Council initiates EOA/UGB review, approves personal services contract with Eco Northwest

The Prineville City Council voted to initiate a review and authorize a personal services agreement with Eco Northwest to update the city's Economic Opportunities Analysis (EOA) and to prepare materials supporting a potential urban growth boundary (UGB) expansion.

Planning Director Joshua Smith said the city's EOA is 20 years old and needs updating and described the staff request as authorization to "move forward with the contract, not to exceed a 120,000," linking the timeline to accelerated prep work. Smith explained the city chose a personal services contract rather than a full RFP process because of time constraints and noted the scope would be revised to change the wording from "efficiency" to "sufficiency" in the documentation.

One councilor expressed concern that using personal services contracts can exclude local firms from competing for work and asked that the city favor more open bidding on future projects. The motion to approve Resolution 1595 was moved and seconded and passed with one objection recorded on the floor.

Council President noted that the EOA and UGB expansion will return to the council, the county and the state for subsequent approvals and that the contract authorization at this meeting is an early step in that process.