Sisters planning director quits

Last updated Jul 17, 2007 12:0pm0

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Planning director Brian Rankin, citing personal and family reasons, submitted his resignation to the City of Sisters last Wednesday. Rankin has accepted a job as a city planner in Bend.

Many eyebrows have been raised by this latest departure from the city, where finance officer Emma Sivers quit this spring and Public Works Director Gary Frazee stepped aside from his post this summer. Frazee continues to work as Public Works Operations Director.

There have been rumblings of discontent with city government for months and Rankin's departure is bringing concerns about the city's capabilities to the fore.

"Planning is the most important part of the city operations and the one that affects all of us the most. Things moved so slowly there. It was nearly impossible to get anything done in Sisters," said Curt Kallberg, a local contractor and developer.

Many who do business with the city are dissatisfied with what they see as an unclear and inconsistent application of standards and a glacial pace of action, including canceled or missed planning commission meetings.

Peter Storton, principal broker and owner of RE/MAX Town & Country Realty, says there is a widespread perception that "city planning is not doing a very good job of responding to the needs of the community It has been a frustrating experience for many who are trying to bring businesses to Sisters. I am worried that with the latest departure what has been frustrating in the past now could become much worse for anyone trying to bring new business into Sisters."

City Manager Eileen Stein defended the operations of the planning department.

"Things moved slowly because Brian (Rankin) wanted to make sure that he crossed every 't' and dotted every 'i.' He was very thorough, and I know that some people thought that things took too much time to get through planning, but when I checked the reason that things took more time it was that their paperwork was not complete," said Stein.

"In the past builders were able to submit paperwork that was incomplete and it was processed anyway," said Mayor Brad Boyd. "We are not doing that anymore. Any decision that we make, we are going to have to live with for the next 30 to 50 years, so we want to do things right. When the paperwork is compete and things are correct, there are no delays."

Rankin said his departure really doesn't have much to do with the City of Sisters.

"I am not as much leaving Sisters as going to another job where I can spend more time with my family," he said. "I lose about an hour a day in commuting, and that is time that I could be spending with my family. I will only be three blocks from my new job and can walk to work and come home for lunch."

Although taking a demotion from director of planning to just being one of several planners in the city of Bend, Rankin is content.

"We (Stein and Rankin) had several conversations about it, and there are pros and cons. The city (Sisters) offered me more (money) to stay, but I really wanted to be closer to home," said Rankin.

"A lot of cities are losing staff to Bend. They (Bend) are committed to hiring the best and brightest. I hear from friends in the city of Springfield that Bend is taking their best people. It is like a vacuum. They're sucking up talent," said Stein.

Rankin plans to stay on for a month or so to affect a transition. Stein, who is on vacation until the end of the month, does not see her absence as problematic in finding a replacement for Rankin or in the effective functioning of the city.

"I think that things will continue and it will be fairly normal around here, since Brian (Rankin) will still be working and Laura (Lehman, assistant planner) is great at what she does. I don't see any real problems," said Stein.

The Nugget has learned that Stein on Friday hired an experienced municipal planner to fill a long-advertised senior planner position. When contacted by The Nugget, the planner asked that he not be identified yet because he had not discussed his status with his current employer.

In a memo to Mayor Brad Boyd, Stein also noted that the city can use the services of contract planner Susanna Julber while the city seeks a replacement for Rankin.

As Rankin departs he has had nothing but good things to say about his working in Sisters.

"I will really miss working here. The people that I have worked with have been great, and I have really enjoyed being in Sisters. If it weren't for wanting to be close to my family, I would have stayed," he said.

City planning is focus of frustration

Many area developers think that the City of Sisters planning department is close to dysfunctional. With the resignation of planning director Brian Rankin (see related story, page 1) and an absence of a senior planner, their concerns have reached a boiling point.

From developers planning major residential projects to businessmen trying to build office space, complaints are rife about apparently arbitrary standards, incomplete codes, missed or canceled meetings and unreturned phone calls.

"We couldn't move forward with a project because the city wanted to add affordable housing and they didn't yet have code drafted up," said Curt Kallberg, a local contractor and a partner in the McKenzie Meadows residential development north of Sisters Middle School.

"So finally we offered to have our attorney draw it up for them so we could move forward. They agreed and asked us to run it by their attorney. Their attorney would never return calls and we spent months dealing with it, only to be told that wasn't what they wanted.

"I asked, 'What is it that you want?' I was told, 'I don't know, but I will recognize it when I see it.' How can you expect to do business that way?"

Other developers have had similar experiences, describing architectural standards as "a moving target" that requires them to submit redesign after redesign with no clear idea of what will be accepted. Others have noted that planning commissioners and city councilors weigh in with personal opinions and attitudes about design, further bogging down the process.

Mayor Brad Boyd has a very different take on the matter.

"Remember that there are two sides to every story," he said. "I believe that we are in the process of becoming one of the most professionally managed small cities around.

"It has been a difficult transition for people who were used to doing business with a handshake," Boyd noted. "But to not make the changes could create a problem that would last for 30 to 50 years, or maybe even more and I don't want to see us make those kind of mistakes. To keep that from happening, we need to take the time to make sure that everything is done correctly. It really doesn't make much difference to these developers if it takes three weeks or six weeks to get something accomplished."

But time is money to developers who are frustrated by the perception that they can afford to lose both.

"It is frustrating," Kallberg said. "I love this city and I am not the only person who does. People have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars here and are just sitting on it with increasing costs every day as nothing happens.

"The most critical department for a city is planning," he said. "Without a planning department, there can be no new businesses or anything else. Planning needs to be a priority for the city. It should be the best department."

Even with a transition plan in place (see related story, page 1), it will still take time for a new senior planner to become familiar with the intricacies of Sisters code and government workings - and he admitted as much during an interview with The Nugget.

That's a concern for people who have business with the city.

"It will still take months, maybe even a year, for the new planner to get up to speed. This is just another example of the culture of crisis management that pervades our city government," said Peter Storton of RE/MAX Town & Country Realty.

Storton notes that plans to enhance economic development and even create a position of Economic Development Director are pointless if the city cannot manage the economic development that is occurring now. He has expressed his concerns about the city's management in a letter to City Manager Eileen Stein.

A group of developers and contractors will be meeting at City Hall on Thursday, July 19, at 10 a.m., to discuss the situation.

What is your experience doing business with the city? Let The Nugget know at http://www.nuggetnews.com or [email protected]