JUNE 15, 2002
Smoke Signals 5
Housing Authority Looks Forward With New Staff
Housing continued from front page
blessing yet, include expanding the geographic
area where the Tribe will make grants available
for Down Payment, Home Repair, and Rental
Assistance programs.
These plans, of course, are not to say that
GRTHA is abandoning Grand Ronde. The Hip
Tilixam Elder Housing complex potentially in
cludes two more developments and following the
low-income family rental houses now under de
velopment, the Tribe is behind plans to develop
a mixed income housing project and such community-building
facilities as a senior center and
an adult foster care home.
To make the local plans possible, the Tribe's Di
rector of Public Works Eric Scott considers both
immediate and long-range solutions to the ever
present issue of making sufficient water avail
able for Tribal projects. However, he said, "The
cost-benefit analysis we do considers more than
simply revenues."
A government like the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde sees benefit in providing families
with places to live and facilities that make those
homes part of a vibrant community.
Also, because a lot of staff changes accompany
the planned growth in projects, GRTHA is de
veloping a new home for itself within the low
income rental housing project underway. The
1,800 square foot building now occupied by the
housing staff will be replaced by a facility with
5,400 square feet making room for current and
anticipated staffers. In addition, the new devel
opment will also provide the Housing Authority
with a shop area.
17 J! .J I
Nancy Holmes
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Greg Martin ( Tf
Greg Martin has been on board as Layden's
assistant director since last October. Martin came
from 27 years as a higher education adminis
trator, most recently as chief financial officer and
vice president of administration for Teikyo
Lorreto Heights University in Denver. He now
has oversight for all of the division's programs,
specifically operations and compliance issues, as
well as developing policies and procedures for
the division's operations on a day-to-day basis.
Duane Hussey, Development and Construc
tion coordinator, has now been with GRTHA for
almost three years. Third generation in the con
struction business, Hussey most recently worked
as a consultant for "flash track" construction,
coordinating between local governments, design
ers and owners to help turn agricultural land
into half million square foot high tech plants in
10 V2 months.
For GRTHA, Hussey works with Public Works
Director Eric Scott to take care of infrastructure
issues like roads and sewers that pave the way
for GRTHA projects. Among those infrastruc
ture issues and possibly the biggest of them, is
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the availability of water.
"Two years ago, we started meeting to identify
alternative water sources," said Scott. "Ulti
mately, a three-part plan was adopted to create
a 20 to 30 year solution. That plan, he said,
includes development of a water treatment plant
for the casino, which will free up a lot of local
water resources for I
Tribal needs.
Nancy Holmes,
who has been with
the Tribe for eight
years and with the
Housing Authority
since its inception,
has for the last six
months taken over
as Home Owner
ship Coordinator.
In this capacity,
Holmes imple
ments the Down
Payment Grants
Program, an $800,000 a year program. Ini
tially, down payment grants totaled $5,000 for
each Tribal member buying a home. Today,
$10,000 grants are common, but the Tribe also
matches an additional $2,500 contributed by the
potential homeowner, making total grants as
high as $12,500.
Tribal member Lonnie Leno has been work
ing on housing issues with the Grand Ronde
community since before GRTHA started in 1996.
He implemented
the home repair
program that
transferred to the
Housing Author
ity when it was
formed. Now
Housing Mainte
nance Coordina
tor, Leno con
tracts with inde
pendent compa
nies for mainte
nance and repair
work for GRTHA programs and in some cases,
he takes care of the work himself. Since the
first phase of the Elder housing development was
completed, Leno has been taking care of main
tenance issues there. When the current family
housing project is completed, Leno will take care
of maintenance and repair work on this project,
too.
Administrative As
sistant Shawn
Kennedy, with
GRTHA for one and
a half years, is recep
tionist for the divi
sion and also assists
with an array of jobs.
She helps Leno keep
track of work orders
and she shuffles the
paperwork for home
repair grants, now
handled by Don
Coon, the agency's
new Housing Improvement Specialist.
"Whatever some
body needs to have
done, I do," said
Kennedy.
At the end of last
year, GRTHA
added Don Coon in
the new position of
Housing Improve
ment Specialist. In
this position, Coon
administers the
Home Repair
Grant program to
Lonnie Leno
Shawn Kennedy
f L-' ' .' y :
I i iy -:
c
Teri White
GRTHA ten-county
area. He inspects
homes, obtains bids
and oversees repair
work. In addition,
Coon manages the
Minor Medical Ad
aptation Grant pro
gram, through
which Tribal mem
bers are entitled to
funding for medi
cally required im
provements on their
homes.
Coon was a general contractor in Benton
County area prior to joining GRTHA.
Terri White has been executive assistant for
GRTHA for more than five years. One of her spe
cialties over the years has been preparing contracts
for the agency. White worked as a paralegal for
17 years before joining GRTHA and though her
drafts of contracts go to the legal department be
fore being printed, once approved, these contracts
become forms reproduced many times for many
projects. Her work has saved the division a lot of
time and expense, said Layden.
"Attorneys do a lot
of this in many
places, but in our
case, we're lucky,"
said Layden of
White.
White also does
the accounting, fi
nancial manage
ment and she ad
ministers Indian
Health Service
projects for the
agency. Working
behind the scenes
as she does, she said, "I'm kind of hidden. People
are sometimes surprised to learn that I work here."
Starting in April, Larry Leith became GRTHA's
Rental Housing Coordinator. As such, he man
ages the rental housing units. There are now
38 in the Elder Housing project and 36 going
up for low-income families. He also handles the
leasing of Grand Meadows properties.
"I make it a point to be in the neighborhoods
everyday," he said.
Previously, Leith operated lumberyards and
for most of the last ten years, he has managed
his own rental properties. B
X
Larry Leith
GRAND RONDE
TRIBAL
HOUSI
NG
AUTHORITY
Duane Hussey
Tribal members in the
Don Coon