City snapshot

• Newly elected City Councilor Michael Preedin and re-elected Councilor Nancy Connolly were sworn into office at the City Council meeting on January 9. They will both serve four-year terms. Richard Esterman, re-elected to a two-year term, was out of town and had been sworn in earlier in the week. The Council members selected Chuck Ryan to serve another two-year term as mayor and Connolly will repeat as the president.

• 2018 was the second-busiest year in Sisters' history for construction, according to Patrick Davenport, community development director. New homes, apartments, and commercial/industrial buildings were going up all over town, from Village at Cold Springs to Coyote Creek to Clear Pine to the light industrial district in north Sisters. More building is in the pipeline, with a proposed 30,000-square-foot warehouse for Laird Superfood and the proposed 200 new Hayden Homes next to the high school.

• The City Parks Advisory Board continued its review work of the design package for the Riparian Restoration Project on Whychus Creek between Creekside Park and Creekside Campground. They will forward their recommendations to the City Council. To meet grant requirements, the first phase of the project will involve the installation in 2019 of ADA-accessible ramps on the footbridge that crosses the creek between the park and the campground.

• The City Housing Policy Advisory Board (HPAB) spent their January meeting perfecting the wording of the Housing Assistance Grant Program document. The revisions they made will be incorporated into the document, which will then be submitted to the City Council for their consideration during an upcoming workshop. In March, the City Housing Needs Analysis will be ready to be reviewed by the HPAB. The Board also requested that Community Development Director Patrick Davenport prepare for them a list of the items in the 2010 housing plan that have been accomplished so they have a better understanding of where things stand before undertaking a 2019 housing plan.

• The City Council and the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners will hold a joint meeting at City Hall on the regular Council night of Wednesday, February 13. The public is invited to attend all Council meetings and workshops except for executive sessions.

• Creekside Campground reservations went live online January 2, and $35,000 worth of reservations came in that first day. As more and more people are using the online system, the number of phone calls to City Hall for reservations is declining. The weekend of the Sisters Folk Festival is already fully booked, with the Rodeo weekend almost full.

• Sisters Public Works is negotiating with the Oregon State Parks Department to be able to utilize the eastern end of the Creekside Campground for overflow dry camping for the Sisters Folk Festival weekend. Camping in town around the Village Green will not be allowed.

• The art for the Barclay Drive roundabout by Ray's is currently being cast and the artist is working on the framework for the art. Issues at the foundry have delayed the installation but it should be in place before too long, according to Public Works Director Paul Bertagna. The Request for Proposals for the landscaping should be released soon and installation of the plantings will be done in the spring.

• NXT Consulting presented the final draft of the Sisters Horizons Vision Action Plan to the Council at their January 9 workshop. They will be voting to adopt it in February. Some of the proposed strategies are already underway, like negotiating for an urgent-care facility in town.

• The City Councilors are entering the technology age with each one being given a personal tablet for conducting Council business. Instead of reams and reams of paper to print out their packets for each Council meeting, all the information will come to their tablets, which they will have right in front of them at the meetings.

• The City is accepting applications for one "in-city" volunteer to serve on the budget committee, a three-year term that will begin in May 2019.

The budget committee will review the budget for 2019-20 proposed by City Manager Cory Misley.

Applications are available on the City's website http://www.ci.sisters.or.us or by visiting City Hall.

Once filled out, return the application along with a resume to Joe O'Neill, Finance Officer, PO Box 39, Sisters OR 97759.

Deadline for applying is January 25 by 5 p.m.

For additional information contact O'Neill at [email protected]