New Sisters planner eases workload

Sisters' active Planning Department now has another resource since a new assistant planner recently joined the office. The department has been short-handed although residential and commercial development is booming.

"We did twice as many land use permits this year (2006) than last year (2005)," said City of Sisters Planning Director Brian Rankin.

Assistant planner Laura Turner is processing building permits, working on code enforcement and is on the front line answering residents' questions.

"She's already improved our responsiveness on day-to-day questions that come into our department," said Rankin.

Rankin said residents are welcome to come to the new city hall with questions such as how close a garden shed can be to the property line or what address will be given to a house under construction.

Rankin said hiring Turner is one step in his plan to spend his time primarily on long-range planning, while his employees work on current planning. At the start of the New Year, Rankin wants to hire a second planner who will work on applications that come before the planning commission.

Rankin added that with Turner on board his work load has already shifted in the right direction.

"There's now one whole day out of my week that I don't have to spend on building permits," said Rankin.

Turner joined the department in November and took on a full load. She has a Master of Environmental Science and Management degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Her work experience includes an internship with The Nature Conservancy, a project manager position with Bend's North Creek Analytical and a technical director position with Bend's Umpqua Research Company. She said her past positions focused on finding solutions that would meet the needs of all the stakeholders involved in an issue.

"That's why planning is so fascinating to me, because it's about problem solving," said Turner.

Turner is a Bend resident who is enjoying learning about the community of Sisters.

"Sisters is really interesting because it's on the highway and that raises issues of its own," said Turner.

Rankin said within one year or so, Turner could be presenting applications to the planning commissioners. He wants employees in his department to have multiple skills so that if a person is gone, city business continues without a slow-down.