The Deschutes County administration building. 

Half of Deschutes County residents live in Bend. Census data from 2022 showed roughly 206,000 people call the county home and 103,000 of them live in Bend city limits.

It’s perhaps surprising then that only one Deschutes County Commissioner — Phil Chang — lives in the political, economic and population center of the county.

Patti Adair is from Sisters (population 3,000) and Tony DeBone lives in La Pine (2,500).

Commissioners Adair and DeBone often bring their rural perspectives to the downtown Bend halls of power where the commission meets, raising a voice that needs to be heard there. After all, many residents live in Bend, but at roughly 33 square miles in size, it makes up only 1 percent of the 3,017 square miles of land that county commissioners are responsible for.

A question on the November ballot could fundamentally change the shape and size of the county commission. If passed, the measure would expand the board from three at-large seats to five.

Those commissioners could be from anywhere in the county — from Sisters or from Brothers.

For now, all the seats will remain “at large,” though that could change via a future ballot measure that could require some commissioners be representatives of different parts of the county.

Perhaps voters from places like Sisters and La Pine are apt to oppose the November measure, preferring to hold on to their current, majority voice on the commission.

But the demographics of a fast-changing county almost guarantee that majority voice won’t last long. Bend will continue to grow, in voters, influence and as the residence of most (if not all) future commissioners.

La Pine sure is growing fast, but candidates from there may soon find themselves at a severe disadvantage to candidates able to tap into the voting power of a county seat quickly becoming an urban center.

We know that commissioners represent the entire county and must court voters from Sunriver to Eagle Crest. But it’s a plain fact: Smart candidates would create their constituencies where the votes are. And they would of course make sure the majority of voters are happy enough with their performance to send them back for another term.

There are plenty of reasons to support or oppose the five-person commission proposal. The quality of government is mostly about the quality of the people in the seats rather than how many seats there are.

But if we value geographic diversity on our board, Deschutes County voters should consider the long term rather than the current state of play.