On a recent afternoon, Mike Lovely had fifth-wheel trailers on the mind.

Specifically, one that a resident near his home in Romaine Village appeared to have made permanent by installing sheets of particle board around the bottom of all sides.

He cruised slowly down Chuckanut Drive in his orange Ford Econoline 250 van, the back covered in bumper stickers, pulling up across the street from the home with the newly installed trailer next to it.

He pulled out a clipboard with blank code-violation complaint forms, printed from the city of Bend’s Web site. Filling in the property owner’s name and address using printed-out property records, Lovely noted the specifics of the violation before moving on.

“I send it to Code Enforcement, and they come out and check it,” Lovely said. “I don’t even go on the property.”

A retired U.S. Forest Service log scaler who spent decades calculating timber hauls from forests, Lovely has made local politics his obsession.

“I would characterize Mike as sort of the ultimate gadfly,” Bend Mayor Bruce Abernethy said with a smile.

“And that’s said with a positive connotation.”

Lovely sits in the back of the room at nearly every Bend City Council meeting and work session. And Bend Metro Park and Recreation District meetings. And Bend Planning Commission meetings. And he’s the chairman of the Southwest Bend Neighborhood Association, giving the City Council regular updates on activities in that part of the city.

“The hat that gives him more credibility is with the neighborhood association,” Abernethy said. “That’s where we give his words more weight.”

Lovely, 69, is always on the lookout for code violations.

“We can all be thankful for the fact he’s out patrolling,” said Bill Friday, a member of the Southwest Bend Neighborhood Association and friend of Lovely’s who rode along with Lovely on the latest batch of code violations. While Lovely sometimes only fills out a handful of forms, several months ago he turned in 29 at once to the city.

“If there’s something that’s unsafe or unsanitary, then yeah, we need to know about it,” Building Manager Robert Mathias said. “I do appreciate people who are vigilant in wanting the same thing.”

While the city can’t track exactly how many complaint forms it receives from residents, Mathias said he often sends city workers out in response to look into problems.

At City Council meetings, Lovely props his left leg up on a small stool in front of his chair and keeps notepad, pen, agenda and other related documents nearby.

He takes notes on just about every topic that comes up, even complicated land use appeals and mundane approvals. He speaks at many meetings, giving the council brief remarks on his neighborhood association, storm water fees, speeding cars and other issues. While it’s not uncommon for many residents to talk past the three-minute limit for comments, Lovely’s observations almost always come in under that time.

Though he signed up to speak at Monday night’s meeting, he decided not to when Abernethy called his name.

“I will relinquish my time and trade it for a couple of brownie points,” Lovely said, eliciting chuckles in response from several councilors.

Tim Rausch, owner of High Cascade Printing in Bend, has known Lovely for about 20 years, ever since he worked for Rausch.

“Before he starts engaging dialogue with somebody about something, he takes time to learn about it first,” Rausch said.

Sitting inside Strictly Organic Coffee Company recently with his color-coded day planner spread in front of him and wearing his usual T-shirt and shorts, Lovely jumps from one topic to another.

Sewers, underpasses, Juniper Ridge, the Tower Theatre, City Councils past and present, open burning, public transit, population estimates — Lovely has an opinion on all of them, some positive, many others negative.

Lovely’s background

Lovely was born in Long Beach, Calif. His parents, Howard and Helen, moved the family to Weaverville, a small town about 30 miles west of Redding, in 1946. Howard was a maintenance supervisor at Trinity General Hospital, while Helen worked for the school district’s superintendent.

Lovely is the oldest of three brothers. His middle brother, Patrick, was killed in a motorcycle crash in South Africa in 1986. His youngest brother, Mo, 65, still lives in Weaverville.

Lovely spent his 25-year career with the Forest Service, first in Weaverville and then in Central Oregon, calculating the amount of timber that could be harvested from forests. He also worked in fire camps, monitored tree-planting projects and worked on surveying and marking section corners.

“I can happily say that I looked forward to going to work for 30 years,” Lovely said. “I did a damn good job, and no one could do it better than me.”

He retired in 1985 when the Forest Service eliminated his job, along with many others. For about two years in the late 1980s, he drove taxis in Bend, but soon grew tired of the constant stream of drunks and smokers passing through his car.

After that, he spent about six years operating an offset printing press for High Cascade Printing.

“When he first came to work, he didn’t run a press, he had never run one before,” Rausch said. “He learned how to do it and everything.”

With more free time after retirement, Lovely started becoming involved in local politics.

“When I worked for the Forest Service, you couldn’t get involved in politics,” he said.

Lovely lost a bid for Deschutes County commissioner in 2002 to incumbent Tom DeWolf. Earlier this year, he applied for Councilor John Hummel’s vacant seat, but was dropped early in the selection process.

But those losses do not deter him.

“I thought, maybe I can be more effective from the outside looking in,” he said.

Pulling a scrap of paper from his canvas bag, Lovely lists off more than a dozen committees and organizations of which he’s a member.

“It’s not going to be banner headlines,” Lovely said of his involvement. “I think they’re going to have some impact.”

‘He really cares’

With involvement in so many committees and attendance at so many public meetings, Lovely has an opinion on nearly everything in the region.

He questions the city’s direction on Juniper Ridge, the 1,500-acre mixed-use project envisioned on the north edge of the city. He thinks the city’s ArtMatch program, which dedicates a portion of the cost of constructing city buildings to public art, should be somehow left to the private sector.

“He really cares about his community and tries to point out things that would make our community better,” Mathias said.

Lovely is happy to see the City Council close to banning open burning inside city limits, and he was the only resident to speak in favor of the city when the local builders’ association appealed building fee hikes this summer.

Mathias said he appreciated Lovely’s testimony in favor of the city on that issue.

“There are times I have good things to say about the city,” Lovely said.

Like many Bend residents, he is frustrated by perennial flooding of the city’s underpasses and by the newly instated storm water fee.

“I didn’t pay my storm water fee for three months, and then they started charging me interest,” he said.

Lovely said many of his gripes relate to the city’s sluggishness in responding to growth.

“We have to be thinking 50 years down the road for infrastructure improvements and maintenance,” he said. But he acknowledged that often it is difficult to convince people and governments to spend money on projects when there isn’t yet an immediate need for them.

Lovely has watched entire City Councils come and go over the years, and alliances within each council shift time and again.

“Right now I think we’ve got one of the better councils that we’ve had for a long time,” Lovely said.

Mike Lovely’s activities

Mike Lovely’s activities

Chairman, Southwest Bend Neighborhood Association

Chairman, Central Oregon chapter of National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association.

Deschutes Democrats

Sagebrush Stonewall Caucus, a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender arm of the state Democratic Party

Central Oregon Coalition for Access

All Peoples’ United Church of Christ

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays

Human Dignity Coalition

Deschutes County Citizens Advisory Board

Metropolitan Planning Organization

U.S. Highway 97 Bend North Corridor Steering Team

Bend Water and Sewer rate study

Residential Lands Study citizen advisory committee

• Chairman, Southwest Bend Neighborhood Association

• Chairman, Central Oregon chapter of National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association

• Deschutes Democrats

• Sagebrush Stonewall Caucus, a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender arm of the state Democratic Party

• Central Oregon Coalition for Access

• All Peoples’ United Church of Christ

• Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays

• Human Dignity Coalition

• Deschutes County Citizens Advisory Board

• Metropolitan Planning Organization

• U.S. Highway 97 Bend North Corridor Steering Team

• Bend Water and Sewer rate study

• Residential Lands Study citizen advisory committee