Wednesday, July 5, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
City snapshot
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
• Wednesday, July 5, is
the first official day on the
job for Sisters’ new city man-
ager, Brant Kucera. Over
the coming weeks, he will
be meeting with staff and
Sisters City Council, becom-
ing familiar with City Hall
and the city, and settling in.
Outgoing City Manager Rick
Allen will initially be avail-
able to help make a smooth
transition. Kucera was hired
from among three finalists
in a nationwide search. He
comes here from Cannon
Beach.
• At last week’s City
Council meeting, Rick Allen
was presented with several
tokens of appreciation for
the work he has done over
the past year as city man-
ager, cleaning up unfinished
City business, securing new
legal counsel for the City,
providing for needed edu-
cation for the City Council
on their responsibilities and
duties, and establishing pro-
tocols and procedures to aid
in efficient running of the
City. Officials noted that he
helped to create a new culture
at City Hall, making it a more
enjoyable place to be.
The Chamber of
Commerce and City
Council presented Allen
with Chamber gift certifi-
cates redeemable at busi-
nesses throughout town. The
Council also presented him
with a pottery bowl crafted
by local Sisters potter Ken
Merrill of Canyon Creek
Pottery. Council President
Nancy Connolly told Allen
that she hoped he would
think of Sisters fondly each
time he used the bowl, which
was decorated with the Three
Sisters. He said the bowl
will go to his cabin in Camp
Sherman. Allen offered his
thanks and made a few
comments.
“Sisters is a desired place
to be. There’s not another city
in Oregon like it. Coming
here was a once-in-a-lifetime
chance. I couldn’t pass it up
even though I was already
pretty busy. The job met my
expectations with its chal-
lenges and also its opportu-
nities. I would do it again
tomorrow.”
• Council approved sev-
eral 2016/17 supplemen-
tary budget items before the
June 30 end of the City’s
fiscal year. Additional legal
fees of $50,000 were neces-
sary as a number of linger-
ing legal issues were suc-
cessfully addressed and
settled. Going forward, bar-
ring any unexpected legal
issues, the amount budgeted
should remain fairly con-
stant. An additional $5,000
was approved for the salary
offered to the new City senior
planner. Due to the extraor-
dinary amount of snow this
past winter, expenses for
snow removal and manage-
ment required an additional
$25,000 for the Street Fund.
The Water Fund required an
additional $18,000 for con-
tracted services.
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Legislature
passes record
education
budget
By Kristena Hansen
Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A
record-$8.2 billion package
to fund Oregon’s K-12 pub-
lic school system cleared the
Legislature in a 31-28 vote
after a lengthy debate in the
Oregon House.
The package approved
Tuesday is up 11 percent
from the current biennium
and now heads to Gov. Kate
Brown. It provides public
schools with the majority of
their funds, about 70 percent,
for the 2017-19 budget. The
next budget cycle begins
July 1, meaning educators
may need to retroactively
adjust their budgets for the
upcoming school year
accordingly.
For most of the state’s 200
or so districts, it’s enough
money to keep current ser-
vices going. But others like
metro Portland’s Beaverton
School District say they
needed at least another $200
million to avoid scaling back
staff and programs.
RAILROAD: Drought
and depression killed
homesteads
Continued from page 16
be there at 4:30 p.m. will see
the train go by.
Construction of the rail-
road in 1911 necessitated con-
struction of a bridge over the
Crooked River Gorge, with
the river 860 feet below. At
the time it was constructed,
the bridge was the seventh
highest structure of its kind
in the world and the high-
est cantilevered arch in the
United States. When the first
train crossed the bridge on
September 17, 1911, only half
of the rivets were in place.
Nothing remains of Opal
City, which was a com-
munity six miles south of
Culver along the Oregon
Trunk (Burlington Northern)
railroad line. Named for the
nearby Opal Springs located
in the Crooked River Canyon,
a post office was established
in 1911 shortly after the
17
railroad arrived in Central
Oregon.
The town served as the
place to stockpile supplies
for the construction of the
nearby Crooked River Gorge
bridge. A wild tent city grew
up rapidly, providing space
for saloons and bordellos.
Residents from surround-
ing homesteads would come
to Opal Springs simply to
watch passengers get off the
train. Their winter wheat
could be shipped out via rail.
When a well was drilled and a
water tower was built to ser-
vice the trains, the railroad
made water available to local
homesteaders for a nominal
fee.
As soon as the bridge
was finished, so was Opal
Springs, except for a few
businesses that remained.
Following a drought and the
Great Depression, many of
the homesteads failed, the
land was declared marginal,
with the government paying
homesteaders to give up their
land. Most remaining build-
ings were torn down.
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