A Bend political activist is asking the Deschutes County Circuit Court to force the city of Bend and the Bend Park & Recreation District to open planned closed-door meetings about what to do with Mirror Pond.

Foster Fell, who is the long-term partner of Bend City Councilor Barb Campbell, filed a civil lawsuit late Wednesday against Mayor Casey Roats, Mayor Pro Tem Sally Russell, City Councilors Bruce Abernethy and Justin Livingston and park board members Ted Schoenborn and Brady Fuller. All except for Roats are participating in a joint committee researching methods of paying to dredge Mirror Pond. Campbell is not on the committee.

Mirror Pond Solutions, the private partnership that owns land under Mirror Pond, wants the city, the park district and Pacific Power to help foot the $6.7 million bill to remove the equivalent of 900,000 full wheelbarrows of silt from the pond.

Initial discussions about how to pay for the project are being held in closed meetings, and the city and park board won’t notify the public or the press when these meetings happen.

“This type of closed meeting for this Mirror Pond process is entirely a new development,” Fell said. “It’s such a dangerous precedent to suddenly start shutting out the public and the press.”

The group had one closed-door meeting Wednesday, Assistant City Attorney Ian Leitheiser wrote in an email.

Russell said she would participate in no more than two meetings.

Oregon’s public meetings law requires that governing bodies, like the Bend City Council and the Bend Park & Recreation District, make their decisions in open meetings that the public knows about in advance. State law extends the definition of governing body to include committees and subcommittees that make recommendations on policy or administrative decisions.

City legal staff maintain that the Mirror Pond work group isn’t subject to public meetings law because the members only plan to gather information, not deliberate or make recommendations and because it doesn’t contain a quorum of either the City Council or the park board.

Leitheiser said recommendations and decisions would be made by the full City Council, a subcommittee or an advisory committee.

Discussion and decisions would be made during public meetings. City Manager Eric King will share all information with the City Council, too, he said.

Fell argues that the Mirror Pond group is a governing body and therefore subject to public meetings law because it will come up with funding options, though not necessarily recommendations.

He cited an email he received from Abernethy and comments Russell made during a June 20 city meeting, both of which referred to options for funding.

“It’s probably very likely that one of these options being presented is the one that will finally be adopted,” Fell said.

His complaint cites concerns about what information the committee will receive. Consultants for Mirror Pond Solutions and ecologists who oppose the dredging have shared dueling theories about what will happen if the pond is dredged or left alone, each saying that their preferred alternative would result in better habitats for aquatic animals.

Park district spokeswoman Julie Brown said the district would review the filing and consult with legal counsel, but it otherwise couldn’t comment on Thursday.

— Reporter: 541-633-2160; jshumway@bendbulletin.com