Citizen panel begins Bend city charter review

Bend’s city charter and governance system could soon undergo several changes, if voters say yes.

“I would say every five to eight years, it’s probably not bad for a city to, and cities all across the country to look at their charter,” said Councilor Bruce Abernethy.

The city council formed a 10-citizen charter committee that will spend the next several months reviewing ways the charter could be amended. Some of the main topics under consideration include making the mayoral position an elected position, rather than chosen by colleagues, as well as forming geographic city wards and changing council pay.

Committee Co-Chair Brent Lendels said it’s been a long time since there’s been a full review of the charter.

“It’s been well over 20 years, and a lot has changed,” Lendels said. “We have gone from a town that was 30,000 people to over 87,000 people. So it’s just to take a look at the charter and make sure it’s up to date.”

The current city council’s structure was established in 1995, with the last update occurring in 2004. Growth and fairer, more balanced representation are two of the main reasons for the review.

Abernethy said that by taking a look at the makeup of the city council and other commissions, you can tell the city’s demographics are not evenly represented.

Since Monday’s meeting was the first of the review committee, there were no major decisions made on any of the topics. However, the group does have a timeline, and they hope to have recommendations before council by December, or at the latest, February.

Council members can then accept or decline the recommendations and decide if they want to put any of them before the voters. The goal is to have the proposed changes on the ballot next May.

“You also have a sense that people wan,t to be able to vote for a mayor,” Abernethy said. “They want to be able to say ‘This is the vision I have for my city.'”

Public forums helped the city form a pros and cons list for an elected mayor, forming wards to increase representation, and to determine council pay. Abernethy said while these are big changes, no decisions have been made.

“It’s really just a practical thing and it’s driven by growth and time,” Lendels said. “The current charter doesn’t even address email, so there’s just stuff that needs to have a new look at every so often.”

The committee meets again in late August and early September.

If you would like to learn more you can visit the city’s website at http://www.bendoregon.gov/government/citizen-committees/charter-review-committee