Polson's city planner takes job in Oregon

Kyle Roberts is returning home.

The Oregon native, who has served as Polson’s city planner since 2015, has accepted a job as senior planner for Redmond, Ore., a town of about 32,000 people just north of Bend, Ore., in the central region of his home state.

His final day working for Polson will be Dec. 11.

Roberts spent part of his childhood in the coastal town of Seaside, Ore., before moving to the Hood River area. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Oregon in Eugene before spending three years in Albania working for the Peace Corps. It was after the Peace Corps experience that he landed the job as Polson’s city planner.

“I’ve worked for the city of Polson for just over five years,” Roberts said Monday evening. “It’s been an incredible experience, a great experience.”

The Bend/Redmond area, known as an outdoors recreation haven, has witnessed a population explosion in recent years.

“They’re experiencing a lot of growth,” he said, adding that Redmond is trying to add 350 housing units per year.

Roberts said he and his wife wanted to be closer to family, and the opportunity to be a senior planner in a larger community was very appealing.

“I put a tremendous amount of thought into the decision. Polson has been wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed the community. All along the way it's been a wonderful time.”

During Monday’s meeting of the Polson Redevelopment Agency, City Manager Ed Meece said a national ad will be placed within the next week and the position will be advertised for about 30 days, with a resume review process beginning in January. He said if everything goes well, the city should have a replacement within about 90 days.

“Kyle has been a tremendous resource for the city of Polson during his tenure here,” Meece said earlier Monday. “It is difficult to lose such a valuable staff member, but we encourage and support him in this new opportunity. He’ll be greatly missed.”

Meece said during the hiring process many of the more technical aspects of the position — tech reviews, subdivision, plats, zoning ordinance compliance — will be covered through expansion of an existing contract with HDR Engineering.

Roberts said that while he’s excited for the next chapter of his career, he’ll be keeping a close eye on developments in Polson.

“I definitely plan to keep in touch and see how things are going. I’ll be keeping up things for sure.”