Understanding the City Budget with Finance Director Janette Townsend

Recently, many of you received a letter that included information about the City's Flammable Vegetation Code and best practices to help protect your home from wildfire risk.​ In the latest episode of "Let's Talk Bend", we talk to a community member about their perspective and questions they have about the letter. ​ You'll also hear from our Director of Risk and Emergency Management Carrie Karl, Fire Inspector Melissa Steele and Code Enforcement Officer Julie Craig to explain the purpose of the letter and answer those common questions from the community.​

The City of Bend podcast is back with a brand-new name: Let's Talk Bend! Let's Talk Bend dives deep into local issues through conversations with City of Bend staff, stakeholders and community partners to understand the diverse perspectives that make up our vibrant community. In the first episode of Let's Talk Bend, we sit down with the 2025 Bend City Council to learn more about them, and what they are focusing on for the year ahead.

Our very first episode of the Inside Bend Podcast came out three years ago! To celebrate three years of Inside Bend, we wanted to take a trip back to one of our past podcasts which covers a topic that is still just as important today: wildfire. This episode originally aired back in May of 2022 when we spoke to Bend Fire and Rescue Chief Todd Riley about wildfire safety and what you can do to help protect your home and your community from the threat of wildfire.

This month on the Inside Bend Podcast we are diving into the world of development with Chief Operations Officer Russ Grayson to learn more about System Development Charges. These are the fees that are charged when development happens to help pay for the impacts of expanding, operating and maintaining vital core services such as sewer, water and roadways.

We chat with Senior Management Analyst Cassie Lacy who explains more about the Community Climate Action Plan. This is a set of strategies that were adopted by the City Council in 2019 to guide the City and the community to work together on reducing fossil fuel use. In this episode, you’ll learn what the Community Climate Action Plan is, how the strategies are being deployed and how the success of the program is being tracked.

Water plays a big role in our lives, but exactly how does that safe and reliable drinking water make its way to your faucet? That’s what we cover in this month’s edition of the Inside Bend podcast. We spoke with Water Operations Manager Rod Mingus to learn more about our complex water system and understand why it’s so important that we conserve this precious resource.

February is Heart Health Month, so we sat down with EMS Training Captain Petar Hossick to learn more about how Bend Fire and Rescue is working hard to respond to community members experiencing a cardiac event as quickly and efficiently as possible. He also offers some great tips on how you can help save a life!

This month on the Inside Bend Podcast, we want to discuss the Transportation Fee. Joining us is Sarah Hutson who is the project manager of the Transportation Fee. Our transportation system is a public investment that needs regular maintenance to ensure mobility, public safety, economic activity and quality of life. On this episode, you learn more about how the Transportation Fee came to be, what it will pay for and why it’s important that we implement it to sustain and improve our level of service for Bend Streets.

Colder temperatures have arrived and it’s feeling more and more like winter! Are you ready for the next time it snows? We have you covered with the latest episode of Inside Bend where we chat with Transportation and Mobility Director David Abbas to learn more about how streets crews are preparing for winter and what you can do to be prepared.

What does Accessibility mean to you? This month on the Inside Bend Podcast we dive into that question with our Accessibility and Equity Manager Cassandra Kehoe. She explains what her role is and how she’s working to make sure everyone in the community has access to the resources and information they need.