New Sisters city councilors sworn in

As of January 8, Sisters has a new mayor, Jennifer Letz, who won re-election to the Council, and new president, Sarah McDougall, who is new on Council. The five-member body also includes newly elected Councilor Cheryl Pellerin and Councilors Michael Preedin and Gary Ross who continue the remaining two years of four-year terms. The three recently elected councilors were each sworn in by City Manager Jordan Wheeler.

Every two years, the newly elected and returning councilors determine who amongst them will be appointed mayor and president. A councilor nominates another councilor for the position, another seconds the nomination, and if there are no other nominations, they all vote yea or nay. Both the new mayor and president were uncontested nominations and appointed by unanimous vote of Council. A couple of the visitor comments acknowledged appreciation for seeing this peaceful transfer of power.

After being appointed by Council, Mayor Letz immediately thanked former mayor, now councilor, Preedin, expressing her respect and admiration for his four years as mayor. Throughout the meeting, Preedin was complimented and sincerely thanked by his peers.

At the tail end of this three-hour council meeting, Preedin suggested that the process of appointing a mayor needed review. There followed a brief discussion of term limits, clarifying the appointment process, and maybe making it a charter change rather than an addition to council rules. Preedin stated this will be revisited when Council works on goals.

Preedin next noted that he had spent a couple of long nights to create an assessment of effort expended as mayor to share particularly with Mayor Letz, to give her an idea of what she is facing. Preedin noted that in the past four years he attended 548 meetings for approximately 800 hours. Preedin owns an active business and has a family, and his assessment did not include attendance at parades or events.

After the meeting, Letz, said, “I am very flattered and excited to be appointed as mayor for the next two years, also excited to help move the City along in all the projects that we are already working on and to keep the ball rolling. Michael Preedin did a fantastic job as mayor the last four years, and has left big shoes to fill. Thankfully, he is not leaving us and so he will continue to be part of our team. And (I am) very excited to work with our new councilors.”