Tribe, city of Portland sign memorandum of understanding

Tribal Council approved a memorandum of understanding with Oregon’s largest city during its Wednesday, Dec. 14, meeting, which was held at 11 a.m. to facilitate allowing Tribal employees to leave early to avoid a snowstorm that hit the Willamette Valley later in the day.

According to the executive summary, the city of Portland adopted a resolution in 2012 to formalize coordination and consultation with the Grand Ronde Tribe. Portland lies within the ceded lands of the Tribe.

Since then, Tribal Council and staff have participated in numerous meetings and discussions with Portland representatives to formalize a memorandum of understanding and “to strengthen the government-to-government relationships and facilitate communication and cooperation on matters of mutual interest.”

The Grand Ronde Tribe becomes the first Tribe to enter into this type of MOU with the city.

“This has been a long time in coming,” Tribal Council Vice Chair Cheryle A. Kennedy said during the Tuesday, Dec. 13, Legislative Action Committee meeting. “I appreciate all of the hard work that our staff has done.”

The MOU states that the Tribe and city will form a Policy Committee that will discuss issues and reach further agreements. The committee will be co-chaired by a representative of the Tribe and the city, and will meet quarterly.

Earlier in the week, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales signed the MOU on behalf of the city.

In other action, Tribal Council:

• Approved an amendment to the Elders’ Retirement & SSI Ordinance that will allow Tribal Elders eligible for federal Social Security benefits to qualify for the Elder SSD Program;

• Re-appointed Matthew Kirkland to the Spirit Mountain Gaming Inc. Board of Directors with a term ending in June 2019 and appointed Rebecca Knight to the board with a term ending in June 2018;

• Appointed Bryan Langley to the Fish & Wildlife Committee with a term ending in March 2018;

• Approved the purchase and sale agreement for the 885-acre Coal Creek/Cole Creek/4H Park forestland property in Tillamook County;

• Approved a contract not to exceed $120,000 with Kal Ent Inc. to provide accounting, payroll and financial reporting software implementation and training for the Tribe’s Finance Department. Tribal Controller Linda Hanna said the Tribe is switching vendors for the service;

• And approved the enrollment of three infants into the Tribe because they meet the enrollment requirements outlined in the Tribal Constitution and Enrollment Ordinance.

Also included in the Dec. 14 Tribal Council packet was an approved authorization to proceed that OK’d the forestland management plan for the new Tribally owned property in Tillamook County.

Tribal Lands Manager Jan Looking Wolf Reibach 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.