BEND, OR -- Changes are coming to Bend’s 13 Neighborhood Associations, starting with a new name for the program. The city's Makayla Oliver says City Council will vote this week on updating the name to Neighborhood Districts, "We started using the term 'district' to kind of test it out in public when we were at events, when we were talking to folks who had just moved to Bend. And it seemed that 'district' was definitely one that was picked up easier and resonated with more people." She tells KBND News, "There was a lot of confusion between Neighborhood Associations and homeowners associations."

The name change is just one of a number of revisions proposed for the Neighborhood Program code. Oliver says there’s a also new requirement for an annual survey, "Making sure that our neighborhood boards are reaching out to their members and trying to get feedback from them, when they’re giving us input. Not necessarily topically, but more ‘what are your neighborhood’s community priorities?’" And eventually, there will be a purpose statement, to provide clarity for the districts, "Some of them had focused more on land use and history, some of them had focused more on community building-type events, some of them didn’t understand what the relationship with the city was."

Council will vote Wednesday night on the recommendations, after a two-year assessment, "Seeing who’s involved with it? What do people know about it? Who are missing from being included within that program?" Says Oliver, "Since we do rely heavily on them for feedback from the community." She says the program provides a two-way conduit for information, "For both the city, to share information with these boards on policies, programs, what’s happening within your neck of the woods; we also see it as a way for neighborhoods to bring issues that are bubbling up to the City Council."

A rebranding is also on the way, "You’ll probably be hearing a lot more about the districts that are within the city of Bend, why it’s important to get engaged, how they operate, the volunteer opportunities that are available."

If Council approves the new Neighborhood codes Wednesday, the changes take effect July fifth.