City shifting on engineering services

Based on the recommendations of a selection committee that reviewed each of the four responses to the RFP for the city engineer, the Sisters City Council Thursday night approved entering into final contract negotiations with Century West Engineering Corporation to provide city engineering services for at least the next three years.

The council also approved entering into final contract negotiations with Deschutes County to provide "Building Official/Inspection/Plan Review" services for at least the next three years.

The city engineer for more than 40 years has been Coos Bay-based Dick Nored, president of HGE, Inc.

Speaking to Nored's long service to the city, Director of Public Works Paul Bertagna said, "...he designed a majority of our water system, he developed our first well in 1974, he developed our first reservoir in 1994 ... he worked on the sewer system from the early '70s until he finally saw it to fruition in about 2001. He will be greatly missed.

"With that said, we are excited for Eric (Huffman of Century West) and his team. The benefit that the city will get from having an engineer (based) in Central Oregon is huge," continued Bertagna.

Century West will be partnering with Kittleson and Associates for traffic engineering, and partnering with locals Fred Ast and Associates for surveying and Sage Resources for irrigation and landscape design.

The second city service to change hands involved the planning department.

The city's building inspection function has been covered by Lisa Weishoff of Building Services LLC for over 13 years. After very close initial bids, Building Services withdrew their proposal during the final negotiations leaving Deschutes County as the only bidder.

"The (Deschutes County) customer service will be a face in the City of Sisters four hours every day. Two hours in the office... They can be on-site at any time for economic development considerations. They can be at our site plan review meetings, and they can also serve as a hub for county residents to drop off plans," said Development Director Pauline Hardie.

Hardie reported, "The city will also be adopting the on-line Accela program that will allow the contractors to schedule their city and county inspections on-line. They will be able to look at their finals and inspections and see any comments, and they can see where their projects are in their review. Deschutes County has also adopted the program, which is expected to be used statewide within the next 10 years."