News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
For decades, Sisters City Council races have been modest affairs: a little advertising, a lot of door-knocking, a candidate forum.
Those days are gone, at least for the 2008 election.
A Political Action Committee (PAC) called Citizens for Sisters (CFS) has raised the ante, supporting a slate of candidates with the stated mission of removing Mayor Brad Boyd from office.
To date, the PAC has raised $6,750 for the campaign to re-elect Councilor Lon Kellstrom and to elect Sisters businessman Pat Thompson and building designer Jerry Bogart to the council. Activists are running newspaper ads and putting up yard signs - all hallmarks of a serious political campaign.
PACs are not unheard of in Sisters politics. There is currently a PAC campaigning for the Sisters School District "local option" levy. Anyone who plans to spend more than $300 on a campaign must form a PAC.
"We decided to get involved in the current election and, according to state law, we had to form a PAC to generate money to put a campaign on," said Curt Kallberg, who has acted as the spark plug of the PAC.
He said the candidates approached him with the idea of running to change the council.
"Basically, they said, 'Hey, we'd like to do something, can you help,'" Kallberg said. "Lon was probably the most frustrated after years of being... he was kind of on his own."
Kallberg rallied his friends and hired Eric Dolson (former publisher of The Nugget) to act as treasurer for the PAC and to manage the complexities of online filing of election documents.
Kallberg says Citizens for Sisters is looking for change in city leadership, a change that will make Sisters more friendly to people trying to start a business here.
What motivates CFS contributors?
"I'd say it is Brad Boyd and the attitude of the city," Kallberg said. "I don't think that the city is representing the wishes of the people."
Dolson concurred, saying that "there's a feeling that there's been a bureaucratic fog that starts with the current mayor and extends to doing business with the city, to dealing with the city."
Kallberg said some have an issue with city management, but "I think you have to start at the top."
"Their goal is to take over the council," Boyd told The Nugget. "Not only - if they're successful - would I be gone; they'd have a majority of like-minded individuals on the council. Voters have to decide... what role do you want your local government to play."
For Boyd, it's a question of whether citizens want to protect "small-town ambiance" or elect a "slate of developers" to the council.
Kallberg doesn't think it's that simple. He acknowledges that he and several other members of Citizens for Sisters own property that could be brought into the city for development, but he says the CFS agenda is not tied to anybody's specific interests.
Kallberg and $1,500 CFS contributor Bill Willitts are partners with the Reed family in the 30-acre McKenzie Meadows property due north of Sisters Middle School. That property was approved by voters for annexation, but has not yet been annexed. Kallberg and Willitts are also among eight partners in 64 acres abutting the Lazy Z Ranch on the east edge of Sisters that is not inside the Urban Growth Boundary.
"Our kids will probably see something out there," Kallberg said of the 64-acre property. "In our lifetimes I don't think we'll see anything out there."
Kallberg said CFS is composed of people in the building industry because that's who he knows.
"I can see why people think, 'Oh, my word! Here comes the developers,'" he said. "It's like the Vikings have landed."
But Kallberg said the Citizens for Sisters movement is about economic development and lost job opportunities. He says that many people in business have learned to give Sisters a wide berth.
"It's not worth the hassle to get it through the city," he said. "Sisters is not a friendly place to try to get a new business started. And with the economy the way it is, it should be a totally different attitude."
Boyd disputes that interpretation. He notes that land costs are high and that the Sisters City Charter doesn't allow the council to offer breaks like reduced Systems Development Charges.
"You can certainly characterize that as not being welcoming to business, but that kind of misses the point," he said.
Boyd said he contacted one potential light-industrial business whom he understood was having trouble gaining traction with the city. Boyd said he was told that the problems weren't with the city; they involved high land costs and problems with financing.
Citizens for Sisters often cites the decision of Breedlove Guitars to locate in Bend instead of on the Sun Ranch Business Park in Sisters as an example of lost opportunities for clean, compatible economic development.
Why did Breedlove decide against Sisters?
"I have absolutely no idea," Boyd said. "Breedlove never talked to me; they never talked to the city council."
But Breedlove did talk to the city. In May 2006, City Manager Eileen Stein sent a lengthy e-mail to Breedlove principal Peter Newport outlining possibilities for tax incentives based on a type of enterprise zone concept and discussing possible solutions for employee transportation.
According to a Breedlove executive, transportation issues were the major factor in Breedlove's decision. Only one employee lives in Sisters; 49 live in Bend.
Sisters does have a reputation for confusion and lack of direction when it comes to economic development. Last March, Sisters was rated a "distressed community" by the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department.
"The biggest problem that I see in Sisters is that no one is on the same page," said Eric Strobel, business development manager for EDCO (Economic Development for Central Oregon) at that time.
"A vision statement for Sisters growth is not providing any unifying vision. We would like to help, but until everyone is on the same page there is not a lot that we can do."
That troubles Kallberg.
"We've got a good little work force," he said. "We've got families who could use some jobs - and they (EDCO) wash their hands of us?"
Boyd said that it's all well and good to desire economic development, but he said he has yet to see any concrete proposals from the candidates or their backers.
"We're all for family-wage jobs and decent housing," he said, quoting a tag line from an ad for candidate Pat Thompson. "What specifically are they planning on doing" given limited city resources and the restrictions of the city charter?
Boyd thinks that Kallberg and Willitts and others are frustrated with him because they have not been able to move forward on annexation of McKenzie Meadows.
"In my mind, this is all about the McKenzie Meadows deal," he said.
Boyd noted that he has worked directly with the McKenzie Meadows partners on their proposal for a senior living facility.
Boyd says he is the only councilor who publicly offered support to bringing the property into the city - provided that the partners come up with a development agreement the city could enforce to ensure that the facilities are actually built.
Boyd said that the city has received too many unfulfilled promises - from skating rinks to bridges - to take any offer at face value. He said he will demand development agreements that give the city "teeth" to avoid enforcement nightmares such as the Bruce Forbes bridge, which has been built, but has no approach roads.
"That's the kind of dot-the-'i's and cross-the-'t's that you haven't seen from the city before," Boyd said. "And it's new for these guys."
Boyd also noted that the city has made great strides in improving its staffing and responsiveness.
"I think we've got the most professional, competent planning department we've ever had," he said.
PAC financial activity is public record, available through the elections division of the Oregon Secretary of State.
For more information on Citizens for Sisters visit https://secure.sos.state.or.us/eim/jsp/CEMainPage.jsp.
All the candidates will participate in a forum at the FivePine Conference Center on Monday, October 13, at 7 p.m. The public is encouraged to attend.
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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