Council denies permit fee waiver

City Councilor Richard Esterman stepped down from the dais at the March 22 City Council meeting to address the rest of the Council as a private citizen and business owner.

Esterman was requesting a waiver of the public events permit fee of $375 for the Sisters Wild West Show, August 19-20, to be held on Oak Street between Main and Cascade avenues, with a variety of booths for vendors selling arts, crafts, antiques, and food. In addition, on the graveled lot at 320-350 W. Cascade Ave., there will be a two-story Western façade town with four Wild West shows each day that are free to the public.

This will be the fifth year for the show, previously held at Creekside Park.

Esterman, as the owner of Central Oregon Shows, has staged a number of events over the years in Sisters including the Sisters Antiques in the Park and the Sisters Fall Street Festival (different from the Chamber's Harvest Faire). He organizes the shows, secures the event permits from the City, pays for the advertising, and secures the vendors, who each pay him a $175 fee for their booth space.

The Wild West shows help draw the public to the area where the vendors are located. Esterman has to pay the actors of the Deschutes Desperados company for their performances.

Last year, Esterman reported he only cleared several hundred dollars after paying all expenses, including for the actors. He contends that the Wild West shows bring "2,000-5,000 visitors to Sisters" and the entire city benefits. This year, the Wild West shows will be on the same weekend as the solar eclipse that is estimated to bring tens of thousands of visitors to Central Oregon.

He requested of the Council that the permit fee be waived. After comments from Esterman and discussion among the Council members, the Council decided not to waive the permit fee. City attorney Jeremy Green advised against "setting a precedent of waiving permit fees which can become problematic," encouraging others to request similar waivers.

City manager Rick Allen reminded Council that the City can allocate funds as a sponsor of the event if it benefits the City beyond what any event normally does.

In the past, and again this year, Esterman has billed his events as fundraisers for nonprofit organizations, and therefore, under the organizations' nonprofit tax identification numbers, filing for the event permits as nonprofits, which cost less. Central Oregon Shows is a for-profit business.

Included in the event narrative and traffic plans filed with the City for each event, was an additional statement in boldface type at the bottom.

"UPDATE: Due to hostel (sic) treatment with the temporary city manager.

All fees will be paid as a profitable event under duress and in disagreement.

The disagreement pertains to the new fee structure that was suppose (sic) to be a reviewed in the Fall of 2016, before the 2017 season and was postponed by the temporary city manager.

When and if the fees are addressed and reduced Central Oregon Shows will expect a refund of the difference.

Also in disagreement is the temporary city manager's actions and hostel (sic) treatment toward the 2017 proposed partnership between a non profit, in which, there is no city definition or city code stating what can qualify or benefit from a non profit fee."

This is not the only disagreement between the City and Esterman's Central Oregon Shows. Prior to joining the Council in January, Esterman had conflict with the City and the Quilt Show regarding transient merchant permits and fees. He also disagreed with the Council's decision that no other public events may take place at the same time as the few major public events like the Quilt Show.

Now that he is a City Councilor, Esterman must declare a conflict of interest and recuse himself from any discussion and/or vote on an issue directly affecting his Central Oregon Shows business.