smok signflz
JULY 15, 2019
Police Department has
non-emergency text line
The Grand Ronde Tribal Police Department has created a non-emer-
gency text line at 541-921-2927.
“Even though this is mostly designed for children, I don’t want adults
thinking that they can’t use it as well. If you have a non-emergency situ-
ation or question, feel free to contact my officer via text through this line,”
said Grand Ronde Tribal Police Chief Jake McKnight. “When one of my
officers receives the text, they will call you back when they have time.”
McKnight said that emergency situations still require calling 911.
For more information, contact McKnight at 503-879-1474.
Voter is responsible to make
sure ballot arrives by Sept. 7
ELECTION continued
from front page
He currently is a member of the
Tribe’s Timber Committee and was
nominated by Lonnie Leno.
Grout, 44, ran for Tribal Council
in 2018, but dropped out of the
race before the annual Candidates
Forum was held. He works as a
surveillance technician at Spirit
Mountain Casino. He was nominat-
ed by Giffen.
Cureton, 67, also ran for Tribal
Council in 2018, finishing fifth out
of eight remaining candidates with
383 votes. He works for the Tribe
as a Community Health driver
and serves on the Tribe’s Election
Board. He will be replaced by an al-
ternate during the election season
and was nominated by Ed Larsen.
Younger, 66, is making his first
“and only” run for elected Trib-
al office. He has worked as the
maintenance supervisor at Spirit
Mountain Casino, as well as Public
Works director for the Tribe. He
also has served on the Board of Di-
rectors for Spirit Mountain Gaming
Inc. and on the Tribal Employment
Rights Office Commission. He was
nominated by Cassandra Scott.
Election office opens July 22
The Election Board office has a
new schedule for 2019. It will be
open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
and Friday from July 22 through
Aug. 30. Office hours are from 10
a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with lunch from
noon to 12:30 p.m.
The Election Office is located in
the Tribal Community Center, 9615
Grand Ronde Road, and the phone
number is 503-879-2271.
For convenience, blank signature
verification forms will be placed
in a hanging basket outside the
Elections Office door. Completed
forms with a notarized signature
or legible copy of ID, including
your signature attached — (driver’s
license, member ID card, passport,
etc.) — need to be mailed to the
Election Board for processing. The
form will not be processed unless
it has been notarized or includes a
legible copy of ID and your signa-
ture attached.
Ballots will be mailed to voters
with verified signatures on July
24. Tribal members may submit a
verified signature card at any time
up to and including Election Day on
Saturday, Sept. 7. The Grand Ronde
post office is no longer open to accept
ballots on Saturday, Sept. 7.
For members’ convenience, there
will be a ballot box in the Gover-
nance Center during the election
season and also on Election Day
there will be a ballot box in the
Community Center where com-
pleted ballots can be cast. Ballots
will be available, as has been the
practice in the past, for those mem-
bers who want to come in and vote
in person.
It is the voters’ responsibility to
ensure the ballot is received by the
Election Board on Election Day – be
sure to allow adequate time for the
ballot to reach the Election Board
by Sept. 7.
Candidate statements were due
to the Publications office by 5 p.m.
Friday, July 12, and will be fea-
tured in the next edition of Tilixam
Wawa, scheduled to be mailed out
the following week.
Candidates were limited to 600-
word statements and candidates
had to submit their statements via
e-mail to dean.rhodes@grandronde.
org or on a compact disk or memory
drive. Hand-written statements
were not allowed to avoid tran-
scription errors and late statements
were not be accepted for any reason.
Candidate statements run “as is,”
meaning the Tribe’s Publications
staff does not edit the submissions
in any way other than to ensure
they do not exceed 600 words in
length.
2019 marks the third year in
a row that political ads will be
allowed in Smoke Signals. Candi-
dates can buy up to a cumulative
full page of advertising in the July
15 through Sept. 1 editions of the
Tribe’s independent newspaper
with the largest permissible ad
restricted to a half-page in any one
issue.
A Candidates Forum is scheduled
for 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 31, in
the Tribal Community Center in
Grand Ronde. Questions for Tribal
Council candidates may be e-mailed
to candidatequestion@grandronde.
org. Please include your name and
roll number.
Ballots will be counted at the
Community Center on Saturday,
Sept. 7, and election results will be
posted that evening on the Commu-
nity Center’s front doors.
At the end of the special General
Council meeting, Maxine Rock,
Earnest Norton and Barbara Fee-
han won $100 door prizes and Bud
White, Rick George, Laura Glea-
son, Cassandra Scott and Lewis
Younger won the $50 door prizes.
Name changes in court
Tribal Court provides both minor and adult name changes to enrolled
members for a filing fee of only $30. If you have any questions or would
like to request a packet, contact Tribal Court at 503-879-2303.
Notice of planned ICDBG application & Community
Development statement Early Childhood
Education Building Addition Project
The Grand Ronde Tribal Council collected comments and sug-
gestions from the Tribal community regarding recent, current and
proposed ICDBG projects, including at the June 12, 2019, Commu-
nity Input meeting. Tribal staff are proposing an ICDBG project
that provides: 1) an 850-square-foot classroom addition to the ECE
Building for the K-2 after school program; 2) a renovated classroom
on the adjacent wall to the addition as a new Early Head Start (EHS)
classroom (707 square feet); 3) renovation providing bathrooms and
storage space for both these classrooms, 4) a 270-square-foot addition
to the kitchen and 83 square feet of kitchen renovation for the Early
Head Start & Head Start programs; and 5) a 146-square-foot HS/
EHS office area addition. The project funding includes $208,032 from
this HUD ICDBG request, $167,000 in local IHBG matching funds,
$79,750 in Spirit Mountain Community Fund monies, $124,080 in
Early Head Start funding and $76,138 in Tribal funds. The Grand
Ronde Housing Department included this general project in the
Tribe’s Indian Housing Plan.
The Tribe has received expanded Early Head Start funding to cov-
er the operating cost for this additional EHS classroom. The added
building space will increase facility operation and maintenance costs
by an estimated $18,000 a year.
To comment on this application, contact Kim Rogers, Planning &
Grants manager, at 503-879-2250, kim.rogers@grandronde, or mail
them to him at 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347.
Comments should be provided by 8:30 a.m. July 23, 2019. Tribal
Council also will collect comments by their July 23, 2019, Legislative
Action Committee meeting and at their July 24, 2019, Tribal Council
meeting where they will consider authorizing this application. The
resulting application will be available for review.
NOTE: This ICDBG application is an amendment to the Tribe’s 2015
grant award when the Tribe applied to add preschool classroom and
kitchen space to the ECE Building to benefit the EHS program. The
Tribe would like to swap rooms so that the added classroom (larger)
is used by the K-2 program and the renovated (smaller) classroom is
used by EHS (which has class-staff ratio limits) and so that all the
EHS rooms would be co-located while K-2 would be on the wall nearest
Youth Education where the rest of the After School Program operates.
The HUD review/approval process for this change requires resubmit-
tal of the Tribe’s application in the way of requesting an amendment.
[This proposed amendment was specifically included in the materials
(fliers, banners, and PowerPoint presentation) at the June 12, 2019,
Community Input meeting.]
Competitive Supplemental Indian Housing Block Grant
Application for low-income housing: 5 Fourplex
Appartment buildings & 3 Elder Duplexes
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is so-
liciting for grant proposals up to $5 million with scoring favoring
construction of new low-income housing units. The Tribal Housing
Department is recommending applying for $4,766,250 from this new
IHBG competitive funding to construct the three low-income Elder
duplexes now under design (north of the current Elder duplexes) and
five additional fourplex apartment buildings which will be just north
of the two currently under construction and which are already de-
signed. The grant requires the Tribe to provide a 25 percent cost share
and the Tribe plans to use as match $983,075 from Tribal Housing’s
formula IHBG funds, $525,000 in new BIA road construction funds
and $80,000 from the value of the land to be used in this construction.
This project is proposed due to the waiting list of Tribal family
households needing affordable housing in Grand Ronde. The project
will provide 26 housing units much faster than had been planned
and than otherwise could be afforded.
To comment on this application, please contact Kim Rogers, Plan-
ning & Grants manager, at 503-879-2250, kim.rogers@grandronde,
or mail them to him at 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR
97347. Comments should be provided by 8:30 a.m. July 23, 2019.
Tribal Council also will collect comments by their July 23, 2019, Leg-
islative Action Committee meeting and at their July 24, 2019, Council
meeting where they will consider authorizing this application.
Upon completion of this project (if selected for funding), the waiting
list for the next phases of Tribal housing will greatly be reduced.
Please contact Leon Ramos at 503-879-1310 if you want to be added
to the waiting list of eligible families.
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