2
June 1995
Chairman’s Report
From Delores Pigsley
Tribal Chairman Delores Pigsley
addressing the crowd at the Grand
Opening of Chinook Winds.
CHINOOK WINDS GAMING CENTER OPENS
On Saturday, May the 27th, I called on
Je ssie D avis, the C hairm an of the Ad Hoc
Gaming C om m ittee, to cu t the ribbon fo r th e
Grand Opening of the temporary Chinook Winds
G aming Center. Two days earlier, I called on
Jessie to cut the ribbon to open the facility for
tribal members, th e ir fam ilies and friends for a
preview of the gaming center.
The Grand Opening was a historic event
for our Tribe and an emotional one for all of us
who struggled long and hard to achieve this
goal.
It is h a rd to b e lie v e th a t th is
a ttra ctive , e fficie n tly designed 10,000 square
foot facility, is only tem porary. It could easily
serve as our perm anent gaming center.
We s till have a perm anent, 140,000
square feet gam ing and convention center to
look forw ard to.
Prelim inary sketches by our
a rchitects, Kane and Johnson, reveal that it
w ill be a beautiful and m agnificent structure,
ready for another ribbon cutting cerem ony by
this tim e next year.
W e are filled with pride because of our
successful launching of Chinook Winds and the
m any econom ic and social opportunities that
gaming will open up for us.
P le a se re fe r to th e Je ssie D a vis’
Gaming Report following the Chairm an's Report
fo r m ore inform ation.
GENERAL COUNCIL ISSUES THE TRIBAL COUNCIL
IS CURRENTLY WORKING TO RESOLVE:
There has been a tendency fo r some
T rib a l m em bers to launch personal attacks
against certain Council Members and staff - and
to dem and that triba l officia ls be recalled or
staff be terminated based on single issues.
Some members complain that the Tribal
Council refuses to address members concerns.
As Tribal Chairman, I place on the agendas of
T ribal C ouncil m eetings all item s o f concern
requested by the m em bers and have provided
a m ple o p p o rtu n ity fo r th o se issu e s to be
discussed, some o f which are sim ply aired,
others brought to a vote.
It m ust be rem em bered, however, that
according to our Tribal Constitution, the votes
taken by the General Council are advisory. A
vote of the General Council does not constitute a
m andate.
T he re sp o n sib ility o f the T rib a l
Council is to carefully evaluate those advisory
actions and to decide accordingly. It may not be
in the best interest of the Tribe to follow the
re co m m e n d a tio n s o f th e G e n era l C o u n cil.
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
What an honor it was for me to
be called on by Chairman Dee on May
26th to cut the ribbon opening the
Chinook Winds Gaming Center for
tribal members, family and friends! I
was honored again on May 27th when
Dee invited me to cut the ribbon for the
Grand Opening.
I was given the ribbon which I
will keep and treasure! It will remind
me of one of the proudest days of my
life. As I circulated among the crowd,
the faces of all our tribal members were
also beaming with pride. It took the
cooperation of many people to
accomplish this.
It will take
cooperative effort to make the
permanent Chinook Winds Gaming and
Convention Center a reality.
Planning for the Permanent Facility
John Douglas of Comstock and Jessie
Davis at the Chinook Winds Grand
Opening.
Designing the 140,000 sq. ft.
Chinook
Winds
Gaming
and
Convention Center has been contracted
to Kane and Johnson of Minneapolis
Minnesota. K&J is an architectural
firm with an outstanding track record
in the designing of Indian gaming
Som etim es they are advisory actions that do
not follow personnel procedures.
But the basic principle th a t we m ust
abide by is to conduct business according to our
Constitution and Ordinances. The Tribal Council
is our governm ental body delegated w ith the
authority to conduct the business of the Tribe.
It would be impossible for the General Council to
c o n d u c t tr ib a l b u s in e s s .
T h a t is th e
constitutional role of the Tribal Council.
There are m any ways m em bers can
particip a te in our triba l governm ent process.
Serving on com m ittees and special projects of
p a rticu la r interest is one way.
The general
elections are also another avenue fo r members
to be involved. There was more participation in
the last general election than there has ever
been, including the constitutional election and
that was good.
I w ant to state clearly that I support
the right of our members to use the referendum
process.
BONNIE PETERSEN SPOKE
ABOUT TRIBAL ISSUES
Bonnie Petersen spoke from her heart
at the G eneral C ouncil m eeting on May 6th.
Bonnie has been an excellent and valued member
o f our sta ff now fo r m any years. Hers was a
constructive message, reminding all of us o f the
need to com e to these meetings with a positive
attitude not ju s t to tear down and criticize.
She appealed to our members not to be
preoccupied with firing people but to devote our
e n e rg ie s to s tre n g th e n o u r T rib e and our
em ployees.
We are grateful to Bonnie to r reminding
us, in the m idst of so m uch negativism , w hat
we m ust do to m aintain our basic values and
cohesiveness as a Tribe.
centers. The architects have prepared
preliminary plans based on tribal input
and will be refining these plans as the
tribal consultation process continues.
The actual construction of the
facility has been contracted to PCL, the
firm that did the construction of the
temporary facility. Despite problems
including adverse weather conditions
and an extremely tight time schedule,
PCL did an outstanding job of complet
ing the work on schedule.
The
construction
of
the
permanent facility will also be on a
fast-track, design/build basis. It was
exciting to watch the construction of
the 10,000 sq ft temporary facility. But
just think of it! Our Chinook Winds
Gaming and Convention Center will be
fourteen times larger.
Owner'« Representative
Creative Designs and Engi
neering of Newport was contracted to
be the Tribe's Owner's Representative.
Detonar Goebel, architect, and Dennis
Lowiy, engineer, of Creative Designs
are responsible for overseeing the