Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Good morning, everyone.

Welcome, and thank you for joining us for today's June 24th, 2026 Board of Deschutes County Commissioners meeting. We will now call the meeting to order. And the first item on our agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. Please join us.

To the flag, that states America, and to the Republic, which it stands, one nation,

Now it's time to review and modify or approve our agenda. Are there any requests for changes, additions, subtractions?

Move approval.

I'll second.

It's been moved and seconded. Calling for the vote, Commissioner DeBone? Yes. Commissioner Adair?

Yes.

And Chair votes yes. OK. We can now move on to citizen input. If there's anyone in the room who would like to provide citizen input, Please indicate so at this moment and you can fill out a blue form later on. And if there are none, then we can move on to checking online. Eric, do you see any raised hands online? Seeing none, we can move on to commissioner announcements. Are there any commissioner announcements?

I'll just acknowledge Amateur Radio Field Day this weekend. So ARRL, Amateur Radio Operators, setting up for 24 hours, communicating around the country, just practicing the technology of communication. Also a special shout out to Mr. Don Shurtcliffe, who passed away recently. He's brought us a resolution in support of Amateur Radio Field Day in the past, and he just recently passed away.

Thank you. Mr. Adair, any announcements?

Oh, I was at the Crooked River Roundups event last night for rural youth in Oregon. And I just want to say that the president of the Rodeo Association sang the national anthem and it really took your breath away. Yes, amazing singer. And I told her she should be singing at the National Finals Rodeo. So maybe she'll look into that after she survives the rodeo this week.

I'll just share that the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission is meeting this week on Thursday and Friday in Redmond and as part of their meeting there will be a tour uh, tomorrow, uh, over into Crook County primarily, um, and primarily focused on, uh, mule deer and elk, uh, winter range and other habitats. So I, I'm going to be attending that. And, uh, but then, you know, they'll have a, a day in person, uh, sit down meeting on Friday, if anyone is interested in attending, um, or engaging with that. Any other announcements? Seeing none, we can move on to our consent agenda.

So move.

And I will second it.

Okay, it's been moved and seconded. We did just have a request for an explanation of what uncollectible personal property taxes are. And for that question, I would encourage contacting some of the county staff that's in the back row there. After we get through the consent agenda, you can have a little discussion outside in the hall.

Oh, and we can just look at the memo associated with it. It talks about manufactured structures and personal property, demolished manufactured structures, just take it right off of the tax roll, but also business failures, so items that were taxable as capital that just aren't out there anymore. So there's reasons behind each one of these, and the memo explains it pretty well.

Yeah. That's... We had a motion. Yep. So if there's no further discussion, then we can proceed to a vote. Was it Commissioner Adair? We made it. Yes. Okay. Commissioner Adair?

Yes.

Commissioner DeBone? Yes. And Chair votes yes. Thank you. All right. Moving on to regular action items in our agenda.

I was just offering that memo for the question on the, yeah.

Very good. Moving on to regular action items in our agenda. Item number seven, resolution 2026-036, establishing solid waste disposal fee waivers for fiscal year 2027. Jeff, good to see you this morning.

Morning, commissioners. Jeff Merwin, Deschutes County Department of Solid Waste Director. And this is a consideration of board signature of resolution 2026036, establishing solid waste disposal fee waivers for fiscal year 2027. quick background on that if you guys would like um last year we there was a 43 000 that was approved for fee waivers um this year we actually have the same amount for the fee waivers and um i can give you a kind of a brief summary of what we have new players in the in the game and um kind of where the money went with the waivers last year if you'd like

The spreadsheet explains it pretty well. It's exciting to know that we're helping out these organizations. So sometimes people are making donations where maybe there's no path for resale on some of these items. So it's a great opportunity to get these things disposed of that just aren't utilized in our community anymore.

Yeah. And we did have Lapine Sun River Habitat for Humanity as a new one this year. That wasn't on there last year. So it's good to see them in South County getting some representation on that.

I know there was just a special request by a church in southern Deschutes County saying they're having a community garage sale. And they've always in the past ended up with items that just don't sell and don't have any other place to go also. So there's special requests on top of this also, correct?

Yes, that was Trinity Lutheran. I think it was 2024 was our last request. We granted that for next year, this next fiscal. And, you know, Covo is another one that's been fairly active with homeless camp cleanups. That is the director approval on those. And then also the Newberry Regional Partnership, which you're well aware of, has stepped up in this last year quite a bit and has done a lot of work as well.

With the regional partnership, we've definitely used the large containers. Thank you for our partners that provide those containers and the waivers on that because we're cleaning up whole camps with mini excavators and disposing and recycling frames from dilapidated vehicles and all kinds of big stuff.

Firewise is another one, and that's 50% fee waiver from the haulers on that, and then disposal is 50% on our end, and that's both Republic Services and Cascade pitching on that. I think it looks like we were at just under $9,000 on that this year, so that's a big program in the community with the Firewise for reducing that. That fire risk. And Jeff, that's the dumpster in the neighborhood scenario. That is correct. It's different than the fire-free program.

I had a couple questions. So among the among the, you know, thrift store type entities, there were some groups that requested, you know, pretty large amounts, you know, beyond the kind of $5,000 threshold. And in some cases, they didn't even use use $5,000 worth of waivers last year, and yet they were requesting way over $5,000 of waivers this year. What's going on there? I mean, are they just kind of...

you imagining the biggest possible scenario and trying to, you know, trying to cover themselves for that or it could be and then if you look historically, sometimes it swings from year to year, and it may depend on events they have or just timing when they're hauling. And, you know, when we look at these fees, we do try to look historically at what those needs are. And then we did make some adjustments this year based off of what we brought in last year, how they were trending. And there's one in particular that has been increasing, you know, yearly. And so we recognize that and try to offer some more for them.

Would it make sense to just say, you know, $5,000 maximum? So don't ask for more than that or...

You can always ask, you're just not going to get it. Okay. Okay. That works. We can't authorize more than that. Yeah.

Gee, I've heard that before.

Yeah.

Yeah. Another question about the Firewise, you know, dumpsters in the neighborhood scenario. So that material, where does it, you know, kind of, where does it go from the neighborhood? Does it, it's ground and then...

It's direct haul down to the landfill on that. It's with the fire-free material. Due to the quantity, it's getting landfilled at this point in time. Okay. Okay.

And my third question was, so I hear, I participate in public lands cleanup sometimes. I hear from groups about kind of their perceived need. And it always seems like the groups have a very large perceived need. Sometimes people express concerns about like, we're not sure if we're gonna get help from, you know, as much help from solid waste as we'd like. Is there a lot of requests or demand beyond what we grant?

Not necessarily. And oddly enough, last year was down a little bit with some of the homeless camp requests that we've had. And it could be in part due to the more commercial cleanups at Cabin Butte and some of the areas out in Redmond where we have a contractor out there. And that was possibly getting cleaned up by citizens prior. Right. So, no, we really do try to accommodate those. And it doesn't look like when I went through and reviewed last year's that there were, you know, people exceeding that amount that were authorized. It's twenty five hundred on director approval.

Okay, very good. If there are abandoned vehicles out in some of these areas, do those go to the landfill or is that like a completely separate pathway to somewhere else?

That would have to go to a wrecking yard probably. We're not able to take vehicles.

Okay. Great. Thank you. That's helpful to understand kind of the flow of material and where it comes from and where it's going. Appreciate that. Any additional questions?

So Jeff, is the church going to be able to use you then? Yes. Okay. So just want to be sure.

So with the overall funding of $43,000 or $45,000, are we able to stay in that number? So I'm seeing the resolution kind of defining that number, the list of specific organizations being authorized, and then there's the special requests. Are we staying in that number? Is that... Is that how we can think about that? You know, so 43 or 45,000.

So yeah, we're, we have 45 up to 45 with the, really the, the resolution groups is, is your commercial and there's 43 that was requested and there's caps on that. So it's really a not to exceed. And then we have 10,000 set aside for the other.

Okay. Yeah. That's helpful. Thank you.

And I mean, you know, there was a significant amount of unused credit last year. So I mean, if, you know, even if people do a little better this year, we still have some cushion between $43,000 and the actual use.

So I move approval of Resolution 2026-036, establishing solid waste disposal fee waivers for fiscal year 27.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Any further discussion? I'll just say I'm really glad that we can support all these community organizations that are doing really important things in our community. With that, I'll call for the vote. Commissioner DeBone? Yes. Commissioner Adair? Yes. And Chair votes yes. Thank you. And Jeff, you're sticking with us for the next item, right?

Yep.

Okay, item number eight, a public hearing to consider rate adjustments for wilderness garbage and recycling, Cascade Disposable, Bend Garbage and Recycling, High Country Disposable, and Deschutes County Transfer, or Deschutes Transfer Company.

So the recommended motion is first to hold a public hearing. Therefore, or thereafter, consider approval of Board Order 2026-024 to provide a 4% or 5% rate adjustment for residential curbside waste and recyclables collection services provided to residents and unincorporated Deschutes County Cascade Disposal And a 5% increase for public services, franchise collection services, wilderness disposal, bin garbage and recycling, high country disposal, and 11.5% rate adjustment for Deschutes Transfer Company. I can give you a background on how these numbers were calculated. How we came to these numbers, I guess. So if that's helpful. Yeah, please go ahead. In Deschutes County contracts for collection of waste and recyclables in unincorporated county, obviously, and it's split between Cascade Disposal, Republic Services, and then Deschutes Transfer as part of Republic Services on that. All four franchisees approach solid waste department with rate increase requests for fiscal 27. One to 2% of the rate increase is driven by our 5% tip fee increase that we have at the landfill. So that's that 90 to 95. So that's basically a pass through. And after several negotiations and discussions with Cascade Disposal and Republic Services it was determined on our end that a 5% increase was appropriate and reasonable for waste and recyclable collections services in the unincorporated areas. Additionally, as a reminder, the previous Board of County Commission action this past February, public services will be adding commingled recycling, and we're well aware of that. At a cost of $6 per month in those areas, that 5% does not apply to that for this. It does apply to the other individual fees that are on the fee schedule, but it is excluded from that. um both franchise haulers have been providing additional services to residents commercial businesses which have been increasing over the years alongside basic services that have traditionally been approved by board of county commissioners and again these services are dropbox collections additional frequency of collections on-call services and extra materials outside of the containers. These services, like I said, are a 5% increase. They're asking for that across the board with both entities. Deschutes Transfer. So they provide the hauling services for our transfer stations via what we call walking floors and also the recycled material off those that go to more or they get transferred back to not landfill for processing. So... They've asked for 11.5% increase on that and it's primarily due to a fuel equipment replacement. They added several trailers in there so there's an increased depreciation cost with that and additional personnel costs in general increases in business and operations management. Um, and again, last year they received a 3% increase, which was, uh, very minimal. And I think there was a four, I believe a 4.7 that went across, uh, to the other entities on that. So there is a little catch up on that end with the shoots transfer. Um, and this does put, um, both waste connections and Republic services within that nine to 12% profit margin, um, from what we back checked on our end, the best we could and what would they supplied us?

Thank you for that background. Are there any questions for Jeff? I also see that representatives from Cascade Disposal and Republic Services are with us today. Maybe we'll hear from some of you during the public hearing. If you have anything to add to what Jeff has shared with us today. With that, do we want to proceed to the public hearing or is there any pre-hearing discussion? OK. Well, I believe we can now open the public hearing on these rate adjustments and see if there's anyone in the room who is interested in providing comment. Okay, seeing none. Eric, is there anyone online with their hand raised? Seeing none. Okay, with that, we can close the public hearing on this item and proceed to deliberations.

So just acknowledging this is going to be kind of a July 1st implementation, so the next bills that will go out will see these slight increases.

Mm-hmm.

And yeah, tipping fees are going up. I know it's in the whole back end of the system. We need to support what we're doing here with the, you know, future landfill siting process. So the cost of the near term development needs is going up. So we're just trying to balance the whole system here.

Jeff, these are significant increases, and we have built into our agreements. There's a range of profit margin that's allowable. Are we, with these rate adjustments, are we bumping from the low end of that profit margin to the high end, or are we staying about the same?

It's, and if you look at, um, and especially with the Republic services where they have Deschutes transfer and they also have the, the recycle, um, Deschutes recycling there, those margins are actually below that. Um, but it's picked back up as an overall with their, with their route halls. So, um, they're, um, They're on the 9%, probably 9% to 10% margin on that. So it's probably on the lower side.

Okay. That's good to know. Yeah. I mean, when we allow a profit margin, it's good to know when... You know, our business partners are on the low end of that. And, you know, it's something that we can communicate to people when, you know, they have concerns when they get their new bills in July.

So, Jeff, would you mind reminding me, what is the definition of commingled recycling that's allowable in those new $6 containers?

So that's going to be your cardboards, tin cans, not glass.

Right, no glass.

No glass.

Glass that really weighs a lot, yes.

Yeah, right. Your paper boards. And again, various plastics that qualify. The list is fairly specific, but it is out there. And I don't have it in front of me, exactly every item that's on there.

Okay, so I remember Tim used to tell me that you can't put lids on because they're a different plastic or something. Is that still true?

Yeah, so we have recycle-on centers at all the transfer stations now that take the oddball things, such as lids, shredded paper, which is really problematic with recycling, film plastics, things like that. So it's not necessarily on a curbside, but it is at the recycle-ons now. So we have a method to recycle those.

Okay. Thank you for those details.

The five-gallon buckets, the big heavy plastic buckets, I know those are taken at that new facility also. So that's something that I've always had. Just a few extra buckets around the house. Now we have somewhere for them to go. So a special thank you to our partners here. I know this is a very dynamic time with, you know, the franchise operations, the transfer to a new facility we're talking about out on the horizon there. And, you know, I always want to make sure that you feel supported and we're supporting, you know, the drivers in the system to make sure everybody's getting the best service possible. So, I mean, let's do what we can here.

Yeah, and just a reflection on the cost of doing business. We have witnessed substantial inflation many of the last five years, and this last year has been no exception to that. I am hopeful that some of the fuel price-related inflation that we are experiencing right now is going to is going to come under control, not too far off, and hopefully next year we won't have to consider such large rate adjustments, but it is what it is. Okay, well, if there's no further questions or comments, is there a motion?

I'll make the motion. The motion should be considered. voting for approval of board order number 2026-024 to provide a 5% rate adjustment for residential curbside waste and recyclable collection services provided to residents in unincorporated Deschutes County Cascade disposal and a 5% increase for Republic Service franchise collection services, wilderness bin, bin, garbage, and recycling high country disposal and 11.5 rate adjustment for Deschutes Transfer Company.

And I'll second it. It's been moved and seconded. Any further discussion? Seeing none, we can proceed to the vote. Commissioner Adair? Yes. Commissioner Devone? Yes. And Chair votes yes. Thank you all very much. OK. Now we will have another public hearing.

item number nine uh clear and objective housing text amendments for site plan conditional uses and additional sections yeah good morning commissioners for the record kyle collins senior planner give me one second here i'm gonna share my screen to help us run through the opening

And Kyle, should we proceed right to hearings process or do you want to provide some introductory comments first?

I can certainly provide some introductory comments if you want. So this is the fourth package of some previous other packages that we've gone through specifically related to a House bill that passed several years ago. It's House Bill 3197. And that House bill requires local governments to only apply what are described as clear and objective development standards to the production of housing statewide. Originally, that was limited just to our urban growth areas. So cities have been Redmond, Lapine, and Sisters. And subsequently, that was expanded out to rural areas of Deschutes County and really all counties across the state. And after those provisions were put in place, we had a certain period of time to make updates to our code. Otherwise, any standards that we had in place that were not clear and objective or could be argued were not clear and objective would no longer be applicable when we were reviewing housing developments. So we really were under the gun, so to speak. To update our code, make sure that we actually had some standards in place. And this is really the final step in that process. So we've gone through three previous code packages before, dealing with things like our definitions from our development code, dealing with things like our subdivision and partition ordinances, and a larger package dealing with our Goal 5 natural resources that are protected here in Deschutes County. This last one is kind of a hodgepodge. It really covers things like our site plan review, as you pointed out earlier, conditional use standards, airport safety standards for developments that occur within a certain distance of some of our designated airports, and a variety of other standards. So it's kind of a potpourri of everything that was left out of the previous three. Great. Thank you. Certainly answer any other questions that you might have.

Any further questions at this time? Okay. Well, with that, then we can open the hearing. This is the time and place set for hearing on file number 247-26-000249-TA concerning text amendments, or concerning amendments establishing clear and objective housing development standards as mandated by House Bill 3197. Staff will outline the hearing procedures that will be followed.

Thank you, Chair. Please note that the project website and the full record of all materials associated with this project can be found at the following link which you can see on the screen here. Please note that today the Board of County Commissioners will take any testimony or receive any written testimony concerning the proposed text amendment and the hearing is also being recorded. The hearing will be conducted in the following order. Staff, as the applicant, will provide a brief presentation. And agencies, if any are present, will provide testimony. Then interested persons can provide testimony. And then finally, following testimony, the Commission can request staff to answer any additional questions. Please note that this is a hybrid public hearing with both in-person and remote participation. Before starting your testimony, please provide your first and last name as well as your mailing address so we can add you to the notification list. For any in-person participants, if you wish to testify, please fill out a blue sign-up sheet, which you can find at the corner of the room here, and submit it to the board's executive assistant, Brenda, to the left of the dais. The chair will call up in-person participants for their testimony. After your name is called, please come up to one of the tables at the front of the room before beginning your testimony. For any remote participants, if you wish to testify, you must be logged into Zoom or have called into Zoom using the dial-in option. When the chair asks if anyone would like to testify, you will need to use the raise hand feature to notify the board. To do this, you will need to press the raise hand button on your computer or smart device, or if you've called in, please dial star nine. In addition to any oral testimony, if anyone has any written testimony to submit, please hand it to me directly. If you're participating remotely, you can submit your written testimony to me via email at kyle.collins at deschutes.org. The chair and staff are responsible for conducting an orderly hearing. Any testimony or behavior which is inappropriate will be addressed and may result in that member of the public being removed from the hearing. Questions to and from the chair may be entertained at any time at the chair's discretion. Cross-examination of people testifying will not be allowed. However, if any person wishes to ask a question of another person during that person's testimony, please direct your question to the chair after being recognized. The chair is free to decide whether or not to ask such questions of the person testifying. Prior to commencement of the hearing, any party may challenge the qualifications of any commissioner for conflict of interest. This challenge must be documented with specific reasons supported by facts. Should any commissioner be challenged, the member may disqualify himself or herself, withdraw from the hearing, or make a statement on the record of their capacity to hear and decide the issue.

Okay. Does any commissioner have anything to disclose? And if so, please state the nature of the same and whether you can proceed.

I have nothing to disclose and I believe I can proceed.

I have nothing to disclose on this matter.

I have nothing to disclose and I can proceed.

Okay.

Does any party wish to challenge any commissioner based on conflicts of interest? Seeing none, the hearing is now open. Staff will proceed with a brief staff report.

Dependent upon... Just confirm that there was no raised hands online.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Yeah.

Thank you, Eric, for confirming that. All right. Now that the hearing is open, as I mentioned at the work session on Monday, we might try to run this a little bit differently depending on... participation, if there is any. I'm happy to run through the staff report. The board has already seen a copy of this, but for the benefit of the public, if we want to go through that. But what I might request right now, if the chair wants to see if anybody wants to participate, either in person or online, and if there are none, perhaps we can proceed directly to deliberations at that front, unless there are additional questions for staff.

So we got a significant staff presentation on this item during a work session on Monday. And to spare everyone the repeat of that, we can check right now to see whether there's anyone either in the room or online who'd like to see that that PowerPoint presentation again prior to opening the hearing. Is there anyone in the room who's interested in seeing that? Anyone online, Eric, with their hand raised? Okay, seeing none, let's get right into it.

So the one item I would bring up then is just the context, the fact that it was state law, clear and objective, multiple packages. This is kind of the final package. We are touching the county code. If there's something that pops up because of these changes, there could be a follow-up exercise, but this is kind of the conclusion of implementing state law for clear and objective standards.

Correct, yeah. I mean, as with all code changes, right, if there are unintended consequences or something that does change, obviously we would come back to you for something that amounts to housekeeping amendments to try to make sure that everything aligns previously. But in general, the whole purpose of all three, now four of these packages that we brought forward is to maintain the existing uses in the code, but to clarify them in such a way that they can be determined later. as clear and objective standards, or if there was no real way to reinterpret those standards, we've added a whole new lane for those same uses in place under new standards that are clear and objective, and applicants would have the option of either moving forward under the previous code as it stands, which is more discretionary in certain cases, or they have the option of moving forward with a clear and objective lane. Very good.

Okay. Is there anything else?

No. So I support closed public hearing and proceeding deliberations, knowing that we had a good work session on this topic and the package is complete in the agenda. Okay.

Yeah, we need to first open the hearing and see if there's anybody who wants to make a comment.

Yeah, we should double check to just make sure, you know, nobody's indicated interest in this item so far, but let's just double check to, yeah, we'll open the hearing now and provide opportunity for anyone in the room to provide input on this item. Okay. Seeing none, Eric, are there any hands raised online for this hearing on clear and objective housing text amendments, site plan, conditional uses, and additional sections? Seeing none, we can now close the public hearing. And would you like...

Same comment. I mean, I'll just... Half a step ahead. That's fine.

Yeah. Would you like to make the motion now?

So, yeah, I mean, if we're ready, if there's no other deliberations, let's see here. Yeah, so I guess we're just moving the ordinance number 2026-012 by title only at this point. First reading, is that what we're doing? Sure.

Okay, I'll second the motion. I'd like to do.

It's been moved and seconded. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Commissioner DeBone?

Yes.

Commissioner Adair? Yes. And Chair votes yes. So do we do the first reading by title only? Okay. Okay. So first reading by title only, an ordinance amending, or sorry, before the Board of County Commissioners of Deschutes County, Oregon, an ordinance amending Deschutes County Code Title 18 Zoning Ordinance, Title 19 Bend Urban Growth Boundary Zoning Ordinance, and Title 22 Development Procedures Ordinance to incorporate clear and objective housing standards in compliance with state law. Ordinance number 2026-012.

Thank you very much, commissioners. I'll be back in two weeks for a second reading. Thank you, Kyle.

Thank you, Kyle.

Okay. At this time, are there any other items?

Tomorrow morning's core three board meeting. So executive council meeting for Central Oregon ready response and resilient. It's going to be passing the budget. We're working towards getting close to implementing and we did a at the board here we already did that agreement with COIC. So the Deschutes County was still hold the title for that land. COIC is going to be authorized to implement construction phases here later this year. So tomorrow's passing that budget which will authorized those dollars to be spent for fencing and the initial phase.

Very good. Okay. Any additional other items?

Oh, I believe that Commissioner Chang and I were invited to an energy meeting presentation this morning that goes through maybe 1230 at McMinn events. So I said we might be able to get down there.

It's true, yeah, by New Sun Energy. That's starting at 10 a.m. And, yeah, we do have a couple of executive sessions, but any additional other items? Seeing none, we can now proceed to executive session. Thanks, everyone, for joining us today.

The Deschutes County Board of Commissioners will now convene an executive session pursuant to ORS 192.660. The specific authorization for this executive session is ORS 192.660-2E and H, which allows the board to meet in order to discuss real property negotiations and litigation. Designated staff and the media are allowed to remain during the executive session. However, the media may only report that the board met in executive session and the identified basis for meeting in executive session Recording devices are not permitted. No final decisions will be made and at the conclusion we open the doors and invite the audience back to the meeting. I will note that the agenda did list two additional items on the agenda relating to labor negotiations and those matters will not be discussed during the executive session.

All right, we are returning from our executive session deliberations, and we will direct staff on these couple of items to proceed as discussed. Thank you. Meeting adjourned.