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Charter Review Report BEND CITY GOVERNANCE COMMUNITY OPINIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON CHARTER REVIEW —Feb. 1, 2017— For more information contact: Bend 2030 Executive Director Erin Foote Morgan 541-420-8603 [email protected] Bend Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President for Community Affairs Jamie Christman 541-382-3221 [email protected] City Club of Central Oregon Executive Director Joey Drucker 541-633-7163 [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 3 Report Overview 4 Forum One: The Issues 5 Forum Two: Public Input 10 Interactive posters 11 Free responses 15 Post-it Note exercises 21 Appendix Elected mayor comparisons across Oregon 22 Ward system comparisons across Oregon 23 Council pay and audit policies across Oregon 24 History of Bend governance structure 25 Citizen presentation to Bend City Council 26 COAR letter of support for charter review committee 40 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The 2017-2019 Bend City Council Casey Roats, Mayor Barb Campbell Sally Russell, Mayor Pro Tem Justin Livingston Bruce Abernethy Bill Moseley Nathan Boddie Charter Review Citizen Presentation Committee Jack Farley Don Leonard Bill Galaway Kathleen Meehan Coop Brent Landels Richard Ross Bend Livability Project Steering Committee Seth Anderson Richard Ross Joey Drucker Sara Q. Thompson Kim Gammond Judy Watts DeeDee Johnson Westin Webre Susanne Julber Bend Livability Project Sponsors Amplion Kollective Ascent Architecture Lead Method Bank of the Cascades Leapology BBT Louis Capozzi Bend 2030 Magento Bend Broadband Manzama Bend Chamber Miller Lumber Bend Radio Group MindClick Bend Tech Group of Companies Navis Bold Robotics Nimble Software Brooks Resources Pneuma 33 Central Oregon Association of REALTORS Public Science League Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council Real Time Research City of Bend Seven Peaks Ventures Dechutes County Startup Bend Dohje Sublime Creative Agency Doubletree Team Unify Droplr TechSoft3D Firewhat The Hidden Touch Five Talent The Source G-5 US Bank Golfboard Verdant Web Tech Green Loop Solutions Western Title Hayden Homes Windermere/PLUS PM Kittelson Engineering Charter Review Forum Sponsors Central Oregon Collective Worthy Brewing Blue Bite Catering Webfoot Incorporated Deschutes Brewing The Bend 2030 Leadership Alliance Bend Broadband Hayden Homes Bend Park and Recreation District Northwest Crossing Brooks Resources Corporation OSU-Cascades City of Bend St. Charles Health System Central Oregon Association of REALTORS Tykeson Family Foundation Central Oregon Builders Association William Smith Properties Central Oregon Community College 3 REPORT OVERVIEW This city governance discussion is an initiative of the Bend Livability Project, which seeks to educate, empower and engage Bend residents in the most challenging issues facing our city. While Bend has considered issues relating to city governance many times over the years, these issues were most recently raised as a current community issue by the committee organizing the launch of the Bend Livability Project in June, 2016. At the Bend Livability Conference held in conjunction with the Project, a special City Club of Central Oregon presentation by Bend City Manager Eric King and Portland State University’s Dr. Phillip Cooper, moderated by Matt Kittelson of Kittelson Engineering, helped to outline the importance that strong Council leadership plays in successfully addressing the complicated issues facing rapidly growing communities such as Bend, such as housing, transportation and neighborhood livability. After the Bend Livability Conference, Bend 2030, the Bend Chamber of Commerce and City Club of Central Oregon partnered to plan and host two charter review forums held on Sept. 20 and Nov. 1, 2016. More than 175 people participated in the events, which focused on providing education and opportunities for public input on four fundamental questions related to Bend’s city governance: • Does Bend’s current governance structure give us the best leadership possible for addressing our complicated population, housing, transportation and livability issues? • Do residents from all parts of Bend feel represented by the current method of electing councilors at-large? • Is it time for Bend’s mayor to be elected, or continue to be appointed by fellow councilors? • Do city councilors have the right support structure and pay in order to do their job? This report shares raw data and themes from these two forums and includes an appendix of related information including comparisons with other Oregon cities. Ultimately any significant changes to the Bend charter require a city-wide vote. It is up to the Bend City Council or a citizen petition to bring such a vote to the people. It is important to note that the data collected at the forums is not intended to be viewed through a statistically significant quantitative lens, but instead serves as a snapshot of what some engaged community members believe about city governance. These forums, this report and a Feb. 1, 2017 presentation to the Bend City Council on these issues are intended to serve as a starting point for a larger community dialogue. 4 FORUM ONE: THE ISSUES The first charter review forum, held Sept. 20, focused on education and collecting public input on the key questions that should be addressed during a charter review process. The event featured presentations from League of Oregon Cities General Counsel Sean O’Day, then Bend Mayor Jim Clinton, former Bend Mayor Oran Teater, and then City Councilor Victor Chudowsky. Attendees also participated in a question and answer period and break-out sessions where they worked together to identify public input questions for the following forum. Sean O’Day presented on the following: • The fundamental concept enshrined in state statute that localities shall govern their own affairs within the constructs of a local charter • The League of Oregon Cities model charter, which can be found on the League of Oregon Cities website • A number of comparisons between Bend and other cities in Oregon, including o Bend is the largest city without an elected mayor. The next largest city without an elected mayor is Baker City with a population of 10,000 o Council pay in Bend of $200/month is roughly the median of what other councilors in Oregon are receiving for their work Jim Clinton presented on the following: • His perceived need for charter review to provide greater leadership at the City of Bend Victor Chudowsky presented on the following: • Eastside residents are underrepresented on City Council and City Committees. He used data collected from The Bulletin in 2015 to show support for this assertion. • His perception that an elected mayor and ward system would benefit the leadership of the City of Bend Oran Teater presented on the following: • A brief history of charter review in Bend. Please see the document titled “History of Bend’s Governance Structure” in the appendix of this document to learn more about the history of Bend’s charter 5 A panel discussion involving all four guests followed the presentations. After the panel, the participants divided into small groups to consider the following four questions and provide their answers on a comment sheet that was turned in at the end of the evening. Participant answers are offered on the following pages. • What are the most important questions involved in whether Bend should have an elected mayor? • What are the most important questions involved in whether Bend should have a ward system? • What are the most important questions involved in whether to substantially increase councilor pay or give them staff? • What other questions should be considered during charter review? 6 Q1:Q2: WHAT WHAT ARE ARE THE THE MOST MOST IMPORTANT IMPORTANT QUESTIONS QUESTIONS INVOLVED INVOLVED IN WHETHER IN BENDWHETHER SHOULD BEND HAVE SHOULD AN ELECTED HAVE MAYOR? A WARD SYSTEM? • What problem are we currently experiencing that electing a mayor would help to • resolve?What problem are we currently experiencing that a ward system would help to resolve? • Does having an elected mayor lead to more visionary leadership on the council? Research conducted by The Bulletin in 2015 showed that an incredibly • • How would the powers and responsibilities of a mayor change if they were elected? disproportionate amount of city committees are made up of Westside residents. • WillWould they havingbe a strong wards or ensure weak thatmayor? Eastside residents were better represented in city decisiono For-making? instance, would the mayor have veto power over the rest of the council? • WouldWould creating the amayor ward determinsystem leade agendas? to better councilors or would it limit our ability to haveo theOr wouldbest candidates the mayor in have the entirethe same city, authority because, as for other instance councilors? there could be weaker leadership in any given ward in any given election cycle? • How long should the term of an elected mayor run? • What kind of ward models are possible? For instance: o Two years or four? o Seven wards and seven councilors? o This is an important question because the current councilor elections would cause o a Sturnoverix wards in and the onecouncil elected every mayor two years,? but it can often take more than two o yearsFour forwards, a mayor two atto- largedevelop councilors the key and relationships one elected with mayor? regional and state officials. o Would we want to reduce the number of seats on the council to five with four • What prepeople-qualifications elected should from wards be placed and oneon a elected mayor? mayor? • Whato For other instance, examples how of long ward must systems they reside are there in Bend? in Oregon? Are they working? • Whato What measures experien wouldce we must use they to district possess? the Would wards? we require one term on the council before someone could be eligible to run for mayor? o Census data? • Should the mayor receive a salary? o Along neighborhood association boundary lines? Will there be specific ways for the mayor to be recalled that are different than • o Rough geographical lines created by Highway 97 and Greenwood/Highway councilors?20? • Census data shows that east side residents tend to have lower household median incomes than west side residents.
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