Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler speaks to the crowd gathered at Drake Park in Bend, Ore., in this 2022 file photo.
Bradley W. Parks / OPB
The Bend City Council will have some different faces after two new members and a mayor took the oath of office on Wednesday.
Melanie Kebler will now serve as mayor, while Ariel Mendez and Mike Riley will join the council. Gena Goodman-Campbell, Stephen Sehgal and Mo Mitchell did not run for reelection.
Kebler told the audience in the packed council chambers that Bend has rapidly changed in recent decades. She credited the council’s efforts to create shelters and weather challenges, like the COVID-19 pandemic and a deadly shooting at a grocery store in August.
“I know that Bend isn’t the same town that I grew up in — we’ve changed,” Kebler said. “Bend has never been afraid to innovate and adapt.”
Kebler, Mendez and Riley were all part of a progressive slate of candidates that swept local elections in November. They faced stiff opposition from candidates heavily financed by the local real estate industry. Each of them, however, easily won their race.
The councilors and mayor enter their new positions during a pivotal time for the city. Bend is the second most unaffordable city in Oregon, according to state economist Damon Runberg, leaving many priced out of the rental home-buying markets.
As a result, Central Oregon has also seen an increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness, a problem echoed across the state.
Previous councils have opened shelters, but also recently enacted severe restrictions that limit where and when people can camp outside, a plan heavily criticized by those working with the unhoused. The city has also conducted numerous sweeps of encampments, including one on Hunnell Road planned for March.
The council also underwent turbulence in its ranks last year, following the sudden resignation of then-Mayor Sally Russell, followed by the resignation of Councilor Rita Schenkelberg. Schenkelberg said they had received numerous transphobic and racist comments while in office.
Riley said that he wanted to focus his efforts on addressing Bend’s long-standing affordability crisis, while also preparing the city for the effects of climate change. Mendez ran on a platform of making the city safer for different modes of transportation, including walking and biking.
Kebler vacating her council seat means the council will now have to appoint a replacement.
Those interested in filling the vacant seat have until 5 p.m., Friday to apply. The council will meet on Jan. 9 to select finalists.