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Bend housing advisory committee selects Costco snacks for series, leaves room for one chocolate-fountain session
Summary
At its initial meeting the Bend Housing Advisory Committee approved a plan to provide bulk snacks from Costco across the meeting series, with staff instructed to prioritize dietary accommodations and reserve budget to allow a single chocolate-fountain event if feasible.
The Bend Housing Advisory Committee voted at its first meeting to purchase bulk snacks from Costco for the committee’s meeting series, with a possible single chocolate-fountain session funded from the same $300 series budget.
Melissa Kamania, the city’s affordable housing coordinator, told the committee the total budget for snacks across the series is $300 and that staff estimates a Costco selection would cost about $30 per session while the peanut-butter-and-jelly option would cost about $20 per session. “The budget for the whole session is for the entire series, is $300. We estimate this will be $20 a session or it'll cost you a 120 total,” Kamania said during her presentation of options.
Committee members discussed alternatives including peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, trending/TikTok foods, foraged local items, a taco truck and a chocolate fountain. After conversation on dietary restrictions and staff capacity, members coalesced around Costco bulk snacks as a low-cost, low-staff-burden option and included flexibility to provide coffee. A motion to approve Costco snacks with the possibility of a chocolate-fountain session later in the series was moved and then amended on the floor to explicitly prioritize accommodating members’ dietary restrictions and sensitivities. The motion was adopted by consensus; no formal roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.
Why it matters: the committee clarified logistical and budget expectations for its meeting series and placed dietary accommodations on the record. Staff and the facilitator framed the snack selection exercise as illustrative of how the committee will handle trade-offs and decisions as a body during the mandate period.
Meeting detail and follow-up: staff will purchase snacks within the $300 series budget, prioritize options that meet declared dietary restrictions, and aim to provide coffee when feasible. Committee members who wish to receive the meeting stipend were asked to complete the city form provided at the meeting.
Clarifying points from the meeting record: - Series budget: $300 total for all sessions (stated by staff). - Estimated per-session cost: staff estimated about $20 per session for PB&J and about $30 per session for Costco bulk snacks; a taco truck or trending foods could exhaust the budget in a single meeting, and the chocolate fountain would be over budget and require more staff time. - Number of planned sessions referenced: six meetings in the series (mentioned during discussion).
The committee moved on to substantive agenda items after confirming the snack plan; staff will carry out the purchases and incorporate stated accommodations into procurement choices.
