Vol2No1: A More Transparent & Inclusive Ketchum Can Be Ours

We should consider Citizen's Assemblies

From Perry Boyle

Three people control the outcomes in Ketchum. Their actions show that they do not value transparency and inclusiveness in city government. The draft Comprehensive Plan is Exhibit A.

As I have written in previous issues, this draft is a recipe for Aspenization. Given who wrote it, this is not surprising. Check out its acknowledgment page. They are lackeys of the Mayor. I know that sounds confrontational. It is meant to be. In my view, anyone who participated in this Comp Plan process and didn’t advocate much broader input from Ketchum’s residents is complicit.

One of the tragedies of this Comp Plan process is how the Troika of Bradshaw, Breen, and Hamilton has suppressed public input. The Comp Plan is the strategic plan for Ketchum that will govern critical things like land use for the next decade. It is supposed to represent the goals and aspirations of Ketchum locals. In my analysis, it represents the goals and aspirations of Ketchum’s exploiters.

There are more transparent and inclusive ways of running a city. In this issue, guest contributor Elizabeth Corker shares her insights on using Citizens Assemblies, as Deschutes County, OR has done. It is hard to think of more inclusive and transparent processes than CAs.

Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

From Guest Contributor Elizabeth Corker

What I Saw in Bend, Oregon

Guest author’s note: This is a follow-up to a guest piece I wrote in the Ketchum Sun about the emergence of Civic Assemblies worldwide. Since then, a Civic Assembly has taken place in Deschutes County, Oregon, where Bend is located.

I drove to Bend in September 2024 to see for myself. I watched the Assembly in person from the visitors’ gallery.[1] During breaks, I spoke to participants, presenters and some elected officials who were there to observe. I had no idea what to expect and neither did they.

Josh Burgess: Community Builder

Must-see video (one minute): Burgess’ words to Assembly delegates on the last day. Burgess is a founder and Executive Director of Central Oregon Civic Action Project (COCAP), which was a community catalyst for the Deschutes Civic Assembly.

For over 25 years, Josh Burgess served in the US Air Force, including as a Special Operations Advisor. He flew combat support missions, was deployed six times, served in more than 30 countries, and speaks five languages. In Afghanistan, he worked on an anti-corruption initiative developed by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen. He’s seen civic dysfunction at its worst and knows first-hand what happens when regular people don’t have a voice in government power.

Burgess told the Assembly members that he wanted to serve his country differently: by helping everyday people have a “seat at the table” of government. He sees Civic Assemblies as a way to bridge divides by empowering regular people to co-create solutions to community problems.

For over a year, Burgess met with local government and community leaders, whose support was key. He also partnered with Healthy Democracy[2], which has experience helping communities run Civic Assemblies.

Many elected leaders were excited, and some were wary. The first Civic Assembly would have a lot to prove.

From COCAP’s website:

“A seat at the table” for Brenda Hudson and 29 others

This past July, Brenda Hudson, a 55-year-old house cleaner from Bend, Oregon, received a letter. It was an invitation for Ms. Hudson to submit her name to be randomly selected to be a delegate to the first-ever Deschutes County Civic Assembly. (Deschutes County is comprised of Bend, pop. 106,000, and about a dozen smaller communities.)

“When I read it, I teared up,” Ms. Hudson told me. “I felt like my voice mattered.”

Brenda Hudson’s voice not only mattered, it provided valuable community expertise that government officials did not have. (Ms. Hudson’s story and more details about the Assembly can be found here.) The question that had been put before the Deschutes Assembly by elected officials was, “What should our priorities be for building community solutions to prevent and end youth homelessness?” Homelessness, including youth homelessness, is an enormous problem in the greater Bend area.

The Deschutes County Civic Assembly would make history in that region of the country. For the first time, elected leaders across the county were uniting with a message: we want regular people to help us make an important policy decision. They were offering thirty everyday people--chosen randomly like a jury-- “a seat at the table.” The Bend City Council, the Deschutes County Commission and other municipalities in Deschutes County had agreed to hold the Assembly.

The immediate issue was youth homelessness. But other big picture questions that elected officials and other civil servants wanted to answer were these:

· Could randomly-chosen people succeed in creating significant policy recommendations on a complex issue—in just five days over two weekends?

· Could this Civic Assembly begin to create a “virtuous cycle of trust” between government officials and regular citizens?

· Could it bridge divides that existed between people of different economic and political backgrounds by empowering them to co-create solutions to a complex community problem?

Government officials to Assembly delegates: We’ll take these recommendations seriously

“Americans knew that public freedom consisted in having a share in public business, and activities connected with this were not a burden, but gave those who discharged them in public a feeling of happiness they could acquire nowhere else”

--Hannah Arendt

“Civic Assemblies have really amazing power,” Bend City Councilor Anthony Boardman told delegates.

“It’s important that we take your recommendations seriously and give them the attention they deserve, so this isn’t the last Assembly,” he said. “I want this to be] an institution that our community members can look to, trust, and really use in the future to address some of our biggest challenges--because we know this [challenge] will not be the only one.”

Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler also spoke.

“I’m an elected official, I’ve been through a couple of elections,” Kebler said. “[When I] came into office…I heard ‘well, we’ve always done it this way, we’re just going to keep doing it.” That doesn’t fly with me. We need to think about the gaps where we’re missing peoples’ voices.”

Tammy Baney, Executive Director of Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council (COIC) also addressed delegates. COIC is a regional governmental organization that includes one elected official from all cities, towns and County Commissions in three Central Oregon counties including Deschutes. It has a staff of 100 people. Prior to her COIC position, Baney had been a Deschutes County commissioner for 12 years.

“I know elected officials want to do well,” she said. “If you’re an elected official, your role is as a conduit acting on behalf of the entire community. It’s very difficult to do. And having this reversed in a way -- now being able to give that power to you [delegates] and to hear from all of you as to what you feel needs to happen--is an incredible new chapter for us in this community.”

“If you feel like your voice is small, this is your time to shine,” Baney told the delegates.

Deschutes County Commissioner Tony DeBone, who is also on COIC, stated that while the “doors [of the County Commission] are wide open... we don’t have a lot of participation unless it becomes a hot issue and then we fill up the room.”

Panelists provide their first-hand experience

Young adults who had been homeless for significant parts of their lives played a predominant role in the information sessions. In their halting words, they revealed to delegates one thing: the cracks that they had fallen through.

More information came forward from other sources—other young adults who had been homeless, older adults who worked in shelters, schools, government agencies. Research shows that we need to hear something many times, often in different ways and from different people, before we can retain and use that knowledge. Listening takes time. Delegates asked clarifying questions and sifting through information, in light of their own life experiences.

Two ways that Civic Assemblies are different: diversity and deliberation

It’s frustrating for a member of the public to take their precious time to prepare a two- or three-minute comment for a public meeting, show up, read it, and have no system for that input to be received, let alone be part of the deliberation. Focus groups, surveys, public information sessions are other ways that local governments use to get input and build legitimacy around decisions. This would be different in two major ways.

First, diversity. Demographically, Assembly members roughly mirrored the community in terms of a few criteria, which they had privately provided when they accepted the invitation:

· Age range was 16 to 80+.

· About 1/3 were renters, a demographic group that statistically has significantly lower net worth than homeowners and is usually vastly underrepresented in government decision-making.

· About ¼ were Republican,1/4 Democrat and ½ Independent, in line with the political affiliations of Deschutes County.

· Geographic representation within the county was proportionate, in line with Deschutes County’s nearly equal urban-rural population divide.

(For more on how random selection and stratification was done, see footnote[3] at end of this article.^[4]) Delegates were paid $15/hour for their time—like jury service. Childcare and transportation were also covered.

Study after study has shown that diversity and inclusion are critical to making better decisions.

Second, deliberation. Or, as I heard it described by one person in the observers’ gallery, Assembly members learned how “to citizen.” Delegates heard about the importance of listening respectfully yet actively to presenters and fellow delegates. They were encouraged to ask questions. If they wanted to hear more on a subject or thought they weren’t getting the full picture, they could ask for additional information or even speakers. Facilitators ensured that all voices were heard.

Assembly Recommendations

During the Assembly, delegates seemed to be uniting with a sense of urgency about answering one question: “Where are the cracks that are causing this community crisis of youth homelessness—and how can we fill them?” They deliberated in small and large groups, made recommendations, deliberated more, and finally prioritized those recommendations into a list.

Of 55 total recommendations, 22 passed with a super majority vote of 75 percent of delegates.

Here are some:

· Provide programs and support for 18-year-olds aging out of the foster care system. Delegates learned that was one of the main factors that led to young adult homelessness.

· Provide a central hub where homeless youth can access resources.

· Provide a steady budget and staff to the one main homeless shelter, which currently has capacity to serve only 30 unsheltered youth.

· Create another civic assembly in the future, dedicated to the housing affordability crisis. Rationale: The housing affordability crisis is the core of not only youth homelessness, but a host of other issues in the community, and if not addressed, can render all other efforts moot.

· Reform local housing policy to serve local community members and foster sustainable growth for all. Examples: taxes on second or additional properties, tax on non-owner-occupied properties, allow for the creation of tenants' unions, promote rent-to-own programs, restructure incentives to serve residents over developers.

With about ½ hour to go on the last day, the recommendations that received a super majority were printed. Not a word could be changed. Assembly delegates read out the recommendations one by one. You can read the 22 recommendations here.

In just five days, 30 randomly chosen community members had learned how to “citizen,” built trust, heard hours of information from 17 panelists and many others who participated as experts of various sorts in small groups, asked hundreds if not thousands of questions, deliberated on recommendations, and prioritized those recommendations. Now, it was up to elected officials.

Another must-see video (2:00), from end of Assembly: “In Their Own Words.”

What happens now?

The recommendations were presented to the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council (COIC) on November 7. Several Assembly members were in the room watching. Now, elected officials throughout Deschutes County will have to follow through on their written promises to discuss the recommendations publicly.

Delegates are now some of the biggest supporters of Civic Assemblies. As they share their experience, delegates are creating a ripple effect within the community. They are now experts. Many will meet again to follow up on holding elected officials accountable for their promise to take the recommendations seriously.

Not a single delegate disagreed with Recommendation #12, which recommended creating another Civic Assembly to address the local housing affordability crisis. Several stated they wanted to be involved in helping with future Civic Assemblies.

Civic Assemblies are a matter of community priorities. The Deschutes Civic Assembly was a labor-intensive affair: extensive planning, organization, facilitation was involved. It cost around $250,000 and was primarily funded by philanthropic organizations that are providing seed funding for more participatory local community democracy. The goal of COCAP and public officials is to fund future Citizens’ Assemblies through public-private-philanthropic partnerships. If that happens, Deschutes County community members and government staff could learn how to run Civic Assemblies on their own.

After watching the success of the Deschutes Civic Assembly, Tammy Baney, a long-time County Commissioner in Deschutes County and now head of Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, the regional council of governments, said this:

“My hope is that [Civic Assemblies] become standard practice, where you are looking in your mailbox. And you get your letter. And it’s like the golden ticket. And you’re excited because you get to have a voice and you’ve been selected to participate.

The thing that is so encouraging, is that at a time where we are divided, we are far more aligned in the things we value. It really is in coming together as human beings, sharing our story and using our lived experience to help create…the community we want to be living in.”

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[1] All five days were recorded. You can find them here on the YouTube channel of Healthy Democracy. Healthy Democracy also created a 7-minute documentary of the Deschutes Civic Assembly.

[2] Healthy Democracy’s mission is to “build healthy democratic systems through innovative Civic Assemblies that elevate the voices of everyday people in public decision-making.” Program Director Linn Davis was very clear about his role in the Assembly: aside from keeping Assembly members on track with some guiding principles for respectful interaction and providing requested information, he would take direction from the Assembly members themselves.

[3] The Assembly was created and stratified follows. This past summer, 12,750 invitations were sent to random addresses and distributed to unsheltered community members. 120 people responded that they’d be willing to be delegates. From the self-reported profiles of those responders, a computer program called Panelot created 1,000 different groups of thirty people each, which would generally mirror the demographics of Deschutes County. One of these 1,000 stratified groups of 30 people, one was randomly selected at a public event held at the Deschutes Public Library in August 2024. Alternates for potential delegates were also randomly selected in case a delegate did not show up. (Brenda Hudson, mentioned in this article, was initially an alternate.) This is a normal stratification process for most Civic Assemblies worldwide.