BEND, OR -- The Bend City Council is weighing in on the ongoing senate walk out in Salem. Mayor Melanie Kebler drafted a letter on behalf of the council to minority leader and Bend State Senator Tim Knopp.

With the legislature effectively at a stand-still, Kebler says the Council’s legislative goals could fall through. “It is throwing out all of our hard work to get resources and policy changes that we need to benefit our community done. And I’ve been emphasizing work in Salem especially on the housing crisis and homelessness. We also have concerns about water and drought, and other things that the state has been working on that are going to go up in smoke if the session just dies without any bills being passed. So, it’s a big impact to us, there are a lot of urgent issues the community has that we really can’t wait to address and we can’t delay on.”

Kebler tells KBND News she’s responding to what she hears from the community about the walk-out, “Senator Knopp is our senator. Not only is he the minority leader sort of leading this walk-out, but he is our senator. And he’s worked before to get us resources and policy changes that Bend and Central Oregon need. So, we know he can do that and we just want him to go back to work and do that job that we have elected him to do.”

Councilors agreed Wednesday to send the letter to Knopp.