Smoke Signals
May 15, 1995
Page 3
. .,,,,,,,, .,, , ,,,., ,,,.,., ,, , ,,, lmimmiimmmmMW, . , ,, , ,,.,..,, , . .,,. ,,.,,.,,, ,,! ,,
Review of administrative activities
The following report is to
provide tribal members
a summary of Tribal Ad
mini'stration activities during
the first three months of 1 995.
Tribal Administration includes
the Executive Office, Planning
and Policy, Legal, Human Re
sources and Fiscal. The infor
mation is tied to the Strategic
Plan activities and goals for the
year.
Strengthen the Center at
Grand Ronde
Site Use Plan: In coordina
tion with the Public Works Di
vision, the Executive and Legal
staff and Tribal Council repre
sentatives have been involved in
the selection of firm to com
plete a site use plan for all tribal
lands. The plan will review
potential uses and constraints of
Tribal lands and provide recom
mendations for uses.
Land Acquisition: The Ex
ecutive Office continued to par
ticipate in the land acquisition
working group to review land
purchase options and to make
purchase recommendations to
Tribal Council. The group
made recommendation to pur
chase the Strawberry patch
property.
Legal Office: The legal team
assisted in preparation and ob
taining of the construction loan
from John Hancock. The staff
worked closely with Spirit
Mountain Development Corpo
ration (SMDC) and the Tribal
Council to secure the $18 mil
lion loan. The team also has
worked closely with the Public
Works Division t6 meet the fed
eral requirements related to
leases, lands into trust and pro
curement related to the water
storage and pipeline project.
The Tribe has received about $ 1
million in grants from Housing
and Urban Development (HUD)
and Economic Development
Administration (EDA) to pro
vide additional water storage to
meet community and tribal
needs for the Gaming Center
and community development.
The staff worked with SMDC
and the Tribal Council to de
velop Articles and Bylaws for
the tribally chartered corpora
tion (a subsidiary of SMDC) that
will run the gaming center. The
legal staff also worked to de
velop and implement the agree
ment between the Tribe and U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service to pro
tect the threatened Nelson's
Checker Mallow plant that re
sides near the Gaming Center.
The legal staff also worked
with the Tribal Council to up
date the Election Ordinance to
encourage more voter turnout
and to provide clearer election
procedures. Also, they have
developed a Cultural Board
Charter that would establish a
tribal board to help promote and
protect the cultural resources
and history of the Tribe. The
Tribal Council is expected to
adopt the charter by the end of
May.
Improve organizational
efficiency and employee
empowerment to achieve
tribal goals, meet client
needs and provide
effective services.
Organizational Development:
In cooperation with Human Re
sources, the Executive Office
developed a position description
for an Organizational Develop
ment Specialist and advertised
and interviewed finalists which
resulted in the selection of Chris
Leno for the position. The po
sition is designed to facilitate the
strategic assessment process
across the organization and sup
port organizational develop
ment and systems reengin
eering. All parts of the Tribal Ad
ministration participated in ad
ministration team training and
projects resulting from team is
sues discussion. The Executive
Office and Human Resources
department coordinated the de
velopment of an Organizational
Climate Survey of all tribal
staff, Tribal Council and com
mittees to assess customer atti
tudes and perceptions of admin
istrative services.
The Administration has began
a series of forums held twice a
month and open to all staff and
Tribal members. Topics cover
day-to-day operating systems of
Tribal staff support group, in
cluding budgeting, Tribal Con
stitution, self-governance, staff
compensation system, etc. De
signed to improve communica
tion and understanding between
administration and direct-service
staff.
The Administration has began
regular team meetings for all ad
ministration support staff. The
purpose of these meetings is to
promote communication a iu
understanding of on-going
events and to involve all staff
in making important decisions
effecting employees, customers
or services rendered. With
more open communication and
participative decision-making '
we hope to build more trust .
within the organization.
The Executive Office has sup
ported the development of a '
Family Services Reengineering'
Team and, a Health Services
Reengineering Team to review
our basic assumptions of fam
ily services and health services
and to make recommendations
for change. The Executive Of
fice provided an initial work
shop on concepts and principles
of reengineering to each team.
Team Building: During the
past quarter, the Human Re
sources Department has con
ducted "Partnerships for Im
provement" training with all
staff. Staff have learned about
working in teams to identify
opportunities for improvement
in their everyday work and par
ticipate as a team to find and
implement permanent solutions
to chronic problems at work.
Feedback from employees par
ticipating in the process have
been very positive. Chris Leno
is continuing to meet with con
tinuous improvement teams as
they work through problems.
. Planning and Policy Office:
In early 1995, the Operations
area was redefined into the Plan
ning and Policy area. This area
includes Planning and Policy
(formerly Operations), vital sta
tisticsenrollment, grants devel
opment, contract management
and the newsletter areas.
The Policy and Planning area
responsibilities will be to coor
dinate data collection, policy de
velopment and assessment and
measurement of tribal services.
Initial activities have included
establishing baseline and his
torical data on all tribal pro
grams and services. The infor
mation will be used to identify
service gaps.
The EnrollmentVital Statis
tics area has also worked hard
to get updated addresses for the
Tribal membership. Approxi
mately 300 member addresses
have been updated since this
effort began.
The Planning and Policy area
has also been involved in the
Health Insurance Questionnaire
activities that will help identify
tribal member households and
provide vital insurance informa
tion on all members so addi
tional health care benefits and
service options can be explored.
In January, the newsletter office
added a part-time person to help
with the newsletter and publi
cation went from once per
month to twice.
In the Grants Development
area, the following grants were
applied for and awarded to the
Tribe:
Environmental Protection,
General Assistance Grant -$75,
000. The grant from the En
vironmental Protection Agency
will be used to hire an Environ
mental Specialist in the Natural
Resources Division to work on
environmental assessments and
assist the Tribe in complying
with federal environmental laws
and regulations.
Water Reconnaissance
Project - $80,000. This project
is funded by the Bureau of In
dian Affairs and the U.S. Geo
logic Survey. The Geological
Survey will analyze water re
sources within the local commu
nity. Watershed Restoration
Project - $66,000. This project
is funded by the Bureau of In
dian Affairs for fish habitat res
toration on the Reservation.
In addition $166,000 will be
administered by the Polk Soil
and Water Conservation District
for the Tribe on fish habitat res
toration activities. The grants
were developed in coordination
with the Fish and Wildlife Pro
gram. .
The Tribe also received a
grant from REI for $2,000 of
tents and sleeping bags for
Nanitch Sahallie for recreation,
activities.
The Hugh & Jane Ferguson
Foundation awarded the Educa
tion Division $1,000 for envi
ronmental education activities
and the Environmental Protec
tion Agency has provided the
Tribe tentative approval for
$40,000 to look at recycling opportunities.