Feature

from Source Weekly November 3, 2022

Opinion

FEATURE Endicott of an Era

After 14 years as Redmond’s mayor, George Endicott looks back at his career and what he hopes for the future of the town

By Jack Harvel

In May, Redmond Mayor George Endicott announced that his long political career serving the Hub City would come to the end once his term ended in January 2023. We caught up with Endicott to learn more about his tenure, what he hopes for the future of Redmond and if he expects to return to some form of public service in the future. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Source Weekly: What inspired you to get involved 14 years ago?

George Endicott: Well, actually I started out in the Planning Commission in ‘04. And then in ‘05, I was appointed to Council. Then in ‘06 I ran for Council. I was on Council for two years and then ‘08 I ran for mayor. So I’ve been mayor since 2009. What inspired me? I’ve been involved in public service for many years, it all started way back when I lived in Virginia in the ‘70s. So, I’ve been doing this stuff off and on for 45 or 50 years.

I just think the civic government—local government is closest to the people. And I think that’s really, as the old cliche goes, where the rubber meets the road. I think you have the most impact, hopefully positive impact, on people when you’re closest to them.

SW: Is there anything you’re going to miss about being there?

GE: Of course. It was a hard decision, as you can imagine, but I think it’s time for the next generation. I love serving, I love people, I love Redmond and all the things that we’ve accomplished, so I’m going to miss it.

SW: Speaking of accomplishments, when it comes to accomplishments are you most proud of? And are there any regrets from your time serving?

GE: Most proud? Well, there’s a couple, of one is the rebuilding of downtown. And that’s a big category because it included several items, but the rebuilding of Sixth Street, the rebuilding of Fifth Street, the arch that we put in down there, the addition of Centennial Park, and its expansion, and then of course, City Hall, taking the old high school and making it the new city hall. And all of that I would call sort of civic engagement, you know, sort of a civic center and center of town.

The second one I think, is Hope Playground, where when we finished that back up five or six years ago, it was the largest completely accessible—meaning children with disabilities—the largest accessible playground in the state of Oregon. So I’m really proud of that from an individual project. And then quite proud of what we did downtown to rejuvenate downtown Redmond after the reroute got built.

In terms of regret, the one I regret not getting done was the interchange out at Quarry. We added 960 acres of large-lot industrial south of the town. And we’ve talked to several potential builders out there. These are large lots, 50 to 200 acres. And now several builders have said, ‘Well, we’d go out there if we had a lot better access to the highway.’ So, we’re in a catch-22 with ODOT [Oregon Department of Transportation]. ODOT says, ‘Well, until your traffic warrants an interchange, we won’t do it.’ And the businesses are saying, ‘Without the interchange, we won’t come.’ So I’m between a rock and a hard place on this one and I regret not getting that done.

SW: What in your view should Redmond’s next mayor’s top priorities be? And do you have any advice for them?

GE: I think a lot of the top priorities are what all of the ones currently running are focused on. Redmond’s growing. Growth is one of our biggest issues—maybe our biggest as a broad category. Things like affordable housing and all that fit into that narrative. But in terms of what the city can do, we’re going to need that new sewer treatment plant that’ll serve us for the next 30 to 50 years. We need the South 97 strip from Veterans Way to Yew Avenue rebuilt, which we just got briefed last meeting from ODOT.

Then with increase in air traffic, the new terminal, that’s a $200 million endeavor to expand that terminal. So those are the big three, the sewer treatment plant, the airport terminal and South 97. And now I’ll add to that my Quarry interchange.

So I hope the new mayor, whoever it might be, would focus on those items. I’m supporting one individual in particular, because we know that there’s no way Redmond is going to come up with the hundreds of millions of dollars, that collectively all those projects are going to need. So, we need somebody that knows how to go get money for Redmond, either at the state or federal level. So that’s my sage advice is to make sure you know how and who to go see to get funding for Redmond.

SW: And speaking of growth, you have a pretty good case study south of you. What lessons have you learned from Bend’s growth? And how did it impact how you govern?

GE: Well, Bend’s case is quite a bit different than ours in that, Bend’s first of all, a lot larger than we are—we’re 36,000 and they’re 100,000. But Bend’s big growth spurt started back in the early ‘70s or late ‘60s, even before we had land use planning. And I don’t mean this pejoratively, but a lot of Bend’s growth was chaotic.

It wasn’t planned, you know, you go here and do this, you put these kinds of zones in because there weren’t zones. That was all late ‘60s, early ‘70s. And the way they’ve grown since is sort of an expansion of that early-on development. Redmond lagged Bend by quite a few years. In terms of growth, we were stagnant for a long time, through the ‘70s and ‘80s. And so we didn’t have that same growth without planning.

When the Oregon land use laws came in in the ‘70s. And then Redmond started growing. We followed the Oregon land use laws, of course, and hence, our growth has been a lot more... I’ll use the word rational. And again, I’m not picking on Bend, I’m just saying. There are reasons why Bend grew the way they grew and there are reasons why Redmond grew the way we grew.

I would say probably in comparing the two, the one thing that Bend did not do that we did. And that was follow some guidance back in the early 2000s about using urban reserves and urban growth boundary as separate endeavors, which we did do. And we were pretty successful in getting our growth models accepted by the state. Bend tried to combine them and it made it very complex. It took them a decade and millions to get theirs done. It took us about three years, and under a million to get ours done. So, you know, it’s just a different approach. So, learning from Bend, they followed us in that one. And I kept bugging them saying they should learn from us and they chose not to.

SW: A couple of the candidates for Redmond office, both for council and mayor, have brought up the incidents of the Confederate flag in a Redmond parade and some racist graffiti in Redmond parks. Does Redmond have a racism problem? And how should leaders respond when one of these incidents occurs?

GE: The answer is no. I asked that question of Erika McCalpine. She’s the [former] head of DEI for Oregon State University at OSU-Cascades and she is also not only the Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion but also [former] head of the Faculty Senate. Very, very bright woman and I asked her that question. And she said Redmond does not have a race problem— what Redmond has an income inequity problem.

And just so you know, I’ll just be very blunt, I do not subscribe to wokeism, which I see what a lot of that is. I realize there’s a lot of people that claim that the Confederate flag is a symbol of hate, etcetera. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion; I personally do not think it has a place. However, I’m a veteran, I fought in a war and I fought to protect our rights and that oath, and I’ll tell you the First Amendment supersedes personal feelings as far as I’m concerned. And while I do not like the idea of a Confederate flag in our parades, I also dislike more trying to censor people’s free speech. So that’s where I stand.

SW: How do you plan to spend your retirement? And do you foresee any civic engagement in a different capacity?

GE: I’ll answer the second part first. Not right away. I’m going to step aside. My wife and I’ve decided that there’s a great United States to see, and even some parts of the world. So, we’re going to start traveling. And I mean, you know, sounds kind of silly, but I want to do that while I’m young enough to do it, before my health fails or something like that. We’re going to do a lot of traveling; we’re going to go see the United States of America.

It’s been a great gig. Being mayor to me has been not only an honor but a pleasure. And over the years, I have kind of a funny attitude about it, in that, when you engage in something like this, and if you have the right attitude about it, the system rewards you if you do it for altruistic reasons. Hopefully, the community recognizes that and rewards you as a consequence.

Courtesy of the City of Redmond

George Endicott became the mayor of Redmond in 2009, after stints on the City Council and planning commission.

FEATURE Rec It, Redmond

Organizers are hopeful that the proposed recreation center in Redmond is in better shape than doomed 2019 and 2008 bonds

By Jack Harvel

Redmond’s Cascade Swim Center opened in 1979, bringing a 25-meter indoor pool to a town of 6,500 people. In the 43 years since opening, Redmond’s gained about 30,000 residents, and the facility is struggling to meet the demand of its growing population.

“We have a full pool, we have waiting lists for swim lessons, we have a swim team that also has a waiting list, we have record registrations for soccer, and we have basketball that has no place to practice,” said Matthew Gilman, board chair of the Redmond Area Parks and Recreation District. “We have a whole community of people that really don’t have anywhere to keep themselves healthy and fit for most of the year.”

The $48 million facility would have an eight-lane lap pool, a lazy river, water slide, workout equipment, basketball and pickleball courts and a bouldering wall. The bond that would fund the project would tack on $7.07 in property taxes per $100,000 of assessed value — $4.67 to build the facility and a separate $2.40 option to fund the operating costs. The typical Redmond household would be paying about $15 a month, and people living in RAPRD would get a 30% discount to use the facility.

“The bond is only for the construction of the building and cannot be used for operations. So, the levy will help pay for staffing, utilities, maintenance and things like that. So that way, we can bring in some more programs. We anticipate that at the beginning, when the new facility is open, that it’s going to take a little bit of time for it to generate enough revenue for our current tax rate to support it,” said Katie Hammer, executive director of RAPRD.

Similar proposals were rejected by voters in 2019 and 2008. Gilman is hopeful the tide will turn in the district’s favor this time thanks to better organizing and running the measure in a November election rather than a lower-turnout May election.

“This time around, I think everybody just realizes that the town has grown so much, that it’s a necessary thing that we need,” Gilman said. “Last time, the political action committee was a lot less organized and didn’t have the enthusiasm that it does this time around.”

RAPRD is still nailing down the specific programming it’ll bring to the facility, but is anticipating sports camps for kids, art classes, technology classes and even cooking classes at a small teaching kitchen. Recreation leagues will also have their own space, which currently are run out of Redmond School District facilities.

“The school district is fabulous. And we use their facilities on a regular basis. But they’re at capacity as well,” Hammer said.

If just the levy passes and the bond fails the project will be scrapped, but if the bond passes and the levy fails the district will build the facility and secure operational funding once it can. Gilman said if the levy fails, they’ll try to secure funding in a future election.

“I’m a big fan of putting a stake in the ground, building a foundation for something, and then we’ll figure out a way to get the money to do the rest of it. I don’t think anybody wants to see a $50 million state-of-the-art facility that we don’t have the funds to run,” Gilman said.

RAPRD wouldn’t shut down the Cascade Swim Center if the bond passes, and expects to continue to lease it from the Redmond School District until it’s no longer viable. The newer facility is anticipated to meet the needs of the Redmond population for the next 30 years based on the current growth rate. If successful, RAPRD expects construction to start in late 2023 and for the facility to open by fall 2025.

Photos courtesy of RAPRD