Mayor Sally Russell: Lessons to be learned
Amid the struggles of 2020, cities have been thrusted into new roles in novel situations. Looking into the future, I think we should take note of what cities like Bend have managed to do.
Russell became Bend’s Mayor in 2018, after 6 years on Bend's City Council. Career and volunteer work while raising two daughters didn’t prepare her for 2020!
"Mirror Pond - Bend, Oregon" by Gordon-Shukwit is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
We can all agree, it’s been a difficult year. 2020 has been tumultuous—we have seen a pandemic, economic crisis, social unrest and more.
And, for individuals, companies, and government, adapting - changing in real time - has become the new normal.
I know it has not been easy.
Amid the struggles, cities have been thrust into new roles in novel situations. Looking to the future, I think we should take note of what cities like Bend have managed to do in these unexpected times. Over the past year, Bend has pivoted, adjusted, and led the community in a way that - traditionally - governments have rarely done.
The City’s reality changes every day, as does yours. There’s an added pressure on a city, though. A city has to react faster, reach further, and respond sooner than any individual should ever be expected to. In the span of a few weeks, days, and, sometimes, hours, Bend has rapidly followed a simple but critical process: recognize the problem, analyze it, change the current response or pivot to a new one, implement, learn, then adapt. That’s our day-to-day reality.
Amid this uncertainty, the City of Bend—its Mayor, Council, and Staff—is doing its best to run through that process as quickly and responsibly as possible. And, contrary to how people tend to think of local government, we are nimble inside City Hall.
Beginning in early March, just like most individuals and businesses, the City had to adapt, while still performing its normal duties. That meant keeping planned projects moving forward: road construction, sewer projects, selecting a new police chief. But beyond simply going down our to-do list, we made the most of opportunities to make our work even more meaningful and impactful. One example: Road construction projects. This Spring saw reduced traffic on our streets. Staff saw this trend and proactively took advantage of the conditions by hiring unemployed contractors, getting more work going sooner on much needed road projects, and completing work ahead of schedule, and in some instances with savings.
Our innovative approach to getting stuff done has included increasing our already-high level of collaboration with other organizations. The City of Bend has looked for, created, and strengthened partnerships. Case in point, the City has worked closely with the Bend Chamber, local government partners (schools, parks, county, etc.), Neighbor Impact, Latino Community Association, BIPOC community, Pandemic Partners, food banks – and so many more. All of these partnerships have been aimed at focusing resources where community members needed them most.
With regional partners, the City of Bend also helped “stand up,” and, then, support the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to identify and activate resources throughout our region. In hindsight, this outreach was imperative. It’s hard today to remember what it was like at the end of March and early April, but we neither understood this virus, nor what impact(s) it might have on our economy. Now, we can see even better how fortunate we were to have partners throughout our region and the State to address rapidly changing and critical needs throughout our community. The collaborative structure solidified this year is now ready to serve our region well in any future emergency, including wildfires, and even the major earthquake that will emanate from the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
The lessons we have learned—seize opportunities to do proactive public work and willingly partner with others —will be applied for the foreseeable future and inform the way we make our community an even better place to call home. Thankfully, that’s not all the learning we’ve done...
"Mount Washington from Pilot Butte, Bend, Oregon" by theslowlane is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Adjusting Goals and Budgets in response to COVID-19
Though our City has accomplished the majority of goals (and budget) passed by the City Council, the goalposts have since moved and we’ve responded in kind.
Due to dire budget projections, the City Council had to not only cut its overall budgets, but also make several adjustments early this Summer. As a result of that process, we identified new strategies and actions related to three of the Council’s goals. Here’s a quick summary:
Goal 1: Economic Vitality
Build Community and Economic Resiliency in Response to COVID-19 through:
Business and family support/assistance: Using Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) and other funds to make direct grants to businesses and nonprofits to adapt to the COVID market;
New Industry Development: Using CRF and other funds to make direct investments that diversify the City’s employment and occupation base; and
Supporting vulnerable populations with an equity framework: COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on traditionally vulnerable and marginalized communities. We need to reorient our systems and processes to make sure resources are going where they’re needed most.
Goal 2: Transportation & Infrastructure
As I already covered, we recognized a reduction in traffic and got work going on critical infrastructure projects that weren’t slated for action until much later.
Goal 3: Public Safety and Health
Be responsive and accountable to the changing needs and expectations of the community and increase Council awareness and public participation in law enforcement policy.
Revised Strategy: Increase support for mental health and homelessness services by empowering community partners that have experience dealing with individuals experiencing instability
New Action: Evaluate and implement body cameras for Police Department.
Communities around Oregon can and should learn from what we have been able to collaboratively accomplish in Central Oregon. As Mayor of Bend, I am proud of the pragmatic and empathic work that has been undertaken during incredibly stressful times. The lessons we learned—be proactive, be collaborative, be flexible—will inform our efforts well after this election.
Regardless of who wins what races, the bottom line is that cities will continue to be the government closest to the people—that’s a big responsibility, but it’s also an opportunity. We can seize that opportunity by uniting around our shared values and our shared desire to make our neighborhoods safe, healthy, and prosperous.
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Keep the conversation going: Facebook (facebook.com/oregonway), Twitter (@the_oregon_way)
Reach out to Mayor Russell: @SallyForBend
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