Wednesday, November 11, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
11
Commentary...
City of Sisters bulletin
By Cory Misley
City Manager
The City of Sisters
recently launched a sur-
vey to all business license
holders based within the
City. The goal is to gather
firsthand feedback on the
City’s public services,
infrastructure, and tourism,
and begin the process of
working towards a collab-
orative, long-term tourism
strategic plan.
This is not the first time
surveys have been used to
shape policy, project, and
program decisions. Most
recently, the public safety
survey conducted in August
2019 helped to guide the
renegotiated law enforce-
ment contract that is cur-
rently being implemented.
The year prior, the busi-
ness survey from 2018
provided many insights
regarding City services and
potential adjustments to
downtown. Since then, the
City has updated its public-
event policies, created a
program to support afford-
able-housing construction,
tracked the plastic bag ban
adopted at the state level,
and continued to invest
in making our everyday
services including land-
scaping, streets, and parks
maintenance consistently
excellent (as reported in
that survey). One ques-
tion from that business
survey asked whether the
City should solely perform
snow removal on sidewalks
in the downtown commer-
cial core. In years past indi-
vidual businesses have had
to do so and take time away
from their work to coordi-
nate independently with
contractors. The question
in that survey was phrased
around the creation of a
new fee to cover the cost
and responses were mixed
— opposed to a new fee
and/or wanting additional
details of the fee amount
and service level.
Across all our depart-
ments, the City works to
find effective investments
that provide several com-
munity benefits at once.
Beginning this year, the
City will contract to have
snow (during significant
snow events) cleared on
sidewalks in the downtown
core. The City competi-
tively bid this contract and
we will monitor its initial
implementation as winter
quickly approaches. We
need clear, safe sidewalks
to enable and encourage
walkability and mobility
for residents throughout the
winter months.
In 2019, partnering
with Age Friendly Sisters
Country, Sisters was rec-
ognized by the World
Health Organization as
an age-friendly commu-
nity and city. Furthermore,
that same walkability and
mobility benefits local
businesses by providing a
better environment for visi-
tors to eat, shop, and extend
their stay. In 2019, the City
as a lead partner adopted
the Sisters Country Vision
that includes a strategy to
develop Sisters as more of
a four-season tourism and
visitor destination.
These objectives, among
many others, are important
ways the City maintains
commitments with and to
the community. Bringing
together and overarch-
ing so much of what the
City does, and how, is
the Comprehensive Plan,
and the City is currently
in the beginning stages
of a complete update to
that document. Regarding
the Comprehensive Plan
update, please visit www.
sisters2040.com to learn
more. If you’d like to stay
up to date on City proj-
ects and services, please
visit our website at www.
ci.sisters.or.us and reach
out to us with any questions
or comments.
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PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
The Happy Girls Half Marathon went off as planned on Saturday, November 7, in chilly conditions and
with COVID-19 protocols in place.
Adult at SMS tests COVID-positive
One of the adult personnel
at Sisters Middle School has
tested positive for COVID-
19, according to a message
from Superintendent Curt
Scholl.
“Through contact-tracing
protocol, we have found that
there were no connections to
any students,” he reported.
School announced that,
“With some staff already in
quarantine, staff that were
already scheduled to be out,
and the increasing cases in
Deschutes County, we will be
suspending limited in-person
instruction at Sisters Middle
School at this time. We still
have a target of November 30
to bring our fifth grade back
and feel that this break from
limited in-person instruction
will help us meet that target.”
The state has shifted the
metrics by which some stu-
dents will be allowed to
return to class. That shift
comes at the same time that
cases are spiking, both across
Oregon and in Deschutes
County.
Scholl told parents and
community members, “I
would reiterate, we need all
Deschutes County citizens to
be leaders when it comes to
the COVID protocols. These
changing metrics do not
diminish our continued need
for vigilance around fighting
the spread of this virus. For
the sake of our students, our
vulnerable populations, and
everyone, please continue
to follow the physical-dis-
tancing, hand-washing and
mask-wearing protocols that
have been put in place to stop
the spread of this virus. Even
with the new metrics, con-
tinued spikes in Deschutes
County will limit our ability
to serve our students.”
St. Charles Hospital
System reports that, as of
Monday morning, November
9, there are 15 hospitalized
COVID-19 patients. Four of
those COVID-19 patients are
in the ICU and two are on a
ventilator.
St. Charles has 24 ICU
beds in Bend and six in
Redmond for a total of 30
throughout the health system.