Deschutes County has joined the podcast world, launching the “Inside Deschutes County” podcast.
The first, 23-minute episode was released Monday with Deschutes County Commissioner Tony DeBone as the guest.
Among the topics that were discussed:
- Leadership updates at Deschutes County Public Health
- Expansion of the Deschutes County Courthouse. It’s a project that will push the facility out to the corner of Greenwood Avenue and Bond Street and add more courtrooms. DeBone said there are currently more judges than there are available courtrooms.
- The homelessness issue — specifically, the proposed managed camp site for the south end of Bend near the Highway 97 – Murphy Road roundabout. Days after appeared to be going forward, the board of commissioners voted 2-1 last week to not support the project.
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“I’m going to advocate for absolutely putting a structure around this,” DeBone said of the overall homelessness issue.
“It’s not going to be pretty. It’s not an enjoyable situation to ask someone who’s struggling in a bad situation to move from a location. But we’re here to improve your life. And even that implementation, people have such different visions about what you should do,” said DeBone.
DeBone said after 12 years on the board of commissioners, he’s still excited about the job and the future.
“We still live in a great place here,” said DeBone. “Low cost of energy. High speed internet. Home delivery. The world is changing so fast. Some people really don’t like that but other people thrive on it. So that’s my big picture. I don’t mind the change this fast right now.”
Podcast host Erik Breon, the Digital Coordinator for Deschutes County, said the hope is to put out one episode per month.
The topic of the next episode is expected to be about prescribed burns and smoke.
You can find the podcast on Apple, on Spotify and on the Deschutes County website.
