Tribal Council approves two-year moratorium on disenrollment actions

By Dean Rhodes

Smoke Signals editor

Tribal Council approved a two-year moratorium on disenrolling Tribal members during its Wednesday, Aug. 25, meeting.

Tribal Council sent a proposed amendment to the Enrollment Ordinance that would have created a one-year moratorium concerning loss of membership in the Tribe out for a first reading during its June 2 meeting.

Staff Attorney Holly Partridge said during the Tuesday, Aug. 24, Legislative Action Committee meeting that the proposal received six sets of comments. After reviewing the comments on Aug. 12, Tribal Council instructed the Tribal Attorney’s Office to extend the proposed moratorium by a year.

During the June 1 Legislative Action Committee meeting, Tribal Council member Kathleen George said the proposal is the result of the enrollment hearings held by the Tribe.

In October 2019, Tribal Council hired Carefree, Ariz., attorney Robert Lyttle to research Tribal enrollment issues and conduct public meetings. The first meeting was held virtually on May 26 and attracted approximately 130 Tribal members and lasted almost three hours. The next meetings were held June 10, 17 and 24.

Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy said that the purpose of the four enrollment meetings was to gain input from members and work toward an advisory vote that at least two-thirds of the membership might support. The Tribal Constitution requires any proposed amendments be approved by 66.7 percent of those voting.

Tribal Council members Jack Giffen Jr. and Steve Bobb Sr. voted against the amendment because they fear it is kicking the can of Tribal enrollment issues too far down the road. “Making membership wait two years is unacceptable,” Giffen said.

Other Tribal Council members said they see the two-year moratorium as giving the Tribe time to find an enrollment proposal that will be accepted by a two-thirds majority of the membership and is only a two-year moratorium on taking action regarding disenrollments.

The disenrollment moratorium will not protect a Tribal member who is found to be dually enrolled in another Tribe, which is in violation of the Tribal Constitution.

In other action, Tribal Council:

• Approved the addition of 25 more Tribal members to the Restoration Roll, bringing the total for 2021 to 140. The Tribe added 204 names to the historically important roll in 2019 and another 127 in 2020;
• Approved an increase in blood quantum for 18 Tribal members because of “clear and convincing evidence” presented to the Tribe’s enrollment staff;
• Approved a $612,000 professional services agreement with Scholten Construction Inc. of Willamina to provide design and construction services for the Tribal membership for the construction of new homes on the 86.5-acre Rink 2 property in Grand Ronde. Also included in the Aug. 25 Tribal Council packet was an approved authorization to proceed for staff to offer 75-year leases to homeowners to avoid having to seek approval for each lease from the Bureau of Indian Affairs;
• Approved the Tribe’s annual grant application to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program that is funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Planning & Grants Manager Kim Rogers said that the program helped 189 Tribal members in 2020 with home heating costs and weatherization projects;
• Approved an application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for American Rescue Plan funding that would allocate $1.384 million toward design and construction of a public health vaccination building and $341,000 toward purchasing an ambulance with a mobile radio, power gurney and other equipment;
• Approved applying to the U.S. Department of Commerce for a Tribal Broadband Connectivity Grant. The almost $2 million grant would, if received, construct two or three new cell towers in the Grand Ronde area to improve Wi-Fi connectivity and install a fiber optic network in Tribal residences to replace the aging DSL lines currently being used;
• And approved 2022 harvest licenses that will bring the Tribe almost $50,000 in income, according to Tribal Lands Manager Jan Michael Reibach.

To view the entire meeting, visit the Tribal government’s website at www.grandronde.org and click on the Government tab and then Videos.