Elected leaders from the city of Bend and Deschutes County will come together Monday to discuss two of the biggest issues affecting Central Oregon: homeless camps and wildfire.

The county’s downtown facilities plan and solid waste agreements are also on the agenda for a joint meeting between the Bend City Council and Deschutes County Commission at 2:30 p.m. on Monday in the Bend City Council Chambers.

Last time the two bodies met in September, they reached an agreement on how to deal with homeless encampments at Juniper Ridge, a swath of city and county-owned land just north of the Bend city limits. Though the deal nearly fell through about a month later, the city and county have now designated a “temporary safe stay area” near U.S. Highway 97 and sent funding to service providers to increase outreach in preparation to close all but 40 acres of the land to camping.

Staff with the city of Bend and Deschutes County will provide updates on efforts to help people move out of the camps and timelines for cleanup and removal of camps. Erik Kropp, deputy county administrator, said there likely won’t be any decisions made.

The city and county will also discuss updates to the intergovernmental agreement on the safe stay area. The agreement states that the entire area will be closed to camping by the end of 2026.

Coordinating on reducing wildfire risk

As the summer season approaches, Bend and Deschutes County will look to coordinate on making sure their communities are prepared for wildfires.

Catastrophic January wildfires in Los Angeles piqued public fears over how a similar event would play out in Central Oregon. In Bend, people flooded city offices with calls for fire inspection. Meanwhile, rural Deschutes County residents pushed back against the rollout of a statewide hazard map meant to guide new wildfire codes. That map is now being scrapped by the state.

Emergency management staff with the city and county will present on wildfire communication efforts and coordinated alert systems. Staff will also highlight future actions in the coming year, including fuels reduction efforts and evacuation planning.