Bend City Council ratifies state of emergency, pulls May transportation measure

Surreal scene of 'social distancing': No audience, only mayor on hand

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- In a surreal scene at an unusual time in America, only Bend Mayor Sally Russell and a few city staff were on hand for Wednesday night's city council meeting, which only lasted a half-hour but dealt with weighty issues.

To lead by example on "social distancing," the other six city council members were on a telephone conference call from their homes, as COVID-19 restrictions dictate.

The council ratified a state of emergency City Manager Eric King had declared a few days earlier due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The state of emergency allows for the city manager to have more flexibility and authorization to to buy safety-related goods or services without normal procurement processes.

Among other steps, the city iss also restricting personal interactions at the Bend Police Department.

The city's municipal court, utility billing and community development departments will all only allow phone and internet interactions.

The state of emergency will be in effect as long as the situation lasts.

Russell said it's important community members do their part to combat the spread of the virus.

In her introduction to the emergency resolution, Russell also said something that likely would have been unthinkable a few short weeks ago: "At this moment, we are not encouraging tourism to our town."

She noted that Visit Bend has withdrawn all ads and canceled promotions, since with Mt. Bachelor and other visitor spots closed and the restaurant and bar restrictions, "tourism will likely slow organically for the next few months."

The emergency declaration, she said, "helps us support businesses so they can support their employees," such as not shutting off water to those with outstanding businesses and easing the rules for businesses adapting to the new restrictions.

Councilor Bill Moseley said the unprecedented situation underscores his call for Bend to not be so reliant on service and tourism-related industries. "I hope we continue to transition into a more diverse and stable economy," he said.

The council also voted unanimously to pull the $190 million transportation bond off of the May primary ballot. It thus reversed last month's decision, just a day before the deadline to withdraw items from the ballot

With the major impact COVID-19 is already having on the economy, the council has decided to wait on the bond.

Officials did say they will look to bring the bond measures to voters in the future, once the economy is more stable again.

Russell said the city will evaluate its options and move forward when the timing is right.

"Our plan is simply to park it," Russell said. "We've done all the work. We still have many people throughout the community who really want this work done and see that this was really an equitable fair way in terms of both the cost and the content of the package, and the way it really worked with all of the other investments made in our community and our transportation system -- huge, huge city-wide benefit."

The future timing of the bond is still uncertain, but Russell said the bond could be back on the November ballot.

Russell said the jobs created by the bond could be beneficial to the job market with so much uncertainty around the economy right now.