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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1998)
SHELVED. NEWSLETTER FILE Matfve American Studies Collection© Blackjack tournament Senator Gorton’s proposed bill “American Indian Equal Just Act” threaten sovereignty. PlflB 2 Tribal members were asked to complete an educational survey. Read their answers. PBflB 9 Siletz Chinook Winds hosts Oregon’s first single-deck tourney May 15-16. PBflB 12 News A monthly publication by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians Voi. 26, No. 5 M AY 1998 General Council meeting May 2. 1998: State of the Nation address presented PAT DU N CAN , CHAIR elcome to all tribal members. It is with great pleasure that I am standing before you today to give you the status report of our Tribe. In November, we celebrated our 20th anniversary of our federal restoration efforts. During the event, we were reminded of all the people who worked so hard to bring us to where we are' today. It was a very emotional moment when slides were shown on the wall of our relatives who are not W w ith us today, but w ill be w ith Us forever in our hearts. Those dark days of the termina tion era are upon us once again. There are major efforts by a senator to the north who is determined to erode the sovereignty of all tribes, and he is gaining momentum and support of his congressional colleagues. Each and every tribal leader throughout the country is charged with fighting the forces that intend to strip us of our rights which our people have fought so hard to restore. Our tribe has been very active in support of tribal sovereignty, both locally and nationally, by letters to congressional representatives, testi mony against bills that erode tribal sovereignty, and meetings with congressional representatives and their staff. The Tribal Council recently hosted a meeting in Lincoln City of all tribes within the state of Oregon to initiate a formal concerted effort in dealing with the state. Internally; ¡the Tribal Council is redirecting the w ay o u r tribe conducts -business. We are committed to being responsible and responsive' to you, the general membership. During the recent Tribal Council retreat, it was decided to hold future goal-setting retreats in conjunction with the budgetary process. Our budgets are approved in the fall for the following fiscal year, Thus, the goal setting sessions must conform to the already approved budgets. It just makes more sense to coordinate the goal-setting sessions with the proposed budgets. Tribal Council has agreed to quarterly one-day retreats to review the progress of tite goals and objectives set by the Tribal Council, the programs and the committees. As to the budgetary process, the Tribal Council is giving the membership the opportunity to comment on the budget proposals before they are adopted by the Tribal Council. Again, toe are committed to being responsive to. yoti, the general membership. Administratively, the Tribal Council is not involved in day-to- day activities of the staff. However, the Tribal Council is working totoard making the staff more accountable, especially in the area of fiscal managemènt. The position of Finance Manager has been advertised and closed on May 1. Internal controls are being put in place to assure fiscal accountability with our opérations. The Tribal Council just conducted interviews for the tribal general manager. Standards were set high in the. requirements of the position, but w e had a number of Wéll-qualified candidates: Refer ences are still being conducted, but a decision on the successful candidate should be forthcoming. The Tribal Council is reviewing a number of ordinances. As you are aware from the recent court case TÇ98-Ü2, the election ordinance did not have specific provisions for recall. The Tribal Council has been reviewing drafts of the ordinance and once the Tribal Council feels comfortable with it, the ordinance will be published for comment and subsequent approval. The Standing Committee Ordinance is also being revised. Because of the increased programs (i.e., TANF, law enforce ment), the ordinance is being Siletz News revised to assure oversight and involvement by tribal members in all areas of tribal issues. The Tribal Council has representatives on each of the committees; this year we have designated alternate Tribal Council liaisons to assure communication between the Tribal Council and the committees. We have asked the committees to develop mission statements, goals and objectives so that progress can continue as new members join the committees year to year. The 1994 Comprehensive Plan is now going into the fifth year of the ten-year plan. The components of the Plan were developed through a survey conducted of tribal mem bers, but there have been major circumstances not factored into the plan. The blood quantum was lowered, thereby increasing the enrollment significantly. The Chinook Winds Casino opened. The Tribal Council has directed staff to update the Plan and get current information from tribal members to determine whether the priorities have changed since 1994. A current survey will enable Tribal Council to project future planning goals. In closing, I want to assure you that we are making every effort to be accountable and more informa tive. NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF SILETZ INDIANS P.O. Box 549 Siletz, OR 97380 PAID BULK MAIL SILETZ, OR 97380 PERMIT NO. 1 Ethnic Studies Library 30 Stephans Hall #2360 UoC Berkeley CA 94720 P atD im cari, Tribal Chairman M ike K ennedy, Temporary General Manager Toll-Free 1-800-922-1399 toww.ctsi.nsn.us
