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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1995)
u USDA Distribution Dates: Salem: March 7, 8, 9 Siletz: March 21, 22, 23 Housing info pages 5 & 6 New survey findings General Council Meeting March 5, 1995,11:30 a.m. Tribal Community Center All Welcome n (5) THE CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF THE GRAND RONDE COMMUNITY OF OREGON March 3, 1995 Chairman speaks at American University By Tracy Olson Mark Mercier spoke at American University in Washington D.C. on February 18. He was invited as a guest speaker by the Washington College of Law Chapter of the Na tive American Law Students Asso ciation. Chairman Mercier was one of several guest speakers from Indian tribes around the nation. The topic of the symposium was: "The Re publican Congress-Federal Indian Policy for a New Millennium". Other speakers included: JoAnn Chase, Executive Director, Na tional Congress of American Indi ans; Steve Heely, Chief of Staff, Senate Committee on Indian Af fairs; Chris Sterns, Minority Coun cil, House Committee on Resources and; Albert Hale, President of the Navajo Nation. A roundtable dis cussion followed. Chairman Mercier and Tribal Council secretary Ed Larsen also met with Elizabeth Furse and rep resentatives from Sen. Mark Hatfield's office, as well as a rep resentative from Congressman Bunn's office to discuss some of the projects and plans the Tribe will be working on in the future. Casino foundation nears completion By Frank King Work is rapidly progressing on the Grand Ronde casino, and good weather is helping the process. Jeffrey A. Daiton, project manager for DrakeKraus Anderson Construction Com pany, the contractor erecting the casino, said that the con crete foundation work is 80 percent complete. When the foundation is com pleted, the steel framework will start to go up. He said that work on the traf fic diversion project on High way 1 8 will start in two or three week. As building progresses, preparations are being made to employ key executives for the casino. Bruce Thomas, director of the Spirit Mountain Develop ment Corporation, said that ad vertisements have gone out on the marketing manager's job. "The response has been great," he said. "We will prob ably be filling the position by the end of March." Thomas said that the market ing manager is being hired first so that plans and programs can be developed to bring custom ers to the new gaming com plex. He said that the maintenance manger's job also received good response. Hh -'V An informal meeting at Sen. Mark Hatfield's office. From left: Chairman Mark Mercier, Chris Tuffli, from Bogle and Gates, Mark van de Water, from Sen. Hatfield's office, Scott Corwin, Sen. Hatfield's office, Andy Jenness, and Mark Phillips, from Edwards Associates, Inc. Ed Larsen also attended the meeting. Organizational development part of Tribe's Strategic Plan The Tribe is committed to, and focused on, organizational devel opment as a means to improve services and communication with the general membership. Organi zational development efforts started with the strategic planning process in October 1993, and should continue throughout the life of the organization. The strategic plan was finalized in January 1995. Copies of the plan were distributed in the February 1, 1995 edition of Smoke Signals. The strategic plan is the launch point for other organiza tional development efforts. Con sistent with the priorities and principles identified in the plan, several organizational develop ment efforts have either begun, or will begin in the near future, including the hiring of an Organi zational Development Specialist, the creation of re-engineering teams and team building for all staff. Chris Leno was brought on board as the Organizational Develop ment Specialist on February 1, 1995. This position was developed to focus strictly on organizational development efforts and systems planning. It will provide support to Tribal Council, Committees, Ad ministration, and the Divisions in re-engineering of coordination of organizational development ac tivities. The Tribe has identified rc cnginccring as a tool to improve organizational efficiency. Re engineering is defined in Michael Hammer's book Re-engineering the Corporation as "the fundamen tal rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements..." Re engineering requires us to look at the very basics of the systems and processes we work with. It is an effort to improve services and systems so we can better provide to our customers. Tribal programs we currently operate are basically federal programs placed in Tribal (continued on page 8)