something that would be more appropriate for the area.

My house is right probably a hundred yards east of Jewel Elementary.

I have a front row seat to the street.

Since I have been there, I have watched the amount of traffic increase exponentially with the development of the Eastern development, the new high school that's in there, and Southeast Murphy Road services 3rd Street from about Safeway to 15th Street by Alp and Glow.

And with the 35 mile an hour zone that comes up to the 20 mile an hour zone for the school, the speed differences are so drastic that it people don't pay attention.

And I watch them go right through the zone at 35 miles an hour.

And when the school zone isn't flashing, that street is inundated with large amounts of current commercial traffic, large semis.

Um just people traveling through there, and I think I can conservatively say that I'm seeing speeds in excess of 45 miles an hour, and there is really a clear and present danger in that area.

So I would hope that maybe someone could look into that for me.

Thank you.

Thank you for bringing that to listening.

All right, uh Mark Gentle, and then Carol Carson is after that.

Hello, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Mark Gentle.

I'm the chair of the Aubrey Butte Neighborhood District.

I just want to bring to your attention uh the letter that we received today from the city staff formally notifying us along with the other 12 neighborhood districts that in fact uh to our surprise, we do not have liability insurance through the city.

I ask our treasurer to go back as far as she could, and starting in 2018, that's where the records go to.

There has been a deduction from our grant from the city each year for insurance.

Turns out when we asked for evidence of that coverage, it turned out that the broker didn't understand the relationship between the city and the neighborhood districts.

So we didn't have insurance in the past, we don't have insurance currently, and through the city, there is no prospect of using your brokerage firm to obtain that insurance.

What that means is that at least for us, I don't know about the other districts and how they are set up.

We will need to register as a not-for-profit, go through the process of a 501c3 filing to be sure that the funds that we receive are tax deductible should we get donations that were tax exempt.

We go to the private market as a little tiny entity to purchase liability insurance.

The insurance market in Oregon is tight because of the liability.

If you go to a venue and you want a room for under 20 people, like one of our board meetings that we have once a month, like we would go to OSU.

We requested those documents.

Liability, show them as an additional insured, and then also sign off on a broad form indemnity and hold harmless agreement, and your lawyer will know what that means.

That's the situation we're faced with just to have a board meeting.

When we have the annual meeting, it becomes even more complicated.

We hope that there's some solution that you might be able to facilitate because it applies to every single district, not just us.

Thank you.

Thanks, Mark.

Okay.

Um Carol Carson and then Alice Weston.

Good evening, council and citizens.

I'm Carol Carson, and I reside in the West Hills neighborhood.

And I would like to speak to you about the natural gas.

Natural gas is an existing and reliable utility.

But that natural gas and increase in electricity will be needed.

We'll need more electricity, which causes high environmental impact, including increased burning of coal for electricity, more solar panels.

Where do solar panels go when they fail?

They do not decompose.

More wind.

Wind turbines require resources.

Where do wind wind turbines go when they fail?

They do not decompose.

They are not recyclable.

Do we want more dams?

Supporting natural gas ensures that a power resource is available.

The existing natural gas infrastructure creates economy, providing jobs for appliance makers, appliance people, and the maintenance of the existing utility of natural gas.

Natural gas is an existing resource.

The infrastructure is in place, it works well and is efficient.

Keeping natural gas ensures that a resource is available.

Natural gas is an existing and reliable utility.

Thank you for your time.

Thanks, Carol.

All right.

Good evening, Council.

Hi.

Apologies.

I have a little bit of a headache, so if my delivery is flat, I apologize.

My name is Alice Weston.

I'm a resident of Bend and a local organizer with the Oregon chapter of the Sierra Club and a member of the Progressive Workers Union.

Sierra Club Oregon supports the climate just future of all residents of Bend.

As part of that commitment, we are advocating to support a strong climate impact fee that facilitates the transition to an all electric infrastructure that establishes a just transition fund to help all residents thrive.

Action at all levels of government are desperately needed in the face of the worsening climate crisis.

2024 was the hottest year on record.

2025 was the second hottest year on record, and today was quite sweaty.

In past meetings, the fact that Pacific Pacific Corps and our electric utilities are still relying on dirty fuels was brought up and was said it should be factored into this policy.

We also agree that our utilities should be held accountable to state climate policy, and we continue to support actions at the state and national level just to do that.

The grid is getting cleaner by the minute, and this is a great time to move forward with local climate policy.

Electrification just makes sense.

For example, studies have shown that heat pumps are highly efficient, often reducing emissions by 40% or more compared to fossil fuel heating like gas, making them better for the environment even on carbon heavy grids.

We think it's important for the city to push for climate policy as something it can do within its jurisdiction, like this impact fee, and allow for the state to regulate utilities through the state's 100% clean electricity law.

I plan to send this information to you guys via email with citing those sources.

Um and I appreciate your time and the opportunity to give comments.

Thank you.

Hope you feel better.

James Kinney and then Peter Sweet.

Hello, council and mayor.

I'm here to voice my opposition to the regulation of natural gas.

I think a natural gas is an important and affordable energy source for our community.

Um regulation will limit this affordable and clean energy source for consumers and increase housing costs.

I just heard reference to a heat pump.

I just recently priced the replacement of a natural gas furnace.

Uh at with an air conditioning unit at 12,000, the same heat pump system, 23,000 dollars.

That's a large increase for a homeowner or builder.

Um technologies have produced highly efficient natural gas furnace appliances, uh, upwards of 98, 99 percent.

That's pretty efficient in my opinion.

Additionally, I would ask the council to seek more research and guidance on the issue, including allowing Cascade Natural Gas the opportunity to present to council on this issue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, Peter Sweet, and after that will be Brian Adams.

We don't have Peter Sweet here.

Um, and after that will be Ken Wilkins.

All right, thank you, Mayor Keebler.

Council.

Uh my name is Brian Adams.

I'm a Ben resident and president of Coenergy Propane that's headquartered out of Redburn, Oregon.

Coenergy is locally owned by 68,000 Oregonians, made up of the membership of Central Electric and Consumer Power Electric Co-ops.

I also hold elected positions on the Oregon Department of Energy's Energy Advisory Work Group and an advisory oversight body responsible for the recently released Oregon Energy Strategic Plan.

I'm here today because I believe the council's current push towards rapid electrification and the restriction of natural gas is outpacing the physical realities of our regional energy system.

This approach introduces unnecessary risk to Bend's energy reliability and housing affordability.

Sound energy policy must be grounded in systems adequately, adequacy and infrastructure readiness, not aspirational timelines.

I urge the council to review the January 14th testimony of Oregon Department of Energy Director Janine Benner.

Director Benner referenced a recent study projecting a nine gigawatt electricity shortfall across the Pacific Northwest by 2030 with credible risk of multi-day winter supply shortages as early as 2026.

This aligns with the Western Electricity Coordinating Council's assessment and resource development will not keep pace with projected load growth over the next decade.

Together, these are not speculative concerns, they are clear data-driven warnings.

Policies that constrain or penalize non-electric energy sources are not advocating resiliency.

They are uh undermining it.

Proceeding with additional energy restrictions without fully accounting for these constraints will expose Bend residents to higher costs and greater reliability risks.

For these reasons, I respectfully urge the council to pause consideration of the proposal gas appliance fee.

Instead, the city should initiate a structured and collaborative planning process with all local energy providers develop a balanced strategy that realistically integrates climate goals with grid reliability and consumer affordability.

Thank you, Brian.

All right, Ken Wilkins and then Amelia DuBose.

Good evening, Mayor Keebler and Council members.

My name is Ken Wilkins.

During my two years as a Bend resident, I've been involved in the ongoing conversation about electrification.

We're all aware of the myriad reasons for abandoning fossil fuel powered appliances in our homes in favor of electric appliances.

A pollution or climate impact fee assessed on new home builds can be an effective motivator in this transition.

Even with a fee, some home buyers will still opt to install gas appliances, so they will pay the fee.

The longstanding idea has been to support a just transition fund with these fees.

This fund will enable lower-income benned residents living with in homes with old inefficient gas appliances to electrify.

Electric appliances do not produce the harmful pollutants that combustion of natural gas produces.

So electrification leads to cleaner interior air and thereby a healthier home environment.

Recently, however, I've heard that the thinking about how to use this fund might be changing.

That rather than supporting needy existing households, the funds might be directed into new builds.

If so, this is concerning.

Does this mean that business interests are being given greater considerations than our residents?

This reminds me of another recent matter.

The failure of business and city council to follow through on a council-approved master plan at Petrosa, a Northeast Bend neighborhood developed by Polish Homes.

I implore our elected officials to be more responsive to local resident voters than to other interest.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thanks, Ken.

All right, Emilia DeBose and then Rachel Cannon.

Hi, Council.

Good evening.

Thank you once again for this opportunity to testify.

My name is Amelia DuBoes.

I'm a Bend resident.

There's only so many times a girl can come up here and tell you that she wants a climate pollution fee.

So I'm asking you again to please take bold action next week on the 11th and push for a strong climate pollution fee.

Little to no progress has been made towards our CCAP goals, and I believe this policy is one of the best that we can put into action right now in order to attempt to meet those goals.

I am a young person.

People are constantly asking me what I'm going to do with my life.

And I've obviously thought about affordable housing because I live here and because I love my community.

I know that affordable housing is an issue.

That's why we need to just transition.

I know building houses is too expensive, and so the buying price goes up.

Binding ourselves to fossil fuels is short-term thinking, and I was under the impression that adults and that our leaders strategically thought about the long-term impacts of their decisions.

According to the center for sustainable economy, the average Oregonian could lose roughly 12,000 in personal income per year due to changes in the climate that have already been set in motion due to past greenhouse gas emissions.

That is not affordable.

Part of affordable housing needs to include health and sustainability.

That simply cannot happen without action to reduce fossil fuels in homes.

Thank you again, and I will see you the 11th.

Thanks, Amelia.

Thanks.

Rachel Cannon, and after that is Sean Nolan.

Good evening, counselors and mayor keepler.

My name is Rachel Hannon, and I'm an apprentice wireman with IVEW Local 280.

I'm a former Bend resident.

I have worked in Bend extensively, and I'm proud to be a woman in the electrical trades.

I know a couple things about electricity, which is why I'm here to testify against the forced electrification plan and the natural gas tax.

We have to be real about grid reliability and capacity.

Our infrastructure isn't ready to handle the increased electricity demand that will result from forced electrification rules.

Instead, implementing all electric mandates will strain the grid, jeopardizing energy reliability.

When we talk about energy reliability, we are talking about power outages and we're talking about blackouts.

Natural gas plays a key role in keeping people safe and warm when the power goes out in the winter.

Patchwork energy rules cause problems for local residents and Oregonians across the state.

Energy regulation has long been done at the state level because electricity generation and transmission infrastructure often span large geographic areas, requiring unified planning and oversight to ensure reliability, safety, and standardized rates.

Creating local rules that depart from expertly crafted state rules designed to service large reasons can spike rates, degrade reliability, and jeopardize safety for residents.

Speaking of state policy, the Oregon legislation is currently in session, and I would respectfully argue that it doesn't make sense for this city council to talk about a natural gas tax while state legislatures are in the process of debating energy policy.

At a minimum, the council should wait and see what new energy rules emerge from the Capitol before debating new local regulations.

This is especially true given that the city's own state legislative agenda mentions energy reliability.

Please slow down and talk to more experts and more energy workers because smart and safe energy policy can't be rushed.

Thank you.

Sean Nolan and then Laurie Bauman.

Good evening.

I'm here to talk in favor of the electrification program and the fee that will be levied on new natural gas builds.

I've got four points.

First, why should you listen to me?

I have experience working with a solar developer, particularly in their interconnect development, which deals with the utilities.

I have experience working in research and development with large HVAC conglomerates who build both natural gas and electrical units.

And I have experience working in renewable natural gas.

My first point, we heard this evening about renewable natural gas and how it is a decarbonized form of energy.

This is somewhat misleading.

Really, what do you what renewable natural gas is is a mitigation of emissions coming from agricultural and consumer waste streams.

It does not at all impact the used side of natural gas in homes.

It impacts the supply side and mitigates agricultural and consumer waste streams.

Second of all, we heard about longevity and resources.

Yes, it's true, solar panels do not decompose, but neither do natural gas compressors nor the chemicals that are required to send natural gas and to strip it of hydrogen sulfide and other contaminants when it's used.

We also heard about electrical load on the grid.

This has long been a concern of utilities who manage it using interconnect cues and other economic structures, and isn't really a concern of local government, if you ask me.

Finally, none of the opponents have addressed, including Cascade Natural Gas, the health risks posed by natural gas to homeowners, especially as we as we've heard earlier, asthma in children in homes that burn natural gas.

That's all I had to say.

I yield the rest of my time and don't support ice.

Thanks, all right.

Okay.

Lori uh Bauman and then um Mary Patton Pittenburg.

Hi, thanks for having us.

Sorry.

No, go ahead.

Okay.

No, get ready.

All right, there you go.

My name is Lori Bauman.

I'm a member and employee of the labors union local 737.

How we represent construction, construction workers, laborers.

Um I want to focus on two things cost and emission.

First, electrification increases the cost of new home construction.

I think we already went over that.

I'm gonna skip forward.

Second, electrification does not equal zero emissions.

Natural gas is already helping reduce emissions and renewable natural gas is a major part of that progress.

It lowers emissions while using existing infrastructure that are already in place and already paid for.

That allows communities to reduce emissions without sacrificing reliability or affordability.

This doesn't have to be an either-or choice.

Um we can lower emissions and keep energy and housing costs manageable.

We can support innovations without eliminating options that people rely on.

Um keeping natural gas, especially a renewable natural gas as part of Ben's energy mix is a practical balanced way forward.

I also want to just take a minute because I remembered when I was sitting down, you know, I know for a fact that we have small towns in this state that have struggled with brownouts, and we all know what a blackout is.

A brownout can last weeks, sometimes months.

Blackouts are even bigger, right?

I'm really grateful that I have a furnace heat in my house.

And I don't think that we want to do away with that.

That's just my preference.

But I think it's something to think about.

Thank you.

Thanks, Lori.

All right, Mary Pantenberg.

I know we want some pod, but I'm just gonna ask us to remain neutral.

Thank you, everybody.

Everyone's giving great comments tonight.

Go ahead, Mary.

Hi, counselors.

Um, thank you for being here.

My name is Mary, and I lived in Bend my whole life.

Um, and back in my day we had winter.

So now I'm playing beach volleyball in February, so that's not a joke.

That's climate change, just so we're all clear.

Um, so first off, I want to acknowledge that y'all have a really hard decision to make, and I would really encourage you to make that decision based on science, facts, and the long-term health of central Oregon, not on political pressures by the gas industry.

Um, many of which are here tonight, and I'm unclear of how many uh live here.

So I'm here to urge you to pass a strong climate impact fee.

I recently read an op-ed an up-ed claiming that policy like this would make Bend less affordable, and I want to explain why that's not true.

The idea that Bend must choose between climate action and affordability is a false trade-off.

Delaying electrification does not protect renters or first-time buyers, it increases long-term costs and exposes households to volatile gas prices, which are set to increase by 17% next year.

Electrification of new construction is the lowest cost moment to act, and it's an investment.

And an important thing I haven't heard tonight is that this fee impacts new housing and new developments.

It is not current homes that already have natural gas.

So we're not saying get rid of natural gas.

We're saying let's transition into electrification.

So natural gas people will still have their jobs.

Um, so I learned how to invest when I was in my early 20s, and I'm eager to see if everyone else knows how to invest.

This type of policy would allow us to invest in healthier homes to bring more people to Bend who want to stay here that want to have families here because it's becoming so unaffordable that young people are leaving right after they graduate from high school.

Um installing gas today locks future residents into higher utility bills for tomorrow.

Um, and when we install gas in new homes, we aren't saving anyone money.

Um, so I've no you I know you've received thousands of comments from the natural gas industry, and as a reminder, natural gas is not renewable, it is big oil.

Thank you.

Thanks, Mary.

All right, John Hannah is next, and then Michaela May.

Sorry, John, I forgot to give you a prep.

You're good.

It's all good.

Thank you, uh, Mayor and Counselors.

My name is John Hanner.

I uh work for Labor's Local 737.

I'm a resident of Central Oregon, not Bend, Le Pine.

However, I do represent a lot of workers that live in the city of Bend, work in the city of Bend, and all over Central Oregon.

I am not in favor of what you're proposing.

However, I do agree that natural gas is a finite resource that human beings need to quit using at some point.

I believe that taking a slower approach, perhaps even maybe a pilot project of a hundred houses or so, running data, working with the gas companies and the several electric companies slowly over the course of maybe 25 years or more, building up a grid so we don't get into these affordability issues.

Whenever you act quickly, things will cost more.

And I do believe that emissions will go up if you electrify everything, the price will obviously go up.

But the emissions, what do you do with that?

Because it'll force electric companies to use what they call dirty electricity.

So you're still having that problem of higher emissions.

So I would encourage you to take a slower pace and um take your time and perhaps maybe run a pilot project and work with uh these entities over the course of many years.

And thanks, John.

I see a lot of young people here pick it up, pick it up and um take a slower pace with it.

Thanks, John.

Thank you.

Let's keep comments addressed to council and other commenters, please.

We had a little you're good.

Um and we had a actually the timer wasn't running there for some reason.

I was trying to grab my phone.

So okay.

Um, all right, Michaela May, and then um Chad, and I can't read your last name.

So it's an E.

Chad E.

We'll be next.

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

My name is Michaela May, and I'm a junior at Caldera High School, and I've lived in Bend my entire life.

I'm here in support of a strong climate impact fee.

Before I begin my testimony, I would like to ask you to consider in whose interest people are testifying in opposition and support for this fee.

Um, as a high school student who is not old enough to vote yet, I'm here only in the interest of our community.

Um, I'm missing a sport practice to be here tonight because this is an issue that means so much to me.

Um, community is currently experiencing the effects of the climate crisis, as other people have mentioned.

Um, the temperature reached 66 degrees today.

Um, this afternoon, Hoodoo Ski Area also announced that they will be suspending operations due to lack of snow.

And the Lodge in Trata off of Century Drive announced that they will be closing next week.

Um, these closures impact the livelihoods of those who work in industries that benefit from uh ecotourism both in summer and in winter, um, including hospitality, food service, equipment rentals, etc.

Uh, the main argument against this fee is affordability.

Um, and I would like to point out that the people who work in these industries that I mentioned above need to afford to live here, and as our community continues to experience the impacts of the climate crisis, um the ability for those people to afford to live here will become further out of reach.

Um since I have 30 seconds left, I'd like to say the fossil fuel industry has never had our best interest in mind, so please keep that in mind when you're considering this.

Thank you for your time, and I'll see you next week.

Thanks, Michaela.

All right, Chad.

And then after that is Joe Craig.

Hi.

Sorry about I couldn't read your hand.

Oh, my hand was good evening, Mayor and Counselors.

My name is Chad Finnison.

I am a uh proud union member of Lionel Local 737, and I'm also a natural gas pipeliner, and I've done natural gas pipeline all across the United States.

I'm an Oregon resident, and um I know firsthand about the complexity of natural gas, because that's the industry I'm in, and I have personal experience as well.

My and I'm a little bit I always get nervous when I do this.

Okay, go ahead.

Well, my uh my grandfather put a natural gas stove in and actually killed my grandmother because he did it and incorrectly.

And uh so it's very important to me that natural gas is used in a correct, safe manner.

Um I understand that people's uh feelings about the environment.

I love the environment as well.

I've my goal is to uh hit all the national parks in the United States.

I got about half of them done.

But I feel that natural gas is a resource that is part of the energy matrix, and I think it's right now is important as we develop technology to get cleaner and cleaner and cleaner.

I'm all for that.

I just feel like as of now, uh, any kind of like um disincentives to use natural gas, I think would affect the energy matrix in a negative way.

That's all my that's all I have.

All right, thanks, Chad.

All right, Joe Craig, and then Brad Archuletta.

Thank you.

My name's Joe Craig, I'm a resident of Bend.

Uh, when I think about climate change, I think of reducing fossil fuels, and that includes natural gas.

I also try to think globally, act locally, and that's why I'm speaking out in favor of a climate impact fee.

I also believe in seven-generation thinking, the indigenous philosophy that urges current generations to consider the impact of their decisions on the next seven generations.

It promotes long-term sustainability, stewardship of the earth, responsible decision making to ensure a healthy, thriving future for our descendants.

After doing some research about Oregon and renewable energy, I found uh in May of 2025, OPB and ProPublica showed that the state ranked 47th in renewable energy growth over the past decade.

That's not moving fast.

So we're at 47th.

That was a big surprise to me, and I will be pressuring state lawmakers on that too.

The climate impact fee will incentivize builders to build all electric homes that cost less to build and save an average energy over the years.

My home was built in 2016 with solar panels, and it achieved a net zero certification.

This was not my first electric home.

I built an electric home in 1980 in Ohio.

Okay, and the costs were lower.

My neighbors come over and said, I wish we would have used solar panels.

I wish we would have done what you did.

So I'm asking you to consider this, and you can get numbers from Energize Bend and other sources.

Thank you.

Thanks, Joe.

All right, Brad Archulata, and then Dan Cartwell.

Good evening.

Mayor Kehler, Council members.

Thank you.

My name is Brad Archuletta.

I'm a business agent organizer and training coordinator with UA Local 290 plumbers and steam fitters.

I thank the council for the opportunity to speak tonight, and I feel compelled to dispel what I believe are some common misunderstandings about electricity and energy in general.

For starters, I don't want to remind everyone that electricity is not a fuel source, it's a transmission system.

Why some electricity does come from wind and solar, the majority of electricity generated by Pacific Power comes from coal and natural gas.

Forcing new construction in Bend to be all electric may look clean, but there's nothing clean about increasing demand on cold fire power plants.

If Bend's goal is to reduce how much coal is burned, forced electrification does the opposite.

Some continue to argue that Pacific Powers electricity will be cleaner because that's what law requires.

But based on recent reporting in the Oregonian, we know that is wishful thinking.

Pacific Court is not at pace to meet its 2030 deadline for an 80% reduction in emissions.

Through 2024, Pacific Power's emissions have declined only 19% from the base level set by lawmakers.

Its average emission between 2010 and 2012.

Another reason why Bend should rely on the state's current deadlines for clean energy.

According to the recent article in the Portland Business Journal, Pacific Corp is asking the state to recalibrate them.

And in Pacific Court's own words, meeting the 2030 deadline would produce severe affordability impacts on Oregon customers.

How severe?

The Oregonians said Pacific Court rates could go up as much as 140% per year every year for the next two decades.

Forest electrification will increase how much coal is burned and worsen's affordability crisis for every UA member who lives here.

Ben deserves better than this flawed policy.

Thank you.

All right, Dan Cartwell, and then after that is Dave Berger.

You have Dan.

Oh, there he comes.

Hello, Mayor and City Council.

My name is Dan Cartmel.

I live in Bend.

Thanks for the opportunity for speaking tonight.

I'm a mechanical engineer with over 40 years of professional experience.

Presently I'm on the leadership council of electrify Oregon, which is a statewide nonprofit that advocates for electrification of homes and vehicles.

I support the adoption of a strong climate impact fee.

The continued burning and leakage of natural gas is well understood to be a major contributor to global warming and climate change.

And we must begin to gradually wean ourselves off this energy source.

Fortunately, there are now all electric high efficiency options for all home appliances and heating equipment.

So elimination of natural gas in new construction is not a problem.

This little impact is going to be very small, but it would be a great first step.

And I know you've been hit with a lot of uh there's so much uh misinformation, misconceptions, myths about affordability, grid capacity, and labor impacts.

I could go on for hours on those trying to refute those, but I only have 20 seconds left.

So I hope that the council does their own research and looks at objective sources.

Uh thanks for letting me or thanks for taking this issue so seriously and for giving me the time to speak this evening.

Thanks, Dan.

All right, Dave Berger, and after that will be Mike Reed.

Uh Mayor, excuse me, Mayor and City Councilors.

Um, my name is David Berger.

I am a longtime resident of Bend and a business agent and organizer for Local 290.

I care very deeply for our community, which is why you keep seeing me at these meetings.

During last week's work session, I watched our council address a range of topics that included equity, transportation, and the Hawthorne Bridge project.

On the discussion of equity, I greatly appreciated City Manager Eric King's comment to do a thorough process when he said we need to slow down, make good decisions, and listen to the public.

Where councillor Franzosa and Norris both agreed to that.

Councilor Riotly echoed this sentiment during the transportation disc conversation.

His comments about the need to slow down, align with the content in the transportation slides, stressing the need to get our community input.

And doing that takes at least a year.

As for the Hawthorne Bridge ODOT presentation data summarized the extensive community outreach and engagement they did related to that project.

This was a community centered policy making and showcased the leadership I know our council is capable of.

By contrast, I am disappointed by the lack of community engagement about the gas tax and impact fee.

We are six months into making a uh prescriptive rule, and there has been little to nothing done like that kind of outreach I heard last week.

Given council's commitment to community outreach in other policy areas, one must wonder is this not being done because city council knows the community won't tell them what they want to hear.

The gas tax is not in the best interest of Bend, and our community does not want it.

In the words of City Manager King and other counselors, I urge the council to slow down, listen to the public.

Please don't rush to any decisions that impact energy reliability and affordability.

Thank you for your time.

Thanks, Jeff.

All right, Mike Reed, and then after that, Jeff McGillivery.

Great.

Good evening, Mayor Keebler and Council members.

My name is Mike Reed.

I'm a resident of End and a grandfather caring about the future world that our grandchildren will face.

I've heard a lot of discussion about the grids, particularly the electrical grid and how vulnerable it is because of the data centers and so forth.

This is definitely a true fact, but the state of Oregon has passed the Power Act.

The Power Act has intended to require that major energy, electrical energy users they pay the front for the their electrical cost.

That it will this power act will protect uh residential homeowners and small businesses.

And so I presume the state of Oregon will enforce that act and the big data centers and so forth will carry the cost.

And be responsible for the upgrades.

The other aspect of associated with the electrical grid is that all of its energy sources, even though they currently are natural gas and coal right now, are domiciled in the U.S.

Now let's take a look at the natural gas grid.

The natural gas grid is uh extremely old.

Uh CNG started putting pipes in in 1954, and these pipes are well over 60 to 70 years old in some places, and plus its suppliers are in the same position too.

Plus, its suppliers are out of Canada.

CNG gets about 66% of its gas from Canada, and so we're dealing with extreme volatility the volatility of political and market forces, including the aspects of liquid natural gas, and as we all know right now, Canadian and US relations are at all time low.

I would say let's go with the climate impact fee.

Thanks, Mike.

All right, Jeff McGillover, and then after that, Mike Aldritz.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council.

Uh appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight.

Uh my name is Jeff McGilvery.

I'm a 30-year-plus member of UA Local 290.

I'm here to speak against the climate action fee.

I started my career in 1992 on a 42-inch natural gas pipeline that ran from border to border through eastern and central Oregon, right down 97 here at some points.

Uh, then got into the apprenticeship, became a plumber, building everything from hospitals, schools, airports, all the way down to single family homes all over the state, every corner of the state.

You know, all these projects uh rely on affordable, reliable, efficient natural gas.

Fees like the one we're talking about tonight will only increase the house the cost of housing, increase of proje uh projects in the area, and uh in a time where we already have extremely high housing costs, especially in Bend.

Increased costs will reduce the number of projects that'll be built, number of housing units that'll be built, therefore reducing jobs in the construction industry and further creating economic hardships.

I would ask for you to listen to the community, talk to the professionals, look at all the data before making a decision on this.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Mike Aldred and then Jeff Grant.

Good evening, Mayor Keybert, Council members.

My name is Mike Albert.

I represent iron workers that live in the Benn community.

Um I work for local 29 iron workers.

Um it's no secret that Oregon workers and their families are worried about the state's economy.

The affordability crisis is real.

Creating new energy taxes are only going to make things worse.

Oregon business and industry recently released a statewide poll.

The DHM has that the DHM did.

As a union iron worker, I disagree with sometimes with business associations.

But this survey has some important information for all of us.

Voters blame high taxes and excessive regulations for Oregon's sluggish economy.

52% think Oregon's economic growth rate is slower than the national average.

About think it's about the same and 4% faster.

Asked to explain the slow growth, 23% mention high taxes, 21% mentioned excessive regulations.

No other reasons are cited as often.

Please understand the context in which the council is working on policies.

Now is not a good time to add more taxes and fees to your local residents.

Taxes like the gas tax that won't even create value and make us less safe on energy security and especially harmful.

Every fee tax restriction and mandate or regulatory barrier make Ben's housing affordability crisis worse.

The vast majority of this community doesn't want this work to continue.

In fact, 67% of Bend voters oppose taxes on natural gas appliances.

Every fee tax restriction mandate or regulatory barrier makes our housing affordability crisis worse.

Please say no to any more work on the appliance fees.

It's counterproductive.

Thanks, Mate.

Thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you.

All right, Jeff Grant and then Clara Patt.

Uh good evening, council, and good evening, Miss Mayor.

Uh, thank you for allowing us all to be here tonight.

Uh my name's Jeff Grant.

I'm a proud member of Labor's Local 737, like some of the folks you spoke with this evening.

Um, I work here, I travel here often.

I have family here, and I love this place.

Um, I urge you folks to keep uh natural gas as a reliable and affordable energy choice in Bend, and to reconsider the policies uh that push forced electrification.

Bend is a place that values independence, practicality, and balance, a one-size-fits-all energy mandate, simply doesn't reflect who we are as a community and how we actually live.

It's also not what the people of Bend want.

67% of Bend voters oppose taxes on natural gas appliances.

That's not a narrow margin.

That's a clear signal that residents are worried about affordability, choice, and unintended consequences.

If safety, energy reliability, and affordability are real priorities for this city, first electrification doesn't make sense.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Clara Patt.

Hello, Mayor and City Council.

I'm so excited to have the opportunity to talk.

I've never spoken at any local government event before, but the human-cause climate crisis is a substantial economic and public health hazard that has to be addressed.

I feel uniquely personally motivated by the energized Bend movement, and I'm in strong support of it.

I've lived in Bend and worked at Bend for years in an RV that runs off both solar and propane, and I understand the necessity for both.

However, we have to consider our future and the long-term health and economic impact of our community.

I also work for Family Kitchen, a local soup kitchen in town where we face extreme hardship from economic housing affordability.

In fact, a friend of mine, Tid Maholland, died a few weeks ago of exposure.

So I do understand the impacts of affordability.

And if anyone wants to help those impacted by housing cellar, but affordability, we have volunteer opportunities every day.

As stated before, we have ninety-five percent of homes are working off natural gas, but thirteen percent of asthma cases in youth are caused by natural gas.

The fossil fuel industry, as said before, doesn't have our best industry, our best interests at heart, and we have to do more to look out for the future of our city.

Thanks, everyone, for hanging with us through, I think that was an hour of public testimony, which is pretty great.

Anyone interested should be sure to tune in.

And you can do it in person, or you can watch on Zoom while you're making dinner, whatever you want to do.

So we'll take a short break while we clear the room here, and we'll be back about like five minutes.

All right, we're gonna get our meeting going again and call our meeting back to order.

And I think since we are done with visitors section, we're on to number five, the consent agenda.

I would like to move to poll item C speaking of utility costs.

Okay.

Item C is there a motion without item C I move to approve items A, B, and D of the consent agenda.

Second.

All right, move by Councillor Platt, second by Councillor Mendes.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Oh okay.

All right, so those items are approved, and then we're gonna have a presentation on item number C.

Dana's Dana.

Oh no, there you are.

Um I went to pull up the presentation actually, and it's moved, and I apologize.

I had my um my mouth point desktop.

So give me just one second now that I have to pull it up, it just doesn't have the last slide on it.

Can someone I can I can help them to Dana?

I can do that.

So do you want to come up and thank you so much?

Good evening, council.

My name is Dana Chennoit, and I am here to uh to bring it forward a contract for utility assistance third-party services.

But before we jump into that, I wanted to share a few slides with you on the program.

We updated it in October of 2022.

Perfect, that's it.

And uh, I want to just talk about what we've accomplished with the program since we made those changes.

Thank you.

So at that time, October 2022, we added new services that included water and later the transportation fee, and we expanded our eligibility to include any customer that was income qualifying, not just a small subset.

We also included automatic eligibility for customers that were receiving certain state and federal programs, and as part of this, we also use our program to inform our regional hauled waste providers of eligibility, so anyone enrolled in our programs are automatically enrolled in their programs.

So we also began utilizing third-party qualification for um income verification and enrollment, and that immediately professionalized our program.

It took the sensitive information review out of the city and put it in the hands of the professionals who have outreach and in education as part of their intake process.

So we immediately saw an increase in the number of customers that we were reaching.

So you can see from the graph on the right that the value of the discounts in this discount is a 50% base discount.

Uh more than doubled in that first year.

In the second year, we saw, which is actually the 2025, we saw a 9.3% increase, and we're on track for 2026 to see about a 10 and a half percent increase.

And these are calendar years, not fiscal years, which is a little bit different for how we usually present information.

And on this slide, we're looking at the number of households that we assist, and then water service shutoffs.

So two of the primary goals of the this program are to reach more customers and uh reduce the number of shops that we have for non-payment.

Uh the initial interest in our program was very strong.

We saw 75% jump that first year, but we've leveled off, but we still have a very strong interest in the program.

And for reference, 448 customers represents just under two percent of our residential water customer base.

On the right side is the number of shutoffs that we perform annually, and this is our residential shutoffs.

Um, you can see a pretty steep decline that first year, and this is a direct result of process improvements at utility building, and it was staff-led initiative.

This is very important to them.

They changed their process to increase the number of touch points between when an account goes delinquent and when we shut off water.

And the direct impact is is um pretty stunning.

This helps also insulate our customers from the financial impact of shutoff because there's a fee to shut it off and then turn it back on.

And as we go into the council discussion motion, I just want to end with our focus in 2026 on affordability and working with our internal and external partners to define what that means for our community and to identify potential underserved areas.

Awesome.

Which will just add that includes a presentation at the human rights and equity commission in February at the meeting next week, yeah.

Great.

Any questions, Counselors?

Okay.

Awesome.

I move to authorize an agreement with Neighbor Impact in substantially the form presented to council for utility assistance third party services in an amount not to exceed $52,342, and to authorize the city manager to approve annual renewals in accordance with the terms of the agreement not to exceed 261,710 over five years.

Second.

All right, move by Council Perkins, second by Councilor Norris.

All those in favor?

Okay.

All right.

Thanks, Sina, for presenting on that really good work on that program.

Okay, that will move us on to item number six.

Council is asked to adopt a resolution authorizing eminent domain for properties along Southwest 15th Street as part of the 15th and Ferguson Roundabout Project.

Councilor Norris.

I need to declare an actual conflict on this item.

My employer is Hayden Holmes, and this would most likely have a financial impact on them.

So I will be stepping away from the dais while you all deliberate and vote on this item.

Great, thank you.

All right, mayor Brian.

All right, uh, thank you, Council, for the record, Ryan Oster, director of our engineering department.

I just have a couple slides for you this evening.

Quick reminder about this project first identified in the TSP in 2020, our transportation system plan.

Uh, and then we confirmed that when we did the Southeast Area Plan as well.

Importance of this intersection is it will be a key detour route when we do the double leaning of 15th and Reed, and when we do the ultimate closure of read market at the rail to build that bridge over the rail crossing.

And another reminder this was actually reprioritized, and this is a good example of how public input can work.

Is we had some residents nearby who came to the bond oversight committee recommended they move it up in the prioritization list committee agreed.

We brought that to council.

Council agreed as well.

Uh, therefore, we're now in design.

Uh, we weren't originally going to start doing this until 2028.

So, as a result, uh, we do have this intersection and a couple of the other ones I mentioned, as well as a private development intersection at 27th and Ferguson on the other side, and we're trying to get all of this done and organized in a in a good manner so those detour routes are all set up in time for the read market impacts.

So as a result, expedited impact or expedited design, and we're also in conjunction with this work doing the work of the Ben Bikeways project on the west side of 15th between Ferguson and Reed Market.

That being said, uh, here's a quick snapshot of what the intersection is going to look like.

You can see uh north in this case is to your right.

Uh you can see the old road kind of underlying this, and the main thing we're fixing here is the geometry.

It's an absolutely horrible intersection, horrible sight line distances.

I live not far from here, so I see crashes and near misses here all the time.

And so we're moving this whole intersection to the south, and because of that unique geometry and the unique geography of this area, it is going to require two main right-of-way takes and then a handful of other ones.

Uh, one is with the gentleman in the southwest corner and or southeast corner of this picture here, which is is the bottom left of the screen.

Uh, this is kind of a corner of his lot, and it's it's pretty unbuildable.

You can see his yard is right there, but everything outside of that is basically just solid rock and outcroppings.

And then on the other side of 15th is our interaction with the Nottingham Homeowners Association, and what we're showing there in red is all a part of their common area, so no impact to any uh personal residence or property there, and all a part of their common area, and we're rebuilding this connection, I'm sure, with Forest Road as a part of the project.

So the request for council is to authorize us to use eminent domain.

Uh, and as always, that's a worst-case scenario if absolutely needed.

Uh, I was connecting with our legal team earlier, and we couldn't even remember how many times we've actually had to do this of the thousands of right-away files we've done.

We probably couldn't even count on one hand how many we've had to do.

So we'd like to get this process going so we can start the appraisal process and have direct negotiations with property owners.

Great.

Okay, any questions, counselors?

Important roundabout at that intersection.

Okay.

I move to adopt a resolution exercising the power of eminent domain if agreement cannot be reached with property owners for the acquisition of portions of up to five parcels necessary to construct the 15th and Ferguson Roundabout Project and authorize the city manager to take steps necessary to implement the resolution.

Second.

All right, motion by council Perkins, second by counselor Platt.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Okay, great.

Thanks, Ryan.

All right, we'll get Council Norris back and move on to item number seven.

Number six.

Council is asked to approve the collective bargaining agreement between the City of Bend and Bend Fire Association Support Services Group to govern labor relations between the parties from July 1, 2025 through June 30th, 2029.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Brandy Leos.

I'm the human resources director here for the city.

I'm here today to present the Bend Fire Support Services Group Collective Bargaining Agreement.

This is a new labor association that the city voluntarily recognized during the fire association negotiations last year.

This new association covers about 18 full and part-time ambulance operators that serve in three-year paid internships and will now be called single role EMTs.

The union also covers four regular career employees who support fire operations.

And the contract expires in 2029.

In summary, this covers a cost of living agreement for the employees covered, or sorry, cost of living adjustment for the employees, which is the same as all the other city employees.

There are some small indirect compensation components related to retirement and health.

They'll also receive the same health benefits as other employees, and we'll have defined probationary periods, which we were missing in the last kind of iteration of these employees.

All of the contract requirements can be covered with existing budget, so there should be no new budgetary ass or increases expected.

And our request is for the council to approve the tentative agreement.

All right, thanks, Brandy.

Any questions on this item, Council?

Okay, ready for our motion.

I move to approve the proposed collective bargaining agreement in substantially the same form as presented between the city of Bend and the Bend Fire Association support service group and authorize the city manager to execute the agreement.

Second, second.

Oh yes.

And we'll give it to Council Franzosa on the second.

Um, all those in favor?

Aye.

All right, great.

Thank you.

Thanks so much, Brandy.

All right, next is the economic development strategic plan presentation.

Council is asked to approve the city of Bend's economic development strategic plan.

Yeah, and mine says eight, Ashley, but yours says seven, so I don't know.

Good enough.

I'm gonna share my screen here.

Okay, there it is.

Good evening, Council Katie Brooks.

I'm the economic development officer for the fabulous city of Bend, and I'm pleased to present culmination of probably about a year's worth of work to you tonight.

Um, just acknowledging Cyrus Mooney and Jonathan Taylor have uh really been the co-authors of this and really done a lot of the background work, and so what you see tonight is a as a team effort.

And so tonight I'm presenting to you.

I'm hoping.

How do I forward this?

There we go.

Um, how we got to this plan, what went into it, and uh what our recommendations are for the strategy.

So just to revisit how we all got here.

This relates back to the council goal of economic prosperity, has three major macro components.

One was to do this economic development strategic plan in the first place.

Another component was to lead an effort to strengthen economic prosperity for all across the city, and uh to enhance our strategic partnerships, and finally to really take a look at the urban renewal investment strategy and what we're doing in our three urban renewal areas and emphasizing growth and bringing those into uh the next level of development.

So, what is in this report?

Uh all of you, and it's available to the public now, are several components.

We took some time to go through the outreach process, who we talked to.

Um we did significant stakeholder outreach feedback surveys, we took a look at all sorts of type of uh of data that feeds into taking kind of the the economic temperature here in Bend, and we also conducted some Pierce learnings, um, which we used to help inform this plan.

They're also included uh is guiding principles, primarily from the stakeholder group, the focus groups that we interacted with, specific economic data analysis that is in the appendices of the report, key indicators and assumptions that underlie the strategy, so the plan, our goals and strategies, and finally, how do we move forward and what are we going to be looking at that is um bigger regional, statewide, but also very Bend specific in how we're monitoring and steering this ship over time.

So just really quickly, informing our goals and strategies was a heck of a lot of people.

This is really a grassroots type type of effort that came from the business community here in Bend.

The focus group itself had over 50 members from a variety of industries, and also underrepresented owners and business leaders.

And we met with this group a total of six times over, I'd say eight, nine months.

Stakeholder interviews, more than 80 individuals responded to those interviews.

And then the or we interviewed more than 80 folks, and then more than 170 responses to the business survey that we conducted.

And then finally, we had a great working relationship and a lot of interaction with BDAB, the Bend Economic Development Advisory Board, to inform us and kind of do check-ins as we we went through this plan.

So some of the guiding principles that are coming from the business community to us as a city.

They really wanted inclusive economic growth as well.

We have a variety of industry sectors.

We conducted a industry sector analysis of what was most with the most probability of growth, but also who we are as far as the types of businesses.

And I'll tell you Bend and Central Oregon, and frankly, Oregon, we are small businesses.

That's primarily what our state is made up of.

So inclusivity was important.

Customer service continues to be a big highlight that we heard a lot from the business community.

Being adaptable and innovative as a city to match with what they perceive they are as business owners and operators, and then to be accountable and transparent.

So here are a few indicators that are happening out in our state that provides, I think, a little bit of context before we get into the goals and strategies, and some of the responses that the state and the region and we are putting together really in response to these indicators.

So things that you pay attention to that may change the current status.

That's what we're talking about with this slide.

So the federal and state economy is going through a little bit of a hiccup at the moment for a variety of reasons, and we're seeing some indications in different industry sectors of what tariffs mean, of what changes to the workforce and AI and some other impacts are doing to the business community.

Our population as a state has flattened significantly.

We're one of the fastest, I think we are the fastest growing still population city in the state.

That's something to pay close attention to over time.

More businesses have left the state in the past year, or they are downsizing as a result of some of those economic factors.

There's a limited amount of business and incentives in this state.

This is something that's been a decade or two in the making, and it's something that we're responding to as a state as well.

Workforce is in flux as a lot of things are changing out there.

High housing costs still plague us, like much of the nation, but unfortunately, it's a special gift to Bend that we have to deal with, and we are as a city trying to address that.

Business cost burden.

This is something that Oregon Business and Industries did extensive research on over the last couple of years.

I think these two last bullet points are worth bringing up.

The cost burden, that's taxes, operational costs, etc.

We're ranked 49th out of 50 in the country, being competitive in that area, and then 47th out of 50 for the impact of regulation on business operations.

And that's not a judgment of how good or bad it is, it just is, and it's something that goes into the mix of how you operate and grow your business.

So the responses are already in play.

The governor announced the Oregon Prosperity Roadmap.

This is something that is really influencing the legislative session this year.

Business Oregon is the execution arm of that roadmap, and they put a strategy together, a framework for that.

It includes incentives and modernization and some other really exciting things that they're working on as a state.

And then our region has done a lot of work collectively.

Ed Co.

John Stark is here tonight, they just put together their recent strategic plan, East Cascade Works, which is our workforce and work source entity that works with making sure our trades and all sectors have enough folks, enough labor that's ready and skilled.

And then COIC, Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council is their comprehensive economic development strategy, which they just recently updated.

And then ours flips in into that.

There are a lot of similar strategies across all of these platforms that really hopefully will work together and make a really big difference.

So here's some impact some factors that impact us more locally.

I mentioned the fact that our population growth is still pretty good.

It's not what it used to be.

Some say that might be a good thing.

Maybe we can catch up a little bit, but it's something we keep an eye on.

We're still at 2.5% growth.

Workforces moved out of town.

We this is part of the data that we collected in putting this report together.

53% are commuting from somewhere else to their job in Bend.

Another data point we need to pay attention to.

Incomes have grown significantly, actually, we're one of the top 20 from 1970 to 9 in actual wage growth, but the disparity because of housing and cost of living makes makes the opposite happen.

So we still have those disparities of folks being able to live and work here.

And although our net gain of business has been positive, we're seeing a little bit of a leakage, and we've seen that with a few businesses here in the last year.

Something not to panic about, something just to pay attention to.

That's a quick question about one of those bullets.

Yeah.

I I remember from a year ago or so the figure of the meeting from other cities from outside of the outside of Bend, I think was 51%.

Maybe that's just you know a difference in methodology or something, but is that figure growing?

In other words, you know, are we keeping up with enough housing for our economy or are people still the economy growing faster than we can provide housing?

I think it's growing because of affordability.

So one factor is how fast are you building homes?

And I know we're building more homes in this city than any other city in the state.

But the other piece of this is what can you actually afford?

And that has really shown where the growth has happened in people trying to find a place where they can pay the rent and not be cost burdened or their mortgage, and then they just commute in.

So that's probably more the reason than anything else, than our ability to keep up with the construction of phones.

Thank you.

So our five strategies, our five goals are with an emphasis on retention and growth.

How do we welcome businesses that once they're here, do what we can to make sure this is a place where they can land and they can do business and they can grow and they can hire people.

We also are recruiting.

We have uh we conducted the Echo Northwest study of the top industry sectors, but we're we're being really targeted in that and how we recruit and to build clusters around different sectors.

Building resiliency, and I'll talk about that in the next couple of slides, to make sure we can get through it.

Economic changes as well as natural disasters, and also macro changes to the workforce, enabling inclusive prosperity.

I'll touch on that here in a moment.

Planning for growth, that is attached to the comprehensive plan and a large body of work that's going to be undertaken later this year, and then focus on Invest Bend, which is the Borough, which is leveraging and building our urban renewal areas.

So the next couple of slides I'm sharing.

I wanted to pull some quotes directly from the stakeholder interviews that we we conducted in the surveys, and then relate them to some of these and how they match up with some of our goals and strategies.

So the three quotes here are really emphasizing how any delay in construction or in getting equipment or in hiring really has a high cost and a direct impact to the operation of a business.

The other quote is really speaks to how the outside world is changing and how it's influencing business.

AI, automation, and the speed at which intellectual efficiencies and some of the operational efficiencies are happening will impact the workforce.

It will impact revenue streams and how businesses operate.

And it's on a lot of people's minds out there right now.

And finally, this is the dumb moment is that the housing affordability is going to continue to be something that we have to pay a lot of attention to and has a direct correlation to the ability to attract and retain workforce here.

So retaining, growing, and recruiting businesses.

I put a few bullets under here just to touch on some of the strategies that are included in the report.

Really built again around retention.

We have a retention plan put in place.

We are going to be implementing that over the next coming months.

It has several components to it.

One of them is really focusing on supporting small business and small business growth, underrepresented businesses, folks who are just doing startup and they want to grow to the next level.

And we have several strategies to help support that.

Leveraging the new state incentives and the economic development strategies that are coming out of the state and working with our partners to take advantage of that and to continue to improve customer service.

We've done a lot of great work on our permitting timelines, etc., and just continuing that trajectory in making sure that businesses in Venn know that we're here to help.

Building resiliency, this is all about it's incorporated into the retention policy as well.

What is it that we can do as a city to smooth the bumps and to make sure we ride through the highs and the lows and the middles of an economy that will go through that?

Natural disasters, we have a regional coordinated effort, which the city participates in for preparing residents for wildfires and for earthquakes and all the other things that aren't so great that could happen, but it also has direct impacts to business specifically.

So incorporating the business aspect of that into our planning, and then getting ahead of what the changes of what changes are happening in the workforce around automation, around AI and working with our higher ed partners and others and trying to predict it and get ahead of it and being ready for that transition.

Enable inclusive prosperity is all about making sure people who work here can also live here is a huge component of it.

Enabling wage growth by encouraging growth in clusters so that there's competition and people have mobility, not just horizontally to go from one business to another, but up in the ranks, and then making sure we as a city are open through our procurement processes and other supports in making sure underrepresented industry, small businesses can have access to city business.

The next two quotes here are around the acknowledgement that the city's definitely taking a new tact and getting ahead of how do we plan and support for sustained economic growth.

And I think there's a lot of energy and support for what you folks did in your goal setting to make that happen.

And then the second quote is really specific to BURA.

And it says private money follows public money, and we're poised right now in urban renewal areas to really start making those bigger investments and the changes that actually change the face of them and perpetuates private investment and brings other folks in.

So planning for growth is directly related to what is our need today, what is our need tomorrow?

The economic analysis part of the comprehensive plan is very robust.

We look at what industries are growing, where they should grow, what do job centers look like, how what's the proximity to where people actually live to where they work?

Do we have enough inventory for industrial land and commercial lands to sustain a balanced revenue stream for the city between residential property tax and commercial industrial property tax?

That balance is a bit out of whack right now.

So really taking a look at the granular level at how the economy will influence, boost, and support our growth.

And then the last piece is leveraging our borough.

And you folks, when you gavel in as the BROA have been doing a lot of work on that in the last month or two, the next eight, nine months, there's more work on the investment strategy and incentives, property acquisition.

There are a whole bunch of moving parts for all three of those borough areas and a lot of work to done to do.

Katie, can you remind me how we're out of whack in terms of the commercial versus residential tax base?

You said that before, I just can't remember which.

Yep.

So about 75% of our tax revenue comes from residential tax, and 25% from commercial industrial.

That is considerably out of alignment with uh like sized and other Oregon cities where it's 50, 55, maybe 60 percent residential.

So we need to bring up that capital that we're getting from the revenue that we're getting from the business industry by use of the actual land proportion.

Thank you.

Yep.

Just a quick reminder that we don't do this on our own.

I know it seems like a lot for us to do, and we have a small and mighty team here in the city economic development office that looks at the commercial and industrial development, at the retention strategies and all the work that we do along with our internal partners in pretty much every department of this organization, transportation, permitting operations of any sort.

There's always that intersection of how do we make this function for business and for the people who work there, and how that crosses over with the functions of the city.

So we work as a team, and we're continuing to do that.

We have an internal policy team that works together toward that end.

We do contract, as you know, for visitors, destination marketing, and also traded sector and recruitment and retention with our friends over at EDCO.

Um, the borough itself has its own entity and develops those three areas of town where we want to generate activity, housing, and commercial activity, and then finally, we do rely on a lot of partners externally.

It's one of your goals, your council goals in workforce development, in education, funding, infrastructure, housing.

There are other entities, both public and private working hard alongside us, and some of them actually lead that effort, and we come alongside them.

Sometimes we lead it, but we never do this stuff alone.

So moving forward as we monitor how successful we are and what levels we want to turn as we move on.

So there are four macro categories, excuse me, that we want to take a look at, and we are massaging some of the data points, but I put some examples up here for food for thought.

We want to monitor our actual economic output, the GDP, the tourism occupancy, the tax generation, etc.

How are we doing with that?

Those levers.

We also want to know the health of our business sectors and how they are developing and where they're investing and monitoring that so we can make adjustments in our strategy.

We want to make sure we're paying attention to the markers of what signifies inclusive prosperity.

So things like the Genie Index, which is named after the person who invented it.

It's the comparison of wage growth to the cost of living growth and the gap that grows between those two, something that's really important for our community.

Um let's see, and then finally, labor and workforce, all the indicators beyond employment growth and the unemployment rate.

What other factors are we looking at so we can understand exactly what's happening in our Bend area workforce.

To give you a snapshot of what the next year-ish will look like, um, just a few points in time.

The first thing out of the gate is getting this business retention plan up and running.

And CIRUS is going to be leading that effort.

We're going to be working closely with BDAB on it as we work with them on a new work plan and also before council.

I know you folks are looking at updating codes for some of the advisory committees.

We'll be talking about that in the coming months.

Um EdCo is uh hiring a new person for uh as a bend director.

That person and collaboration will be co-located with our team as well as with the EdCo team.

It's an EDCO employee, and it's a new type of relationship.

We're really excited to launch with our partners.

And so that starts here in the next couple of months.

As we get into the spring and summer, you'll be looking as borough entity at the incentives adoption and that whole plan.

In addition to that, we are wanting to launch sometime in the next few months a small business grant pilot and test drive that that out for small businesses who but for X amount of money they could have this piece of equipment or make this business plan or hire this person to help them grow and stay in our community, and we're going to test drive that over the next year, year and a half.

As we get into the summer, the borough moves into the property acquisition strategies.

Um and then we start this process over of looking at the biannual budget and and comparing that to how well this strategy is working on the ground so we can make some informed decisions and be ready for the next round of council goal setting and that whole cycle will start over.

And the point being that this is a dynamic plan.

This isn't a feta complete, and this is something that will change over time.

We'll come to you with different strategies and maybe some policy requests, and um just be be ready for to go for the ride as as time goes on, and then by this time next year we'll be implementing the investment uh and business retention strategies as well for the borough, and that'll coincide with that cycle as well.

So that's a quick run-through of the document and where we're going.

And I'm happy to answer questions, any discussion before a motion.

All right, any questions?

Yeah, Council Mendes.

Yeah, well, thanks so much.

I thought it was a both documents.

The the plan and the appendices are really interesting, and there's so much information in here.

This work basically touches just about everything that the city does.

And so some of this work, as you mentioned at the state level, we're already embarking on, and I think that's true at the local level too.

Where we do a lot of work on housing, we've been spotlighting our work on uh permit streamlining lately.

We heard about that from some of the focus groups and some of the survey results.

Um, I wanted to specifically ask you about uh some of the important the economic dimension of uh how important it is to have mobility options, different kinds of transportation options.

You know, we think about transportation from a safety perspective or a traffic and congestion perspective.

Can you tell us a little bit about what the economic perspective looks like if we're talking about improving transit or getting around without driving or something like that?

Transportation and economy of hand in hand, hand in glove, whatever analogy you want to use.

So from several different standpoints from an employee accessibility standpoint, transits really, really important that planning aspect of making sure you're looking at where your job centers are and where the people who work there live, and all those um uh decisions that we'll make in our long-term planning process of making sure that they're proximic, that people can have multiple ways of getting to work.

Um, and when you look at folks who choose to live outside of Ben and come in, then you're really looking at um hand in hand with COIC and Cascade East Transit and making sure we're improving those those commuter corridors.

But the other aspect that is really important in the transportation uh and business area is is freight mobility, and freight mobility in this region has challenges, and there are a couple of projects I know we've been talking about as a team internally that could improve freight mobility and connectivity, for instance, between highway 20 and 97, and other areas of that that need some attention because if you can't get your supplies in and out and your products out, you've got a problem, and we've got some opportunities to make some improvements in that area for the actual stuff that we're making, not just the people that are working here, and there's some legislation in play right now that'll help us take a look at that.

Thank you.

Yeah, all right.

Any other questions, council?

Council Prayer.

Comments, yeah, comments.

I got all my questions.

I've seen many iterations of this from the beginning.

Well, I think all my questions are folks are seeing us a little glossy eyed.

We have been brief.

Yeah, so this is more of a gush.

Um, I just want to say, and you know, I think what really impresses me about this is um how like thoughtful and robust that it is, um, especially working with limited financial resources, limited staff, um, and being limited in our role as a municipal body too.

I think it really like what I love about it is that it it it we really work alongside, she talks about working alongside and bringing in our partners, um city departments, us as council members and as borough members, um, other municipal bodies, and um without uh duplication, which I think is also really important.

Um, and I think it's a sign to our community that this is really that that we are committing to this, and this is something that that we think is important, um, and I think that's a that's a really good thing for for the city of Ben.

Um I think that's a that's a really good thing for for the city of Bend.

And I just wanted to say thank you to Cyrus, thank you to Jonathan, and thank you to Katie for for this.

You're here.

Okay.

Thanks.

Yeah, I just I went to a couple of the work sessions too.

I just thought they were really great and well attended, and it was just great to hear all the different perspectives.

And it was, I know there were a lot of them, and there was a lot of great information and dialogue that happened, Madam, and to synthesize that all into one report took a lot of effort.

So thank you.

Yeah.

Katie, what I love about it is the the measurement that you have.

Really, how are we doing?

And then you can just come back again and again and you can see how's the GDP, how's the affordability, all these touch points?

I love that.

It's not just a plan with no check-ins.

So thank you.

Yep.

All right.

I move to approve the city of Bend economic development strategic plan.

Second.

All right, move by Council Perkins, second by counselor Platt.

All those in favor?

Aye.

And Ashley Note, uh, Council Friends had to drop off.

I know that she's supportive, and so is Council Riley from the comments.

So thank you.

Thanks.

All right.

Um last item before the city managers report.

Council is asked to authorize the city manager to issue a notice of termination to both solid waste collection franchise holders operating in the city of Bend, initiating a six-year window period provided for under Bend Municipal Code Chapter 11.6.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

I'm Stephanie Betterge, Assistant City Manager, and I am joined by Gapne, a senior assistant city attorney.

And we also have Tim Brownell, director of Solid Waste for Dissutes County in the audience with us tonight.

Um, we're here tonight in follow-up to the January joint city county meeting where council received an update on the regional approach to solid waste management.

We will also be providing council with a recommendation that the city continue to participate in the regional approach, which will require issuing a notice of termination to our current solid waste collection franchises.

Before we get to our recommendation, we wanted to take just a few moments to provide a refresher on the current franchises, recap the work that we've been doing regionally, and then discuss the recommendation and next steps.

So the city of Bend has two solid waste service providers, Cascade Disposal and Republic Services who operate it in exclusive service territories.

You can see on the map that we have on the slide, and this the map is the territory map from 1980 when most of the solid waste franchise terms were established, and Bend had a population of about 17,000.

So you can see there's a thicker line that runs horizontally across the map.

So it follows Newport, dips down into downtown, and then goes out Greenwood.

The north section of that is served by Republic Services, and the South Side is served by Cascade Disposal.

As you can see, um there was a lot of city that is um was not there when the map was created and then a little swirling pilot.

I love that as a cartographer, absolutely a lot more around how to do it now for sure.

While our two um service providers have exclusive service territories, they are regulated under the same terms and have universal rates.

So no matter where you are in Bend, whether you're a business or residential customer, you have the same service options and pay the same rate amount.

As Stephanie said, uh many of the terms of these uh franchisees are are set forth in the code, and they were many of them are have been in the code since 1980.

Um they describe in general terms the services that are required to be provided.

Uh there are some rate regulation provisions, there's a franchise fee, which is 7%, um, and that fee has to be spent on street maintenance or other purposes that benefit the city administrator right away.

Uh sets forth general customer service standards.

It requires disposal at DEQ approved facilities, but it doesn't specify any particular facility that the waste has to go to.

Um, one of the key pieces that's relevant to the discussion tonight is that the term is evergreen and it's constantly renewing.

So unless the city submits a notice of termination, then the franchise will automatically renew.

Um and so it's a sort of six-year window period from the moment of the notice of termination.

Um until the term the franchise uh is terminated.

Um, if you want to update the terms, then you either have to um reach mutual agreement or begin this six year window process and and begin a new.

And then it describes two mechanisms for termination that six-year window period and then also a shorter window in the event that there's a default or failure to comply with the terms in the code.

So, as you heard in the work session that we held last March, as well as the joint meeting with the county just a few weeks ago, the current franchise terms do not meet the needs of a modern solid waste system and a population of over 100,000.

So over the last two and a half years, the city has been working closely with Deschutes County and the city of Redmond to develop a model agreement that meets the needs of a modern solid waste system.

With Deschutes County taking the lead, we've attempted to find a mutual agreement with both haulers on new terms.

Those efforts have not been successful, and as a result, the city of Redmond and Deschutes County have issued a notice of termination to their haulers and initiated the window period for Deschutes County, that's a six-year window period.

For City of Redmond, that's actually a seven-year window period.

But the city of Redmond issued that notice of termination two years ago.

So we're on a similar timeline.

As you heard in the joint meeting, the city or the county is committed to continuing to work with interested jurisdictions on a regional approach that includes drafting new franchise agreements and designing a procurement process and regional governance for solid waste management.

You've heard me mention new franchise agreements a number of times and new terms.

So I wanted to spend just a minute walking through what that looks like practically.

At a high level, that really allows us to establish terms that are favorable to the city and support the city's goals and sustainability efforts.

Specifically, a new franchise agreement could do a number of things, including having a set term.

So going from that evergreen model where it's automatically renewed on an annual basis to having set terms.

Six to ten years is tends to be an industry standard that really allows for some competition and provides opportunities for other service providers to work with the city.

We could revisit the exclusive service territory, so both geographically and number of providers.

So the city could have one franchisee, we could have multiple.

We could also look to see if there are areas where there may be greater needs.

So could you bring allow other providers to come in to provide dumpster services or alternative recycling?

It would allow us to have designated facilities where the franchising must deliver materials that support diversion and help meet our sustainability goals, specifically around the recovery of construction and demolition materials and organics.

The current code only says that it has to go to a DEQ approved facility.

It also helps with that regional approach and making investments in facilities to support that.

And when we talk about performance standards, they capture things like missed pickups, customer service complaints, reporting issues or delivering materials to the incorrect facility.

And finally, it would allow us to take continue to take this regional approach to contract administration, education, and reporting, including into entering into an IGA with the county to administrate the operational aspects of our franchise agreements.

So based on the considerations that we've discussed this evening, um staff is recommending that council authorize the city manager to provide both franchisees, cascade disposal and republic services with notice of termination and begin the six-year window period, and that we continue to participate in the regional approach to solid waste management.

Before we open it up for questions, just wanted to take a couple of minutes to walk through the next steps.

So if council were to decide to issue that notice of termination this evening, we would spend the next couple of years in our regional partnership to develop those new agreements and governance.

And then in 2022 or 2031, which seems so so far away from now, um to 2032, we would implement those new franchise agreements with the selected haulers.

What's not included on the slide, but is really important in our next steps is to continue to have a positive partnership with our current franchisees, republic services and cascade disposal as they will continue to serve our residential customers, our resident residents and business owners during that six-year window period and could potentially be providers beyond that.

So with that, um we'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

All right.

Any questions from council?

Yeah.

Yeah, thank you.

Um so we've we've heard a lot about the advantages of a regional approach, and I wanted to ask you about some of the potential risks.

So, for example, would Ben still be able to have um Ben specific performance standards or you know what kinds of uh tensions or worries do you have about taking the a regional approach here?

Yeah, great question, counselor.

So we would have sort of a universal agreement, but we still have the ability to do some Benz specific aspects of that, and even if we go with an IGA with the county, we will still retain certain aspects of that.

We will always set our own rates, and we will always be the ones who determine who serves what territories.

Okay.

Any other questions?

All right, thanks for all your work on this.

This is, I think, just for people watching.

This is not changing anything right now.

This is the start of a longer process and conversation.

Um, so that's all kind of we're doing tonight, but I think it's the right way to go after all the discussions we've had leading up to this.

So I think it's also worth expressing uh appreciation for the services that our waste haulers provide for our communities.

It's uh it is important for us to recognize their their service and and uh that we we want to maintain good relations with them.

So thanks for being here too.

Yeah, okay.

I move to authorize the city manager to issue a notice of termination to both solid waste collection franchise holders operating in the city of Bend initiating the six-year window period provided for under Bend Municipal Code chapter 11.16.

I second that motion.

All right, motion by council Perkins, second by counselor Mendez.

All those in favor?

Aye.

All right, unanimous.

Thanks.

Okay, um, on to the city manager's report.

So on the theme of economic developments, uh, from the presentation you heard from Katie tonight, uh, wanted to announce that the Milken Institute released its 2025 best performing cities report, which ranks the Bend uh Redmond Metropolitan Statistical Area as fourth nationally, which was an improvement uh from two positions.

We were sixth last year.

Um the index evaluates regional economic performance using 13 indicators, including job and wage growth, labor force participation, and the concentration and expansion of high technology industries.

Um this uh continued rise in the rankings reflects sustained economic momentum, diversification, and expanding economic opportunity relative to our peer regions uh citywide.

There was a briefing that was held this week so we could better understand that ranking and the data behind it.

So big thanks to Cyrus and the team.

And um, I think we we are coming from a position of strength, and it's nice to see that plan just continue on that trajectory.

Um also wanted some other good news.

If you've seen today in the news, the state revenue forecast came out, and it was positive.

I think we were all a little worried in so bottom line the revenue forecast increased by 252 million above the last forecast.

Um, so that revenue increase is tied to larger beginning fund balances and corporate income tax receipts that were higher than uh anticipated.

The increases were offset by a decrease in 2024 personal income tax receipts for uh to get that results uh that net result.

Um so GDP is up, um which is an indication that the tariffs and risk for recession have not had the negative impact that we've anticipated.

But interesting though is that job growth is not increasing along with GDP, which is unusual.

Um so this this could be because GDP growth is not considered um or is considered not sustainable, um, so the market isn't sort of really trusting in it.

It could be that the hiring there's some hiring hiring lag, and so that we will rebound, or it could be the technology and sort of AI, you know, impact.

So it's just too early to say, but there's just something odd going on.

I think that's what we got from the four uh forecasters, and of course, as you've all seen too, unemployment has increased despite this growth.

So some warning signs for the economy.

So, yes, overall good news from a revenue perspective, but I don't think that means we shouldn't be cautious moving forward, and all the things that we've talked about earlier tonight are really important on that economic development theme.

Just a reminder that echo lunches is tomorrow, too.

I think many of you have signed up.

I think we have a city table.

Um, and then closing out the night.

So, just good news, the uh only project will be open on February 11th, one week from today, first thing in the morning.

All right, and we were able to get all the work done uh behaving work.

So we already talked about oh, we'll have to just get the rail uh work related to the railroad, and then we'll come back and do paving in the spring where we abled it with the warm weather.

It's the one benefit of the warm weather climate.

So the quarterly year with that climate change.

So then our winter.

Yeah, all right, great.

Uh with that, we will go ahead and adjourn our meeting.

Thanks, everybody.