General Council canceled due to lack of quorum

In an extremely rare occurrence, the Sunday, Jan. 3, General Council meeting was canceled when less than 30 Tribal members, which is the Tribal Constitution benchmark for a quorum, were able to attend.

Attendance was hampered by rain falling in most of western Oregon over a cold air mass that created icy road conditions from Portland to Salem and points in-between.

The scheduled program report by staff members of the Natural Resources Department was postponed to the next General Council meeting, which will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 7, in the Pacific Ballroom at the Monarch Hotel, 12566 S.E. 93^rd Ave., off Interstate 205 near Clackamas Town Center.

The dicey and icy road conditions continued into Monday, Jan. 4, when the Tribe initially announced a two-hour late start for the first work day of 2016.

Tribal Facilities Supervisor Tyson Mercier said that sidewalks on the Tribal campus were covered by an inch of snow that was covered by a layer of ice.

“If it doesn’t warm up, we’ll be dealing with the ice all morning,” Mercier reported early Monday morning. “The Facilities team at this juncture plans on doing what we can as soon as we can.”

Grand Ronde Tribal Police Officer Rod McAllister reported that Highway 18 between Hebo and Grand Ronde roads was packed ice with sand and that many campus and Tribal housing roadways were icy and slick.

In addition, area school districts from Salem-Keizer to Sheridan to Willamina closed for the day, creating daycare problems for many governmental employees.

With the temperature hovering around the freezing mark and light rain falling, General Manager David Fullerton decided to call the day a little after 8 a.m. to ensure that Tribal employees did not put themselves in danger by trying to get to work.

Tribal governmental employees returned to work on Tuesday, Jan. 5, when temperatures reached the high 30s, which was warm enough to melt most roadway ice on the Grand Ronde Valley floor.