As Bend grows, city set to add 30 positions

The city of Bend looks to add about 30 new positions in coming weeks, primarily to staff up the Bend Fire Department under the voter-approved tax levy to speed response times to critical medical calls. But it’s also restoring the position of economic development manager, one of many cut when the recession hit.

The 30.25 FTE (full-time equivalent) in requests from City Manager are on the agenda of the new Bend City Council’s first meeting, Wednesday evening.

Many businesses large and small shrank (or went out of business) during the recession and now are adding employees. But while only a few issue news release or public statements, governments such as Bend must do so in public, laying out their reasoning.

“There has been a growth in the demand for city services and in some cases, year-to-date revenues have exceeded projections,” King told councilors in an issue summary. “To meet this demand, and provide the level of service the community expects … new positions are proposed.”

“The new positions reflect priorities outlined by City Council goals and the new city-wide strategic plan,” the city manager added.

The proposed positions will bring the city’s workforce to about 550 employees, up 84 positions, or 18 percent over the past year.

A total of 25.5 of the positions are in public safety, including 14 limited-term Basic Life Support positions to allow for 24-hour staffing of a BLS ambulance to take low-priority patients to the hospital. That is designed to help reduce response time on high-priority patients and also boost availability of fire units for other needs.

The agency also is adding a fire prevention response unit and 24-hour staffing at the north fire station.

Bend voters last May approved a five-year local option levy of 20 cents per $1,000 assessed property value for fire and emergency services.

Another other additions: an assistant building official, to help keep up with the increased project volume, and an economic development director to deal with issues from affordable housing and juniper Ridge to downtown and property management, including the urban renewal area.

King noted that the various responsibilities were absorbed throughout the organization, when the department was disbanded.

“This increase in activity and demand for services has revealed that the current decentralized management of economic development programs does not optimize the city’s long-term economic growth potential,” he wrote.

A new program coordinator in the city manager’s office will “allow better management of livability issues,” King added.

“As growth continues and land use policies and market preferences lead toward increasing densities and potential use conflicts that result in increased Iivability issues, there is a need to take a more consistent and systematic approach to improve the city’s responsiveness to such issues,” the city manager said.