Tribal Council continues post-election housekeeping changes

Tribal Council continued its post-election housekeeping changes regarding authorizations to sign off on Tribal financial accounts during its Wednesday, Oct. 12, meeting.

In reaction to Jack Giffen Jr. losing his position as a Tribal Council officer and Jon A. George being elected Tribal Council secretary, Tribal Council voted to remove Giffen and add George as an authorized signer for the Tribe’s line of credit with TriState Capital Bank.

Tribal Council traditionally grants signing authority on the TriState line of credit to current Tribal Council officers and specified Tribal employees. The other current officers are Chair Reyn Leno and Vice Chair Cheryle A. Kennedy, who was previously secretary.

In other action, Tribal Council approved the Housing Department’s submission of the 2017 Indian Housing Plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The plan describes all eligible programs that will be operating within the department during the coming year.

Tribal Council also appointed David Willard of Clair Co. of Corvallis as the Tribal building official, replacing Tribal Elder Alton Butler, who resigned to take a similar job with the city of McMinnville.

Tribal Council’s final act of the meeting was to approve the enrollment of three minors into the Tribe because they meet the membership provisions outlined in the Enrollment Ordinance and Tribal Constitution.

Also included in the Oct. 12 Tribal Council packet was an authorization to proceed to transfer $50,000 from contingency to the operating budget for the Grand Ronde Food Bank to make up for a funding shortfall due to the inability to apply for a federal commodities grant. In addition, Tribal staff received permission to work with the Forest Service to acquire road access to the west boundary of the Reservation and to sign online documents required for four continuation grant applications for Head Start and Early Head Start funding.

Cultural Resources Department employee Brian Krehbiel and Public Affairs Administrative Assistant Chelsea Clark 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, by clicking on the News tab and then Video.