Tribal Council appoints Hoyle to Community Fund Board of Trustees

By Dean Rhodes

Smoke Signals editor

When Secretary of State Kate Brown suddenly ascended to the governorship earlier this year, it had the unintended consequence of vacating a seat on the Spirit Mountain Community Fund Board of Trustees, which oversees the Tribe’s philanthropic arm.

That empty seat was filled on Wednesday, June 3, when Tribal Council appointed Oregon House Majority Leader Val Hoyle to serve the remainder of Brown’s term through September 2016.

Hoyle represents District 14, which includes west Eugene and Junction City.

Spirit Mountain Community Fund Director Kathleen George said at the June 2 Legislative Action Committee meeting that appointing Hoyle would add another woman to the Board of Trustees and include a representative from the southern end of the fund’s 11-county granting area.

According to her Oregon House website, Hoyle earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Emmanuel College in Boston, Mass., and lives in west Eugene with her husband and two dogs. Her two children attend college in Oregon.

She also has more than 25 years of private sector business experience in domestic and international sales, wholesale distribution and retail management in the sporting goods industry.

“I think she is viewed as someone who is a real up-and-coming leader in the state of Oregon at this time and I think the Tribe has seen how the relationship developed with Kate Brown over the years has been very rich,” George said. “I think this is a great selection.”

George said Brown also endorsed Hoyle as her successor on the Board of Trustees.

In other action, Tribal Council:

•        Adopted amendments to the Children and Families Ordinance that require grandparent notification of hearings at various stages of dependency proceedings;
•        Approved final adoption of amendments to the Tribal Housing Ordinance that turned the Grand Ronde Tribal Housing Authority into a Housing Department and created a Grievance Review Board to hear tenant complaints;
•        Approved a $217,662 contract with Cearley Construction LLC of Estacada to construct a new laboratory and refrigerator/freezer facilities for the Natural Resources Department;
•        And approved the enrollment of one infant into the Tribe.

Also included in the June 3 Tribal Council packet was an authorization to proceed for Tribal staff to prepare a letter of intent for a Spirit Mountain Community Fund Tribal Grant to be used for construction of a community building that can be used by community programs and organizations, including the Lighthouse Church and Recovery.

Tribal Council member Jon A. George and Land and Culture employees Jordan Mercier and Kathy Cole performed the cultural drumming and singing to open the meeting.

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.