City of Sisters extends emergency declaration to May 31
SISTERS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- At its Wednesday meeting, the Sisters City Council extended the city emergency declaration until May 31. This emergency declaration applies to all areas within the city’s incorporated limits.
The City Council will discuss the need to continue the emergency declaration at their Wednesday, May 27th meeting.
The declaration is not connected to the reopening of the economy. The declaration gives the city flexibility to have temporary policies and potentially receive financial relief.
City Council allows Administrative Order 2020-03 to expire on May 13
The City Council also determined they would allow Administrative Order 2020-03 to expire. The administrative order had discouraged tourist travel, visitors, and related overnight stays in Sisters.
Administrative Order 2020-03, which was put in place on April 14th, was an order to protect the health and safety of the Sisters community during a time of more uncertainty regarding the steepness of the curve of COVID-19 spread. The order discouraged tourist travel and related activities to Sisters except for permitted essential travel.
City Manager Cory Misley said, “There is a coordinated understanding between the city and Chamber of Commerce/Visitor’s Center that the focus for now should be on shop local initiatives within Central Oregon; now is not the time to encourage outside tourism activity. This is a sentiment and message shared across Deschutes County as we head into Phase One of reopening the economy.”
Deschutes County Commissioner Tony DeBone says the message to tourists who are considering coming into the area is simple: Please wait: "The message is 'stand by,' right now, for tourism, it isn't really prudent to promote it, but all the tourism agencies and operators, everyone understands that. Let's just kind of take it easy for right now. It's not a hard closure, but it's not a promotion time either."
All essential city services have continued during the pandemic, although citizens may experience periodic delays as staff are working on a staggered schedule/telecommuting. Continue to check the city website for updates and changes to city operations. www.ci.sisters.or.us/coronavirus.
State Updates: govstatus.egov.com/or-covid-19
For the most current city of Sisters information, subscribe to e-notifications at: www.ci.sisters.or.us/newsletter/subscriptions.
