Sisters takes a look at candidates

Big city politics hit the small community of Sisters as the full slate of five candidates for the Sisters City Council lined up together to face an intent crowd of around 150 people - a few of whom were actually voting constituents - at FivePine Conference Center Monday night.

Dwarfing the meager turnout for the recent Bend Candidates Forum, the interest level is of historic dimensions for Sisters. The well-run candidate forum was organized by Bill Mintiens and capably moderated by attorney and Sisters resident John Hornbeck.

The forum presented the candidates with a series of questions selected from submissions sent in by local community residents over the past few weeks. The candidates did not preview the questions.

Contrary to audience expectations, the previously announced and explained blind solo answering format had been changed to a panel style response with all candidates answering the same question in turn, this apparently due to a request by the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce.

This resulted in a very cordial atmosphere on the stage as the candidates for the most part kept finding themselves agreeing with and complimenting things that previous candidates had stated.

However, there were some differences in their positions that loomed very large. While Brad Boyd and Pat Thompson answered the direct question saying "yes," they would like to be Mayor if asked for 2009, Jerry Bogart's on the spot loud and resounding "NO!" shook the room so hard it caused the jowls of the audience to shake in laughter.

Wendy Holzman and Lon Kellstrom exhibited no apparent interest in the position either.

The questions were wide-ranging and raised some interesting issues. Candidates responded to queries on their past meeting participation levels. Kellstrom and Boyd are incumbents, making their answer obvious. Holzman has attended many meetings and participates on several city committees. Thompson and Bogart have not been attending council meetings regularly, but believe they are nevertheless well-versed in the issues facing the city.

Asked whether they would throw their support behind proposed destination resorts, none of the candidates answered with a definitive "yes." Kellstrom and Thompson feel it is outside the city's jurisdiction.

As to whether there should be more "fast food" chains in Sisters, only Bogart gave a definitive answer: No. The others were more circumspect. The city cannot discriminate outright against such businesses and has limited tools to restrict types of businesses that meet city codes.

Some questions tended to put candidates in tight spots, such as to whether they thought there should be a change in the city's management staff or whether they have any potential conflicts of interest with future land use decisions.

Pat Thompson acknowledged one potential conflict, as he is a partner in land that is outside the Urban Growth Boundary.

No candidate expressed any strong inclination to change city management.

In general, the level of knowledge of the candidates seemed very strong.

Kris Rerat of Swiss Mountain Log Homes thought that the forum was "well run and very informative." She thought that the forum certainly gave her "a much better feel for the candidates."

She also found that she learned more about the issues, especially traffic alternatives.

Retired commercial Realtor David Douthit felt that it was a very revealing forum and that there was a four-way tie for second place.

"One person seemed to stand above the others with knowledge of the issues and the answers and that was the current mayor," he said.

He said that the forum illustrated how the future is "fraught with challenges" for the city. He has watched the few light industries we have had leave Sisters and thinks that maybe the town may be better off to focus on "going with what we have got" - tourism and resort-oriented businesses. He was also surprised to hear unanimous consent that the UGB does not need to be expanded at this time.