4
Wednesday, May 20, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
City of Sisters Sisters recycling
COVID-19 Situation Report
center reopens
The May 13 City Council
meeting discussion ranged
from the County reopening
plan and State framework to
all City operations and facili-
ties that have been impacted
by COVID-19. An overview
of those discussions and
decisions can be found in
another section of this edition
of The Nugget, as well as the
packet materials and audio
of the meeting on the City9s
website.
The Council made two
key decisions: First, a res-
olution was adopted to
extend the City9s Emergency
Declaration through May 31;
second, the Council decided
to let the Administrative
Order discouraging tourism
travel and visitor overnight
stays expire May 13. These
decisions were made after
consistent monitoring and
careful consideration of the
County and State actions
leading towards reopening
of the economy. The County
submitted a plan to the State
earlier this month to move
into Phase I reopening and
was approved by the State on
May 13.
Earlier in May, the State
extended their emergency
declaration to July 6. There
was some confusion as to
whether this meant the <stay
home, save lives= direc-
tive was also extended until
then 4 the answer is no. The
emergency declaration gives
the Governor the ability to
adopt administrative orders
implementing temporary
policies that supersede exist-
ing policies adopted by the
State legislature. Think of the
emergency declaration as a
tool box and the <stay home,
save lives= order was a tool
used from that tool box.
Furthermore, the emergency
declaration allows access to
Federal relief funds.
The City extended its
Emergency Declaration for
those same reasons.
We are still in a wait-and-
see approach regarding the
progression of COVID-19 as
the economy opens up. For
the previous month the City
had discouraged tourism
travel and visitor overnight
stays in lock step with the
County. Now that we are in
Phase I, we are no longer dis-
couraging that activity but at
the same time are not encour-
aging that activity in line with
the County and State. The
City, through a contract with
the Sisters Area Chamber of
Commerce, contributes hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars
each year to support market-
ing and promotion of Sisters
as a destination. Right now,
none of those funds are being
spent to attract visitors from
afar, for safety sake.
The City understands
that we receive many visi-
tors throughout the summer
tourism season. As we all
know, almost every pub-
lic event has been canceled
for the foreseeable future.
Even though we won9t have
a traditional event season
we still will have a tour-
ism season. No one knows
how many people will come
and exactly from where. At
this point and likely for all
three phases of re-opening
(each phase requires mini-
mum 21-days before mov-
ing to the next assuming
there isn9t a spike in cases),
the City and Chamber will
not be advertising for those
outside of Central Oregon
to come to Sisters. This is a
shared approach by the coun-
ties, cities, and chambers/
visitor centers across Central
Oregon.
The enforcement of activ-
ity and precautionary mea-
sures (such as social distanc-
ing and gatherings) will be a
team approach. Many public
entities, in particular County
Environmental Health,
OSHA, and the City, will
be triaging on a situation by
situation basis. Most impor-
tantly, the emphasis from all
public partners is voluntary
compliance through infor-
mation and education. If that
doesn9t work in a specific
case, a warning and referral
to an enforcement authority
will be made 4 ultimately
a citation may be issued in
severe cases and/or refusal to
cooperate.
Within the City of Sisters,
you can call the City if you
have questions or concerns.
We are all truly in this
together. What we don9t want
to have happen is we take
one step forward and then
have to take two steps back.
These first few weeks in
Phase I, including Memorial
Day weekend and better
weather, are critical in set-
ting the right example for the
coming months.
The City is focused on
supporting our commu-
nity economically while at
the same time maximizing
safety during these chal-
lenging times. The recipe for
keeping COVID-19 at bay
is relatively simple 4 yet
easier said than done. Social
distancing, regular sanitation
of surfaces and hands, avoid-
ing touching your face, and
wearing of face coverings,
if all done consistently, will
make a tremendous differ-
ence in keeping infections
down. If not, we could revert
to seeing cases rise and the
potential for the reopening
halted or reversed.
We need to continue to
focus on supporting local
businesses. Every dollar
spent locally will have a
compounding effect on the
recovery and resilience of our
businesses and fellow com-
munity members. We are still
living in uncertain times and
will continue to monitor the
situation as we move through
Phase I. We encourage you
to do your part in keeping
Sisters safe and prosperous.
Learn more at www.ci.sisters.or.us
NTED LADY
PAI
Antiques
Say Aaahhh...
We’re OPEN
& practicing
again on a
limited
basis!
541-904-0066
141 E. Cascade, Ste. 104
Quality Truck-mounted
CARPET CLEANING
Quality Cleaning 16 years in
Reasonable Prices Sisters!
Please call for an appointment as we will
be prescreening patients prior to treatment.
ENVIROTECH
541-771-5048
Dr. Thomas R. Rheuben
— Credit Cards Accepted —
Licensed • Bonded • Insured • CCB#181062
RESIDENTIAL • COMMERCIAL
~ Serving Sisters Since 1993 ~
541-549-0109
|
304 W. Adams Ave.
|
Sisters
The Sisters Recycle
Center reopened on
Monday, May 18 with new
restrictions.
The City closed the cen-
ter on March 26, out of an
abundance of caution sur-
rounding the transmission of
the coronavirus.
The following restric-
tions will go into effect with
the opening of the center:
" Social distancing of six
feet between people should
be maintained while drop-
ping off your recyclables.
" Every other parking
space will be closed, which
will allow a maximum of
four cars at a time within the
facility.
City staff will monitor
operations to determine if
designated operating hours
need to be put in place for
user and staff safety. If the
City staff cannot safely
clean the center while it is
open, they will reduce hours
of operations to allow staff
to clean when the center is
closed. Republic Services,
formally High Country
Disposal, has rescheduled
the City of Sisters free resi-
dential cleanup event to the
week of June 1. Residents
are asked to put their yard
debris, miscellaneous house-
hold waste, and appliances
out on their regular collec-
tion day either Tuesday, June
2 or Wednesday, June 3.
Collection is only
for residents within the
City of Sisters. More
details at may be found at
ww.highcountrydisposal.
com. Deschutes County
Spring FireFree days are
happening until May 24.
Details can be found at
https://www.firefree.org/
firefreeevents/.
For updates and changes
to City operations, visit
w w w. c i . s i s t e r s . o r . u s /
coronavirus.
Made in Sisters, Oregon
We skillfully fabricate your ideas (and ours)
in steel, aluminum, copper
& other metals.
We do repair work, too.
“Your Local Welding Shop”
CCB# 87640
PHOTO BY ALEX JORDAN
By Mayor Chuck Ryan and
City Manager Cory Misley
541-549-9280 | 207 W. Sisters Park Dr. | PonderosaForge.com