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Deschutes County to assign district seat numbers before public hearings; citizen warns precinct shifts could move neighborhoods between districts
Summary
Commissioners agreed to assign seat numbers for Map C before Jan. 20 public hearings and to use a third‑party bylaw/random selection process at their Jan. 15 retreat; a public commenter warned precinct boundary adjustments could shift the Coneflower neighborhood from District C to District B or create a split precinct.
Pete Shepherd (identified by the chair as the person with the blue‑sheet public comment) told the board that Map C’s precinct alignments raise a risk: if a county clerk adjusts precinct lines under the statute cited in the meeting record, the Coneflower neighborhood could be administratively moved from Precinct 2/District C into Precinct 25/District B, either creating a split precinct or transferring all residents and an incumbent commissioner into a different district.
Chair Chang and other commissioners said they wanted district seat numbers assigned before the Jan. 20 public hearings so incumbents and residents know which seat geography will be associated with each map designation. Commissioners noted the timing could affect an incumbent’s ability to run for reelection in 2028 if seat numbering and election cycles do not align with the commissioner’s residence.
Jim Patterson, the county’s strategic initiatives manager, said staff had publicly noticed two hearings for Jan. 20 (evening) and Jan. 21 (morning) and described a proposal that the clerk’s office run a 'bylaw' or random selection process to assign seat numbers. The board agreed to schedule that assignment at its Jan. 15 retreat at the Bend Parks and Recreation office and to use a third‑party selection process; commissioners preferred inviting college students (COCC or OSU‑Cascades) or another neutral body to conduct the selection.
Chair Chang said the county will seek to post a retreat agenda in advance and that staff will reach out to college contacts to nominate students to participate in the selection process. Commissioners emphasized the desire for a fair, transparent assignment process and for notifying the public in advance of how seat numbers will be assigned.
The board also adopted small procedural changes for public comment moving forward: public hearing items will be reserved for the hearing itself, while non‑hearing items can be addressed during the initial citizen input period at the start of meetings.
