City keeps a wary eye on water

Bill Hall, newly appointed member of Sisters City Council, was sworn in at the May 28 Council meeting and hit the ground running, as he was voted to become the new Council president by his fellow councilors.

Public Works Director Paul Bertagna informed Council that due to the disruptive nature of the Hood Avenue lighting and water improvements, the project will be delayed until the fall, to avoid impacting the summer tourist season and to allow for more outreach to the effected businesses.

Bertagna also made Council aware of the recent declaration of drought in Deschutes County by Oregon Governor Kate Brown. Sisters is fortunate that none of its water comes from surface sources; rather the city's water is all supplied by wells. Bend, on the other hand, relies on surface water for 50 percent of its water supply, and will be adversely affected by the drought.

Despite the wells, Bertagna stated, "We must be respectful of a very precious resource."

He reported that the City installed drip irrigation in its Main and Cascade avenue landscaping projects, which is one way to help conserve water. He also recommended that the City consider reducing the hours of operation for the splash pad in Fir Street Park and perhaps reduce the run time of individual cycles to 30 seconds. A portion of the splash pad water runoff is captured in a reservoir and reused for park irrigation.

Council adopted a supplemental budget and established appropriations within the 2014/15 City budget to cover expenses in four areas: maintenance for painting of the recycling center; $10,000 to parks for a traffic study related to proposed improvements at Creekside Overnight Park; increased expenses in the planning department as a result of increased revenue; and expenses related to the Barclay Drive water project bringing water to the airport.

At the end of June, Council will be inviting Sisters nonprofits to apply for the annual Community Assistance Grants.

There will be a call-to-action meeting as a follow-up to the Economic Vitality Summit, scheduled for Tuesday, June 23, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at FivePine. All interested parties are invited to attend.