Editorial: How to become a Bend City Councilor without being elected

Who councilors pick to fill the position probably matters more than how they do it. But how it’s done is not fixed. The city charter dictates certain steps. The city charter can be changed. The council rules dictate certain steps. The council rules can be changed.

The charter says the council has 30 days to fill a vacancy. The rules say how the position will be filled.

Basically elected councilors get to pick who they get to serve with to fill a position. Only if they can’t decide, do voters get to vote on who represents them.

The city will advertise the position. In fact, there’s already an application form online if you are interested.

It asks some questions to verify that an individual is qualified to serve — registered to vote in Oregon and would have resided in the city for the 12 months before the appointment.

The form asks for availability to attend council meetings and council committees. It asks applicants to describe how they have worked with communities with diverse experiences. It asks what skills and experiences an applicant can bring to the job, including professional background. It asks about volunteer experiences and to include a cover letter and resume.

All candidates will be interviewed in public meetings and asked the same basic questions.

Councilors then vote. They don’t call it ranked-choice voting, but they do use an iteration of ranked-choice voting. Councilors each vote for their first, second and third preferences. If one candidate wins a majority of the first choice, he or she wins. If not, another vote is held on the three top vote getters. If you really want all the details, you can check it out here: tinyurl.com/Bendrules on Page 32.

If the council is not able to reach a decision in 30 days, voters get to decide at the next available election. Which in our view, is truly the ideal way to pick someone to represent the city of Bend for the next two years.

We know we have made a similar point not so very long ago. But voters elect representatives to make policy decisions. In Bend where experience suggests there will be more vacancies, voters don’t get to choose who represents them for substantial time periods.

In any case, if you are interested, we hope you apply. There is more information here: tinyurl.com/Bendvacancy. And it would be smart to have a discussion with City Manager Eric King or other councilors if you can, so you can better understand what it would mean.