September 2023
CITY MANAGER’S NEWSLETTER
SEPTEMBER 2023
Changes in the Police Department . The highest priority in every survey of Bandon residents has always been public safety. So this year’s budget added a 7th officer, Damon Price, to our police force. Damon is a veteran and joined the force in April. A seventh officer helps maintain full-time coverage in the event another officer is out for an extended period of time.
The City was able to expand the police force because lodging tax revenues to the general fund have increased for the past several years. As noted in previous newsletters, Bandon’s property tax rate is among the lowest in the state, and we could not fund a police force or maintain parks and buildings, without additional sources of revenue. Like everything else, hotels and motels have pluses and minuses. But we should keep in mind that lodging taxes now fund the majority of City services. (Other than utilities.)
After 26 years of dedicated service, Larry Lynch has retired from the Bandon Police Department. Sergeant Lynch or "Sarge", as he will probably always be known, was sworn in as a police officer in November of 1997. While serving the citizens of Bandon and Coos County, Lynch had many responsibilities including 17 years as a Patrol Supervisor, SFST Instructor, Field Training Officer, K9 Handler, and Evidence Technician. Lynch also contributed to the Narcotics Team, Coos County Homicide Team, and the Crash Team. We all wish him the best.
Proposals have come in for the Central Site, a joint housing project sponsored by the City and the Bandon School District. The sponsors received 8 proposals from developers interested in providing workforce housing on public property across from the high school near the softball fields. A committee is reviewing proposals now and will recommend a developer to the School Board and City Council in September. We anticipate that, other than the property, there will be minimal taxpayer investment in the project.
It is no secret that housing is out of reach for many in Bandon, even for people with good jobs. The School District loses qualified applicants all the time because of a lack of affordable housing, and many of our police officers can’t afford to live here. We recently had an experienced officer go to work for North Bend, in part because his growing family could not afford to live in Bandon.
Please clean up after your dogs. Sorry to have to bring this up, but we are getting complaints in some neighborhoods.
Water system update. We are making adjustments to cope with price increases (one might say price gouging) on the backup clarifier project at the water plant. We are likely going to epoxy coat the existing tank and update the mechanical aspects, rather than build a new tank. This will not make the backup clarifier seismic-safe, but changes in building codes and rising prices make the project unfeasible at this time.
We are continuing to work on the groundwater project, and are scheduling a pre-application conference with the state water resources department to talk about water rights issues. The plan would be to transfer a small portion of one of the City’s water rights to the groundwater source.
The off-channel reservoir project remains financially out of reach. Without rate-setting authority, the City cannot take advantage of most state and federal programs. There is a possibility of selling some City property to help fund the project, but it makes sense to see if the groundwater backup project is feasible before looking to build a reservoir that will be expensive to build and operate.
Our most immediate need is to dredge out the existing impoundment at Ferry Creek. It was last dredged in the early 1990s and has silted in over the last couple of years. It holds a few days’ worth of water when it is dredged out. More importantly, it helps operationally, as we can use it to pump a higher volume of water for a shorter period of time. Our engineers are meeting this week with a contractor to discuss the most cost-effective way to do the project.
Jetty Pathway. After a slight redesign and re-bid, the City awarded the bid for the eastern end of the jetty pathway. It will run from Edgewater’s Restaurant around the corner to Jetty Road. The project is partially funded by a grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Sprague Theater bids go out. Bids for the Sprague Theater siding project went out in August. We anticipate that the new approach will save around $300,000 in costs.
The next yard debris pickup is the week of October 2nd.
- One pickup load per home
- Please don’t place debris out more than a week before.
- Dates are not more specific because it depends on how much debris there is.
Downtown Streetscape Plan. Thanks to the 70 people who turned out for the open house on August 22nd. There were a lot of good ideas and concerns expressed. The plan is being funded by Urban Renewal District 1 and will help guide public investments in Old Town. This is not a plan intended to sit on a shelf. The team includes a traffic engineer and a civil engineer to make sure that the plan actually works with our infrastructure and traffic patterns. Thus far, it looks like the City can pick up additional parking and have better pedestrian flow.
