These past couple of weeks have been disturbing and difficult for all of us in light of the COVID-19, coronavirus pandemic. At the City of Bend, we are following guidelines from State and Federal public health experts and making appropriate changes to our operations.

Earlier this week the Governor announced further means to decrease the rate of infection over the next four weeks, including restricting bars and restaurants to take-out service only, banning gatherings of more than 25 people, and urging Oregonians to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people.

These changes help protect those on the front lines: nurses and doctors, grocery store clerks and public servants of all kinds - people in our community whose jobs have gotten harder and riskier. To protect the health and safety of first responders and Oregon families, we must work together. There is something you can do: Social distancing will save lives.

Young and healthy people need to practice social distancing as much as the at-risk populations. Anyone could be contagious, even without showing symptoms. Isolation from our friends and neighbors will slow the rate of transmission and get Oregon to the other side of this. Please know I think of it as an amazing act of solidarity, and I thank you all for participating.

HERE’S WHAT THE CITY IS DOING:

We have declared a local state of emergency as a result of the COVID-19 and the declaration will be in effect through at least April 15.

This declaration allows more flexibility and authorization for the City Manager to take actions to help protect the health and safety of the community, through a number of means: from limiting access to public places, to buying items or services related to health and safety without normal procurement procedures that can take additional time.

To restrict the spread of COVID-19 and to protect the City’s workforce so employees can continue to provide crucial City services, the City Manager has developed emergency policies regarding the use of sick leave, vacation leave, telecommuting, meeting protocols, and more.

These changes will remain in effect for the duration of the emergency.

CANCELATIONS AND CLOSURES:

The City has canceled advisory committee meetings and project-specific outreach meetings or open houses. You can see here tonight that this Council meeting is limited and livestreamed. The Council meeting on April 1 is canceled.

Beginning Thursday, March 19, all City facilities, excluding the main Police Department lobby, will be closed to the public. Staff can still work in the buildings in order to provide service, but within social distancing guidelines.

UTILITY BILLING:

Paying utility bills can be done online or over the phone.

PERMIT COUNTER:

Staff from the Community Development permit counter will help customers on the phone or online.

MUNICIPAL COURT:

Bend Municipal Court sessions are cancelled and the court office is closed. Court clerks are available by phone for questions about appearances or payments.

COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC RESILIENCY:

At the moment, we are not encouraging tourism to our town. Our partners at Visit Bend pulled all paid media and canceled promotions related to tourism in Bend. With Mount Bachelor closing and our restaurants and bars closed for business, tourism will likely slow organically for the next few months.

Families in Oregon are faced with joblessness. We have 7,000 businesses in Bend that employ close to 80,000 people. Our emergency declaration helps us support businesses so that they can support their employees.

An emergency declaration allows us to justify not shutting off water for those with outstanding bills, easing regulatory processes for businesses having to adapt to these new restrictions, and creating support systems for local businesses to help with hardships due to this emergency, and more. We must respond to the immediate needs of our community to protect the economy and the people in Bend.

Also, the City is working to support area nonprofits who serve individuals and families experiencing homelessness during this critical time. We will help them be able to provide meals, case management services and hotel or rental assistance for those with the highest medical risk.

WATER SERVICE:

While this emergency is in place, the City will not send shut-off notices or shut off water for non-payment of unpaid water bills. It’s vitally important that our community have the ability to wash hands and keep their spaces cleaned, despite any economic hardship they may be experiencing.

IN CLOSING:

This is unprecedented for our community, and for the world. It may seem like we’re in the middle of this, but it’s just the beginning. So let’s support each other. I’ve seen it happening already: numerous, humbling acts of generosity we are surrounded by. That’s what I want to close with.

We’ve seen strangers helping older people who are frightened to go into a grocery store, and individuals organizing support groups to provide care and comfort to others who need help. Ask yourself if you can help a friend or neighbor who is a health professional or first responder: bring them a meal, watch their child, walk their dog.

Thank you for caring, for taking the time to listen and help. If everyone pulls together it will make life just a little easier.

The economic impact of COVID-19 on the Bend economy will be far-reaching, business assistance programs are still being developed by numerous agencies, lending institutions, and other organizations across the country.

You can find an evolving list of available programs here.

Governor Kate Brown has ordered the temporary closing of all bars and sit-down eateries. However, many of Bend's restaurants, breweries, pubs, and bakeries are offering takeout, curbside pick-up, and delivery so that you can maintain social distancing during the coronavirus crisis.

Find out which local establishments are offering delivery and takeout during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The City of Bend understands the hardship that some local businesses will experience as a result of limiting restaurant and bar service to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. In support of downtown business, the City of Bend will temporarily relax parking restrictions and enforcement in downtown.

The City is also creating some dedicated “Curbside Pick-Up Areas” that retailers and restaurants can use to easier serve customers so they can stay in business.

Downtown parking adjustments include:

• No enforcement of time limits on City lots
• Free parking in the Centennial Parking Garage
• Creation of Curb-Side Pickup Zones in support of downtown business

As we carefully monitor this current situation, we will shorten or extend the time of these adjustments as needed. Thanks for supporting your local businesses during this time.

The City Council voted to withdraw the May ballot measure for the transportation bond, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic impacts. Circumstances have changed dramatically since Council agreed to put the bond measure on the May ballot.

The reasons include:

• Uncertainty about how long this COVID-19 pandemic will last
• Likely economic impacts, in particular, Bend’s service sector, which is affected by a reduction in hotel and restaurant activity
• A more volatile municipal bond market, and
• Advice from economic, business and public health experts

Although transportation issues are a high community priority, at this time public health concerns are the primary focus of the nation and our community. The City will continue to monitor the economic impacts of COVID-19, and may consider referring the general obligation bond measure for transportation improvements to the voters when appropriate in the future.

Read the resolution.

The Bend City Council has authorized about $3.2 million for street preservation work in Bend this summer to improve about 77 lane miles of Bend’s roads. This includes inlay/overlay, chip seal, and slurry seal treatments.

Knife River will do the paving work, Intermountain is the contractor for slurry seal work, and chip seals are performed by the City in an agreement with Deschutes County. The maps here shows which roads in Bend will get treated this summer as well as the three-year plan for street preservation. To learn more about Bend’s street preservation practices, visit bendoregon.gov/streetpreservation, which includes an interactive map about this summer’s plans.

“In recent years, the City has been steadily improving our pavement conditions through increased efforts with our maintenance and preservation work. We want to continue this improving trend on the conditions of our transportation system,” said Streets & Operations Director David Abbas.

The City of Bend will be releasing a weekly road and traffic report each Friday during peak construction season to help members of our community plan the quickest, safest and most reliable routes to their destinations. The weekly report is intended to provide information about various projects within City limits that impact public roadways. To receive the weekly report, individuals must subscribe to Weekly Road and Traffic Reports, found under “news” at bendoregon.gov/enews.

Travelers can also check in on our interactive, online map at bendoregon.gov/traffic that will be regularly updated to show the current and upcoming projects that may affect travelers.

Councilors approved a contract to build Phase 2 of the Bicycle Greenways project, on multiple streets including NW Milwaukee, NE 2nd, SE Roosevelt, SE Centennial and SE Paiute, to be built in the 2020 construction season and to designate speeds of 20 mph on Neighborhood Greenways when posted.

Neighborhood Greenways are local streets that provide more comfortable and safer routes for walking and biking than nearby busier streets, due to signs, pavement markings, and traffic calming (such as speed humps) to slow and discourage cut through traffic. These streets remain open to auto traffic with access to homes and businesses unaffected.

bendoregon.gov/neighborhoodgreenways