S moke S ignals
MAY 1, 2018
5
Tribal Council withdraws
attorney’s fee reimbursement
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
2013 – The Tribe mount-
ed a new exhibit at the
Willamette Heritage Center
at the The Mill in Salem.
“We Were Here First …
and We Are Here to Stay:
Assimilation, Termination
and Restoration of the Con-
federated Tribes of Grand
Ronde Community of Ore-
gon” took visitors through
the 1850s Treaty Era to 2013
File photo
the Termination Era of
the 1950s to the Tribe’s
preparation for its 30th anniversary of being restored. The exhibit
was curated by the Land and Culture Department Exhibits and
Archives Program staff members David Lewis, Julie Brown and
Veronica Montano.
2008 – The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission approved a rule
change that returned big-game hunting rights for cultural ceremonies
to Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde members. The Tribe had
been working to regain the rights after losing them. “A great day …
a historic day,” said Tribal Council Vice Chair Reyn Leno. “I wish
every Tribal member knew what was going on here today.”
2003 – Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy testified
before the Senate Health Policy Committee on SB 878, which amend-
ed a previous legislative decision made the prior year to cut health
benefits for Native Americans along with the general population
of Oregon as a cost-savings move. However, the new plan included
higher deductibles and loss of preventive care services. “It’s hardly
an insurance plan at all,” said Edward Fox, director of the Northwest
Portland Area Indian Health Board.
1998 – Language specialist Tony Johnson was featured for his
development of a Chinuk Wawa archive of written and audio mate-
rials. Johnson was pursuing a master’s degree in linguistics at the
University of Oregon when he was recruited as a language specialist
by the Grand Ronde Culture Board. He decided that establishment of
a language program archive was an essential first step. With the help
of archival materials, Tribal Elders and his own experience, Johnson
compiled a dictionary of 825 Chinuk words with English equivalents.
He also adapted a font created by a Canadian professor that could be
easily modified to represent all the sounds in Chinuk Wawa.
1993 – Tribal Council Chairman Mark Mercier attended a Forest
Conference in Portland with President Bill Clinton and Vice Presi-
dent Al Gore. Clinton came to Portland to discuss the “timber crisis”
with various political figures, business owners, Tribal officials and
environmentalists. During the daylong conference, Clinton listened
to both sides speak about their concerns. His Cabinet was set to bring
a plan to end the gridlock within 60 days of the conference.
1988 – A hearing for the Grand Ronde Reservation Act was held in
Washington, D.C. At the same time the House Committee on Inte-
rior and Insular Affairs had its hearing, Oregon Sen. Mark Hatfield
submitted a similar bill in the Senate to show his support for the
establishment of a 9,811-acre Reservation in Yamhill County. Rep.
Les AuCoin, who introduced the Reservation Bill in the House of
Representatives, said that the Tribe had agreed not to export logs
or compete in the timber market for 20 years. “This is an important
gesture by the Grand Ronde Tribe,” he said. “A gesture that shows a
good neighbor attitude for the nonTribal community in this heavily
timber-dependent region of my district.”
Yesteryears is a look back at Tribal history in five-year in-
crements through the pages of Smoke Signals.
Tribal Council postponed approv-
al of a reimbursement to Tribal
Council member Denise Harvey
for attorney’s fees she incurred in
defending herself against an ethics
complaint during the Wednesday,
April 18, meeting.
Tribal member Rebecca Knight, a
former Hatfield Fellow, filed an eth-
ics complaint against Harvey regard-
ing her participation in interviews
for a new Spirit Mountain Commu-
nity Fund program coordinator.
A March 26 authorization to
proceed approved by seven Tribal
Council members authorized trans-
ferring $111,011.65 from general
contingency to the Tribal Council
budget to pay for Harvey’s legal
expenses and attorney’s fees.
Tribal Council considered the re-
imbursement at its Tuesday, April
17, Legislative Action Committee
meeting and was set to approve
it at the Tribal Council meeting.
However, it was pulled from the
agenda early on Wednesday.
Tribal Council Vice Chair Chris
Mercier said the reimbursement
was removed from the agenda
because more motions were filed
after Tribal Court Chief Judge Da-
vid Shaw ruled from the bench in
Harvey’s favor.
Mercier said Tribal Council will
await a final resolution of the case
before re-addressing the reimburse-
ment.
“The case is not yet at its final
disposition and we are hoping to get
a final written opinion on it before
we move forward,” Mercier said.
The issue has been winding its
way through Tribal administrative
and legal processes for more than a
year, occasionally rising to the level
of Tribal Council discussion.
At the March 22, 2017, Tribal
Council meeting, Tribal member
Brenda Gray asked Harvey about
her observation of the interviews
for hiring a new Community Fund
program coordinator, but was told
that since an inquiry had been
initiated that her questions were
inappropriate in a public meeting.
During the May 31, 2017, Tribal
Council meeting, Knight unsuc-
cessfully requested a copy of the
investigative report and a June
13, 2017, authorization to proceed
released the investigative report to
a mediator, as well as Knight and
Harvey, but prohibited the parties
from sharing the information out-
side of the mediation process.
An Executive Summary stated
that the Tribal Council Ordinance
authorizes the reimbursement and
follows past practice and is consis-
tent with how the Tribe has han-
dled previous ethics proceedings
involving Tribal Council members
that occurred in 1999, 2001, 2003,
2004, 2005 and 2012.
“The Tribal Council Ordinance
authorizes indemnification of an in-
dividual who is made a party to the
proceeding because of conduct by
the individual while she is or was
a Tribal Council member against
liability for reasonable expenses,
including defending costs, incurred
in the proceeding if council deter-
mines that the individual met the
standards of conduct set forth in
the Tribal Council Ordinance,” the
proposed resolution states.
Harvey was appointed to the
Community Fund Board of Trust-
ees in September 2016 to fulfill
the term of former Tribal Council
member Ed Pearsall and was re-ap-
pointed to serve a two-year term in
October 2017. She was not present
at the Tribal Council meeting be-
cause she was attending the Na-
tional Indian Gaming Association
tradeshow and convention being
held in Las Vegas, Nev.
In other action, Tribal Council
approved a supplemental budget
for 2018 that will allocate $75,000
to the planning process of the 36-
unit Elders Phase III mixed-income
housing development project and
approved the enrollment of two
infants into the Tribe because they
meet the requirements outlined in
the Tribal Constitution and Enroll-
ment Ordinance.
By consensus, Tribal Council
also approved the agenda for the
Sunday, May 6, General Council
meeting to be held in the Tribal
Community Center. Employment
Services will make a presentation
and the meeting will be followed by
a Community Input meeting seek-
ing suggestions for advisory vote
topics to be placed on the Septem-
ber Tribal Council election ballot.
Also included in the April 18
Tribal Council packet were ap-
proved authorizations to proceed
that allow all seven Youth Council
members to attend the National
UNITY Conference being held in
San Diego, Calif., in early July; pro-
vides Tribal members with up to 10
free compact discs of Tribal Council
work session recordings per year
and provides free electronic copies
to Tribal members with an officially
registered e-mail; approves sending
out electronic versions of Tilixam
Wawa to Tribal members who pro-
vide an e-mail address to Member
Services; and approves adding Chi-
nuk Wawa language immersion to
the Tradition and Culture section
of the draft 2018 Strategic Plan.
The entire meeting can be viewed
by visiting the Tribal website and
clicking on the News tab and then
Video.
LIHEAP program open in service area
The Tribal Social Service’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Pro-
gram is open to eligible Tribal members in the six-county service area and
Clackamas County.
This is a first-come, first-served program and income criteria applies.
The program is federally funded through the Department of Health and
Human Services and is designed to help low-income households with home
heating costs. For more information, contact Social Services at 503-879-2034.