After year two of serving as your Mayor, and I’m pleased to report once again on the great work the Council has done this past year as we followed through on our goals and priorities. Below you will find the highlights of what we accomplished in 2024, as well as the City’s year in review video and a link to how you can engage in our goal-setting process this year.
With two new members and two returning members joining the Council after November’s election, we’re well situated to continue bringing progress and pragmatic solutions to Bend. It’s an honor to serve with the Council and work closely with our incredibly City staff. I’m excited to continue to move our city forward with the collaboration, advocacy, data-driven policy work, and smart planning that our community’s challenges require.
Sincerely,
Mayor Kebler

Affordable housing and sustainable development
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Received a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to further our work on affordable housing. We were the only city in Oregon to receive this grant and one of only 21 communities nation-wide that were funded.
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Determined that in 2023, 10% of homes built were considered affordable housing. Our investment through our Affordable Housing fund, CDBG funds, and SDC waivers helped make this possible, and in 2024 we continued those investments.
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Leveraged city land to enable Habitat for Humanity and Thistle and Nest to build affordable homes.
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Supported veterans housing through a tax exemption to Central Oregon Veterans Outreach.
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Provided $1.5 million for affordable housing and down payment assistance for homeowners.
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Invested in community services for people experiencing homelessness and other social services, a key resource needed to go hand in hand with providing shelter and affordable housing.
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Convened first ever houselessness response round table to specifically discuss federal lands through the work of Mayor Pro Tem Perkins and the Coordinated Houseless Response Office.
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Coordinated with Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council to provide continuous shelter facilities while making much needed renovations to the Lighthouse Navigation Center. The Lighthouse continues to show success in moving people out of homelessness.
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Met with County Commissioners to approve a joint plan to address unsheltered camping on lands near Juniper Ridge, resulting in the creation of a Temporary Safe Stay Area and agreement to close much of the area to camping by May of 2025, and increased funding for support services and case management.
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Funded Middle Income housing projects with our Middle Income Housing Pilot Program.
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Approved Multiple Unit Property Tax Exemption applications for several projects, including the Jackstraw mixed-use development, which is an all-electric building that will provide over 300 new homes and over $5 million in system development charges to the City and BPRD. Council reviewed the MUPTE program later in 2024, evaluating both its success in helping much needed redevelopment projects and its impacts to our tax increment financing district, and chose to pause the program and pursue another option for incentivizing housing and good paying jobs.
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Created a new incentive program, Lowering Rents and Encouraging Good Paying Jobs, to allow mini tax increment financing agreements on specific projects that provide homes at lowered rents. Council will evaluate applications to this program in early 2025.
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Approved Stevens Road Tract annexation and concept plan, which will allow for a future master planned community that brings a potential for 759 deed-restricted affordable homes alongside thousands of market rate homes, open spaces, trails, and more.
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Took advantage of a one-time UGB expansion process created by the Legislature to approve a site that will bring hundreds of affordable homes to the southeast side of Bend.
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Entered agreements to sell land at Juniper Ridge to provide large lot industrial development potential.
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Provided small business grants in the Core Area to support local businesses, including child care providers.
Accessible and Effective City Government
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Supported the Central Oregon Civic Action Project with their Civic Assembly on Youth Homelessness, a new way to engage a representative group of Deschutes County residents to take a deep dive into civic issues. The group reported their results to local governments, and the project received national attention. We are considering using civic assemblies as an engagement method in our upcoming Growth Plan work.
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Engaged the community in new ways at CityFest and Bend Bike Night.
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Held joint meetings with the BPRD Board of Directors and the Deschutes County Commission, resulting in collaboration on housing policy and homelessness response efforts. Small group leadership meetings are held monthly between the City and our local government partners to further our coordination.
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Followed through on our commitments to the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, attending a meeting in Warm Springs and signing our official Memorandum of Understanding, which outlines our commitment to work together on issues of shared interest.
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Formed a resident committee to advise on updating Council compensation and benefits, which took effect for Councilors elected in the November 2024 election.
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Continued our Committee Stipend program to help support those who give their time on our volunteer advisory committees.
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Updated and modernized our parking code, including updates to code around sheltering in vehicles, which was identified as needing improvement during our evaluation of our unsheltered camping code.
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Continued work to increase supplier diversity and explore how the City can use its purchasing power to benefit our local community.
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Updated our right of way code to improve efficiency and equity in agreements with utilities.
Transportation and Infrastructure
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Implemented a new Transportation Fee that will help the City maintain our roads, sidewalks, and bike lanes while also providing better service and improving safety. The fee was approved by Council after extensive public process, and the first annual report on the use of Transportation Fee funds is available here.
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Broke ground on two key projects: our new public works campus at Juniper Ridge, and a new air traffic control tower at the Bend Municipal Airport.
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Completed initial changes for the Greenwood safety pilot project, part of the Midtown Crossings work that will continue with the Hawthorne Overcrossing and Franklin improvements. See a summary of traffic data on the new Greenwood here.
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Chose a single cable-stayed design for the Hawthorne Overcrossing. Next step is to go through a full design process, with construction expected to begin in 2026-2027.
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Continued to fund and build projects all over town through the Neighborhood Street Safety Program. Phase 1 of the program, naming 25 projects across Bend, will be completed in 2025. Phase 2 will be funded by 2020 GO Bond funding and will include a new list of neighborhood-sourced safety projects.
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Started work on Second Street improvements and completed the Phase 1 water line work, moving forward in October to Phase 2 street scape improvements and overall modernization of this street in the heart of the Bend Central District.
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Updated our System Development Charge methodology after significant work with stakeholders, including changes to lower the cost burden on smaller homes.
Public Safety
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Supported reforms to Measure 110 and larger state investment in addiction solutions, including a commitment from the Bend Police Department to participate in a county-wide deflection program, which is already showing good results.
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Continued work to reduce wildfire risk through partnership with Deschutes Rural Fire District #2, winning a grant for fuels reduction, and adjusting code to allow neighborhoods to burn debris when needed.
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Unveiled new fire and emergency response data dashboard with information about number of calls and mapping for the entire fire service area inside and outside of Bend.
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Moved forward with implementing an automated traffic enforcement program, after hosting a neighborhood roundtable on the topic to receive more public input. In 2024, Bend Police made 11,666 traffic stops, about 32 a day. Officers handed out 7,106 tickets with 7,712 traffic charges on them. Of those, 4,397 were citations and 3,315 were warnings.
Environment and Climate
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Updated and passed new code around preserving trees during large developments, balancing our acute need for housing with concerns about loss of especially large trees. The code update came after a yearlong process with input from a special advisory committee and the public. A lawsuit filed against the code by developers was recently dismissed.
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Completed an in-conduit hydro feasibility study to determine how we can harvest energy within our current water system without taking any additional water from our water sources.
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Worked through policy options for electrification in buildings with our Environment and Climate Committee, with additional steps in the process to happen in 2025.
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Committed to electrification in City buildings via a new resolution, building on the work we’ve already done with our all-electric new public works building and solar panels on existing city buildings.
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Opened a new turf lawn replacement program that was used by residents to reduce water consumption, as part of our continuing water conservation efforts. More people signed up than we could fund, and the program will open again in spring of 2025. Our conservation efforts have resulted in decreasing water use per capita in Bend despite our population doubling in the past 20 years.
Above are just some of the highlights of what we’ve accomplished this year at the Council level – I’m sure I’ve missed some! Please check out the video below for even more information.
You also have the opportunity as we head into 2025 to give Council your input on what our priorities should be for the next two years, and how we should allocate our budget. Please go here to find out more about the ways you can weigh in during Council’s goal-setting process.
We want everyone to feel welcome and safe and will put that outcome at the center of our decision making and actions. Our engagement efforts will amplify the voices of historically excluded populations and work to ensure all groups have a seat at the table. We will apply an equity lens and consider the community of today and future generations with our actions and policies. We will strive for a Bend where everyone has a voice in
decision making that leads to shared prosperity.”– the Bend City Council, 2023-25 Council Goals Guiding Principles
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