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