Meeting seeks community input

A potential swimming pool was the hot topic at the annual Community Input meeting held on Wednesday, June 3, in the Tribal gym.

“We had 18 Tribal departments represented here tonight,” said Planning and Grants Development Manager Kim Rogers. “This event is offered as an opportunity for members to provide comments and suggestions that will be used to help guide Tribal programs and prepare grant applications.”

Tribal staff members filled the gym at 15 information tables and gathered input from Tribal members. Members stopped by each table and in exchange for filling out comment cards they were awarded passports, which were collected and used to determine raffle winners.

Attendance included 41 Tribal members and 40 people from Tribal Council and Tribal staff.

Rogers said all the information gathered will be summarized into a report for Tribal Council.

“It helps inform us on possible things we should be looking into as possible projects,” Rogers said.

Many Tribal members have expressed an ongoing interest in having a swimming pool built in Grand Ronde for the membership and community.

Tribal member Rex Haller has been a pool proponent and he spent time with Tribal Planner Rick George at the meeting. George said the project has been talked about for a few years and that it has picked up momentum recently.

“It has been brought up repeatedly by Tribal members during the last six months at General Council meetings and Tribal Council meetings,” George said. “That resulted in Tribal Council picking that issue up and making a decision to study it and figure out what it would cost, and figure out whether it’s fundable and whether or not the Tribe would want to make a policy decision to construct it and operate it.”

George said Tribal Council directed the General Manager’s Office to determine how much it would cost and to bring the results of that study into the budget process. How soon the project hits the budgeting process has to do with how long the study will take.

“So that’s where we are,” said George. “We’re getting ready to do the study. We are just at the beginning.”

George said on a scale of one to five, the pool proposal is at one.

“We haven’t looked at the size or the components,” said George. “Are we looking at a water park with a kid’s play area, a wading pool or a therapy pool?” said George. “None of that has been decided yet. There is not even a threshold or boundaries for a potential cost. It’s all in the planning, theorative stages right now.”

George gives the membership an “A” for their efforts so far.

“I think the Tribal membership is doing exactly what they are supposed to do as members of the Confederated Tribes that is represented by an elective government,” said George. “What they are saying is, ‘In this community this is a priority and this is something we think should be studied.’ ”

George said he thinks Community Input meetings are a good process for gathering information from the membership. He said a broader survey will be sent to the membership in July that gathers information about members’ socio-economic situations. He said the survey is sent out to the membership every five years.

George and Rogers said that listening to the community and its hopes and dreams is important to leadership at every level of the Tribe.

“I think community input is fundamentally important to governance,” said George. “It is the linkage between the people and the people they put into office. It’s vitally important.”    

Rogers said attendance of Tribal leadership is very important to the process.

“Thank you to the Tribal Council for approving the meeting and attending it,” said Rogers. “Thank you to the Education Department for sharing their meeting date with ours and thank you to (Nutrition Program Manager) Kristy DeLoe for the meal.”