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Advisory board approves plan to invite local businesses for monthly "community speaker" sessions
Summary
BDAB agreed to pilot a community speaker series to invite 1–2 businesses per meeting for a 15‑minute presentation and a 15‑minute Q&A focused on three targeted questions to surface policy‑actionable input for city council.
John introduced a pilot "community speaker series" aimed at bringing local business leaders to BDAB meetings to provide targeted input for City Council. "This is really coming back full circle to our conversations in kind of May time frame," he said, explaining the group’s intent to distill business feedback into council‑level recommendations.
Members broadly agreed on a 30‑minute format split into a brief background from the company and focused answers to three questions: barriers to working with the city, what city services have been helpful, and one policy change that would move the needle. Chamber representatives offered to help with outreach and suggested keeping the invites open beyond the Chamber membership to ensure diverse participation. The board directed staff and Chamber partners to draft topics and send invitations for October through December as a proof‑of‑concept phase.
The group listed candidate topics for the first sessions — system development charges, Bend Central District zoning restrictions on auto‑dependent uses, incentives beyond job creation, and workforce/housing pressures — and asked staff to produce briefing packets and three targeted prompts for each invited presenter. Members emphasized that BDAB’s role is to surface actionable recommendations for City Council rather than collect anecdotal one‑off complaints.
