S moke S ignals
JUNE 15, 2017
7
Community Input meeting attracts about 100 attendees
By Brent Merrill
Smoke Signals staff writer
The Tribe’s annual Community
Input meeting held on Wednesday,
May 31, in the Tribal gym in Grand
Ronde was more popular than it
has ever been.
Planning and Grants Manager
Kim Rogers hosted the evening
event and said that almost twice as
many Tribal members participated
than in years past.
“We want it to be productive and
we find this format a way to get
people involved when they come,”
Rogers said. “We had about 100
people at the meeting with over 54
attendees beyond the assigned staff
and the council members that at-
tended. That is our best attendance
for this annual event.”
Dinner began after 6 p.m. when
Cultural Resources employee Bob-
by Mercier led a group of com-
munity members in a traditional
welcome song. He was joined by
Jordan Mercier, Leslie Riggs, Chris
Bailey, Tammy Fisher, Izaiah Fish-
er, Jacob Holmes, Nokoa Mercier,
Kyoni Mercier, Kaikanim Mercier,
Leah Pratt, Kim Contreras and
Kim Roybal.
Tribal Council Vice Chair Cheryle
A. Kennedy, Secretary Jon A.
George and Tribal Council mem-
bers Brenda Tuomi, Denise Harvey,
Kathleen George, Tonya Glea-
son-Shepek and Chris Mercier
attended.
Rogers discussed the process for
the meeting and introduced a Pow-
erPoint presentation that explained
how Tribal programs use informa-
tion gathered at Community Input
meetings.
Rogers said that receiving com-
munity input is required for some
grants the Tribe receives and that
other grants only suggest commu-
nity evaluation in response.
"This is really a good opportunity to get a lot
of feedback in a short amount of time. I think
that is really helpful for us because we really
want to – within the scope of responsible
management – tailor this program to the
needs of Tribal members."
~ Tribal Wildlife Biologist Lindsay Belonga
Rogers said 19 Tribal programs
were represented at the Commu-
nity Input meeting and that each
program had staff in attendance
to answer questions and stamp a
member’s passport.
Each Tribal member was given
an open house passport paper when
they signed in at the registration
table. For every five program tables
visited, members received an entry
into a raffle drawing.
The Chachalu Museum & Cultur-
al Center table shared information
about the second-phase construc-
tion project currently occurring.
Floor plan drawings were provided
so that people could envision what
the building will look like upon
completion.
Newly licensed drone pilot Alex
Drake explained how the Tribe’s
latest technology application is
helping with necessary mapping
and aerial images.
Tribal Police Chief Jake McK-
night staffed a table of officers and
passed out information about the
Tribal Police Department.
McKnight said he was attend-
ing his third Community Input
meeting and that he uses the op-
portunity to meet face-to-face with
members and hear their concerns
about different situations in the
community, as well as hear their
pride in the new police station that
opened on Grand Ronde Road ear-
lier this year.
Hoop for Health!
2017
When: August 18th-20th
Tournament times:
Community Health Program
Friday, Aug. 18 | 5 p.m.- 8 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 19 | 8 a.m.- 9 p.m.
Sunday Aug. 20 | 8 a.m.- Until finished (If needed)
Who can play:
“My dad helped build this,” said
11-year-old Leo Norwest pointing
at pictures of the station. He is the
son of Tribal members Kenny Laf-
ferty and Shannon Stanton.
McKnight said people often feel
more at ease when approaching
him and other Tribal police officers
at community meetings than visit-
ing the station. He said he hopes
that will change in the future.
“We want to be responsive to the
community,” McKnight said. “And
we want people to feel comfortable
sharing their concerns with us be-
cause we listen and we care about
what they care about.”
Information about the Tribe’s
ceremonial fishing agreement at
Willamette Falls and traditional
lamprey harvest opportunities was
shared and pictures and a video
provided a better idea of the proj-
ect’s scope.
The Tribe’s Health & Wellness
Center staff had a large presence
and Behavioral Health Director
Jan Kaschmitter staffed a table
that shared information about the
new Behavioral Health addition
project. She had floor plan drawings
available for people to examine.
Tribal Wildlife Biologist Lindsay
Belonga shared information with
Tribal hunters about extra tags the
Tribe now distributes to members
for either an early or late hunting
season each year.
“I’m trying to develop a baseline
assessment of needs for hunting
and fishing opportunities for Tribal
members,” Belonga said. “What
I would like to do is develop this
baseline assessment of what Tribal
members want in terms of hunting
seasons and hunting regulations.
What I’m most interested in is what
do they want to see out of that pro-
gram within the scope of what we
can do. Right now with the Tribal
hunting tags, this will be the third
year we issue Tribal tags to Tribal
members.”
Belonga said community input is
important to her program and that
Coed Middle school and High school brackets (teams of 4)
Medical Transport
Services
2016-2017 school year, must bring ID.
Where:
Cost:
'Uyxat Pow Wow Grounds - Grand Ronde, Oregon
Free!
3 point contest | Prizes for 3 point contest, 1st, and 2nd place teams!
All teams must have a coach, 18 years or older | Limited Team spots available!
Presentation on healthy lifestyle awareness!
Medical transportation
services are available to
Tribal members within
the six-county service
area when an alternate
means of transportation
is not available. Advance
notice required.
*Deadline to Register Aug 11th*
To register a team Contact Harris Reibach: 503-879-1369
she hopes the meetings continue.
“It’s one of the few times we get
to interact with the community as a
whole,” Belonga said. “This is really
a good opportunity to get a lot of
feedback in a short amount of time.
I think that is really helpful for us
because we really want to – within
the scope of responsible manage-
ment – tailor this program to the
needs of Tribal members.”
Education Department staff
members displayed floor plan draw-
ings for the new preschool addition
and another table provided infor-
mation explaining changes coming
to the Cherriots to Grand Ronde 2X
bus transit service.
Tribal General Manager Dave
Fullerton said transportation is an
issue that previously came up at
Community Input meetings mul-
tiple times. He said transportation
is an example of Tribal leadership
listening to the membership and
responding directly.
“You could look at a lot of things,”
Fullerton said of a time when mem-
bers voted on their most important
issues by placing dots on a poster
board. “You could look at our public
transportation and you can go back
to years of community meetings
where transportation was listed
as an issue. You can go back to the
emphasis that council has put on
housing. There are a lot of specific
projects that came out of the Com-
munity Input meetings.”
Fullerton said grant requirements
requiring community response to
Tribal programs is an important
part of why Tribal leadership holds
Community Input meetings.
“The other importance for com-
munity meetings is we need to
have those for public input for
some of our grant requirements,”
Fullerton said. “Some grants have
public input as a requirement to the
application process. You could look
at a lot of things in programming
that have come out of the public
comment meetings.”
Fullerton said Tribal leadership
desires to do more than just listen
to people because it’s required for
grant funding. He said it is consid-
ered a priority when planning a
program’s direction.
“It’s a real good opportunity for
membership to give input on what
they see as priorities,” Fullerton
said. “We’re creating opportunities
for membership to give comment on
what their priorities are.”
Recreation Department
Please call 503-879-2078
to schedule a reservation.