News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The fight over rent and responsibility between the City of Sisters and the Deschutes Public Library District may be winding down.
The library board wants to make sure it holds onto $210,000 in equity from the grant and donations that built the Sisters Library a decade ago.
The city wants to make sure that city residents aren't stuck with bills for maintenance and to replace roofs, carpets and siding while they're also paying taxes to the library district.
The library Board of Directors and the Sisters City Council held a workshop meeting Thursday night, November 8, to try to re-establish communications after the city took a sale offer off the table and negotiations turned into a year-long dispute over the library's refusal to pay the city rent to cover maintenance costs.
A little communication may do some good.
The library board assured the city that the library district would pay for past maintenance and would cover any major building expenses out of the district's own maintenance funds.
"If something happens to that building tomorrow, we'll take care of it, legally required or not," said Library Director Michael Gaston.
Sisters Mayor Steve Wilson said that such an arrangement would have to be formalized in writing, which the library board is willing to do.
The board also told the city they would seriously consider a renewed sale offer as long as their $210,000 equity position was protected.
One of the concerns raised by Steve Wilson was that the library would purchase the building at a low rate then "flip the building" and resell it at a large profit.
Library board members and Director Gaston acknowledged that the library may not expand on the existing site as originally planned, but they argue that the library is strictly interested in taking its equity from that building and re-applying it to a new Sisters Library.
"The library district has no intention of making that (sale) a windfall profit," said Sunriver district board member George Riser.
According to Gaston, the district plans to spend about $1 million on new library facilities in Sisters.
Sisters district board member Beth Pearl urged the city to continue working toward a solution
"Let's get the City of Sisters out of the library business," she said.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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