Agencies want input on ‘vision’ survey

Sisters citizens can voice their opinion on what direction the community should take into the future through the Vision and Growth Strategy Survey, available online and at Sisters Library and at City Hall.

The survey is part of the “Greater Sisters Community Vision and Growth Strategy” created by the Community Action Team of Sisters (CATS) and various other city agencies to plot a strategy for coping with the area’s rapid growth.

The public survey consists of questions ranging from what local issues are most important to citizens, such as public safety or transportation, to essay-form questions on what people envision for the overall future of Sisters.

A Sisters Community Vision Fair, open to all citizens of the community and featuring a facilitator to guide and promote community solutions, will be held October 7.

The objective of the survey and fair, City Manager Eileen Stein said, is to identify what is most important to the citizens. Once the public has expressed its vision of the future, the agencies and groups involved will make their decisions on the growth of the community with the public’s vision of Sisters in mind.

“We want to make sure that all of our various public agencies that are responsible for community livability are all marching in the same direction and aren’t working in cross-purposes with each other,” Stein said.

The original Sisters “vision” gauging citizen’s opinions on growth was created in 1999 and the 2006 vision is an attempt to see how similar or different the two visions are.

“We’re very curious to know if the vision that was articulated five years ago is the same or is it different and how does the original vision need to be tweaked to make sure it’s relevant for those living here right now,” Stein said.

The vision plan will include three leadership summits where elected and appointed officials will come together to discuss the public’s opinion on growth.

The public survey and the Vision Fair are the forums for the community to get involved in the process.