Tribal Council approves purchase of local property

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals assistant editor/staff writer

Tribal Council approved purchasing the 1.49-acre Black property, located on Ackerman Road in Grand Ronde, at its Wednesday, April 5, meeting.

The Black property is south of the Health & Wellness Center on the Tribal campus and will be purchased for $670,000, with a closing date of Friday, April 21.

“The property will be managed by the Health & Wellness Department and is located between the domestic violence shelters and the clinic,” Tribal Lands Department Manager Jan Reibach said during a Legislative Action Committee meeting held on Tuesday, April 4. “The property will now be fully funded by an external grant from the state under Project Turnkey. … We hope to have the property in Tribal ownership by the end of the month.”

Project Turnkey is managed by the Oregon Community Foundation in Portland and was created by the state Legislature in November 2020 in response to rising homelessness and to provide temporary housing for people, according to an article in the Oregon Capitol Chronicle. Legislators budgeted an additional $50 million for the program in 2022.

Tribal Council approved a supplemental budget of $782,000 during its March 22 meeting to purchase the property. The $782,000 was the original purchase price, but it was negotiated down to $670,000.

A supplemental budget gives the authority to spend the money, but it doesn’t have to be used if it is not needed, Finance Officer and Interim General Manager Chris Leno said.

Reibach added that all costs associated with the purchase, including earnest money and due diligence, will now be funded by a grant processed through Health & Wellness.

In other action, Tribal Council:

• Approved the emergency adoption of a new Safe Stay Ordinance. It will govern the temporary tiny home shelters, parking spaces and any other building, camper or cluster of buildings that provide shelter on a temporary basis and provides a process for when the safe shelters are abandoned or if eviction is necessary. Since it was adopted on an emergency basis, the ordinance goes into effect immediately, but Tribal members will be afforded a chance to comment on it before it returns to Tribal Council for formal adoption;
• Approved the Oregon Youth Corps grant to the Tribe for $47,500, which the Tribe receives annually to fund the youth crews at the Natural Resources Department;
• Approved five contracts for Tribal conservation property grants for $300,000 (Chahalpam), $120,000 (Rattlesnake Butte), $530,000 (Noble Oaks), $375,000 (Takilth) and $149,864 (Elk Meadows);
• Approved a $600,000 non-competitive continuation grant through the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women Tribal Government Program grant to continue domestic violence prevention services through the Tribe’s Warriors of Hope program;
• Approved the Tribe’s application to the state Department of Forestry for $9,859.77 as a part of the 2023 Volunteer Fire Assistance Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grant funding.
• And approved the Tribe’s grant application to the National Park Service for the Tribal Historic Preservation Office senior archeologist position in the amount of $103,124 this year. The grant runs through 2028.

Tribal Council also approved a resolution removing Chief of Staff Stacia Hernandez as manager of Upqwena, LLC and appointing outgoing Spirit Mountain Casino Interim Chief Executive Officer Bruce Thomas in her place.  

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