The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

•?At a special City Council meeting on Wednesday, May 29, at 5:30 p.m., Council will vote on Ordinance 496, which would approve planning files regarding the development of 200 dwelling units at McKenzie Meadows Village by Hayden Homes. Included in that approval could be the connection of Hill and Williamson streets between MMV and the Village at Cold Springs.

Residents in the Village at Cold Springs have waged a long and costly fight to stop the connection of the streets, requesting that gates be installed to keep general vehicular traffic out, but allowing for access by emergency response and public works vehicles. The Homeowners Association of the Village at Cold Springs is financially responsible for all maintenance and repairs to their private streets.

•?City Council voted unanimously at their May 22 meeting to adopt the 2019-2020 City budget, in the amount of $16,328,410, appropriating funds, approving a tax levy of $2.6417 per $1,000 of assessed value for the permanent rate tax levy, and directing staff to file the budget with the county clerk. The total appropriations in all funds that are authorized to be spent total $7,899,867 and the total unappropriated reserve amounts for all funds total $8,428,543. Bottom line – the City is in a good financial position going into the new budget year 2019-20.

•?The City of Sisters is seeking to award grants to non-profit community groups and other entities that meet the grant criteria for the 2019-20 fiscal year.

The City will award up to a total of $20,000 in grants for Sisters community projects.

Interested organizations should submit a Community Grant application, which is available on the City website – http://www.ci.sisters.or.us or at City Hall, and a letter of interest by Friday, July 19, 2019, attention Kerry Prosser, City Recorder.

For information contact Kerry Prosser at 541-323-5213 or [email protected]

•?Council has approved two applications for temporary street closures. On Saturday, June 8, Cascade Avenue between Pine and Larch streets will be closed for the rodeo parade in the morning. The Mexican Independence Day fiesta on September 15 at Fir Street Park calls for closure of Main Avenue between N. Fir and N. Spruce streets between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

•?For the 2019-20 school year, all schools will be starting a half-hour later than this year’s schedule, including Wednesdays. Additionally, the school days will be shortened by 15 minutes.

•?The City has entered into a one-year Recycle Center Agreement with Allied Waste Transfer Services of Oregon LLC (dba Republic Services of Oregon). The City will maintain the recycle center facility and provide the video surveillance equipment. Republic is responsible for hauling away the recycled materials and monitoring the surveillance video. The County will no longer be a signatory to the agreement, although they will increase their monetary contribution to the cost of the center from $25,000 to $40,000 a year to be paid directly to Republic. During the next year, ongoing negotiations will address the entire recycle center subject.

•?Public Works Director Paul Bertagna reported that weeding is almost complete in the 230 bulb-outs throughout town. The landscaping of the Highway 20 roundabout is near completion and mulching will be done in time for the June 10 ribbon-cutting ceremony.

•?Bertagna recently met with representatives of ODOT regarding the proposed mini-roundabout at Highway 20 and Locust Street. ODOT will have their study of mini-roundabouts completed by June 30. They are conducting research for the possibility of mini-roundabouts throughout the state, not just in Sisters. The study requires input from the freight industry and they could conduct trials like they did for the Highway 20 roundabout.

•?The traffic counters currently visible around town are collecting traffic numbers for ODOT records and to provide data for gas tax allocations.

•?Council President Nancy Connolly and City Manager Cory Misley participated in a Ford Family Foundation-sponsored Visioning Adventure in southern and western Oregon last week. They visited the Illinois Valley, Roseburg, Grants Pass, Coburg, and Independence in order to gather ideas for managing the implementation of the Sisters Horizons Vision Project. They also gleaned information on possible future funding sources for the implementation. A number of the communities visited have vibrant downtowns with successful urban renewal agencies and long-term success with their visioning projects.

•?Misley reported that the U.S. Forest Service is currently working on submitting land-use applications for their Sisters property currently for sale. Misley said that the City and ODOT sent a joint letter to the USFS regarding the east portal property between highways 20 and 242. About half of the portal is part of the existing highway system because of its location between two state highways. John Allen, of the Deschutes National Forest, and his staff met with Misley and ODOT and indicated the FS is willing to work with the City and ODOT regarding those 16 acres.

•?In accordance with the terms of his employment contract, City Manager Cory Misley received his six-month performance review by the City Council and was granted a $3,000 a year increase in his salary.