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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 2016)
Student pilots get a taste of flight page 6 SHS Key Club kicks off canned-food drive page 13 Sisters youth excels in dressage page 24 The Nugget Vol. XXXIX No. 49 P OSTAL CUSTOMER News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon www.NuggetNews.com Hearing on councilor- elect’s residency set Wednesday, December 7, 2016 Sisters had third warmest November on record Burning down the house... By Sue Stafford Correspondent The matter of Richard Esterman’s residency within the city limits for the past year will be the subject of a special hearing on Thursday, December 15, 6 p.m., at Sisters City Hall. Esterman is one of three City councilors elected in November balloting and is slated to assume office in January 2017. Esterman’s filing papers for the election, submitted in July, listed his residence as 153 N. Oak St. and indicated he would soon be moving to PRE-SORTED STANDARD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sisters, OR Permit No. 15 PHOTO PROVIDED The U.S. Forest Service burned the ground house on the top of Black Butte last week. It used to house fire lookouts, but has not served that function for a number of years. Lookouts now live in temporary shelters on the mountaintop. See HEARING on page 26 According to preliminary data received by NOAA’s National Weather Service in Pendleton, temperatures in Sisters averaged warmer than normal during November. The average temperature was 41.5 degrees, which was 4.6 degrees above normal. High temperatures averaged 52.9 degrees, which was 5.5 degrees above normal. The highest was 68 degrees on November 9. Low tempera- tures averaged 30.1 degrees, which was 3.6 degrees above normal. The lowest was 22 degrees, on November 22. There were 18 days with the low temperature below 32 See WEATHER on page 22 City settles with former employee Airport boundary under local control The City of Sisters has agreed to pay $10,000 to former finance director Lisa Young, half of which will be reimbursed by the City’s insurance company. The payment settles a claim by Young stemming out of investigator Ashley O. Driscoll’s report on the con- duct of former City Manager Andrew Gorayeb. That report was released to the public last spring on the order of District Attorney John Hummel after several public records requests were filed. The report was not fully redacted by the office of then-City Attorney Steve Bryant. The names of numer- ous staff members appeared The question of whether the boundary of Sisters Eagle Airport could be expanded as part of a process listing it among the state’s “significant airports” has been put to rest. The Oregon Department of Aviation, acting on an opinion from the Oregon Department of Justice, has determined that setting the boundary is a matter for local jurisdictions (city and/or county), and ODA will only make a determination on list- ing of the airport. According to the City of Sisters, the boundary there- fore remains what it is cur- rently (see zoning map) and any change would require an extensive land-use process Inside... in the report. A second ver- sion — with additional redactions — was released later, but the original report has already been widely disseminated. Young alleged that the City of Sisters had breached its settlement agreement with her “related to or concern- ing the Driscoll Report.” The City denied breach of con- tract or tortious conduct. In agreeing to the settle- ment, Young released all claims of damages against the City of Sisters. Gorayeb resigned his post in the wake of the report, on April 28, and received a sev- erance package amounting to slightly under $114,000. By Jim Cornelius News Editor PHOTO BY STEVE KADEL The Oregon Department of Aviation will determine whether Sisters Eagle Airport qualifies for state listing. involving public hearings. “The land that is currently zoned airport is the bound- ary, period,” City of Sisters Community Development Director Patrick Davenport told The Nugget. ODA will add an air- port to the State’s Aviation Plan, Appendix M, Privately See AIRPORT on page 27 Letters/Weather ................ 2 Sisters Salutes .................. 5 Announcements ............... 10 Holidays ......................12-21 Classifieds ..................28-30 Meetings ........................... 3 Obituaries ......................... 8 Movies & Entertainment ....11 Crossword ....................... 27 Real Estate .................30-32