Smoke signals., November 01, 2006, Page 6, Image 6

Smoke Signals
Tribal Council Promotes Leno From Interim To Permanent General Manager
Tribal member Chris Leno continues the job with plenty of skills.
6 NOVEMBER 1, 2006
By Ron Karten
General Manager and Tribal mem
ber Chris Leno serves as liaison
between the Tribal Council and all
but four departments Finance,
Legal, Housing and Public Affairs.
After the last year serving as interim
General Manager, the Tribal Coun
cil earlier this month promoted Leno
to the post permanently.
"He's been working with the Tribe
for a lot of his career," said Tribal
Council Chair Chris Mercier. "There
aren't many people who know the
Tribe the way he does."
In fact, Leno has served as Interim
General Manager three times in his ca
reer for a total of two-and-a-half years.
Ixno has worked for the Tribe since
1992, aftergraduating from the Oregon
State University with a bachelor's in
Business Administration. He earned
his master's degree in Public Adminis
tration from Portland State University
in 2003, while continuing to work for
the Tribe. In recent years, he served
as the Tribe's Director of Operations,
a second in command position with a
varying portfolio of departments. The
position is now held on an interim basis
by Tribal member Pete Wakeland.
The General Manager job, as he
sees it, is to serve as the interface
between Tribal Council and the
departments, to make sure that
departments understand Tribal
priorities expressed by members and
embraced by the Tribal Council.
"A lot is problem solving," said
Leno, "but there's also a lot of com
munication, analysis and support for
X '"Z 1
General Manager &
Tribal Member Chris Leno
program managers.
The job requires decision mak
ing as well. Leno is called on in a
day to decide on a range of possible
policy changes, program and service
changes, and hiring issues.
"I think the staff works hard and
they are trying to provide good qual
ity services," he said, and added,
"You have to continually be on the
lookout for things we can improve
on, and make changes as necessary
to improve services."
"It's important for me to understand
what the managers see as their priori
ties and to let them know what Tribal
Council's priorities are and to make
sure they are consistent with the direc
tion that Tribal Council has set, based
on input from the membership."
"Communication can always im
prove between the programs and the
Tribal membership," said Leno. And
in that regard, Leno said, he is on the
lookout for "a good mechanism to un
derstand the priorities and concerns
of the membership."
Employment development also will
be a big focus in the year ahead, said
Leno. "We want to expand on exist
ing services like the mentorship and
work experience programs." It's part
of what he called, "a total approach to
workforce development."
A Tribal Council investigation into
whether to combine the Human Re
source departments for Governance and
casino employees was abandoned ear
lier this year, said Leno. "They decided
that it was probably not a good fit."
Enrollment, always a hot topic
among Tribal members, will con
tinue to occupy Tribal attention for
the coming year. An Enrollment Ad
Hoc Committee headed by Tribal
member Debby Larsen met with
Tribal Council recently to present its
recommendations.
"This effort is between the Ad-Hoc
Committee and the council at this
point," said Leno. "If staff is called
upon to assist with efforts to propose
changes, we will do so wherever it is
needed."
Whatever decision is made will
ultimately need to pass a special vote
of the membership.
The incentive to get all these things
right comes from Leno's relationship
with the Tribe and its members. "I'm
a Tribal member myself," he said,
and a lot of my family and friends
are also Tribal members, so I'm doing
whatever I can to deliver the highest
quality programs and services."
When something goes wrong, he
said, he hears about it, and it affects
him personally.
Among Tribal members closest to
him are his children Kiana, 10, Ca
den, 9, and Ethan, 4.
"We need to do the best we can not
only to provide high quality programs
and services but to make sure that
these programs and services are what
members want.
"I would like to see, as much as
possible, a seamless approach to
delivering services."
He referred to the feeling that some
Tribal members get, when sent to more
than one department. "We have to
realize that we're all part of the same
organization. Working together."
As an example, he said, Tribal
members now have to update a
change of address in three or four
different places.
The Tribe helped Leno, like so
many others, pay for his college edu
cation. "When I graduated in 1992,"
he said, "I wanted to find a way to
give back to the Tribe."
"I'm honored to have this opportu
nity," he said. "I very much appreci
ate the Tribal Council's confidence in
me and giving me this opportunity."
"He's pretty smart for an OSU
graduate," said Tribal Chair Mercier,
who was a graduate of the University
of Oregon.
Tribe Launches Redesigned Website
By Toby McClary
As of August 18, 2006, the
Tribe has launched a new, con
temporary yet cultural website.
The site can be located at: www.
grandronde.org
The site has been in the mak
ing since January of 2006 and
was created by ISITE Design of
Portland and the Tribe's Office
of Information Systems (OIS)
Department.
Tribal member and Web De
signer William "Willie" Mercier
along with Web Specialist Jason
Mayfield played very active roles
in the creation of the new site.
"We recognized that there was a
need for a website that fit the image
that the Tribe tries to portray," said
Willie. "We wanted something that
would best represent the casino and
all of the Tribal depart
ments." Willie also stated that
after the Cultural Re
sources Department was
allowed a grant to pro
duce their virtual gallery,
"Ntsayka Ikanum" (See
Smoke Signals, 9106),
he felt it was time to get
to work on the Tribe's
new look. The virtual gal
lery can also be accessed
through the Tribal site.
Another significant
player in the construc
tion of the site was Trib
al Council Chair Chris
Mercier. He
helped with the breakdown of the
departments and also wrote the
summary for Tribal Council among
others.
"I didn't realize there was going to
be so much work," said Chris. "It has
taken a lot of time."
Chris also commented on the prob
lems of the site and where he hopes
to see it in the future.
"The biggest problem I've seen has
been content generation. Writing
content could be a full-time job," he
said. "I'd like to see web streams and
web casts of our council meetings. I'd
also like to see a chat room where
Tribal members can interact."
Many issues regarding the website
have come up among Tribal member
ship. Willie acknowledges the issues
and said that the site is still being
developed and that it will be an ongo
ing project.
"A lot of what happens on the
website affects the whole organiza
tion," he said. "Most of the major
concerns have been addressed but
we have to be careful as to what we
post on the site."
One of the major issues has been
site log-in and registry. In order for
a Tribal member to create a Tribal
member log-in, they have to provide
their social security number. Willie
explained that was a "last resort" and
that there was no other means of a
Tribal member identifier.
"We did not want to ask for the
social but there was no other option,"
said Willie.
Since the launch of the new site
there have been over 200 Tribal
members to register.
An archive of past Smoke Signals
issues not being made available online
is another concern of the membership.
Willie said.
Here is a look at some of the new redesigned web pages in www.grandronde.org
"We are currently trying to op
timize the PDF format to a lower
file size," he said. "This will
make Smoke Signals available
to everyone who wants it."
He also explained that most
of the current stories of Smoke
Signals are available online at
this time.
The OIS Department manages
the websites for the Grand Ronde
Tribal Housing Authority, Spirit
Mountain Community Fund and
they are also working with the
Grand Ronde Gaming Commis
sion. Plans to access these sites
from the main Tribal website are
in the process.
Some other features of the
new site include a continuous
rotation of photos, updated
photos from recent events and
a box on the front page with
updated information highlight
ing the most current of Tribal
events.
"Another goal," ex
plained Willie, "is to
provide Tribal servic
es to the membership
through the website.
Our vision is to make
information available
to Tribal members
that they would nor
mally have to come to
the offices to get."
If you would like to
send your concerns
or suggestions to
the Web Designer,
you can send them
to: webmastergran
dronde.org B ;
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