Tribal Council adopts emergency plans

By Dean Rhodes

Smoke Signals editor

Tribal Council adopted two plans on Wednesday, March 25, that will guide Tribal actions in case of natural and human-caused emergencies.

The Natural Hazard Mitigation and Emergency Operations plans were created by Emergency Operations Coordinator Jamie Baxter with help from Tribal staff, Oregon Emergency Management, the Oregon Health Authority and adjacent emergency management agencies.

“Both of these plans are extremely important to the Tribe,” said Tribal Police Chief Al LaChance during the Tuesday, March 24, Legislative Action Committee meeting.

“The Hazard Mitigation Plan will serve as a template for identifying mitigation strategies for responding to disaster events and repetitive loss events,” an executive summary states.

In addition, Baxter said the plan makes the Tribe eligible for federal hazard mitigation grants before and after a disaster.

The Emergency Operations Plan will serve as a guide for planning for and responding to special events, emergencies and disasters. It will be sent to the state Office of Emergency Management and will be updated annually based on drills, exercises and actual events.

Tribal Council also appointed Northern Trust Co. as the new custodian of the Tribe’s investment portfolio based on a recommendation from the Tribe’s investment consultant Robert W. Baird & Co.

“Tribal Council has recently approved moving the custody of the Tribe’s investment portfolios, including members’ and minors’ trust fund assets, from Wilmington Trust Retirement and Institutional Services Co. to Northern Trust,” Tribal Finance Officer Chris Leno said. “Recognizing that Wilmington Trust has been the Tribe’s trustee for 12 years, and in an effort to be prudent in ensuring the services provided by Wilmington were competitive amongst the marketplace, in February 2013 Tribal Council directed that the services provided by Wilmington be put out for bid.

“After a long search, Northern Trust was identified as the trust company that could provide the services required by the Tribe in a much more secure and technologically advanced environment for the same price as paid to Wilmington. Northern Trust’s transaction, processing and reporting software provides additional resources for monitoring the portfolio that will be researched after the initial implementation that is scheduled for July 1.”

Northern Trust was founded in 1889 and currently services and manages $5.91 trillion in assets worldwide.

“Northern Trust is a market leader of asset servicing and asset management solutions for institutions and private clients around the globe,” Leno added.

In other action, Tribal Council:

•        Approved applying for a $7,000 Institute of Museum & Library Services grant that pays for a part-time Tribal Library aide and e-readers, among other items.
•        Approved applying to the Oregon Youth Development Council for two grants. The two-year, $94,828 Youth & Innovation grant would fund planning and creation of a community mural each year and the two-year, $245,717 Youth & Community grant would fund family tutoring nights and related cultural activities, as well as a family engagement navigator.
•        Approved the enrollment of one infant into the Tribe and accepted four voluntary relinquishments of Tribal membership.

Also included in the March 25 Tribal Council packet were authorizations to proceed that instructed Leno to proceed with establishing a Wells Fargo checking account to be used to process per capita distribution payments internally starting in June, transferred funds from contingency to the Enrollment Committee to  host the upcoming Northwest Enrollment Conference in October and authorized the Veterans Special Event Board to work with Tribal Engineer Jesse White to design and purchase a 5-foot diameter logo of the Tribal Color Guard patch to hang above the grand entry entrance of the powwow grounds arbor.

Tribal Council member Jon A. George, LaChance, Cultural Education and Outreach Program Manager Kathy Cole and Tribal Elder Debi Bernando opened the meeting with cultural drumming and singing.

The meeting, in its entirety, can be viewed on the Tribal website, www.grandronde.org, under the News tab and then click on the Video link.