Chairman's Report
From: Delores Pigsley
First of all, I want to congratulate
the Grand Ronde Tribe for their beautiful
Spirit Mountain Casino!
The Spirit Mountain Casino is an
outstanding development that not only
members Of th e . Grand Ronde Tribe can be
proud of but all of us as Indian people.
It demonstrates, once again, that
Indian tribes are capable of accomplishing
great things, not only to construct a facility
such as this but through Indian gaming to
address the needs of our own tribal members
and at the same time, to contribute to the
economic and social well being of the general
public. Spirit Mountain is an impressive and
positive addition to the State of Oregon.
As Chairman of a tribe that has
struggled for the past four years to develop
our own gaming center I know that the
Grand Ronde tribal leaders must also have
experienced difficulties in what they did.
The Grand Ronde and Siletz Tribes
are neighbors. While we are engaged in the
same gaming business and are therefore
competitors, our two gaming centers may
well compliment each other.
Once again, we too are proud of
what the Grand Ronde Tribe has achieved.
We congratulate and wish them well!
I'd like now to turn to issues
addressed by the Oregon Tribes at a recent
Oregon Tribes meeting sponsored by the
Siletz Tribe. At that meeting, we agreed on
the following:
*
that two parcels o f land at
Chemawa not be taken out o f Bureau
ownership, one o f which had been
transferred to the State some years
ago and subsequently returned to the
Bureau; the other, presently an
unused part of the former school.
These are prime location
properties that should be used for the
benefit o f the Oregon tribes. A plan
for the development and use of these
properties will be developed.
* that an intertribal gaming
organization should be formed to
facilitate communications and to
address gaming issues that affect all
Oregon tribes. The present Congres
sional threat to Indian gaming at the
national level and the ever present
anti-Indian forces in Oregon that
have the potential of adversely
affecting Indian gaming are two
examples o f issues that need to be
addressed on an intertribal basis.
*
that individual tribal members
actively participate and vote in the
forthcoming congressional election.
Tribes were encouraged to hold
forums at which candidates could be
questioned regarding their positions
on Indian issues.
The tribes served by the Siletz
Agency also went on record urging Area
Director Stan Speaks not to support or act on
any cuts of agency or tribal budgets.
It was further agreed by the Siletz
Agency tribes that the Siletz superintendency
be maintained, that the agency staff which
has already been severely decimated, be kept
intact; that all authorities be delegated to the
Agency; and Ron Kortlever, whom all Siletz
Agency tribes have consistently supported to
serve as Superintendent, be appointed to this
position
For current information regarding
gaming I refer you once again to Jessie's
gaming report which includes details on the
status of construction of the permanent
facility, the activities o f the Gaming
Commission, etc. Also, I urge you to attend
the informational, meetings conducted by
Jessie and
scheduled by the Gaming
Commission which are being held in each of
the area offices.
Status Report - Gaming
By Jessie Davis, Tribal Gaining Rep.
Tribal Reps Discuss issues With
M1GC Chairman
Qn October 4th, Franklin
Ducheneriux, our Washington DC
consultant, and I met with Harold
Monteau, Commission Chairman
and his assistant, Tom Acevido to
discuss with them, various issues
involving the Siletz gaming project
including
the
status
of
the
Management Agreement. Advance
copies
of
the
Environmental
Assessment
were
also
hand
delivered to Monteau which he
offered to pass on to his staff for
review.
Two
copies
of
the
Environmental. Assessment
had
been sent to the National Indian
Gaming Commission by certified
mail on September 30, 1995. With
the submission of the EA, all
required documents including the
management agreement, business
plan and the names of all the
principals requiring background
investigations, have been submitted
to the Commission for their review
and approval.
We were informed that the
Siletz Tribe is among ten whose
documents are currently under
review and were assured by
Monteau and Acavido that they will
do all they can to facilitate the
review and approval of the Siletz
documents.
Construction Timeline Set
There was a great demand for
steel following the earthquake in
Kobe, Japan. Thé construction or
our permanent facility, which • is
dependent on steel for the main
structure, was directly affected and
delayed our original construction
timetable.
PCL, the Tribe's contractor
for
the
construction
o fth e
permanent gaming center, has
assured us that they will complete
construction prior to the 4th of July
weekend, 1996. Our target date for
opening our
doors
to
tribal
members is June 27, 1996.
An agreement between the
Tribe and PCL provides for a bonus
to PCL for an earlier completion and
a penally for failure to meet the
deadline.
Site work and preparation for the
laying of the foundation began on
17th. The schedule calls for thé
structural steel to be delivered and
erected by December. In order to
accomplish this, PCL will be on an
accelerated work schedule, since
work on the foundation and
structural steel must be completed
before adverse weather sets in.
However, plans have been made to
deal with the adverse conditions if
they do occur.
Amendment to Tribal-State
Compact
Based on extensive discus
sions and agreement between the
Tribe and State officials, the Tribal
Council on October 21, 1995
adopted a resolution to submit for
Secretarial approval, an amendment
to the Tribal-State Compact for the
regulation o f Class III gaming.
Under
the
amended
Compact, the Tribe may engage in
house banked blackjack at the
temporary gaming facility.
The
proposed
amendment
further
provides that the Tribal Gaming
Commission shall develop rules and
procedures for a system of internal
controls
that
meets
certain
minimum
standards,
provide
training for all dealers, supervisors
and surveillance personnel involved
in
house
banked
blackjack,
establish standards and procedures
for
security
and
surveillance,
dispute resolution, etc.
The amendment specifies the
wager limits per hand, maximum
number of tables, and addresses
such other issues as cooperation
with the state law enforcement on
investigation and prosecution of