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About Siletz news letter. (Siletz, Oregon) 1989-1997 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1996)
MAY 1996 From: Delores Pigsley We were all thrilled with the Grand Opening of our temporary facility - our "mini" gaming center - but the June 28th Grand opening of the Chinook Winds Gaming and Convention Center - our permanent center - will be a thrilling event of even greater significance to our Tribe. Once again, I refer you to Jessie Davis' gaming project update found elsewhere in this issue of the Newsletter. With the construction of Chinook Winds nearing completion and the Grand Opening less than two months away, our main attention has been, understandably, on gaming. However, as historic and significant as Chinook Winds is, and as much attention as it commands, we do have other issues and activities of importance to our Tribe. Coordinating federal programs through a BIA compact We have been exploring with other federal agencies the possibility of coordinating, through the BIA compacting process, various human resources programs and services, i.e., Alcohol and Drug programs, JTPA, Youth Services, Head Start, USDA's food distribution, etc. There has been, (typical of all other tribes), a need to better coordinate these disparate non-BIA federal programs which has naturally resulted in the fragmentation of services. Based on our self-govemarice program experience, the Bureau's compacting process is an excellent vehicle by which to achieve a comprehensive, well coordinated, human resources program. This means that . funds from these individual federal programs would be funnelled thru, and coordinated by, the Tribe resulting in more effective services to our members. We will keep you informed of the progress of this effort. Strengthening of the Siletz Agency The BIA's Siletz Indian Agency is at a crossroads. Once, all five tribes served by the Agency required basically the same type of service. Times have changed and the needs of the Tribes in terms of BIA services have also changed. There are tribes operating mainly under BIA and IHS Compacts; others under BIA and IHS contracts and grants; while still others receive a predominance of services directly from BIA and IHS. We are working with Area Director Stan Speaks in putting together a Siletz Agency with the versatility and capacity of providing effective services to the five tribes. After all, the tribes vary widely in the nature of their relationships with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and from each other. This restructuring will take some time but is necessary in view of cuts in federal funding. We will keep you informed. Tribal Council meets with Atalanta Sosnoff officials and tours Foxwood During April 12th thru the 14th, six members of the Tribal Council in addition to tribal staff met in New York with officials of Atalanta Sosnoff, the firm with which the Tribe has invested it's funds, met with Mashantucket Pequot Tribal officials, toured and held a retreat at Foxwood. At Atalanta Sosnoff, the Council had an opportunity to visit the firm's headquarters and to learn about A/S's money management operations. Mae Mar, who has been our main consultant in the Tribe's successful investment program, arranged and hosted the Council to a tour of the internal operations of the New York Stock Exchange. The Council also visited Foxwood, the gigantic resort complex in Connecticut, now nationally recognized as the largest in the country. The beautiful resort which includes a casino with over 4,000 slot machines, four first class restaurants, a hotel, etc.# is owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe. Our Council had the opportunity of meeting with Tribal Council Officials’ and was given a tour of the sprawling, magnificent resort complex. We also met with various managers of Pequot tribal programs and received some valuable information on how their programs and facilities are conducted and coordinated. It should be pointed out that the Siletz Tribe has an official relationship with the Pequot Tribe whereby, under our tribal self-insurance program the Pequot Tribe provides to us pharmaceutical insurance services. Gaming Report From Jessie Davis, Chairman Ad Hoc Gaming Committee Planning for the use of gaming revenues During the past month, Tribal members had an opportunity to offer their ideas on how the revenues generated from the gaming enterprise should be used. Notices of the community meetings held for this purpose were published in the Chinook Winds Bulletin and distributed by first class mail to all adult members of the Tribe. Personal, first class letters were also sent by Tribal Chairman Dee notifying tribal members of these meetings and urging tribal input. The ideas generated at these meetings are being compiled for publication in the next issue of the Bulletin. Tribal members will have an opportunity to submit additional comments and suggestions at any time during the next several months. The major funding categories used by the working group in it's preliminary planning were those specified in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (Tribal Government, General Welfare, Economic Develop ment, and Investments < and Miscellaneous Government). Instead of identifying specific uses for gaming revenues, it was the working group's decision to recommend percentage allocations to the Council and to provide for maximum tribal input in identifying specific needs and revenue srjrjrA'A'A-M’a
