North Bend City Council recognizes Waddington for 25 years of service

Next, they received the Annual Chamber of Commerce Report from the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce’s Ron Kutch. Kutch gave an update on the chamber’s activities from August to December 2022. Kutch gave updates on chamber events, committees, and marketing and communications.

Chamber President Stacy Dewater’s theme for the coming year is “Together, we create opportunity.”

Following the report, the council discussed their 2023 to 2025 council goal update. The city has finalized the list of goals for the council, but prioritizing these goals is still being finished by the councilors.

The regular session began after the executive session with Mayor Engelke proclaiming “Brain Injury Awareness Month” in the City of North Bend. This was done in the presence of Bittin Duggan, who worked to secure this proclamation.  

City Administrator David Milliron gave an update that the Coos County Board of Commissioners declared a state of emergency on March 7. According to Milliron, this is the first step in securing funding from the state to address the issue of homelessness. Milliron gave details on a homeless coordination force, a task force representing Coos Bay, North Bend, and Coos County. There is $1 million attached to the task force, according to Milliron, and the county has hired Andrew Brainard as the point of contact for the task force.

Milliron then gave an update on the “Sip and Stroll” event on St. Paddy’s day. The next day on March 18, the city will host the St. Paddy’s block party, featuring the dance band Captain Blue. The event will be from 3-6, and there will be food trucks from 11-7 local performers from 12-2, and this will be followed by a “Clover Pub Crawl.”

Milliron detailed the turnout for the Townhall held Monday, March 6. Milliron emphasized the importance of crafting an ordinance before June 1. This was the final item in Milliron’s report.

Council Comments

During council comment following the City Administrator’s report, Councilor Eric Gleason announced that the regular business meeting on March 21 would be his last as a council member and that he will resign after that. Gleason said he and his family will be moving away from the area.  

“We are moving out of the area, which is bittersweet for me because I love my community, and have strived to serve my community in any possible way I can,” Gleason said.

Many of the councilors gave their thoughts on Monday’s Town Hall meeting results. There were just over 300 participants, according to councilors and staff. While the council still wants to get more of the community involved in the discussion, they did feel that progress is being made regarding a homeless ordinance.

Next, City Attorney Mark Wolf updated the council with a new version of the performance evaluation criteria form. Wolf made some changes to scoring for different categories and suggested Monday, March 13, as the return date for the councilors’ evaluation forms. Councilor Gleason motioned for the City Administrator 2023 Performance Evaluation to be returned by March 13 and for the council to offer former councilors Richardson and Slater the opportunity to make an evaluation as well. This motion was approved unanimously.