News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters is working hard to project a business-friendly image in an unfriendly economy.
According to Mac Hay of the Sisters Business Attraction and Retention Team (SBART), efforts to attract businesses are starting to gain traction.
"We're pedal to the metal," Hay said.
The organization, which works with city staff and civic leaders to market the area to businesses in sectors that fit Sisters and offer "family wage" jobs, has three or four solid prospects, Hay reports.
"One of them is a high-tech business, maybe 8-10 people," Hay said. Another prospect is a wood products company that would employ six or seven people making products out of forest slash.
"I got a call from a citizen here in Sisters who knows a business person who's trying to choose between Sisters and Redmond," Hay said.
Hay said he could not offer specifics, as the prospects are still in the exploratory stage. It is not clear how many people such businesses would bring into Sisters to fill jobs and how many would be hired out of Sisters' labor pool.
"I think there's a lot of underemployed people here, so I think any business we bring in here, we have a leg up on the talent here in Sisters," Hay said.
Many prospects are referred to SBART through EDCO (Economic Development for Central Oregon). The relationship between Sisters and EDCO, once arms-length, has grown closer over recent months. Sisters is now participating in EDCO's strategic planning and the organization offers support for SBART's endeavors.
EDCO, for example, gives prospective businesses a rundown on qualifications and potential benefits from the Redmond-Sisters enterprise zone.
The organization has named the City of Sisters, Redmond and SBART as the Economic Development Partnership of the Year.
One of SBART's primary roles is to act as a liaison between potential Sisters businesses and the city government, especially the planning department.
"Bureaucracy is difficult to get through," said City Councilor Sharlene Weed.
SBART helps prospects navigate through red tape to determine if their business would work in Sisters. According to Hay, some find out very quickly that they won't, which saves everybody time and aggravation.
SBART also does its best to tout the benefits of doing business in and from Sisters, promoting the lifestyle, natural environment, strong schools and other features that make Sisters an attractive place to live and work.
"I think SBART has done a terrific job in a short time in terms of making our community look like we're open for business," Weed said. "They've laid out the welcome mat."
Patty Vandiver, an SBART member and president of the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce, said it's not just a welcome mat:
"We do the whole red carpet and these people are so impressed by what Sisters does to show that we are welcoming new business," Vandiver said.
Mayor Lon Kellstrom, who ran as part of a slate of pro-business candidates in the November city council election, agrees that SBART has hit the ground running.
"When we started this... we didn't really know what kind of response we would get," Kellstrom said. "I've really been impressed with the fact that there's been more than any of us thought possible. There are some (prospects) that are kind of borderline and some that I think have real potential."
Kellstrom noted that there's a difference between fishing and catching and that hard work doesn't guarantee success in bringing businesses in.
"If you can get one or two out of 10, you're probably lucky," he said.
Weed says she is pleased that SBART takes a broad and diverse view of economic development - including affordable housing, education, good streets and infrastructure as part of the basis for sustainable economic growth.
"They recognize that our strength is in our natural environment and lifestyle and that's something we need to preserve and promote in order to attract business," Weed said.
Weed acknowledges that she is at odds with the views of Hay and Vandiver on the issue of annexation of McKenzie Meadows as the site of a senior housing facility. Both are ardently in favor of the move as a means of bringing vital jobs into the community.
"People are living on credit cards and using up their savings trying to make it through this recession," Vandiver said. "We have people leaving in the middle of the night, vacating their homes because there's no work."
"The construction jobs would be nice," Weed said. "They'd be nice if it (the senior housing facility) was being somewhere else in town, too."
Weed questions whether jobs provided at a senior living facility would be good, family-wage jobs.
"I'm not sure that's the kind of economic development we really want," Weed said.
However, Weed said, outside of the current issue, there's plenty of room for agreement on how Sisters should proceed on economic development.
"Once we get through McKenzie Meadows, there's a lot more common ground than not," she said.
Kellstrom thinks that the new "open for business" attitude is in itself a step forward and will bear fruit.
"That seems to feed the interest," he said. "People hear about it and say, 'I'd like to come talk to you.'"
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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