Look on NextDoor or another lively community forum and you're likely to see plenty of talk about the Bend City Council and what it is or is not doing at the present time. People tend to have a lot to say about the running of our local city government, and sometimes those opinions are downright wrong or ill-informed. While it's true that the Bend City Council does have a lot of discretion in approving things like tax breaks for developers or an increase in your water and sewer bill, locals sometimes overlook one of the bodies of government that also holds sway over our lives: the county commission.
The Deschutes County Board of Commissioners, in fact, is responsible for decisions that affect the entire county and not just those who live in Bend. They oversee the sheriff's department, the health department and their own set of county roads and county borders – and that's just a small fraction of what goes on under their umbrella.
From that point of view, we think it makes a whole lot of sense to take another look at the size of that commission, and whether the current number of commissioners — three — is adequate for the needs of one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation. Right now, a local business owner is gathering signatures in an effort to get a measure on the local ballot to increase the size of the commission from three to five.
At first glance – given that the commission oversees so much important work for local citizens — this proposal appears to be something we would support. Right now, we see a county commission that's trying to tackle a number of real-world, present-day issues. They have, rather reluctantly in the past several years, begun to take on their part in addressing houselessness in our area. Overseeing the county's behavioral and mental health needs could be a commissioner's job all in itself. And then there are the needs around transportation, public safety and land use that always crop up. What's more, a larger commission could result in a more balanced bloc of commissioners whose ideologies won't necessarily get in the way of getting things done, as can sometimes be the case currently.
Over at the Bend City Council, seven councilors ponder some of these same issues on behalf of the residents of the city of Bend. Increasing the number of people on the county commission to a number closer to that is an idea worth exploring if it leads to a more efficient government at the county level.
Right now, the notion of increasing the number of commissioners is only an idea on a piece of paper that locals need to sign to help to elevate this issue to one we can vote on. If organizers gather enough signatures to put this on the ballot, we'd expect that the next step will be a more robust discussion about the pros and cons of increasing the commission. While we're a tentative "yes" on the notion of increasing the number of commissioners, what we're advocating for right now is that everyone sign the petition to elevate this topic to the next level and get it on the ballot. From there, we hope to see a robust community discussion of what it all means, how much it's going to cost, and what we as taxpayers will get out of this proposed expansion of local government.
Find an online option to sign the petition at: representdeschutes.com/sign/
