Tribal Council OKs Dec. 11 per capita payment date

Tribal members who wait to receive the December per capita payment before starting their Christmas shopping will have exactly two weeks to buy yuletide gifts.

Tribal Council approved a Monday, Dec. 11, per capita payment date during its Wednesday, Aug. 9, meeting.

Although per capita payment dates usually fall on a Friday, this December’s payment date was moved up from Friday, Dec. 15, to the preceding Monday to give Tribal members extra time to Christmas shop.

During its July 26 meeting, Tribal Council named Sept. 15 as the date for the third per capita payment of 2017.

Tribal Council also approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Oregon Cooperative Procurement Program.

Procurement Manager Larry Leith said at the Tuesday, Aug. 1, Legislative Action Committee meeting that the Tribe uses the state program to buy goods and services and usually purchases big-ticket items, such as vehicles.

The new agreement becomes perpetual instead of periodical as well, Leith said.

In other action, Tribal Council:

• Approved a Tribal credit card for use by the Tribe’s Early Childhood Education program to pay for student member’ activities when they travel off the Reservation;

• Approved applying to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for a 2018 Tribal Wildlife Grant that will continue habitat restoration at Rattlesnake Butte near Eugene. The grant application will not exceed $200,000, which will fund removal of Douglas fir trees that have been outcompeting the Native Oregon white oak on the site.

Also included in the Aug. 9 Tribal Council packet was three approved authorizations to proceed that fund a Chemawa Station service station feasibility analysis, permits Member Services to send letters to Tribal members requesting missing enrollment file documents and declassifies the 2015 Social and Economic Assessment Survey and allows it to be distributed to Tribal members.

The entire meeting can be viewed on the Tribal website www.grandronde.org by clicking on the News tab and then Video.