Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (July 13, 2011)
............ £ m Acquisition Dept./Serials Knight Library I 1299 University of Oregon Spilyay Tym oo SCft OrCol1 E 75 . S68 v. 36 no. 14 July 13, July 13, 2011 7 oyote News, est. 1976 Vol. 36, No. 14 L O I A V V v j « j Postal Patron U.S. Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 July - Pat’ak-Pt’akni - Summer - Shatm 50 cents £011 Harsh budget news for 2011-12 B y Dave M cM echan S pilyay Tymoo Balancing the tribal budget this year and next year could require employees to take one unpaid day off per pay period. This would be similar to fur lough days implemented by other units of government within the state. The furlough-day proposal has been suggested by tribal staff during the past two budget planning cycles. Implementing furlough days is one suggestion that Finance presented last week to Tribal Council and branch and department supervisors. Council so far has taken no action on the suggestion. M eanw hile, Secretary-T reasurer Jody Calica and Chief Operations Of ficer Urbana Ross are asking for other cost-saving proposals from department and branch supervisors to ensure that tribal budget expenditures do not ex ceed projected revenues. Part of the problem is that revenue from tribal investment has not come in as anticipated, due to the economy, said Finance Director Michael Collins. Revenue from Power and Water Enterprises, and Forest Products Indus tries are also factors in the budget shortfall. As a result, as Collins states in a July m m 5 memo to Secretary-Treasurer Jo dy Calica: “The current 2011 budget of the Confederated Tribes is in financial jeopardy and imme diate action is needed.” Collins and Calica then presented a list of possible actions to Tribal Council: “One furlough day per pay period is taken (by tribal employees) to save the tribes $33,935 per day...” See BUDGET on page 7 m ■- f ■ . m <r^ Wr i\ ■p?, «»5 » • V S i* ■ % MkM,i f t 'S Dave McMechan/Spilyay The construction crew poured the foundation of the building last week and earlier this week. Casino progress Bit by bit, tribal members in hard hats are making progress on the site of the New Indian Head Casino along Highway 26 in Warm Springs. Planners hope to open the tempo rary casino on January 1, 2012. Travis Wells is the project engineer for the construction of the new facility. The Job Creations Department is working with contractors to make sure that tribal members have the opportu nity to be trained and placed into con struction jobs. Tribal Council Chairman Buck Smith said the new casino, being close by the highway, is expected to increase gaming revenue to the tribes. Kah-Nee-Ta’s expansion into the community is expected to attract up to 75 percent of its business from visitors who drive within one hour of Warm Springs. Blaze burns over 1,300 acres B y D uran Bobb S pilyay Tymoo Officials are investigating the cause of the Upper Dry Creek fire, which burned over 1,300 acres and forced the evacuation of dozens of families from their homes last Thursday. A ccording to officials, 2011 has been Oregon’s wettest spring in 117 years. Under the right conditions that means fuel for fires. William Wilson with Fire Manage ment said the cause of the Upper Dry Creek fire is not known, but a lack of recent lightning indicates it was human- caused. The fire started on the west end of Upper Dry Creek Road, pushed by 40 mph winds. The emergency tone-out was sent over police radios at 1:10 p.m. Flames spread rapidly southwest through the Dry Creek neighborhood, endangering up to 30 homes. The first house in the fire’s path belonged to tribal elder Maxine McKinley. The family sat in their car at the end of their driveway and watched as their home was swallowed in thick smoke. They were evacuated for their own safety. At 2:30 p.m. highways 3 and 26 were shut down as emergency personnel be gan back-burning. As many as 250 firefighters battled the blaze, assisted by the Princville Hot Shots. Concerned about the smoke haz ard, fire chief Danny Martinez ordered an evacuation, and tribal offices were closed. The home that Forrest Tewee has lived in since the early 1980s burned in the fire. An abandon structure was destroyed. By 8 p.m. that evening, the worst was over and crews began mop ping up. Council reviewing Story Corps in Warm Springs investment practices StoryCorps is recording interviews in Warm Springs through July 30. StoryCorps is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to recording, sharing, and preserving the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs. The StoryCorps MobileBooth is in Warm Springs through July as part of the group’s cross-country tour. The M obileBooth, an Airstream trailer outfitted with a recording stu dio, is parked next to Warm Springs Fire and Safety, 2112 Wasco Street. Reservations for interviews can now be made by calling StoryCorps’ 24- hour, toll-free reservation line at 1-800- 850-4406. O r visit storycorps.org. StoryC orps has partnered with KWSO to record interviews in Warm Springs. One-hundred and twenty interviews will be conducted with residents from the local community and Central Or egon area. KWSO will air a selection of local interviews recorded in the StoryCorps MobileBooth, and create special pro grams around the project. Segments of select interviews may also air nationally on NPR’s M orning Edition. With participant permission, all StoryCorps interviews will be archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. B y D uran Bobb S pilyay Tymoo The Investment Advisory Com mittee for the tribes will meet in August to draft a new investment policy statement based on input and reco m m en d atio n s from T rib al Council. “This will be our marching order,” said Secretary-T reasurer Jody Calica said. The committee plans to search for possible ways to increase returns on investments. The investm ent accounts in clude the scholarship, senior citi zen pension, tribal pension, the BIA loan repaym ent, GNC, and revenue reserve funds. In certain funds, the return was less than one percent. However, the IHS Deferred Revenue Account per formed quite well over the last year, returning 7.8 percent. “If we got that same return on the restoration funds, we’d have $2.2 million,” said Calica. Low return on investment, due to the economy, is one reason why the tribes are facing serious budget cuts. Revised strategy Erin Dickey and Virginia Lora of StoryCorps are in Warm Springs gathering stories through July 30. Ryan Harvey and Nick Wood ward, financial advisors from RV Kuhns and Associates, who manage the funds for the tribes, had several recommendations. For example, they believe that sw itching the scholarship funds from an aggressive to a more con servative portfolio w ith a more fixed income would remedy some o f the problems seen in the past. US Bank advises on the trust fund account. “W hat w e’ve seen in the past,” Woodward said, “is that siblings w o u ld receiv e v a stly d ifferen t amounts based on the m arket re turns. If we ease the market tran sition to a more conservative port folio, this should work much bet ter.” He said, “N ot too long ago, Tribal Council was asked to pass a resolution to move funds into a better m anagement structure or a different portfolio in order to get a more positive retu rn ... At the current spending rate, we need to change the horizon from ten to seven years.” Tribal Council acts as the Invest ment Advisory Committee chair. O ther members are Ken Smith, Scott Clements, Ventures CEO Jeff Anspach, and Jody Calica. The committee will draft the in vestm ent p o licy statem ent and present it to Tribal Council in Sep tember. 1 M