Tribal Council OKs two contracts for road rehabilitation, housing unit fix

By Dean Rhodes

Smoke Signals editor

Tribal Council approved two contracts that will allow road rehabilitation on Agency Creek and Yoncalla Creek roads as well as repair a burned-out unit in Tribal housing during its Wednesday, Aug. 26, meeting.

Since both projects will cost more than $100,000, they required Tribal Council approval per the Tribe’s Procurement Policy.

Public Works Coordinator John Mercier said the road rehabilitation projects will repair and repave 4.3 miles of road on the Reservation.

If forecasted showers occurred over the Aug. 29-30 weekend, reducing the fire precaution level, contractor Pacific Excavation was ready to start immediately, Mercier added.

“We want to finish up this year, weather permitting,” Mercier said.

The Housing Department repair contract, awarded to Chris Scholten Construction, will reconstruct a unit at 9533 Raven Loop that was burned out in a Jan. 21 fire.

In other action, Tribal Council:

•        Adopted amendments to the General Committee and Special Event Board Ordinance that will allow committees and special event boards to make donations if authorized by Tribal Council;
•        Held a first reading on amendments to the Elders’ Retirement Program and SSI Program Ordinance that will provide three months of benefits to surviving spouses of Tribal Elders;
•        Appointed Tribal Council member Tonya Gleason-Shepek as the Tribe’s delegate to the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and approved paying the $2,400 annual membership dues. The other eight members of Tribal Council were named as alternate delegates;
•        Approved a Tribal credit card for Fire Crew Boss Bryan Fendall for wildland fire and other emergency incident management needs;
•        And approved the Tribe’s annual application to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funding, expected to be $118,845.

Also included in the Aug. 26 Tribal Council packet were authorizations to proceed to name the new human resources building as the Employment Services Center – ye?lan haws (“helping house”) in Chinuk Wawa – and appointing Tribal Council member Chris Mercier as the Grand Ronde representative for the University of Oregon’s President’s Native American Advisory Council.

Land and Culture employees Bobby Mercier, Brian Krehbiel and Travis Stewart led several other Tribal members in the cultural singing and drumming to open the meeting.

During Other Business, Tribal Elder Betty Bly thanked Tribal Council Secretary Toby McClary for his six years of service. McClary is not seeking re-election and will not be available for the Sept. 9 meeting, meaning the Aug. 26 meeting was his last.

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.