City snapshot - 7/29/2020

• Following numerous complaints from residents in the city who live in the vicinity of the City’s Public Works headquarters at the south end of Locust Street, the garbage trucks will no longer be traveling on Locust to access the City property. Republic Services has moved yard waste disposal to the Fryrear Transfer Station.

• A reminder from the City regarding recreational vehicle parking in town: RVs may only be parked in designated signed areas within the City, which includes East Main Street behind City Hall, North Pine Street, Adams Avenue, and at the Creekside Campground. Sleeping in or using an RV as a dwelling in public right-of-way is not allowed.

• City Manager Cory Misley offered thanks and praise to the City staff for all their diligent work over the past several months dealing with the end of one fiscal year and the start of another while meeting all guidelines related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The City is also temporarily down one full-time staff member/department head and others have stepped in to fill that gap.

• The appointment of a short-term work committee is being considered to study the City’s disbursement of transient room tax receipts, a major percentage of which must go for tourist-related services, activities, and marketing. They will most likely be meeting during the fall, with an eye toward completion and recommendations prior to the year-end holidays. The committee’s task would be to draw up a strategic tourism plan for how those TRT funds will be spent.

• Traffic data recording equipment was recently purchased by the Public Works Department to improve the City’s ability to collect relevant data regarding numbers and types of vehicles traveling on City streets, their speeds, and the percentage of different speeds traveled, including the time of day or night. This information will help inform the Deschutes County Sheriff’s officers assigned to Sisters where and when to patrol for traffic speed enforcement and safety.

The data will also inform the City regarding the need for speed zone adjustments and possible installation of traffic mitigation equipment such as speed bumps, traffic calming installations, and speed signs. The recorders are initially scheduled to be used on 12 streets, with more in the future.