Across the nation, workers face the worst job market since the Depression. The average laid-off worker has been without a job for six-and-a-half months, a post-World-War-II record. Many may never recover financially.

What does this mean for Sisters Country and what can we, the citizens of Sisters Country, do about it?

It's up to the leaders and citizens of this community to make intelligent decisions and to generate opportunities for jobs to keep our citizens from having to relocate their families elsewhere.

McKenzie Meadow Village is a perfect example of how this city can fight against the effects of this recession and put people to work. The construction of this senior care center, senior housing and future medical facilities will create much-needed local jobs. The development will offer senior care, senior housing and a future medical facility.

Currently on the table with our city council is the annexation of the property located just east of Sisters High School. There has been some argument that there may be hidden costs to the taxpayers that have not been identified. On the flip side, there continue to be delays while council banters back and forth about unproven effects and small details.

Our citizens are forced to move elsewhere to find work, meanwhile reducing our taxpaying population. Our community has contractors, tradesmen, craftsman, landscapers, food servers and numerous other talented individuals who are living on credit cards and running through their savings waiting for this recession to reverse itself.

At some point, they may need to pull their children from our schools and move elsewhere, leaving another vacant home. The effects of a reduced population create numerous, serious issues within our community at many levels and will be devastating to our downtown core retail businesses district.

The development of McKenzie Meadow Village would create job opportunities, both long- and short-term, to help keep our community on its feet. Here's a real opportunity for the city, county and the developers to work together to create a much-needed facility for our aging population and create a positive economic impact on Sisters.

The creation of jobs stimulates the cashflow throughout the community. It affects everyone. For those that do not have a steady job and regular paycheck, a timely approval by our city council could be a lifesaver.

The present economic conditions are creating a local crisis; we can minimize the crisis by taking local action to help ourselves. We need our city leaders to move forward and get the shovels in the ground before it's too late.

Please encourage our local elected officials to finalize the developer/city agreement, vote to move ahead with the citizen-approved annexation and allow this project to begin as quickly as possible.

Patty Vandiver and Mac Hay serve on SBART (Sisters Business Attraction and Retention Team). Vandiver is president of the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce.

The opinions expressed in this column are their individual opinions and are not presented as positions of either organization.