9 minute read
State of the City
SISTERS COUNTRY VISION The Sisters Country Vision consists of 20 major goals (in four focus areas) to encourage a more: 1. Connected, 2. Prosperous, 3. Livable and 4. Resilient Sisters Country.
CONNECTED SISTERS
Key project: Create a Multi-purpose Community Center
A wide range of potential user groups came together to explore the feasibility of locations, services, and funding options. Sisters School District is researching costs of conversion of the elementary school, and Sisters Parks & Recreation District (SPRD) boosted their operations capacity with a new strategic plan, executive director, and the reactivation of the Sisters Organization for Activities and Recreation (SOAR) Foundation.
PROSPEROUS SISTERS
Key Project: Develop the Forest Service Property
City of Sisters and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) successfully helped facilitate the sale of the north parcel in 2019. USFS decided to build their new District Ranger Station on the south parcel, and the City is beginning work with Oregon Department of Transportation to transform the “east portal” into a community space and transportation amenity.
KEY PARTIES MEETING NEW FOREST SERVICE RANGER STATION
EAST PORTAL COMMUNITY SPACE
LIVABLE SISTERS Key Project: Expand and Improve the Recreational Trail System in Sisters Country Successful partnerships have led to new methods of outreach, new funding opportunities, and a new regional, multi-use-trail-system plan. Local trail improvements include a bridge replacement over Indian Ford Creek on the Sisters Tie Trail and a new gateway trailhead to the Peterson Ridge Trail System.
By Mayor Chuck Ryan
Our great City of Sisters is entering its 75th anniversary in 2021. We are well-positioned financially and infrastructure-wise due to the thorough planning by your City staff, elected Council, and our volunteer advisory boards. We recently completed our FY 2020/21 budget, and despite the challenging headwinds created by the pandemic, Sisters is in a very healthy position to withstand these unique pressures and maintain our quality of service and life that is so special for this community. The detailed budget is available on the City’s website. A few highlights of our budget — it is an $18M plan, but keep in mind that 70% of that total is for capital improvements and reserves for future infrastructure expenditures; City staffing is level at 17.5 positions, and no new debt is planned at this time. Maintaining and improving our infrastructure (water/wastewater/streets) and having the appropriate reserve funding is so important considering that our population has tripled since 2000.
There is so much to be proud of in regard to accomplishments over the last few years, and you can see many of them on these pages with the Council Goals and selected accomplishments and the Sisters Country Vision and selected progress. I am especially proud of the visioning process, which is entering its third year and making tremendous progress on the 20 key strategies that you, our Sisters Country residents, created and endorsed. We could not have been successful without the Vision Implementation Team’s dedicated support that includes key organizational partners across all disciplines in our City. We planned to do a community celebration summer event, but it had to be postponed due to COVID-19, same with this State of the City shifting to this format.
As I said, there are many accomplish ments your City staff and elected officials have made, but there are a few that I am most proud of. First is public safety and the new five-year contract with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, which includes a dedicated lieutenant (de facto police chief) and three dedicated deputies providing the kind of community policing that we have sought more of for quite a while. Second, we have made great strides in providing affordable housing and attaining our goal of at least 10% of housing being affordable; Lastly, we have, with the help of EDCO, made significant progress in diversify ing our local economy, which is extremely important for economic sustainability and maintaining the strength of our school enrollment.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING The City awarded an
affordable housing grant to Habitat for Humanity to help with System Development Charges on three homes; the ClearPine development and Habitat are partnering on six new homes; and First Story, in partnership with Hayden Homes, has recently completed three houses in the McKenzie Meadows Village subdivision.
RESILIENT SISTERS Key Project: Improve Wildfire Preparedness
Deschutes County’s Wildfire Mitigation Advisory Committee presented recommendations to the Oregon State Legislature on hazard mapping updates, new state building standards, and new land-use protocols. The Fire Free Program more than doubled their impact with a second free brush disposal event, and Deschutes County was awarded a grant to engage more community members in next steps.
NEW TEAM WILDFIRE MITIGATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE NEW FUNDING ACTIVE FOREST MANAGEMENT
EXPANDED PROGRAMMING FIRE FREE UPDATED CODES STATE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK LAZY Z The City will be working on a
master plan for the future development and preservation of the City-owned south portion of the Lazy Z Ranch. The purpose of this project is to provide long-term planning for the enhancement of the existing wastewater effluent system and future view corridor and open space on the property.
PHOTOS BY JERRY BALDOCK
Country residents, created and endorsed. We could not have been successful without the Vision Implementation Team’s dedicated support that includes key organizational partners across all disciplines in our City. We planned to do a community celebration summer event, but it had to be postponed due to COVID-19, same with this State of the City shifting to
As I said, there are many accomplishments your City staff and elected officials have made, but there are a few that I am most proud of. First is public safety and the new five-year contract with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, which includes a dedicated lieutenant (de facto police chief) and three dedicated deputies providing the kind of community policing that we have sought more of for quite a while. Second, we have made great strides in providing affordable housing and attaining our goal of at least 10% of housing being affordable; Lastly, we have, with the help of EDCO, made significant progress in diversifying our local economy, which is extremely important for economic sustainability and maintaining the strength of our school
communication and help in any way within our means. One of those initiatives was for the City to allow businesses to create “parklets” on City right of ways to help expand customer capacity.
I also need to mention the tremendous support our residents receive from the many nonprofit organizations that are active in Sisters. They are mostly volunteer organizations that do so many great things for our community, from youth-oriented programs to helping the disadvantaged and homeless. The City Council just this month awarded almost $40,000 to 23 nonprofits to help promote their many initiatives.
In closing, you can be assured that the City will continue its hard work and focus on forward planning to ensure our inevitable growth is well-balanced with required infrastructure funding while preserving our small-town feel and quality of life that we cherish. I am so proud to have served as your Mayor for the past four years and am incredibly proud of our City Council and City staff.
PARKS Oregon Parks and Recreation Department
and the City partnered to fund and build a new play structure at Village Green Park. One of the important features of the new structure is ADA accessibility. A second park improvement project will take place at Creekside Park to retrofit the pedestrian bridge ramp to meet ADA requirements.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
In 2020 the City entered a five-year contract with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office to provide law enforcement services to the City. Sisters will now have three permanent deputies and a lieutenant assigned to the City.
Wednesday, September 16, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon 17 COUNCIL GOALS
Livability and Growth
Projects aim to ensure there are adequate supplies of buildable land within the City and preserve the small-town feel of the community.
An update to the Comprehensive Plan will begin this fall. This project is a large undertaking that will update the City’s guiding legal document for growth and development for a 20-year timeframe. The project builds on the 2019 Community Vision and will explore topics related to housing, the economy, natural resources, and community character among other topics.
Public Safety
Strategies include expanded service for law enforcement, improving traffic safety, particularly around bicycle and pedestrian amenities, and building on past wildfire resiliency planning. A Traffic Safety Study is currently underway in the City to identify intersection and roadway issues. The City’s Traffic Engineer will analyze the traffic data and provide recommendations for the best ways to invest future capital funds to improve vehicle, pedestrian, and bike safety throughout the City.
Essential Infrastructure
This strategy is focused on investing in water, wastewater, streets and parks as the foundation of our community.
The City is in the process of developing a fourth municipal groundwater supply (Well 4). The new well will produce 2.15 cfs or approximately 950 gallons per minute. Phase I is the development of the actual well with drilling anticipated to be completed by December 2020. Phase II is the construction of the pumpstation and associated piping with project completion scheduled for spring 2021. This project is funded with water System Development Charges collected from new development to offset their impact to the water system.
Good Governance
These initiatives support a fiscally responsible, transparent, and responsive local government organization for the community both now and strategically into the future. The City has six boards to help guide staff and the City Council. They include the City Parks Advisory Board, Planning Commission, Urban Forestr y Board, Housing Policy Advisory B o a r d , B u d g e t Committee and a new Public Works Advisory Board.
Economic Development
This goal builds on past successes to maintain Sisters as a tourist destination and attract traded-sector businesses for a diverse, sustainable economy that supports the community’s creative culture while spurring investment and adding living-wage jobs.
