City, USFS work to resolve bill
By Jim Cornelius

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The City of Sisters and the Sisters Ranger District are trying to resolve their disagreement over how the district should be charged for sewer services.

Representatives from both parties met again on Thursday, February 22, to work through details of a $250,669.26 charge to hook the ranger district compound and the East Portal kiosk restrooms up to the city's sewer system.

"What we're trying to do is understand the bill we're being asked to pay," said District Ranger Bill Anthony. "The bill adds up to a lot of money. I'm responsible to make sure what the Forest Service is paying is fair and equitable."

Anthony questioned whether the Forest Service is being treated the same way as businesses. Sisters businesses existing at the time the sewer bond was passed in May 1998 are being charged a flat hook-up rate of $1,000 per equivalent dwelling unit (EDU).

New construction is required to pay systems development charges of $2,994 per EDU.

The Forest Service was billed for the hook-up charge, plus SDCs.

Anthony asked why the Forest Service was liable for SDCs, when existing businesses are not.

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The city acknowledges that the Forest Service is being treated differently from other establishments in Sisters.

"I think from the beginning the Forest Service has been viewed as (being in) a unique position," said Mayor Steve Wilson.

The city negotiated for months to acquire National Forest land for the sewer treatment plant. The city and the Forest Service tried to work out a trade of land for sewer. That effort failed and the city opted to purchase the land outright.

The value of the land remains, for the city, a significant issue in the negotiations over the sewer bill.

"The question there comes down to what is the value of the land (for the treatment facility)," said engineer Dick Nored of HGE, Inc. "If we're going to pay the full value of the land, the Forest Service should probably pay the full value of the connections."

Nored was willing to explore the possibility of reducing the bill to include only the $1,000 hookup fee for at least part of the compound. If that happened, the city would not do any lateral line installation.

Anthony indicated willingness to accept full SDCs on the kiosk restrooms if they in fact qualify as "new construction" under the sewer plan.

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The city and the Forest Service have a fundamental disagreement over how the EDUs were calculated for the administrative site and the rest of the compound.

The city calculated 35.29 EDUs based on summer peak usage.

Anthony and the other Forest Service representatives noted that other businesses' EDUs were calculated according to December-March usage.

Nored noted that the Forest Service's staffing is seasonal, increasing substantially in the summer months. Anthony countered that the majority of Sisters businesses, from restaurants to retail stores, increase staffing for the tourist season.

"What we're seeing is inconsistency that makes it hard to accept and hard to see that it's fair for us to pay more," said Anthony.

Anthony also noted that the Forest Service staff does not stay in the administration building and use the facilities; a large proportion of the staff spends the entire day in the woods.

The city is counting on the Forest Service to pay 50 percent of the cost of two mains that run across the compound -- one serving the kiosk restrooms, the other serving the rest of the compound.

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That part of the bill amounts to approximately $144,000.

The city claims that the lines are located at least partially to benefit the Forest Service; therefore the Forest Service should pay.

Forest Service representatives thought the lines were installed across the compound because that was the most efficient design for the system. They note that the line to the kiosk is being used to serve other businesses, as well.

The next steps in the negotiation are not clear, but both sides agreed to meet again to try to come to terms.

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