City rescinds library sale offer

The city will just keep it...

The City of Sisters has rescinded its offer to sell the Sisters Library facility to the Deschutes Public Library System (DPLS).

The offer, which had been made to the DPLS back in April, has received no response, according to Mayor Steve Wilson.

"To say I'm steamed would be an understatement," Wilson said. "We've bent over backwards to be fair to DPLS, while I certainly can't say the same about the other party."

This recent conflict reflects the growing tension between the City of Sisters and the Sisters Library. When a 1998 election separated the Deschutes County library from county control and formed the DPLS, the City of Sisters asked for a new agreement to be negotiated since the library is a new public entity with its own funding levy along with a five-member elected library board.

Last August, the city asked the library to pay rent -- 65 cents per square foot, which would amount to $1,690 per month. D.P.L.S. Director Michael Gaston, however, wants to maintain the library's current agreement with the city and the district has yet to make a rent payment.

With the installation of the sewer system in Sisters, there has been additional concern over who is responsible for material and hook-up fees.

The library district believes that the City of Sisters, as owner of the property, should be responsible for sewer improvements.

The library has agreed to provide materials for the hook up, while contending that the city should provide labor.

When the library did not respond to the lease that was issued to them last year, City Attorney Steven Bryant drafted a letter to the library's attorneys, offering to sell the property to the DPLS for $175,000.