Thread by @MelanieforBend

Bend City Council meeting 6/3/2020: A thread.

On the agenda tonight:
- budget cuts
- response to public outcry over police brutality and racism
- roundabouts
- COVID-19 update

Let's go!

Currently waiting on everyone to get in the virtual meeting, which will start with convening the Budget Committee.

The City just put out this statement about the budget: bendbulletin.com/localstate/cit…

Looking at $7-15 million dollar shortfall in 2019-2021. City has already frozen hiring for vacant positions and asked departments to propose 5/10% budget reductions.

Still big uncertainty as to whether fed grants and $ will help city backfill our COVID-19 costs and lost revenue.

The State's economic outlook and revenue forecasts are predicted a healthy economy again in...2024. Tourism regions take the biggest initial hit.

"We lost the same number of jobs in the last two months that we did in the last recession," staff says.

April unemployment in Deschutes was over 18%.

No surprise to hear this for folks living here in Bend, I'm sure.

Here's a visual of the budget shortfalls listed in the Bulletin article above:

The majority of City of Bend revenues are restricted. Here's the quick explanation from the City's Biennial Report, put out earlier this year.

Current proposed cuts will eliminate about 37 positions with the city, including 9.5 FTE in Public Safety. Most of these are currently vacant positions, per staff.

One area it was easy to cut right now - the budget for traveling to training conferences.

The City will use reserves, savings, and a reduction in a payment they usually make to support regional transit to help make up the predicted shortfall.

COIC approached the City to tell them they didn't need the transit money this year due to CARES act federal funding.

How will these budget shortfalls affect Council goals for 2019-2021? City Mgr Eric King walks through several additions of goals and action items around COVID-19 response. One COVID-delayed project that Council will soon take up: establishing an Environment and Climate Committee.

Other projects will be delayed. TSP adoption happening later than originally planned. Council needs to decide by August if they want the transpo bond on the Nov ballot.

Adding body cam implementation project for police, but there will be fewer traffic enforcement events.

Lots of other tweaks to goals and action items that will be coming up before Council at July 15 meeting. Between now and then Council subcommittees will work on reviewing changes.

Budget committee member asks about the program downtown to change streets to support businesses. King things that those expenses (barricades, mostly) would probably be reimbursed by CARES Act funds.

Yet another reason to open streets downtown right now.

Councilor Moseley thinks the Council goal should be to move the town's industry away from tourism. Says it is volatile and creates low-wage jobs. Wants to use this "pivot point" to move away from that industry into something else.

Committee Member asks what specifically is planned for the goal of supporting vulnerable populations and diversity, equity, inclusion in our recovery. King says support for local nonprofits, and leverage the dollars received from State to invest locally in this area.

Finishing up the Budget Committee section - the Committee moves through formal approvals of revenue collections from previously approved taxes, bonds, levies.

Next: Council Work session for discussions of results of the ReedMkt/Bond roundabout test and outdoor seating downtown.

@CityofBend screen is black right now, can't see presentation on downtown streets!

Staff says that businesses are mostly supportive of opening streets up. 10 proposals from businesses have been received for full or partial right-of-way closures downtown.

The City is already opening sidewalks and private parking areas for additional business use.

Some businesses have reached out to the City about expanding into street parking areas downtown, but haven't applied yet.

Staff is looking for Council guidance tonight on how right-of-way closures should happen per the 10 requests from businesses. Current requests are for Tin Pan Alley, Brooks Alley, parklet at Greenwood/Bond requested by Deschutes Brewery, and on Minnesota proposal to make 1way.

Staff says Tin Pan and Brooks closures are pretty straightforward. Proposal is to close daily and reopen during a certain period for deliveries/maintenance.

Parklets in parking street spaces would be mostly funded by businesses, need to be safe and accessible.

Closure of right-of-ways require more involvement if traffic patterns are changed. Staff notes signage is spread thin this time of year with construction.

Councilor Livingston asks about how barricades for parklets are secured to ground. Staff says case by case consideration.

Councilor Moseley points out we just repaved downtown. He and Livingston are worried about poking holes in the pavement. Staff talks about moveable water-filled barricades they have already ordered.

Piper raises emergency vehicle concerns.

Staff says emergency vehicles are part of the conversation and will be accommodated when planning. Now going over other cities who have initiated pilot programs similar to this. City already has processes in place to provide permits, would need some addtl agreements with biz.

Now: what should be the criteria used if not every street-fronting business agrees with the proposal to open the street? Staff recommends using 2/3 majority critera.

Councilor Moseley asks if sq footage includes just first floor or both floors of building. Staff says includes all floors.

Councilor Abernathy asks if other biz is interested in making more proposals? @BendBizAdvocate says yes, especially now that Phase 2 might be coming.

Councilor Moseley notes some biz on Minnesota are not supportive of opening the street - they've emailed directly. Staff says they are focusing on letting biz open up parking directly in front of their space. For 1way on Minnesota, parallel parking would open up.

Here is my very professional sketch of what is being discussed right now.

Councilor Livingston thinks that if you close some parking on the block every single business gets affected. So he thinks biz on the entire block should be taken into account even if proposal is only biz asking for parklet in front its own spot.

Councilor Cambpell says ADA considerations are her biggest concerns, and she is confident this plan accommodates those.

Mayor Russell wants to emphasize emergency vehicle access. She was coughing and took a sec to take a drink of water. Moseley: "That's one of the symptoms."

(Really?)

Moving on from the work session now to main meeting. Short break between them. TWO MINUTES! Anyone waiting for public comment - you're up soon, I hope!

Meeting begins with Mayor Russell reading a statement regarding recent events. It's been put together in the last 24 hours. She starts to read it but Councilor Abernathy interrupts to make sure he has the latest statement. Also someone's not on mute.

Virtual meeting woes.

Listen now: bend.granicus.com/player/event/4…

I will take notes but can't transcribe verbatim. Starts with statement that all of Council is heartbroken over senseless killing of George Floyd.

Says City has taken following steps to date:
- DEI as a formal City goal with a formal training program. Bill Moseley declined DEI training, by the way.
- Police formed DEI group in 2019, says regular mandatory training on bias occurs, reduced use of force by 30% in the past year

Re: hiring of new police Chief
- committed to community involvement in process
- community panel will inform their decision, will include @LatinoCommAssoc and Homeless Leadership Coalition
- town hall to gather feedback

Council unanimously moves to approve the statement read by Mayor Russell and Councilor Abernathy. It's pretty close to the statement I received by email in response to the joint letter sent two days ago. Here they both are:

Now: Council getting an update on the research project by @OSUcascades randomly testing folks in Deschutes for COVID-19. Results will be available by next week.

Wastewater samples were taken as well so they can be compared to in-person tests.

Dr. Conway (I'm a fan) from @DeschutesCounty is now giving an update.

We had a spike associated with two clusters associated with Mother's Day gatherings.

No one is currently hospitalized here for COVID-19. Dr. Conway reminds us again that the third wave of infections here in Deschutes was primarly young adults, who have higher number of social contacts and are more likely to live in more crowded housing.

Since Phase 1 began, more cases have been identified by contact tracing than not. Dr. Conway says this is a good indication of containment.

(Just saw this, here's the full statement read by Russell and Abernathy tonight:)

https://twitter.com/CityofBend/status/1268371229066645506?s=20

Dr. Conway says sewer studies (aka "testing the crap out of Bend" @sourceweekly ;) ) give an early indicator. This type of testing is rapidly developing right now. It can be used to assess overall community infection and track trends.

First sample was collected April 7, utility staff Jeff Buystedt says. He throws up a slide with testing results but dang it's hard to read! Jeff is not a PowerPoint expert. Thanks City staff for stepping up to help with this testing in cooperation with the County health dept.

Here we go. #poopdata #sorrynotsorry #testthecrapoutofBend

I appreciate that this is an important topic but we are now way behind on the normal agenda. People who called in at 5:30 to comment have been waiting close to 2 hours now.

Sorry, close to *3* hours now. Math is hard.

I'm on the line for public comment. Allison is speaking now, says she's heard wonderful things about the peaceful Bend protests that have occurred. Asks for specifics on what the Bend Police are doing to protect black and brown bodies and protect from white nationalist violence.

Sorry I didn't capture the statements from two others who then spoke, one of them was William who asked Council to recognize the 1000+ peaceful protestors in Bend yesterday and urged Council to adopt 8cantwait.org

I commented in support of the previous commenters. Also asked the Council to think about how they structure their agenda - people waiting to comment typically have to wait a very long time. I asked them to create a DEI committee that's able to effect real change, not just advise.

Councilor Livingston read a statement he posted last week. It's on his FB page, sorry can't grab the link right now.

Councilor Goodman-Campbell says at this point we are really hearing more of the voices of our underrepresented communities. She feels a lot of guilt that she is so late to this conversation. Says we won't let that guilt cripple us in moving forward with actions we need to take.

(cont)

Says she wants Council to listen to the DEI task force that will be recommending next steps. Wants to give people a safe place where they can come and be heard after experiencing a racist incident. Wants an Equity or Human Rights Commission that can hold ppl accountable.

Councilor Moseley is saddened about the senseless killing about George Floyd and troubled that people don't feel they can be heard by their neighbors. In every professional including law enforcement, there's going to be individuals who betray our trust.

(cont) Officers protect us in difficult and dangerous situations putting their lives at risk. Cites # of police killed each year. Points out impacts of stressful job on police. Healthy officers are more likely to act appropriately. Data shows Bend residents have high lvl of trust

(cont) Moseley is simultaneously saddened by the death of George Floyd and humbled by the sacrifice officers make on our behalf.

Councilor Abernathy reflects on how he's worked for racial justice or how he's fallen short. Says he's failed to do as much as he could do with his own privilege. Being colorblind is not enough. We need to be actively anti-racist.

Councilor Piper says Council needs to be there as city continues to grow and diversity increases. Need to be more engaged. Truly feels this is a time for us to listen. It's not just about the kiling of George Floyd. Starts reading his previously posted statement on FB.

Piper's stmt facebook.com/PiperForBend/p…

Livingston's stmt facebook.com/justinlivingst…

Councilor Campbell makes clear she stands with the protestors. Her heart goes out to George Floyd's family, their entire community, and the entire country. Speaks to Trump clearing out protestors with US Park Service for a photo op.

(cont)

We have a municipal police force with civilian oversight here in Bend, she points out. She takes her duty of oversight very seriously. Thinks we have good cops here in Bend, cites her relationship with Chief Porter. We take care of our cops and their health.

(cont)

Ends by quoting George Floyd's brother: Keep protesting but stop looting. Vote. And not just for President. Vote all the way down the ballot.

👊

Mayor Russell says she is honored to work with everyone on Council and appreciates everyone's commitment to the community. Knows we need to do more and do better and do it now. Says she turned her phone off for 48 hours last weekend and was shocked when she came back.

(cont)

Says they have received tons of emails right now, but asks that people still write in to them with ideas. Asks people to also think about what's already good in our community. Says so many of us in our community agree that we've barely started.

Moving forward into the agenda - the Council now takes up a potential motion on the outdoor capacity program discussed earlier.

Piper moves to authorize staff to implement the temporary program.

Moseley moves to require that businesses in an area have to be unanimous instead of 2/3 in agreement. Thinks that a store will limp along and destroy a jewelry store or clothing store. Says the situation is bad enough without making it worse.

Livingston seconded Moseley's amendment and voices his concern about the square footage criteria. Thinks this means other businesses have no say in the decision. He thinks we shouldn't allow one business damage another.

Note: there was no data or information presented that one business putting up a parklet in parking spaces would destroy another business or even negatively impact that business's parking space (see crude diagram above)

Moseley's amendment is defeated by 5-2 vote.

Main motion to allow the program described by staff passes 6-1. Livingston only holdout.

Looking forward to seeing these changes downtown to help our businesses!

Council unanimously passes ordinance change to allow $25 filing fee instead of signature petition.

Check back tomorrow to see SOMEONE putting that into action 😉

Moving on to further Council reports and then the City Manager's report.

Stewardship committee reports out on DEI presentation they received from Allyship in Action. You can see the presentation here: bendoregon.gov/home/showdocum…

I believe we need a Human Rights Commission model and not just an advisory committee. We need a resident-led body that can hold City Council accountable and be a forum for restorative justice. We also need a commitment to hiring city staff to support this group.

City Mgr Eric King starts his report with COVID-19 news. Deschutes may move into Phase 2 - we will find out tomorrow. Talks about how City is trying to get some of the COVID-19 related funds to help with our local and economic response.

King talks about @VisitBendOR helping to develop a public campaign around mask-wearing and public health, to encourage community, especially the younger demographic, to develop a culture of safety. Help keep us open by wearing your mask, washing hands, and keeping distance!

King speaks to creating a permanent DEI committee to help guide us going forward. We should be a welcoming city with a governance system that helps support that. He sees people are interested in learning more about this, wants to have listening sessions with communities of color.

King wants to see City continue to move in the direction of shared governance models with other local entities like the school board. Says they have a listening session scheduled this Friday with a Black Father's group.

King on police Chief hiring: he always seeks community input when hiring leadership positions. Typically would do a community meet and greet, now planning a virtual town hall for the now five potential candidates. Refers to having interview panel w/community input.

In-person meetings for City Council may be coming back starting July 15th. May be in a hybrid format to allow people to still comment from afar due to health concerns.

July 1 meeting is cancelled.

Next meeting is June 17! The Reed Mkt/Bond roundabout report out will be then.

ADJOURNED.

Keep the public comments coming, everyone! Great to hear those tonight and hear that more folks are engaging with city government. You can make a difference with your voice.

You can also make a difference with your vote! I would be honored to have your support to become your next Council member this fall.

Go here to sign up to volunteer and donate to support my campaign:

melaniekebler.com

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