Assets group updates city council

A citizens' committee is finalizing the business analysis of the four potential "community assets."

Last June the City chartered an ad hoc group to investigate four ideas for potential community projects. Bill Hall, chair of the ad hoc Community Assets Committee (CAC) shared a PowerPoint presentation at a city council workshop Thursday that indicated that the committee would be wrapping its analysis at their February 5 meeting. They will also be looking at possible combinations of the projects for the first time.

The current projects under consideration are a Sisters Park & Recreation fieldhouse to allow for indoor community sports activities, especially in the winter months; a mid-sized convention center; a winter sports complex/ice rink; and a science/art/history center.

The CAC will be previewing their preliminary findings before the local Rotary and Kiwanis clubs over a series of four meetings in March.

On April 26, the refined project findings will be presented to the public in a meeting at FivePine Lodge & Conference Center, that will be designed to generate "passion, involvement and commitment" according to committee member Bill Willitts. FivePine is donating the use of the center as well as beer and wine for the event. Hors d'oeuvres will be provided by the CAC.

Each of the project finalists will be presented at its own booth.

The CAC is also developing opinion surveys to be used in the Rotary and Kiwanis presentations and at the FivePine meeting. Plans to reach out with a survey directly to the community at large are still being worked out.

Both Hall and Willitts praised the group for rising above their individual business interests and working toward the best solutions for the greater community.

The Community Assets Committee was formed by former Mayor Brad Boyd in response to the input received at the town hall held at Sisters Middle School in March 2014 to brainstorm projects that the community would be interested in investigating.

The town hall meeting was called after the community uproar that resulted from the council's proposal to build an amphitheater. At the time the amphitheater plans were announced, a significant segment of the community expressed their frustration about the perceived lack of process, lack of community involvement, and lack of transparency involved in rolling out the proposal, which many thought was "a done deal."

The amphitheater project was cancelled.

Four projects emerged as having the most community interest and the Community Assets Committee was formed to assess their potential viability.

As initially chartered, the committee is made of 10 local volunteers. The group has met 12 times since they were pulled together June 2014.

Committee members include: Matt Cyrus, Aspen Lakes; Jerry Norquist, Cycle Oregon; Bill Willitts, FivePine; Bill Hall; Caprielle Foote-Lewis, Economic Development for Central Oregon; Liam Hughes, Sisters Park & Recreation District; Marshall Jackson, Sisters School District; Ann Richardson, Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce and Sisters Folk Festival; and representatives from the city council, Wendy Holzman and McKibben Womack.

In other council business, City Manager Andrew Gorayeb was voted a merit raise based on his most recent review in December. The vote was 3-1 in favor of the raise. New councilor Nancy Connelly abstained, citing the fact that she was sworn in after the review process had taken place. Councilor David Asson voted no. There was no discussion on the motion.