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Sisters, Oregon
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The contents of the on-line edition of The Nugget represent a selection among the stories that appear in the weekly print edition.

Sisters voters easily approve new charter
By Torri Barco

Sisters' mayor now has a vote on the city council after Sisters residents voted Tuesday, November 4, to approve changes to the Sisters City Charter, which sets laws for the city government.

One hundred eighty-eight, or 88.67 percent, of the 212 voters cast ballots in favor of the changes, according to the Deschutes County website. Twenty-four residents voted against the changes.

Residents living inside the city limits received the ballots via mail.

The former charter was approved in 1967, said Eileen Stein, city administrator.

One change gives the mayor the right to vote in all city council meetings. Previously, the mayor could only vote to break a tie, Stein said.

The new charter also recognizes the city administrator as having the official position of city manager and declares the manager to be "the administrative head of the city government.

Stein said the list of city manager responsibilities cemented duties already in place, such as the authority to appoint and remove city personnel, prepare an annual budget, and to serve as the city recorder.

The addition to the charter keeps the city council from eliminating the office of city manager without a majority vote from the public.

The change clears the way for Sisters' recognition by the International City/County Management Association, which will not recognize a city as an official government without a provision securing the office of city manager in its code, Stein said.

"Most of the duties were already in the ordinance of city administrator, Stein said.

"I'm not doing anything differently. It just cemented the position; so before, if the city council wanted to go away from having a city manager... (maybe then) they might choose to have the city council act as administrator... they could have done that. Now that it's in the charter, they can't without a majority vote...

It's to protect from government corruption, she said.

Other changes to the City Charter include updating language and changing to gender-neutral terminology, such as changing councilman to councilor.

Information regarding the city's legal boundaries was also revised.

The new code refers residents to find information on the city boundary at the city administration office, which will contain updated versions of land annexed into the city.

Deschutes County has 30 days to certify the election results.

The city charter and its amendments can be found at www.ci.sisters.or.us.

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