NORTH BEND — Surprised by suggestions from the community that they are reluctant to cooperate with other governing bodies, North Bend City councilors said they are willing to meet more frequently with their counterparts through a joint council with the city of Coos Bay.

At the North Bend Council’s first work session of the new year, last week, Mayor Rick Wetherell said his proposition to meet biannually with Coos Bay was not a matter of being unwilling to work together. Rather, he only wanted to appease his council’s desires to meet as a full board — which could be difficult to achieve each month — and to make decisions together. Mayor Jeff McKeown, who brought the idea of a joint committee before the North Bend Council in October, had suggested that three representatives from each city meet monthly to discuss issues shared by the municipalities and to improve relations between them. McKeown also hoped the intergovernmental committee would include three appointed members from each council, would remain a casual setting to discuss issues shared by the municipalities and to eventually include other cities at the table.

But, during the joint committee’s preliminary meeting in December, the two mayors spent much of the session sparring over how regularly the meeting would be held — monthly, as McKeown requested or twice a year.

“There are so many ways that we cooperate and the word out is that we don’t cooperate,” Wetherell said, last week, adding his first duty is to do what is best for North Bend citizens. “Cooperation isn’t to do what other people want us to do all the time.”

But, he does see the joint council as a positive endeavor that can benefit the cities.

“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to meet with our partners across the bay,” Wetherell said of the joint council.

Both city councils will meet in a joint session on Thursday, Jan. 24.

Viewing monthly meetings as overkill, Councilor Janet Rubin suggested the two councils meet three times a year, which she would prefer, or, if that is not to Coos Bay’s liking, every other month. She also proposed for the meeting agenda to be posted two weeks in advance to allow councilors to decide for themselves whether they want to participate in a particular meeting, rather than leaving it entirely up to three appointed members.

“That’s your prerogative to sit at the table and be a full participating member,” Rubin said, adding she’d like to see certain topics remain off-limits, such as the 911 call center, as they’ve been overly discussed by both cities already. “There’s no need to bring it back to any table.”

Rubin said she felt discouraged that people believe North Bend isn’t cooperating.

Wetherell said he liked Rubin’s suggestions, and believed the North Bend Council should be ready with a list of topics to discuss with Coos Bay’s representatives.

After the meeting, a letter was sent to Coos Bay, proposing several subjects for the meeting, including the Coos Bay-North Bend Water Board, the library system, sewer services, public safety cooperation, good public relations and gas tax.

On Tuesday, the Coos Bay City Council made some additional suggestions for the agenda. These included discussing impacts on the cities from Coos County cutbacks, homelessness and panhandling issues, mental health concerns in the community and how often the cities should meet. Several councilors also wanted to discuss the issue of the Department of State Lands claiming formerly submerged property in both cities.

“There are some (formerly) submerged lands in North Bend, so I think it would be an appropriate discussion topic,” said Councilor Roger Gould; “an important one.”

Councilor John Muenchrath recommended adding a transient room tax discussion to the agenda.

“It’s going to be a pretty long meeting,” he said, noting the numerous issues of interest to both cities.

The Coos Bay councilors spoke as though joint committee meetings would be held frequently, despite North Bend’s diverging view on the matter.

At the North Bend work session, Wetherell added he is hesitant about McKeown’s proposal to open up the meetings to other cities because the effort could become diluted.

Councilor Barry Hayes said was interested to learn what Coos Bay would want to discuss.

“I have heard from some of our townspeople about this meeting ... They are a bit leery about this,” Hayes said.

The mayor agreed that some ground rules should be established to keep meetings between the councils productive and on track.

“The idea is we want to make it work,” Wetherell said.

-Staff writer Alexander Rich contributed to this article.