Wednesday, January 20, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
CItY: Staff have
managed to create
significant savings
Continued from page 1
approximately $4,600 with
the new fees.
Prior to the vote, dur-
ing visitor communications,
local event promoter Richard
Esterman asked Council to
consider grandfathering in
long-established events, thus
facilitating his ability to hold
his summer events. He con-
tended that the new fees were
“trumped up by the Public
Works Director and City
Manager” and aimed directly
at him, calling the new fees
“a clear act of discrimina-
tion.” Esterman said he felt
“threatened and discrimi-
nated against” and asserted
his belief that “there is no
accountability at City Hall.”
He argued that he leaves
the parks and restrooms
cleaner than before his
events. Public Works Director
Paul Bertagna explained the
costs associated with bring-
ing the trampled grass back
to its usual lush green.
• City Council will be
meeting on Thursday, January
28, in an executive session, to
conduct their annual job per-
formance evaluation of City
Manager Andrew Gorayeb.
His job description will pro-
vide the evaluation criteria.
Executive sessions are closed
to the public.
• The Affordable Housing
Work Group, headed by
Patrick Davenport, commu-
nity development director, is
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continuing their meetings to
investigate innovative ways
to attract developers to create
affordable housing projects in
Sisters. At their last meeting,
January 14, they reviewed
data and offered suggestions
for fine-tuning the housing
needs analysis being com-
pleted by Davenport’s depart-
ment as part of the larger
urbanization study that will
be used to update the City’s
comprehensive plan. One
recommendation destined
to come out of the analysis
could be for the establishment
of a housing policy board.
• The City has been able to
save $673,000 over the next
seven to 25 years by refinanc-
ing municipal bonds. With
savings already realized by
refinancing the City’s loan at
Bank of the Cascades, total
savings amount to over three-
quarters of a million dollars.
• With no discussion, City
Council approved as part
of the consent agenda an
expanded-use liquor license
for Eurosports, owned by for-
mer mayor Brad Boyd. His
previous OLCC license was
for limited on-premises liquor
sales. The new OLCC license
is for the additional privilege
of off-premises sales and a
90-day temporary authority.
• Council approved reduc-
ing the rent charged to the
Sisters Area Chamber of
Commerce to zero from the
current $750 per month.
A portion of the prem-
ises, located on the corner
of East Main Avenue and
North Spruce Street, shall be
available for public meeting
space.
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Seeking to ratify wolf’s status
By Gosia Wozniacka
Associated Press
PORTLAND (AP) — Two
Republican state lawmakers
are trying to thwart a lawsuit
filed by environmental groups
over a decision to remove
the gray wolf from Oregon’s
Endangered Species Act list.
The proposals by Sen.
Bill Hansell and Rep. Greg
Barreto seek to ratify the
Oregon Fish and Wildlife
Commission’s November
decision to de-list the wolves.
Eighty-one wolves now
live in Oregon. State biolo-
gists recommended stripping
them of the endangered sta-
tus, saying the species is no
longer in danger of extinction
in a substantial portion of its
Oregon range.
But some independent sci-
entists disagreed. Research
shows Oregon could support
approximately 1,450 wolves.
Currently, the animals are
present on just 12 percent of
its potential habitat.
In December, three envi-
ronmental groups sued, argu-
ing the commission failed
to follow the best available
science when it delisted the
wolves, did not conduct an
independent peer-review of
its proposal and its population
viability analysis for the spe-
cies was flawed. The lawsuit
asks for an impartial judicial
review of the commission’s
decision.
The proposals from
Hansell and Barreto include
an emergency provision,
which could make the law-
suit immediately moot — or
stymie its process. They will
be introduced as bills in the
House and Senate and consid-
ered during the upcoming leg-
islative session in February.
The proposals also seek to
amend state law by prohibit-
ing the re-listing of wolves
as endangered or threatened
unless their numbers fall
below a certain low threshold.
Ranching, farming and
hunting groups support the
proposals.
“We wanted to make the
commission’s decision final.
We’d like to end the mad-
ness and not be bogged down
in the court system,” said
Todd Nash, a rancher and
wolf committee chairman
for the Oregon Cattlemen’s
Association.
The environmental groups
say the bills are unnecessary,
because wolves are no longer
listed. That could change only
if a judge rules the commis-
sion acted illegally when it
delisted the species.
The bills, said Quinn Read
with Defenders of Wildlife,
would usurp the authority of
the commission to manage
species in the state by inject-
ing legislative action and poli-
tics into the process.
Environmental groups
also said amending the state’s
Endangered Species Act for
one species could set a dan-
gerous precedent.
“When you have a spe-
cies like the wolves that has
been misunderstood for so
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long, this legislation is just
furthering down the path for
treating the species differently
than the others,” said Amaroq
Weiss with the Center for
Biological Diversity.
We’d like to end the
madness and not be bogged
down in the court system.
— todd Nash
The groups point to an
upcoming review of the state
wolf plan as the place where
management criteria can be
adjusted. Currently the wolf
plan continues to tightly
regulate when a wolf can be
killed, but more lethal mea-
sures could be allowed to
manage wolves in the future.
The wolf plan review will
take just a little under one
year and will include public
hearings and scientific input.
The decision to delist
wolves statewide has the big-
gest impact on wolves in east-
ern Oregon. They were taken
off the federal endangered list
four years ago. Wolves fur-
ther west are still federally
protected.
But the environmental
groups say state protection is
also needed for the western
part of the state because fed-
eral officials are now propos-
ing to strip wolves of federal
protections in most of the
lower 48, including in west-
ern Oregon.
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