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Wednesday, November 21, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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SPRD’s Operation
Shipshape in full swing
Happy Thanksgiving
from the staff at
The Nugget Newspaper
We are thankful for our community
that supports their local newspaper!
By Jeff Tryens
SPRD Board President
The Nugget will be closed Thursday, November 22,
Thanksgiving Day, to enjoy time with our families.
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Let-
ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor.
The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be
no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.
To the Editor:
On Sunday afternoon, November 4, there
was extensive loud automatic rifle fire all day
at Edgar Lake on Stevens Canyon (near Indian
Ford Road) followed by loud explosions that
actually rattled windows of homes over one
mile away.
This area does not have high berms for
shooting and has become an area of extreme
noise pollution for homeowners and an unsafe
area for hikers, equestrians and cyclists.
I filed an incident report with the Forest
Service. The Forest Service has it designated
as a winter game passage area. I think all the
game is hightailing away.
Sad that this is allowed to go on so close
to many Sisters homeowners and lovers of the
great outdoors.
The Forest Service personnel were very
courteous at the Sisters Ranger station, and a
helpful enforcement officer followed up with
me and indicated he would follow up and patrol
the area the following weekend.
Gary Wehrle
s
s
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To the Editor:
Last week there was the suggestion that
the Zimmerman Cinder Pit might be more
effectively “managed” by the Forest Service.
If the Forest Service were good neighbors they
would stop the noise: as in stop the shooting.
This would protect sensibilities and protect
P.T.S.D. people from physical harm?
With the added specter of wildfire to lend
emotional leverage to the “management”
agenda: one might wonder how wildfire could
emanate from a bare red cinder pit completely
devoid of any trees or brush.
In the coming year we shall see the gov-
ernment party and its supporters attempt-
ing to “manage,” not only where we shoot
but what we shoot with. It seems that flyover
country deplorables must be brought to heel
by their political masters if America is to be
“Fundamentally Remade.”
Larry Benson
s
s
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To the Editor:
Reference your article (page 19) on the
supermajority. Main menu for the upcoming
session is which tax to pass: carbon tax, value-
added tax or gross receipts tax (back-door sales
tax). Or maybe all three!
Such hard decisions.
John Morter
See LETTERS on page 31
Sisters Weather Forecast
Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Rain
Rain/Wind
Rain/Snow
Partly Cloudy
AM Showers
Cloudy
52/30
46/35
44/28
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47/34
The Nugget Newspaper, LLC
Website: www.nuggetnews.com
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Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius
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Owner: J. Louis Mullen
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In preparation for the
arrival of a new perma-
nent executive director,
the board of the Sisters
Park & Recreation District
has initiated a series of
actions dubbed Operation
Shipshape. Thanks to
the generosity of Sisters
Country voters, the board
is finally able to tie-up a lot
of organizational loose ends
caused by chronic under-
funding. Everything from
a barely functioning office
computer network to an irri-
gation system on life sup-
port has come under scrutiny
thanks to Interim Executive
Director Courtney Snead.
Operation Shipshape,
drawing on the funds made
available by the local
option tax levy, takes on
five key issues: 1. tighten-
ing financial management
practices; 2. updating staff-
ing policies; 3. upgrading
office technology; 4. clear-
ing the maintenance back-
log; and 5. increasing staff
compensation.
The financial manage-
ment initiative is two-
pronged. First, the budget
process will be overhauled
to bring it into clearer
alignment with state law.
According to Interim
Executive Director Snead,
“the budget has been
adopted in compliance with
local budget law, but the
process we are undertaking
will improve the readability
and transparency of the bud-
get document so the public
can easily ascertain how its
tax dollars are being used.”
Second, the board will adopt
a more formal approach to
financial controls, provid-
ing a framework for staff to
improve internal financial
checks and balances that are
crucial for a mature public
organization.
With guidance from
Snead, the board adopted a
new organizational struc-
ture and, again, is putting
much-needed procedures in
place. Structurally, a single
recreation programs direc-
tor will handle all recre-
ation programming from
kids’ sports to adult exercise
classes and an event coor-
dinator will assure that all
SPRD-sponsored and sup-
ported events are handled
professionally and effi-
ciently. Pre-school and after-
school programs will con-
tinue in their current forms.
Also, by year’s end, all staff
and instructors will, for the
first time in memory, have
up-to-date job descriptions
and hiring agreements.
The old adage about
things being held together
by baling wire and chewing
gum is not far from the truth
regarding SPRD’s computer
network. Constant break-
downs, antiquated software,
poor security and terrible
internet access plague the
“system.” While longer term
fixes will be needed, the
board is currently spending
significant sums on replac-
ing the network’s server
hub, upgrading software,
securing the system from
possible hackers and finding
reliable technology support
services.
From a falling-down rain
gutter to exposed irrigation
wiring, SPRD is faced with
myriad physical plant issues
that Snead is prioritizing.
First up will be: making the
front door at the Collfield
Center, SPRD headquarters,
easier to open for people
with disabilities; rekeying
the locks on all the doors
— a long-overdue task; fix-
ing the ball field irrigation
and, of course, securing the
rain gutter. Further down
the line, improvements
will include upgrading the
small playground behind
the Coffield Center, improv-
ing landscaping around the
building, and collaborating
with the skate park commit-
tee to resurface degrading
areas of the skate park.
F i n a l l y, t h e b o a r d
approved a long-overdue
across-the-board 3 per-
cent cost of living increase
in July and is instituting a
first-ever retirement plan
designed to encourage
employee contributions by
matching employees’ con-
tributions up to 3 percent of
their annual salary.
Through these efforts
the board hopes to provide
the new permanent execu-
tive director with the free-
dom to immediately focus
on engaging with the com-
munity and honing SPRD’s
strategic vision rather
than having to deal with a
punch list of problems to be
fixed.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.