Why no 'sunset' on brewery deal?

Despite general consensus on providing incentives to encourage Three Creeks Brewing Co. to site a new "export" brewing facility on industrial land in Sisters, the city council was divided 3-2 on the actual vote on an agreement.

The sticking point for councilors Wendy Holzman and Sharlene Weed was the absence of a sunset clause on a subsidy for sewer rates. The agreement includes a 30 percent reduction in sewer fees up to a maximum of $10,000. The incentive has no end date. The incentive was created to bring the costs of establishing the brewery in Sisters into equivalence with Redmond, an alternate site for the facility.

The agreement also includes a formula by which Three Creeks Brewing Co. will fund a portion of upgrades to the sewer system aerators when its production of effluent triggers a need for such an upgrade.

The 3-2 decision appears to have revived some hard feelings on the council. Councilor Sharlene Weed sent Mayor Lon Kellstrom and councilors David Asson and Pat Thompson a strongly-worded letter:

"I am deeply offended by how you treated Wendy and me at last night's council meeting. You were rude and disrespectful. You had two councilors wanting more time to work toward an agreement that we could all agree on. You had an applicant saying that the proposal could wait. You had a legal opinion from our city attorney advising us to put a sunset on the agreement. And you went ahead anyway. 'It's our way or the highway.' 'You're with us or against us.' That is no way to run a democracy."

The letter further noted that: "We were all committed to working toward a subsidy - in addition to the Enterprise Zone incentives - to help keep the brewery in Sisters. Why did you insist on voting when there were valid concerns that had not been vetted?"

In an interview with The Nugget, Mayor Lon Kellstrom explained the majority's position on a sunset clause.

"Frankly, it's a policy decision on the part of the council," he said. "We would not have gotten the deal without that (an open-ended subsidy). It was a critical issue for the brewery. That (a sunset clause) wasn't going to work for them because they weren't going to face it in Redmond."

Kellstrom acknowledged that there was no specific discussion of the rationale behind foregoing a sunset clause at the council meeting where the vote was decided, but he said the issue was fully vetted in a workshop the week before.

"Everybody was up to speed on that agreement, despite Sharlene's statements," he said. "This was as informed as we could get the five councilors. Two of them disagreed with it. That's democracy."

Kellstrom rejected Weed's characterization of the majority's behavior.

"Rude and disrespectful behavior - that is categorically untrue," he said. "That did not happen at that meeting."

The issue seems to have revived tensions that had been tamped down in the wake of the controversy over the tenure of City Manager Eileen Stein. The council went through several mediated sessions involving its relationship with Stein and among the individual councilors, resulting in the adoption of a set of operating principles for the council and the city manager.

Weed's letter stated: "If you want a divided community ... you got it. You did it. You are responsible." (Ellipsis in original).Wendy and I are not outliers. There are many ... maybe even a majority of citizens that support our viewpoints. If you would listen ... instead of bulldozing ... we would be able to come up with compromise solutions that would result in better decisions and greater harmony in our community."

Asked if the reaction to the brewery vote indicated that the council has returned to tension-fraught relations, Kellstrom demurred.

"Aside from the sewer vote and Sharlene's, I think, over-the-top reaction to it, we're getting along really well," he said. "In terms of the previous issues, I think a lot of that's been put to bed. Certainly it has with Eileen; that (relationship) is going along very well."

With that assessment, Weed agrees. She told The Nugget that relations with Stein have improved significantly and that Stein is considerably more responsive to minority concerns on the council in the wake of the mediation process.

Kellstrom has proposed that the council engage in a facilitated process focusing in intracouncil relations. That proposal has the agreement of other councilors.

In a response to Weed's letter, Holzman stated: "I must admit to be surprised upon reading this message from Sharlene. However, I think she makes some very good points. And I also agree that we need to move forward with Mayor Kellstrom's proposal that council engage in a facilitation process. And we should do it soon."