The Bulletin: Who is Bend's new mayor? Get to know Melanie Kebler

Anna Kaminski, The Bulletin

The Bend City Council will swear in a new mayor and two new councilors Wednesday, ushering in what Mayor-elect Melanie Kebler hopes will be an era of progress.

Kebler, 40, who has been on the Bend City Council since 2020, is a crime victims’ rights attorney and a longtime Bend resident. She lives in Bend with her husband, who is a software developer, and their 5-year-old daughter.

She grew up in Bend, attending Bend High School and leaving briefly for college in Michigan and a law degree in Portland. Kebler returned in 2018 to a town experiencing extreme growth.

Her 2022 campaign and her history on the City Council have focused on safe and equitable communities, climate change, housing and houselessness, transportation and economic development.

As mayor, Kebler wants to foster a culture of trying new things — see what works and what doesn’t — and do things differently than previous leaders, she said

“It’s OK to do that. Not every decision is set in stone. We can revise, and we should be all the time looking at what we’re doing and seeing how we’re going to make it better,” she said.

Kebler announced her candidacy for mayor earlier this year once it became apparent that former Mayor Sally Russell wasn’t running again. Russell resigned in May.

During her 2022 general election campaign, Kebler ran on largely grassroots support with comparably small monetary donations from friends, local community members and union groups. She earned over 55% of the vote in November, defeating her opponent, Chris Piper, a former city councilor who was backed by real estate and business dollars.

Before she was elected to the council in 2020, she characterized Bend as being at a “crossroads.”

“Bend stands today at a major crossroads,” Kebler wrote in an October 2020 column in The Bulletin. “Our city faces a period of crucial economic recovery, an intense climate crisis, and widespread calls for racial and social justice.”

In the two years since, her values have remained the same, Kebler said, but the path has become slightly more clear, especially after the November election this year. Voters validated the direction the City Council was heading, Kebler said.

But, at the same time, along with opportunities have come challenges, Kebler said. She anticipates the next few years will be defined by long-term planning decisions on land use, economic opportunity and housing needs.

“It really matters who’s in charge when those are coming up to council,” Kebler said.

In his 15 years as city manager of Bend, Eric King has seen six mayors take the helm.

Kebler, King said, is very forward-thinking, and she prioritizes engagement and public understanding.

She is able to dig deeply into the details of issues, but she doesn’t get stuck in those details, he said

“She can dive down deep but really get a pretty broad view of things, and think in a pretty strategic way,” King said.

In 2022, Kebler and the rest of the council helped pass ordinances to create rules for people experiencing homelessness who shelter on public property, approved numerous residential and commercial developments and aimed to improve transportation infrastructure. She also was an outspoken proponent of Measure 114 and gun safety in the wake of the fatal shooting at a Bend Safeway store in August.

By the time she reaches the end of her term as mayor, Kebler said, most of all, she hopes to position Bend in the direction of progress.

“I think that’s the biggest thing is that progress has been made. We didn’t just maintain a status quo. We maintained all the things we did well and pushed even further to make it better for the future,” Kebler said.

At the City Council meeting Wednesday, Kebler and newly-elected Councilors Ariel Méndez and Mike Riley will be sworn in. A new mayor pro-tem will be selected, and Kebler’s vacant council seat will be officially declared.

Thus far, nine people have applied for the vacant council seat. The deadline to apply is 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 6.

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