Central Oregon Mayors Reflect on 2025

Bend

It’s been a busy year for the Bend City Council. An expanded meeting schedule and a focus on strategy have brought forth ambitious and community-driven goals, setting out how we’ll continue to make progress for our local community. And in 2025, we’ve been doing it all in the midst of chaos and confusion at the federal level. Here are some highlights:

As Bend keeps growing, making sure everyone has a home they can afford is increasingly important. Over the last year, the City of Bend supported the completion of 140 affordable housing units, with many more in the pipeline for future years. Our code changes and incentives have increased the share of multifamily homes in Bend, which resulted in rents flattening for tenants. And since the start of 2025, the City has supported the addition of 25 new safe parking spaces, which means an increase of 36 beds for people who need a place to take their first step out of homelessness. This work remains a priority as we continue to explore policy options and incentives that will not only bring housing, but also neighborhood commercial hubs and other amenities that create truly connected communities.

This past year also saw lots of projects to bring Bend’s roads into alignment with the vision of the Transportation Go Bond, a voter-approved plan for improving our transportation system. We’ve combined efforts across departments to upgrade our water and sewer systems wherever possible, improve safety and ensure our infrastructure will function and last for our community. Future projects to expand pinch points, like at the Reed Market/Bond Roundabout, while also enhancing connections at crossings like Hawthorne, Greenwood, and Franklin for people biking and walking, will help us get to our goal of a safer system that works better for everyone.

We know businesses are facing tough times due to economic uncertainty and the high cost of living for employees. By prioritizing and expanding our Economic Development department at the City, we are working to help businesses stay and grow here, including a comprehensive economic strategy plan that Council will hear about in February. Staff will bring us ideas for retention and growth for both small and large companies, sharing how we can connect businesses with resources to help them navigate challenges and create opportunities for expansion.

Council’s continued support of our public safety agencies included an emphasis on wildfire preparedness. Our new Deputy Fire Marshal of Wildfire Preparedness will continue her work educating people about the proper steps to stay safe and empowering our community to become more resilient and prepared for wildfire emergencies. In 2025, we completed over 850 Wildfire Risk Assessments for residents, over eight times more than the average from past years.

Thank you to all our community partners, neighbors, and leaders at the local, County, and State level who have given feedback and worked with the Council to advance our initiatives designed to keep Bend moving forward. I look forward to another productive year of progress at the City in 2026.

—Melanie Kebler, Mayor of Bend

Redmond
The year 2025 was a bit of a whirlwind in Redmond. It seemed every week a new building or two was either starting in construction or being completed. New businesses opened their doors and the city grew both in population and, unfortunately, traffic congestion. The investment into community on the public and nonprofit side was impressive. A new police station and a new library were completed. In construction are the new Park and Recreation Center as well as the expansion of the Airport terminal and the new Wetlands project to replace our aging sewer plant. The new cancer center at St. Charles will be a game changer for those battling the affliction in Northern Deschutes County as well as Jefferson and Crook Counties.

The City is also tackling our increased traffic with new improvements such as the Eastside arterial which will connect NE Redmond and SE Redmond through the old Juniper golf course, the reconstruction of Reservoir Drive and the new roundabout at Badger and Canal. We continue to push ODOT to invest in S. Highway 97 and Highway 126 but with very little success to date.

The City partnered with Deschutes County and CORE 3 to build critical infrastructure for our Eastside campus located north of the Forest Service center at the airport. This year, 21st Street was constructed for access from Highway 126. This campus will include the CORE 3 site (a resiliency center and training facility for law enforcement and fire), the OASIS village and a managed camp to house our homeless in safe locations as well as the proposed transitional facility to be constructed and operated by Mountain View Community.

Regarding downtown, we were very happy to see the opening of the Dry Canyon Art Center and welcomed a great new mural at Sixth and Black Butte. We also helped with projects that improved two blighted properties downtown with the NOVA project at the old Squire Motel and new apartments at Fifth and Fir.

The city, in partnership with the Redmond School District, initiated water conservation projects in our parks, schools and open areas adjacent to Highway 126, 97 and Canal Boulevard. The School District removed the turf fields at both Redmond and Ridgeview. These projects, both city and school district, will save about 15 million gallons of water each year.

Finally, the city launched a new application on its website. This is the Redmond Mapping Hub that is designed to enhance public access to vital information on public infrastructure, permits and zoning. This will be a useful tool for citizens to get up to date information quickly without having to wait in line either in person or on the phone.

As we look ahead to 2026, there will be more improvements within our community, and assuming the economy holds, additional opportunities to find family wage jobs. We do hope the best unfolds for you and your families in the upcoming year.
—Ed Fitch, Mayor of Redmond

Sisters

Two weeks ago, I was gathered with a few dozen other folks from the Sisters area for the last Community Builders meeting of the year. This monthly event is sponsored by Citizens 4 Community, our homegrown nonprofit that promotes civility and civic engagement. The goal of the get-together is to give attendees the chance to share the needs, opportunities, or successes of their respective nonprofit, agency, business, or just themselves.

As particpants shared their ideas and asks, I was yet again awash in the pure, unfiltered essence of what makes Sisters tick — partnerships. Whether it was someone looking for a better storage facility for pet food donations, another asking for board members for their growing nonprofit, or the number of individuals just there to listen and seek opportunities to help. The air was filled with phrases like “call me,” “I know someone that could help you,” and “let’s talk soon.”

While we’ve seen growth over the last decade, Sisters is still a small town (we have only 3% the population of Bend). No single government agency, business, or nonprofit is large enough to create measurable success without working in partnership with others. Sorry to get cliché, but teamwork really does make the dream work. And when you’re sitting in a room full of can-do attitude, you can’t help but feel like anything is possible.

However, Sisters is still like every community across Central Oregon in that we struggle with the same problems as our larger neighbors. There’s not enough housing, especially for our homeless, low income, and workforce residents. Our only assisted living facility evicted all the Medicaid residents and converted to a “senior living” model where tenants are on their own to hire medical assistance. Our rural location makes us acutely vulnerable to wildfires and winter storms and the insurance problems that come with the risk. And our public agencies and nonprofits are having staffing and grant funding pulled out from under them seemingly on a daily basis.

With these daunting challenges, it’s too darn easy to look toward 2026 with doubt. Yet, this is the town that hosts fan-favorite events like the Sisters Folk Festival, Sisters Rodeo, and the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, all of which went off without a hitch in 2025 thanks to a copious number of volunteers, local sponsors, and partnerships. The City of Sisters also completed a number of projects this year including opening Gateway Park Mobility Hub — a multi-use facility hosting a transit center, adopting new codes geared toward protecting the community from wildfire, and infrastructure upgrades to the water and wastewater system that will benefit current and future residents and businesses.

None of us entering 2026 are blind to the challenges we currently face and those that could fall into our laps at any time. However, we share a deep understanding that we are stronger together thanks to countless partnerships, and that’s all I need to be excited about the coming year. And if anyone needs a hand, just call me. I know someone that could help you. Let’s talk soon.

—Jennifer Letz, Mayor of Sisters

This article appears in the Source January 1, 2026.