Tribal Council appoints 35 to committees, boards

By Dean Rhodes

Smoke Signals editor

Tribal Council approved 35 appointments and re-appointments to various committees and special event boards at its April 22 meeting.

Tribal Council re-appointed Andrew Freeman and Sharon Wattier to the Ceremonial Hunting Board; appointed Francene Ambrose and re-appointed Betty Bly to the Culture Committee; re-appointed Alton Butler, Mychal Cherry, David DeHart, Tracy Moreland and Brenda Tuomi to the Education Committee; re-appointed Janet Giddings, Sharon Hanson and Michael Mercier to the Election Board; re-appointed Sharon Freund, Laura Gleason, Sharon Hanson and Robert Schmid to the Enrollment Committee; appointed Tyson Mercier and re-appointed Kristina Summers to the Fish and Wildlife Committee; appointed Kelly Rowe and re-appointed Alan Ham, Anna Hannan and Janet Phillips to the Health Committee; re-appointed Dana Ainam, Kalene Contreras and Bobby Mercier to the Powwow Special Event Board; appointed Amber Case, Claudia Leno and Shirley Walkhoff and re-appointed Jamie Adams and Alan Ham to the Social Services Committee; re-appointed Jerry George and Richard Ray to the Timber Committee; and appointed Alton Butler and Lorraine Lash and re-appointed Steve Bobb Sr. to the Veterans Special Event Board.

In other action, Tribal Council:

•        Approved the agenda for the Sunday, May 3, General Council meeting, which will feature presentations by Spirit Mountain Community Fund and the Tribal Employment Rights Office. The meeting starts at 11 a.m. in the Community Center;
•        Approved use of a Tribal credit card by General Manager Dawn Doar;
•        Authorized the Natural Resources Department to purchase approximately $220,000 in crushed rock for forest road construction and maintenance in 2015;
•        Authorized the Gaming Commission to negotiate, finalize and execute amendments to the Tribal-State Minimum Internal Control Standards that are part of the Tribal-State Class III Gaming Compact;
•        Held a first reading on amendments to the Enrollment Ordinance. The proposed changes will be published in two Smoke Signals and will seek Tribal member comment before being considered for final adoption. Among the changes are adding procedures for removing names of living or deceased individuals from the Restoration Roll who did not meet Restoration Act requirements and providing procedures and standards for finding reasonable doubt of a member’s required lineage and ordering DNA testing, paid by the Tribe, to establish required lineage;
•        And approved applying for two Bureau of Indian Affairs grants – an $84,532 Climate Adaptation Planning grant that will help pay to host a conference in fall 2016 focused on natural and cultural resources and climate change, and a $38,945 Ocean and Coastal Planning grant that will be used to compare anadromous fish survival on the Reservation with that of similar fish in the Pacific Ocean.

Also included in the April 22 Tribal Council packet was a staff directive directing the General Manager’s Office to work with other Tribal departments to identify funding sources and opportunities for a recreational, fitness and physical therapy swimming pool in Grand Ronde. The directive asks for a report back to Tribal Council in time for consideration in development of the 2016 budget.

Ceded Lands Manager Michael Karnosh, Education Department Manager Leslie Riggs and Tribal Artisan Brian Krehbiel 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.