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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 2015)
24 Wednesday, August 5, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon TOugH JOb: Several councilors have stepped down Continued from page 1 through large amounts of background material in a short time-frame. When the workload is heavy and criticism turns per- sonal, it makes people ques- tion why they would want to volunteer for a turn in the barrel. “It can get nasty,” Frye said. “That’s why a lot of people quit; because it gets personal… I’ve heard a lot of people who have served in the past say they don’t miss it.” He says he’s heard many people say, “I want to serve this community, but I’d prefer not to have that kind of abuse and that kind of workload.” Yet the work is critical — and can be rewarding. Getting constructive work done and making the City a better place than when you started can make the job a rewarding and positive expe- rience, Frye says. Councilor David Asson, who is now the senior coun- cilor and one of two remain- ing councilors who were actually elected to the post, plans to stick around. He acknowledges that there are strains on volun- teers. Sometimes, local poli- tics can get rough. He noted, for example, that the last council meeting — a hearing on McKenzie Meadows Village senior- living facility — ran three hours and featured some pretty vitriolic rhetoric from rival senior-housing devel- oper Mark Adolph’s attorney Michael Repucci. And, he says, “There’s certainly irritation from the so-called activists… If you’re a sensitive person and like to work in calm surroundings, it’s uncomfortable.” He said inexperience in leadership roles both among volunteers and staff can “compound problems” and allow issues to spin up. However, he thinks the atmosphere is improving and he does not think any of the recent issues reflect bad internal relations. “None of those are symp- tomatic of poor council relations, I don’t think,” he said. Asson thinks training of new councilors and com- missioners would be help- ful, as would “more efficient planning and preparation for meetings.” He sees some definite positives, noting that “our outreach to the community has greatly improved.” Asson also thinks that newly appointed Councilor Amy Burgstahler has the temperament to “show peo- ple that this is a fun thing to do.” What makes being a coun- cilor or commission member “fun”? “What makes it fun and rewarding is when we accom- plish things,” said Mayor Frye. Things like improv - ing downtown and making the economic development manager position full-time. Things like providing com- munity grants. And, tough slog though it can be, get- ting projects underway and completed. And, the mayor believes, people are starting to under- stand that their neighbors and fellow citizens are volunteer- ing for a tough job. What makes it fun and rewarding is when we accomplish things. — Mayor Chris Frye “I think people are seeing a little bit now what it takes to be a councilor, what it takes to serve in that capac- ity,” he said. Overall, he says, “I think things have gotten a lot bet- ter.” And he is looking into ways of helping the commu- nity shift the tone. “There might be avenues to improve the discourse, to add some civility back into it,” he said. In the meantime, the council will have to appoint another member to replace We n d y H o l z m a n , w h o resigned last month, and get back to work on behalf of the citizens of Sisters. WHYCHuS: Area closure will lift in late September Continued from page 7 Riehle and Perle empha- sized the importance of last spring’s removal of the PMR dam. PMR agreed to the removal and received assis- tance in establishing a new diversion point, along with more efficient irrigation sys- tems that take less water from the creek. “That’s kind of what unlocked the process,” Perle said. We’re already seeing things green up and the plants respond. — Mathias Perle There will be planting of riparian vegetation, but Mother Nature has already jumped into action as chan- nels become more numerous photo by Jim Cornelius A new bridge will span the creek at the Brooks scanlon road. and shallower, with water closer to the surface. “We’re already seeing things green up and the plants respond,” Perle noted. The replacement of the bridge will also enhance creek health. There won’t be any center piers on the new bridge, so it won’t pile up debris in heavy flows and become a pinch-point on the stream. The span will be much broader — 125 feet. The closure area cov- ers some very popular spots for forest recreation, and folks have had to be patient with being excluded from some favorite spots all sum- mer. But the closure will end within weeks, and when people return to hiking the area and playing in the creek, it will be a healthier, more beautiful Whychus Creek than ever.