OCTOBER 1, 2002
Smoke Signals 5
Tribes Come Together For Opening of Fort Hoskins Project
"This is a time of healing" Grand Ronde Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle Kennedy.
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Opening The Ft. Hoskins Interpretive Center in Benton County
was dedicated in an opening ceremony on Saturday, September
14th. The center includes a covered picnic area and multiple inter
pretive panels that share a wealth of information with visitors. More
panels are posted along the walking tour of the Oak Savannah Res
toration area behind and below the shelter. Grand Ronde Tribal
Chairwoman Cheryle Kennedy addressed the crowd that gathered
and said the opening was a "time of healing." Kennedy said she
hopes "we may never have to look back at a history like this again."
Native drummers were part of several multi-cultural presentations
that included a civil war re-enactment, tour and an open house at
the Frantz-Dunn historic home.
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Spirit Mountain Development Corporation Turns Profitable
Brian Grant quickly shepherds agency from the red to the black.
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Brian Grant
By Ron Karten
The Spirit Mountain Development Corpora
tion (SMDC) has been making investments
aimed at diversifying beyond the casino since
1991. From 1996 through 1999, though, SMDC
lost money. This year, after a lot of hard work -from
the Tribal Council, SMDC staff, and the
Board of Directors - the corporation turned prof
itable. "In 2001, the new board promised that we
would clean up the corporation, and within a
year, it would be turning a profit and we've kept
that promise," said Jan Michael Reibach, an
SMDC board member and former board chair.
Now in the real estate end of the Natural Re
sources Division, Reibach stepped down from the
chairmanship last year to finish his real estate
education.
Credit for the success, Reibach said, goes to
Brian Grant, President of the Corporation.
Grant came on in May 2001 as Chief Financial
Officer (CFO) of SMDC and in October 2001, he
replaced Gene Hill with the new title of Presi
dent, which now incorporates the CFO position.
At the time of Grant's arrival, the company
had a number of investments that were not
making money, including Gridco, an electrical
contracting firm in Wilsonville, partial owner
ship of strip malls in Salem and Redmond, and
a loan to Coinless Systems Inc. based in Las
Vegas. Gridco was closed, and the company sold
its share of the strip mall properties to its part
ner in those investments. SMDC completed
Lakeview, a residential development in Albany,
which was sold for a marginal profitable.
Finally, in mid-2001, the Tribal Council
merged the Tribe's local economic development
efforts into the SMDC operation. Grant restruc
tured the staff to avoid duplication and move
forward.
"I appreciate the support of the Tribal Council
and the Board of Directors as we went through
the process of restructuring," said Grant.
"SMDC and the Community Fund have been
our primary focus for the last two years, said
Tribal Council Chair Cheryle Kennedy. "This is
what we set out to do (with SMDC), and we're
accomplishing it. We're on schedule," she said.
Among success stories, the Gregory Project, a
commercial and residential development in
Portland's Pearl District (See Smoke Signals, 10
1501 and 21502 issues) has worked as planned
for the Tribe. The residential units have all been
sold, and SMDC continues to receive income
from the commercial side.
Also a continuing success are two businesses
both managed by the same staff in Tangent,
Oregon, south of Albany. Spirit Mountain Lo
gistics, an inventory management and logistics
firm, and Grand Ronde Industries, a light
manufacturing company, both contract prima
rily with Hewlett-Packard, and are cost-plus
operations for the corporation.
These last two companies benefit from the in
terest that major companies and government en
tities have in hiring minority firms. Although not
many of the 20-30 employees in the Tangent firms
are Indian, Indian ownership is the key, and said
Grant, seeking more opportunities where minor
ity presence is a plus will be the direction that
SMDC investigates in the near future.
"We're looking forward to more of these in
vestments like the Hewlett-Packard," said Ed
Larsen, Tribal Council member.
"We're looking at some pretty exciting oppor
tunities," Grant said. In general, the corpora
tion is investigating opportunities in the manu
facturing sector and the field of security.
In terms of local opportunities, Grant said that
preliminary work continues for the development
of a job producing convenience store and gas
station at the casino.
Along with efforts to clean out the old, non
performing investments and keep on top of suc
cessful ventures, Grant has put in place some
new rules. They will ensure that new ideas are
well researched before investments are made,
and carefully tracked once made. They also
require that accepted accounting practices be
followed.
"It's a going concern now," said Reibach. "It's
a viable business." B