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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 2011)
SCA OrColl E 75 . S68 v. 36 no. £4 Novefflber 3®, £011 Spilyay Tymo iyo te News, est. 1976 November 30, 2011 ■o Acquisition DepUSerïa's Knight Library Oregon University of Oregon Library Received on: 12-05-11 Spilyay tynoo Voi. 36, No. 24- November - Anaku Ipach’aanxa Yaàmash General Council meets on 2012 budget By Duran Bobb S pilyay Tymoo Tribal Council presented the 2012 proposed budget to members at a Gen eral C o un cil m eetin g held at the Simnasho Longhouse last week. Council members, the chief opera tions officer, secretary-treasurer and staff were on hand for the presenta tion. About 100 other tribal members were present. Secretary-treasurer Jody Calica went through some recent changes that were made to the proposed budget. The changes were to be presented for Tribal Council consideration the fol lowing day. At the General Council meeting, tribal m em ber Randy Sm ith asked about the operating budget for Warm Springs Ventures. Finance officer Mike Collins ex plained that as of January 1, Eagle Tech Systems would be taken out of Ven tures, and would return into the tribes as a department once again. “T he re a so n in g b eh in d th a t,” Collins said, “is Eagle Tech has been costing the tribes by having them (Eagle Tech) provide service to us. The tribes were actually subsidizing them to provide a service at a cost. So it would save us to bring them back under the tribes.” Revenue issue Calica said the tribes are work ing on a list of projects which could possibly raise revenue. “We have to stop talking and figure out how we’re going to make the ideas work,” he said. “There has been one work ing session and another one is planned for December to get some of these ideas launched.” See GENERAL COUNCIL on page 7 Casino Update Dedication day set in February By Dave McMechan S pilyay Tymoo Tribal Council heard an update last week on various aspects of the gaming enterprise. The Council met with new Indian Head Casino general manager Ken Billingsley, and the newly-hired gen eral manager of Kah-Nee-Ta, Carlos Smith. Construction of the casino is pro gressing as planned, and the gaming board announced that February 4, 2012 will be the dedication day for the new casino. A grand opening will happen later in the month. Tribal Council then toured the building with Billingsley, Smith and other staff. New GM B illin g sle y com es to W arm Springs from Phoenix, Ariz., where he was working as the regional di rector for the National Indian Gam ing Commission. He held that posi tion for the past 11 years. Billingsley grew up in the Warm Springs area. He has spent half of his working life in the casino indus try. His responsibilities have included overseeing compliance with the In dian Gaming Regulatory Act (TGRA) of 1988 for over 55 casinos. He has Worked closely with 33 different tribes in the Southwest re gion. He is a member of the Lakota S pilyay Tymoo Tribal Council earlier this month participated in an economic develop ment session at Kah-Nee-Ta. Jim M anion, m anager o f Warm Springs Power and Water Enterprises and member of the Business Invest ment Revolving Fund committee, re minded the group of the critical rea sons for these discussions. “Tribal Council believes something needs to be done,” he said. “This meet ing was convened as a result of those discussions.” Manion explained how the tribes are now starting to see some of the ben efits of entering into a partnership with PGE for ownership and operation of the Pelton-Round Butte facilities. In the Over the past year, Je ff Anspach, ch ief executive o fficer for W arm Springs Ventures, has been working on the feasibility of conducting unmanned aerial systems test flights on portions of the reservation. On a map showing Federal Aviation Administration restricted airspace, the reservation has relatively few areas where air traffic is prohibited. “That’s unusual for such a large area that is relatively close to a metropoli tan market,” Anspach said. “It really gives the tribes a competitive advan tage. There is no doubt that we are geographically relevant as it pertains to the unmanned industry.” Anspach went on to say that these unmanned aerial systems, or drones, have very little impact over areas of flight. At an altitude of 500 feet, the systems are barely detectable. One step which needs to be taken is to recruit a public entity to sponsor a flight on tribal lands with the Depart ment of Defense. Twenty other states are looking at similar projects, Anspach said. The next step in the process is to begin tribal member outreach. — b y D u ran Bobb School video makes bold statement * Council members and staff toured the new casino with Indian Head general manager Ken Billingsley and Kah-Nee-Ta general manager Carlos Smith. Sioux. Billingsley stated his commitment to employing tribal members at the casino. The final goal, he said, is to have 100 percent tribal em ployees at Indian Head. Currently, the tribal members are 50 percent of the Kah-Nee-Ta and Indian Head staff. Billingsley said his approach to mak ing the casino profitable begins with customer service. A good quality expe rience for the customers is the main thing that will keep them coming back, he said. See CASINO on page 7 Dave McMechan/Spilyay Council economic development discussion By Duran Bobb Drone project has potential near future, he said, the biomass project should also see some activity. “We hope by the middle of next month w e’ll be ready to bring final agreements to Tribal Council, and bring that project forward,” he said. The Business Investment Revolving Fund (BIRF) has had good and bad comments, Manion said. “BIRF is working in a number of ways,” he said. “It’s bringing the man agers together, so each knows what the other is up to. There’s an opportunity for dialogue.” Manion went through the figures on what has gone out of the BIRF fund to the casino, into equity investments, and the teleco. He informed Council that payment has also come back into the BIRF fund. Clint Jacks, economic stewardship advisor, went through the policy and procedures a tribal m em ber would need to follow in order to utilize the revolving loan fund. “The fund is supplemental to both the CDFI (Com munity Development Fund Institution) and tribal Credit fund.” “People who see another person running a business can think it’s easy to be successful and make money,” Ted Brunoe said. “They want to start their own business and make money. One of the things we’re doing is starting a facilitator for the process. That facili tator will identify if the individual is sincere about starting a business.” “In m y m in d ,” C o un cilm an Raymond Tsumpti said, “we’re trying to get members who are looking for an opportunity to get started. I’m not trying to downplay existing businesses. However, I think some sort of prior ity thinking here needs to be applied. If we start helping existing business, then we’re losing the confidence of the members who would like to go into business for themselves. It’s the same old thing: Who you are, what your last name is.” The econom ic develo pm en t team then heard a presentation on several ideas which included the B ear S p rin g s p r o je c t; an u n m anned aircraft and other un manned vehicles center o f excel le n c e ; and an id e a fo r a motorsports arena. In other recent tribal economic news, Kahseuss Jackson met with Council to discuss his new position as coordinator o f the Economic Stewardship program. This is a key position in implementing the stew ardship plan. When the Jefferson County School District 509-J recently released a video designed to generate pride am ong teachers and staff, it unexpectedly went viral on the Internet. The short film, titled b eliev e it or N ot, features teachers, staff and stu dents from various grade levels sol emnly reciting some of the uncomfort able stigmas that have been tied to the rural school district. Their statements are punctuated with written captions scrolling along beneath. M idw ay through the video, the captions begin scrolling in reverse, and they are re-stated by teachers, staff and students to take on an en tirely different meaning: The result is a dramatic and surprising flip that portrays a positive picture o f educa tion in Jefferson County. “We didn’t initially intend for this video to be public,” said Melinda Boyle, director of curriculum. “We’ve been showing it to select audiences and the response has been so amazingly posi tive. It seems to have taken on a life of its own.” The Jefferson County School Dis trict 509-J has historically faced chal lenges with state test scores and aca demic performance. As a result, the dis trict has battled some difficult stig mas— sometimes within their own com munities and often from those in sur rounding areas. Improved test scores While the district recognizes there is still a lot of work to do, dramatic im provem ents in academ ic perfor mance have taken place over the past several years. Last year, 509-J launched a program to support students who were not meet ing state benchmarks in reading and math. This year, students’ reading grade levels across the district are higher than they’ve been in five years. See VIDEO on page 4 J L I v
