Tribal Council continues revamping process for committees, special event boards

By Dean Rhodes

Smoke Signals editor

Tribal Council continued its revamping of Tribal committees and special event boards by sending proposed amendments to the General Committee & SEB Ordinance out for a first reading, which will seek Tribal member input, on Wednesday, March 6.

Tribal Staff Attorney Brooks Wakeland said during the Tuesday, March 5, Legislative Action Committee meeting that the proposed amendments reduce the number of seats on committees and special event boards from a maximum of seven seats to five seats.

In addition, the proposed amendments provide that regular meetings shall be held at least quarterly, provide guidelines for calling special meetings, establishes timelines for which notices must be provided to Tribal staff and establishes a code of conduct for those who serve on committees and special event boards.

The proposed amendments also allow for the automatic removal when a member misses three regular meetings within a year and allows members to attend in person, by phone or video conferencing.

The proposed code of conduct states that committee and SEB members “refrain from intruding on administrative issues that are the responsibility of Tribal staff.” Members who fail to comply with the code of conduct may be removed by Tribal Council.

The proposed amendments announcement will be printed in two issues of Smoke Signals, seeking Tribal member comment, before returning to Tribal Council for possible adoption.

In January, Tribal Council adopted amendments to the Enrollment Ordinance that regulate how often the Enrollment Committee can meet.

In other committee-related action, Tribal Council increased the committee honorarium hourly rate from $9 to $10.50 an hour and transferred $1,134 from contingency to committee budgets to cover the increase.

Tribal Council also approved applying to the Oregon Department of Transportation for $135,400 of the Tribe’s Special Transportation Fund transit allocation and $98,095 in federal pass-through transit funds. The funds will be used to continue the Tribe’s transit agreements with the Tillamook County Transportation District and Yamhill County Transit Area for service to McMinnville and Salem.

Finally, Tribal Council also approved the enrollment of an infant into the Tribe because he or she meets the requirements outlined in the Tribal Constitution and Enrollment Ordinance.

Eleven drummers and singers who are in Grand Ronde for the March 8-9 Agency Creek Round Dance and led by Cultural Advisor Bobby Mercier gave the cultural presentation to open the meeting. Tribal Council gifted the singers and drummers jars of huckleberry jam and cans of salmon in appreciation of their performance.

Also included in the March 6 Tribal Council packet were approved authorizations to proceed that OK’d Tribal Council member Steve Bobb Sr. designing this year’s Spirit Mountain Casino Rose Festival float, authorized Tribal Attorney Rob Greene to sign a complaint in the National Prescription Opiate Litigation for filing in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio and set the March 15 per capita payment at $1,000.

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