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AUGUST 1, 2020
Summer sprays
Transition of fire station
will take five years
MEETING continued
from front page
Photos by Timothy J. Gonzalez
Early Childhood Education hosted a social distance socialization for the
Early Head Start home-based families and the West Valley Fire District
on Tuesday, July 28. Families enjoyed snacks while watching the fire
department use its hoses and flashing lights. In non-pandemic times the
families would visit the fire station, interact with firefighters and talk
about fire safety.
Tribal descendants Ivar Hunt, 2, and Barrett Hunt, 5, check out bags
of snacks as their mother, Ariel Hunt, looks on during Early Childhood
Education’s social distance socialization for the Early Head Start home-
based families and the West Valley Fire District on Tuesday, July 28.
9
12 an authorization to proceed
that instructed General Manager
David Fullerton to renegotiate a
memorandum of understanding
with the West Valley Fire District
to include a “comprehensive tran-
sition plan” for the Grand Ronde
Tribe to assume operations of the
fire station at Grand Ronde and
McPherson roads.
In addition, Fullerton was direct-
ed to file the appropriate documents
to register the fire station as being
owned and operated by the Tribe,
which might provide an “increase
in external funding opportunities.”
Fullerton also was directed to
oversee the transition plan and
re-organize the Emergency Man-
agement Program now located at
the Grand Ronde Tribal Police
Department to assume fire station
operations.
The authorization to proceed
established a $50,000 operating
budget for the 2020 budget year for
fire station management.
The Tribe and West Valley Fire
District signed an intergovern-
mental agreement in July 2009 to
build and operate the fire station
in Grand Ronde. The $1 million
fire station opened in June 2010,
substantially cutting response time
for fire and medical emergencies in
the Grand Ronde area.
Throughout the last decade, the
Tribe has budgeted hundreds of
thousands of dollars annually to
fund operations at the fire station.
The West Valley Fire District re-
cently joined two other fire depart-
ments – Sheridan and Southwest
Polk – to form one district for fire
and emergency medical services.
The intergovernmental agreement
took effect on July 1, 2019. The new
district covers 535 square miles and
includes eight fire stations, includ-
ing the one in Grand Ronde.
“A Tribally controlled, equipped
and staffed fire station centrally
located in Grand Ronde is an effec-
tive and efficient means to provide
an enhanced level of fire and emer-
gency medical services to Tribal
lands and promotes sovereignty,”
states the new intergovernmental
agreement with the West Valley
Fire District.
During the five-year transition,
the Tribe will continue to fund per-
sonnel to staff the fire station while
the Tribe and West Valley Fire
District will work to recruit Grand
Ronde Tribal members for full-time
positions and work to identify and
recruit volunteers.
The Tribe has already applied for
several federal grants that would
help purchase firefighting equip-
ment and an ambulance for the
local fire station.
In other action, Tribal Council:
• Approved the Tribe’s $30,000
annual membership dues to the
National Congress of American
Indians and appointed Tribal
Council member Michael Langley
as the principal delegate;
• Approved 99-year master ground
lease for 36-lot Grand Meadows
manufactured home subdivision.
Previously, the lease could only
be extended for 50 years, Tribal
Lands Manager Jan Reibach
said during the Tuesday, July
21, Legislative Action Committee
hearing;
• Approved a contract with Perlo
Construction of Tualatin to per-
form improvements on the Tribe’s
new property in Salem. The Tribe
purchased the Willamette Pro-
fessional Center at 1011 N.E.
Commercial St. N.E. in early May
and will use the facility to expand
Tribal health care services that
will include medication-assisted
treatment for those battling opi-
oid addiction;
• And approved the enrollment of
three infants into the Tribe be-
cause they meet the requirements
outlined in the Tribal Constitu-
tion and Enrollment Ordinance.
Also included in the July 22 Trib-
al Council packet were approved
authorizations to proceed that
support the Molalla Fire District
using a color logo on its fire engines
that depicts elements of the Molalla
story about Coyote and Grizzly, and
agrees to sign a petition seeking
to rename Dead Indian Memorial
Road in southern Oregon that is
being circulated by former Tribal
Historian David Lewis.
To watch the entire meeting, visit
the Tribal government’s website
at www.grandronde.org and click
on the Government tab and then
Videos.