Art in the natural
world page 5
Wessel is Athlete
of the Month page 11
Sisters youth want to give
Christmas trees page 21
The Nugget
Vol. XL No. 49
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
City adopts
new water/
sewer rates
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
A Habitat family in Cambodia...
By Sue Stafford
County
approves
marijuana
grow
Correspondent
Some utility users in the
city of Sisters will see big-
ger bills for water and sewer
usage. However, low usage
could result in reduced bills
for others.
The findings of a recent
rate study of the City water
and sewer utility rates by FCS
Group resulted in a recom-
mended 2 percent increase in
annual rate revenues for both
sewer and water utilities, to
reflect the actual cost of pro-
viding service.
The increase is driven
primarily by capital funding
requirements that the City has
embedded in its utility rates.
The proposed increases are
also partially attributable to
rising operating costs driven
predominately by personnel
By Jim Cornelius
Editor
PHOTO BY GARY MILLER
A Sisters Habitat for Humanity team traveled to Cambodia for a World Build program. The members of
the team took ownership as they built each wall, trying to do their best for the family that would call this
structure home. (See story, page 4.)
See RATES on page 30
See MARIJUANA on page 30
Council reviews rental
recommendations
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
Several Sisters City
Councilors are calling for
tighter regulation on vacation
rentals.
Councilors reviewed
recommendations from the
Sisters Planning Commission
regarding changes to the City
vacation rental (VR) regu-
lations at the November 29
Council workshop. Several
councilors want more regula-
tion on density and spacing
between rentals.
Over the past three
months, staff has been
working with the Planning
Commission to evaluate
Inside...
A proposed marijuana pro-
duction facility east of Sisters
can move forward after a 2-1
vote of the Deschutes County
Board of Commissioners on
Wednesday, November 29.
Norma Tewalt proposes a
3,600-square-foot marijuana
greenhouse on her approxi-
mately nine-acre property at
69188 Goodrich Road, north
of Highway 126. The proposal
had earlier won administra-
tive approval, but that action
was appealed by a neighbor.
The Commissioners held two
public hearings and tenta-
tively upheld staff approval of
the application on November
8, pending more information.
the current VR regulations,
identify key issues, and form
recommendations for modi-
fications to the existing VR
regulations (see The Nugget,
“Planning Commission rec-
ommends caps on vacation
rentals,” November 22, page
9).
Council did approve
increasing the current $250
application fee for VRs to
$500.
Councilor Andrea Blum
told her fellow councilors she
was “less than pleased that
existing VR owners aren’t
participating in the discus-
sions.” She went on to say
See RENTALS on page 25
Scouts seek donations for shelter
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
Sisters Girl Scout Troop
#10732 has placed large dec-
orated boxes in both the ele-
mentary and middle schools,
asking for donations to the
Sisters Cold Weather Shelter.
Donations will be accepted
from now through Friday,
December 15.
The types of items the
Scouts are asking for include:
twin-size bedding; plastic
storage bins; Tracfone minute
gift cards for shelter phone;
movie DVDs, puzzles, and
playing cards; disposable
plates, coffee cups, paper tow-
els, and toilet paper; coffee,
tea, hot chocolate, creamer
and sugar packets; snacks to
go such as granola/protein
PHOTO BY SUE STAFFORD
Sisters Girl Scout Troop #10732 is collecting necessary items for the
Sisters Cold Weather Shelter.
bars, yogurt, fruit, etc.; hand
warmers; toiletries; gift cards
and certificates to local mer-
chants; Chamber bucks; and
warm gloves, hats, scarves,
boots, and jackets.
The eight members of the
troop, which is comprised
of fourth- and fifth-graders,
made flyers to inform students
See DONATIONS on page 25
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Bunkhouse Chronicle ......... 8 Movies & Entertainment ....11 Fit for Sisters ...................20 Classifieds .................. 27-29
Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ............... 10 Holidays ..................... 13-22 Crossword ....................... 26 Real Estate .................29-32