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
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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
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