The Bend Metropolitan Planning Organization (Bend MPO) policy board on a unanimous vote approved proposed changes to its bylaws as amended and directed staff to initiate a 30‑day member review process.

The board’s action followed extended discussion of two sets of bylaws: revisions to the technical advisory committee (TAC) bylaws and more substantive amendments to the policy board bylaws. The changes address membership language, voting and quorum rules, the role of the MPO manager and the process for amending TAC bylaws.

Tyler Deakey, Bend MPO staff, opened the discussion on the TAC bylaws and said the committee was recommending several modest edits, including updating repeatedly used terms: “we're changing the word citizen to so citizen members are changing it to community members to be more inclusive.” Deakey also described a proposal to change Central Oregon Community College’s seat to nonvoting because COCC has not provided a representative in the last year and the assigned member indicated they preferred nonvoting status.

Board members debated the TAC amendment process and agreed staff should rewrite the text so the TAC reviews proposed changes and makes recommendations to the policy board, which would have final approval. Several board members asked that the revised language include a clear decision rule for TAC recommendations; the board settled on eliminating a redundant paragraph and making TAC recommendations by majority vote.

On policy board bylaws, staff proposed adding Cascade East Transit (CET) as a voting member and reducing the number of City of Bend seats so each member would carry one vote. The board discussed and agreed to several related items: whether policy board actions should require a simple majority or a supermajority; what constitutes quorum; and whether the chair and vice chair must be elected officials. The board resolved to use a simple majority for most actions, and to revise quorum language so a meeting may be held with three of five voting members present (3‑of‑5 quorum). Members also agreed to add a sentence clarifying that chair and vice‑chair shall be elected members of the policy board.

Board members discussed whether references to Robert’s Rules of Order should remain in the bylaws; several said the MPO should instead follow Oregon public meeting law and adopt separate operating rules later. On evaluation of the MPO manager, members agreed it was appropriate to provide the policy board an opportunity to give input and that an executive session could be used for personnel discussion, but that the board would confirm legal wording with counsel.

After deliberation, Councilor Mike Riley moved “approval of the bylaws as amended, and directing staff to initiate the member input process.” The motion was seconded by Omar Ahmed. The motion passed unanimously; staff were directed to begin the member review process and return with final language for adoption after the review period.

The board also directed staff to present the proposed TAC bylaw changes to the TAC at its next meeting and to return to the policy board next month with the results of that consultation.

The board’s discussion and the vote mean the policy board will begin a formal 30‑day review of the amended bylaws with member entities and return to consider final adoption after that review.