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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 2019)
2 Wednesday, April 24, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Hayden will provide workforce housing EXPECT DELAYS… By Paul Hodge CEO Laird Superfood The Highway 20 logging project gets underway Monday, April 29. Delays of up to 20 minutes are possible on the highway west of Sisters. Letters to the Editor… The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer¾s 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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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: We would like to thank City Manager Cory Misley and City Councilor Andrea Blum for educating our group on April 11 about how our City government operates, who is responsible for what, and how citizens can get involved in making Sisters a better place. We are so grate- ful for all the volunteer work Andrea puts into her work as a councilor, and for the passion and dedication Cory showed us for making sure Sisters thrives. They taught us that the City operates on a $15,836,348 budget for FY 2018-19 to admin- ister water and sewer, city streets, parks and land-use planning, public safety, and the economic development of Sisters. The City Manager, who is hired by the council, makes sure that the City9s policies and contracts are administered, oversees staff, and makes rec- ommendations to the council on many issues. There are five city councilors that are elected for four- or two-year terms; three are open positions every two years. The top two vote-getters get four-year terms, and the last gets a two-year term. The Mayor is chosen from within the council, by the council. The mayor runs council meetings and officially represents the City in public. Three councilor positions will be open in the 2020 November election, including Mayor Ryan9s, Councilor Blum9s and Councilor Esterman9s seats. Qualifications for running are simply that can- didates must be a qualified elector and live within the Sisters City limits for at least 12 months immediately preceding the election, and agree to volunteer their time to make deci- sions on behalf of the citizens. Other helpful, but unrequired, qualifications are: a passion See LETTERS on page 27 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Sunny Mostly Sunny Sunny Partly Cloudy 68/41 71/43 64/36 62/33 59/33 57/35 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759 Tel: 541-549-9941 | Fax: 541-549-9940 | editor@nuggetnews.com Postmaster: Send address changes to The Nugget Newspaper, P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759. Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon. Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Easterling Graphic Design: Jess Draper Community Marketing Partners: Vicki Curlett & Patti Jo Beal Classifieds & Circulation: Lisa May Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Owner: J. Louis Mullen The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. Third-class postage: one year, $45; six months (or less), $25. First-class postage: one year, $85; six months, $55. Published Weekly. ©2019 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition- ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts. Last year, when Laird Superfood made the deci- sion to open a major facil- ity in Sisters, we worked out our facility location, transportation routes and how to train an ever- increasing workforce to deliver sustainable prod- ucts that fuel people across the globe to perform at their peak. But there9s one critical element of our work over which we have little control: housing for our employees. Once at full capacity, we will be ramping up our employee hiring for our new modern facility in Sisters, likely making us the largest employer in town. Already available housing is in short supply in Sisters, and according to a new housing needs analysis in Sisters, more than 1,000 new homes will be needed in the next 20 years. How will these homes get built and where will our employees live? We chose this com- munity because Sisters is different. The lifestyle, the pristine environment, the welcoming people. It all lines up with our ethos of providing clean, nutri- tious products that add to the health and wellness of our customers9 lives. But when we look at our own employees9 ability to thrive given the lack of housing options in Sisters, we see a problem in need of new solutions. We need the City of Sisters to partner with us to provide a housing supply that9s capable of sustaining not just our growth, but the growth of every business in Sisters. We need leadership that keeps housing affordable and accessible to everyone in our adopted town. And so, to say we are incredibly supportive of the close to 200 homes to be built in the new Hayden Homes McKenzie Meadows neighborhood is an understatement. Not only will homes in McKenzie Meadows be financially within reach for our team, an additional 20 affordable homes will be available for families making 80 percent or less of area median income through the nonprofit First Story and additional rental units. These homes will increase the housing sup- ply in Sisters — a huge impact. Yes, our employees could commute 30 minutes each way from Redmond or Bend every morning, and, of course, some will choose to do that, but if a commute like that is a requirement to be a part of our team, we will likely always battle recruitment and retention challenges. More importantly to the greater community, the ripple effect of our eco- nomic value to Sisters will be dampened dramatically if our employees aren9t able to support local busi- nesses by becoming full- fledged locals. We want to use the power of the economic development we provide to make Sisters an even better place to live and work, but we are limited without the strong underpinnings of a stable housing supply. We c h o s e S i s t e r s because it is a truly special place on this Earth and we want to help retain what9s special here and grow opportunity at the same time. By pulling together in the same direction, we can make it happen. To the Sisters City Council, we ask you to please pull with us at Laird Superfood by approving the McKenzie Meadows neighborhood and others like it as Sisters grows. Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.