The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

The City of Sisters is responsible for a variety of infrastructure systems and services that support our community. To ensure we reflect and align with who we serve, boards and committees that provide a direct link with community members are critical to maintaining dialogue. These groups inform and advise the City Council and City staff on several topics.

Whether it is wastewater and water infrastructure, streets, parks, land use and community development, tourism and economic development, or law enforcement, we rely on community input to shape where we are going and how we get there. Every year, across all aspects of the City, we are at some phase in a cycle of analysis, planning, project development, and implementation. We rinse and repeat this year after year to be both proactive in addressing growth and reactive to shifting community needs.

Volunteers — who above all else have the best interest of the community — are essential to informing and guiding our year-after-year journey together. The relationship between City staff and those who serve on City boards and committees is crucial for seeing a positive, productive cycle continue its momentum. We are all in public service together, and it is very rewarding work.

The City is accepting applications for the following openings:

• Planning Commission (PC): Three openings, all in-City positions, and appointed to four-year terms.

• Budget Committee: Four openings, all in-City positions, and appointed to 3-year terms.

• Housing Policy Advisory Board (HPAB): Two openings, both in-City positions and appointed to three-year terms.

• Urban Forestry Board (UFB): One opening, in-City position, and appointed to a 3-year term.

• City Parks Advisory Board (CPAB): Two openings, both in-City positions, one position is for a three-year term, and one position is for a one-year term.

• Public Works Advisory Board (PWAB): This is a new board with five positions. Three must be in-City, and two may be outside the City limits. Three positions will be appointed to a three-year term, and two positions will be appointed to a two-year term.

Generally, meetings occur monthly (or at a minimum quarterly) and last for an hour or two. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began — and for the foreseeable future — these meetings are occurring through videoconference. For the most part, staff prepare agendas, research, compile background materials to support each agenda item, and present on the topics to inform the discussion by the board members and staff.

The deadline to apply for these open positions is November 6 at 5 p.m. Interviews for open positions will occur in late November, and appointments will happen at the first City Council meeting in December. Each appointee’s new term will begin in January of 2021.

Please visit www.ci.sisters.or.us to learn more or reach out to Kerry Prosser at [email protected] if you would like to discuss these opportunities.