2
April 1995
Chairman’s Report
From: Tribal Chairman Delores Pigsley
S e v e ra l
h u n d re d
fr ie n d s
and
s u p p o rte rs ,
trib a l
m e m b e rs ,
n o n -In d ia n
residents of the com m unity , civic leaders and
members of the Lincoln City council joined the
S iletz Tribal C ouncil on February 25th to
dedicate the site of our Chinook Winds Gaming
and Convention Center.
Besides dedicating the land for our
e n te rp ris e , th e c e re m o n y s ig n ifie d
th e
restoration of land to tribal ow nership which
was, a century ago, part of our reservation,
and as recently as 40 years ago, an allotment
belonging to a member of our Tribe.
We have com e fu ll c irc le .
The
ow nership of the land is once again ours -
where it rightly belongs!
S tan S p e a k s , B ia A re a D ire c to r
expressed his congratulations and good wishes
as did Lori Ann Sheridan of the Cham ber of
Commerce. Mark Hemstreet donated food for
the occasion and was represented by John
Kneeland, General Counsel of Shilo Inns.
And, of course, our drummers, singers
and dancers were there to give cultural and
sp iritu a l m eaning to this im portant h istoric
event.
THE FEATHER DANCERS
I want to take this opportunity to give
sp e cia l re co g n itio n to th e T rib a l F eather
Dancers that have been perform ing at many
tribal and other events. We are proud that
under the leadership of Bud Lane and Advisor
Nellie Orton, the Feather Dancers have been
helping to keep our heritage alive!
TRIBAL COUNCIL RETREAT
On March 25 and 26th the entire Tribal
Council held a retreat at the Comstock in Reno.
We discussed, in depth, some of our basic
tribal issues and plans for addressing them.
We have been growing at such a fast
pace that meeting only once a month is not
enough tim e to adequately address all the
issues that come before us. In addition to our
own tribal issues, we must also attend regional
and national m eetings where critical national
Indian issues are addressed. We may need to
meet two or three times a month.
STEDCO REORGANIZATION
When STEDCO was restructured a year
ago, it was intended to be an interim measure.
The Council had decided that a newly organized,
more e fficie n t and productive STEDCO was
needed. Since then, we have been considering
various options for meeting this objective. As
soon as we have co m p le te d our w ork of
restructuring STEDCO , w e w ill provide you
with a report.
TEMPORARY CHINOOK WINDS GAMING AND
CONVENTION CENTER
The tribal Gam ing Com m ission is of
major importance as the Tribe's "watchdog" to
m ake ce rta in th a t o u r Gam ing e n te rp rise
complies with all appropriate federal, state and
tribal laws and policies.
I have every confidence that the newly
appointed C o m m issio n e rs, Jo e Lane, Brad
Darcy, Mike Fisher, Cy Hill and Mark Pullam
w ill re p re s e n t th e T rib e ’s in te re s ts w ith
competence and dedication.
NEWS ABOUT THE GAMING PROJECT
I'd like to com m end Jessie and her
crew for the excellent Chinook Winds Bulletin.
Special recognition goes to Barbara Watson, a
trib a l m em ber, w ho re ce ive d her tra in in g
under ONABEN and has been publishing similar
bulletins for other organizations.
For m ore d e ta ils on o u r gam ing
project, I refer you, once again , to Jessie
Davis's status report elsewhere in this issue.
REMINDER OF SCHEDULE AHEAD
May 6:
General Council meeting in Salem.
May 23:
Constitutional election to amend
blood quantum.
May 24:
Temporary Chinook Winds open to
Tribal Members.
May 25:
Temporary facility open to the
public
May 29:
Memorial Services
Gaming Report
From: Jessie Davis, Ad Hoc Gaming Chairman
GAMING COMMISSION MEMBERS APPOINTED!
CONGRATULATIONS!
The T rib a l C ouncil spent the entire
w eek-end of March 11 and 12, interviewing
and evaluating applicants for the five member
Tribal Gam ing Commission. O f the thirty-one
trib a l m em bers w ho w ere interview ed and
screened, five highly qualified candidates were
selected.
O ur congratulations to Joe Lane and
Brad Darcy who w ere
appointed for three
year terms, to Mike Fisher and Cy Hill for two
years and to Mark Pullam for one year!
We
a ls o
w a n t to
e x p re s s
our
appreciation to all the other tribal members
who took the tim e and effort to apply and to
undergo the screening process.
THE GAMING COMMISSION SELECTION PROCESS
It was net an e a s y *ia s k to select
o n ly
fiv e
fro m
am ong
th e
th irty -o n e
candidates.
The selection process revealed
once again that we have many highly capable
tribal members.
B efore the a p p o in tm e n ts are made
o ffic ia l e a ch a p p o in te e w ill u n d e rg o a
background check, required of all management
officials and key
em ployees of the gaming
enterprise.
In the meantirne, the appointees
will be issued provisionnal licenses.
The
C om m ission's jo b is extrem ely
difficult, se nsitive and crucial, to make sure
th a t all
a p p lica b le laws, re g u la tio n s and
policies are complied with. The Commission is
the regulatory body over the gaming center.
C om m ission m em bers will begin their
intensive training program on April 10th.
APPOINTMENT OF GAMING CENTER MANAGERS
At the last General Council meeting, I
w as charged w ith a p p o in tin g the G eneral
Manager of the Gaming Center.
I regret that misinformation continues
to be d isse m in a te d re g a rd in g my role as
Chairman of the Ad Hoc Gaming Committee. I
b e lie ve it is im p o rta n t to se t th e record
s tra ig h t.
I personally did not appoint the General
M anager.
The in te rv ie w c o m m itte e w as
com prised of representatives of the Comstock,
(our managem ent com pany w hich is investing
up to $20 million dollars in Chinook Winds) Bill
& John Douglas, B urgess H arm er and three
S ile tz T rib a l
C o u n c il m e m b e rs.
T hey
interviewed and selected John Fultz from a list
of five candidates.
Only candidates with extensive casino
management backgrounds were considered
for the interviews, John Fultz was selected and
comes to us
highly qualified, with over 20
years of gaming and hospitality experiance.
The bottom line is that the Siletz Tribal
Council can't afford to appoint a person with
little or no qualifications to manage a multi
m illion d o llar enterprise with a sta ff of $00-
600 employees. It would be a disservice to
our Tribe if we did.
As in all major decisions regarding the
G am ing p roject, it is my responsibility, as
Chairman of the Ad Hoc Gaming Committee to
make recommendations to Tribal Council and to
actively
participate
in the decision making
process.
S om e
d e c is io n s
a re
s p e c ific a lly
delegated to a core group of the Council, but
are then brought back to full Council for their
consideration or vote.
At the same General Council meeting,
co n ce rn w as a lso e xp re sse d th a t trib a l
m e m b e rs a re n o t b e in g co n s id e re d fo r
management positions.
Your attention is called to the fa ct that
the recent Chinook W inds Bulletin, advertising
m anagem ent positions, w as sent only to our
tribal m em bers, all who were encouraged to
a p p ly fo r p o s itio n s fo r w h ich th e y are
in terested and are q u a lifie d . Any qualified
tribal member has an excellent chance of being
hired.
Once again, Siletz
tribal preference
applies.
It must also be remembered that based
on our recom m endations, the Tribal Council
decided to appoint only tribal members to the
Gaming Commission to oversee the enterprise.
This differs from other Oregon tribes that have
appointed non-Indians to their commissions.
For th e m anagem ent p o sitio n s that
require co n sid era b le gam ing experience, we
hope
th a t tribal m em bers w ho w ant to be
appointed to those p o sitio ns w ill make the
com m itm ent to gain experience so they can
qualify.
It is the Tribal C ouncils intent that
within 3-5 years all management positions as
well as other gaming positions will be~fiiled by
trib a l m em bers.
U n d e r o u r m anagem ent
agreement, Comstock is also committed to this
goal.
TRIBAL/STATE COMPACT APPROVED BY THE
DEPARTMENT
A n o th e r m a jo r m ilestone has been
crossed! O ur Tribal/State Com pact for Class
III gaming has been approved by the Secretary
of the Interior. By the time you receive this
bulletin
it may already be published in the
Federal Register.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE TEMPORARY FACILITY
Although our tim eline is very tight, the
target date for the opening of the Temporary
Chinook Winds is still May 24th.
Among other things, we have selected
Trans S ierra to install our surveillance system
and we have negotiated w ith Bill Grahm, of
Tierra, to do our environmental assessment.
Dennis Lowery and Dietmer Goebel of
C re a tive
D esign
and E n g ineering, who
re p re s e n t
th e T rib e ’s in te re s t in the
construction project,
have been coordinating
the planning and construction of the temporary
facility.
They have been putting together all the
key com ponents of this project including PCL
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