City planning staff short-handed

The City of Sisters Community Development Department (CDD) at City Hall has been a beehive of activity this summer. CDD Director Patrick Davenport and planning technician Carol Jenkins are carrying the load without the aid of a senior planner.

Earlier this summer, planner Darcy Reed was married and moved to California to accept a job closer to family. The City has posted the vacant position in all the usual places, but the current surge in building makes it a planner's market.

"Yes, we are busy. The market for planners is very tight. As the economy grows, cities and counties hire up more staff and we are competing with the private sector as well. A few years ago, we had the opposite. It's a cycle based on the economy," said interim City Manager Rick Allen.

Davenport added, "It's tough to compete with the bigger local governments in the region that can pay more than Sisters can."

Temporary help has come in the form of a summer intern, who Davenport said is helping with some daily tasks.

Both Davenport and Allen are asking for the public's patience as CDD staff perform their tasks with fewer employees.

"As for workload, we are getting things done and meeting our statutory timelines; however, some issues like code violations and other long-range planning projects must take a back seat," said Allen.

Those statutory timelines relate to permits and applications, as explained by Davenport.

"CDD priority is focused on performing plan reviews for building permits and land-use applications. Code enforcement, grant-writing, and long-range planning projects are not a priority given the current staffing situation."

Davenport went on to say, "There are some delays in customer-service requests, but so far our response is not too bad considering the situation."

He did warn, however, that a great deal of his time over the next few weeks will be taken up with preparing staff reports for the Planning Commission meeting on August 18, dealing with a modification for the remaining vacant land held by Hayden Homes, as well as a modification to ClearPine subdivision to allow for construction of nine cottage-style dwellings in Phase 2. Davenport will also be preparing to present development code text amendments for cluster developments and site plan reviews.

"I am trying to train Carol for a shift in her responsibilities to assume some more duties, but this takes time, which is in short supply these days," said Davenport.

Allen remains optimistic about finding the right person to fill the senior planner position.

"I am confident that Sisters is a desirable place to work and we will be successful. It just might take a little longer. We have only been at it for three weeks; that is not considered close to a long recruiting process," he said.