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OCTOBER 15, 2021
General Council briefed
on investment values
By Danielle Harrison
Smoke Signals staff writer
Representatives from Robert
W. Baird & Co. Inc. briefed the
general membership on the
Grand Ronde Tribe’s investment
portfolio during the General
Council meeting held Sunday,
Oct. 3, on the Zoom teleconfer-
encing application.
Approximately 60 Tribal and
staff members attended the
meeting. The 37-minute brief-
ing was presented in executive
session, which limits how much
Smoke Signals can report on the
content.
Baird Director Joseph Hoon
and Managing Director John
Fitzgibbons made the presen-
tation and fielded six questions
from the membership after they
were finished.
Tribal members who did not
attend the meeting, but would
like to see the presentation,
should contact Tribal Council
Chief of Staff Stacia Hernandez
at stacia.martin@grandronde.
org or call 503-879-2304 to ob-
tain a copy.
In other action, Tribal Council
Vice Chair Chris Mercier an-
nounced that the next General
Council meeting will be at 11 a.m.
Sunday, Nov. 7 with a review of
the proposed 2022 budget.
Dustin Leno, Erin Bernando,
Lorena Rivera, Shelley Sneed
and Simone Auger won the $50
door prizes. Perri McDaniel,
Emma Leno and Leroy Good won
the $100 door prizes.
The non-executive session
portion of the meeting can be
viewed by visiting the Tribal
government’s website at www.
grandronde.org and clicking on
the Government tab and then
Videos. 
NIGAs Leadership Award
Submitted photo
Tribal Council member Denise Harvey was honored on Tuesday, Oct. 5,
with the National Indian Gaming Association’s Chairman’s Leadership
Award during the Global Gaming Expo held in Las Vegas, Nev. Harvey
became the first Grand Ronde Tribal member to be appointed to the
National Indian Gaming Association board in April 2018.
Casino gift store seeking
Tribal member artwork
The gift store at Spirit Mountain Casino is seeking Native Amer-
ican and contemporary art from Grand Ronde Tribal members as
the store refocuses. However, there is one catch.
Tribal artists must first contact the Tribal Employment Rights
Office to become vendors and be certified as an Indian-owned
business.
“Becoming an IOB vendor is the first step in the process,” said
Assistant General Manager Camille Mercier. “Once they are a
qualified vendor, their pieces will need to meet a predetermined
list of standards in order to have any items in the gift store.”
Mercier said the target date is mid-October for the gift store to
start accepting consignment items from Tribal artists.
“It’s been long overdue to have our own Tribal member artwork
featured,” she added.
To contact the Tribe’s TERO office about being listed as an In-
dian-owned business, call TERO Director Harris Reibach at 503-
879-1455 or send an e-mail to tero@grandronde.org. 
5
Tribe forms new limited
liability company
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
The Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde will soon have a new limited
liability company.
Tribal Council approved forming
Upqwfna LLC during the Wednes-
day, Oct. 13, meeting, allowing
Tribal Council Chief of Staff Stacia
Hernandez to file the required pa-
perwork with the state of Oregon.
The company will invest in small
business opportunities, Hernandez
said, with the focus being on SBA
8(a) opportunities.
According to the U.S. Department
of Commerce’s Minority Business
Development Agency, the 8(a)
program helps socially and eco-
nomically disadvantaged entrepre-
neurs gain access to the economic
mainstream. Companies must be
controlled at least 51 percent by
designated minority owners, which
includes Native Americans.
Companies in the 8(a) program
can receive sole source contracts up
to $4 million in goods and services
and $6.5 million in manufacturing
from the federal government.
Upqwfna may establish subsidi-
ary LLCs for individual and small
business projects, the executive
summary states.
Hernandez said any 8(a) busi-
ness opportunities will be brought
before Tribal Council for approval
before proceeding with actual in-
vestments.
Upqwfna joins the Tribe’s other
LLCs, which include Dakta (SAM
Medical Products) and HuyHuy
(Shasta Administrative Services).
Upqwfna is Chinuk Wawa for
“basket.”
In other action, Tribal Council:
• Approved applying for a $750,000
Housing and Urban Development
Indian Community Development
Block Grant that would help fund
a new 3,500-square-foot child
care center. Planning & Grants
Department Manager Kim Rog-
ers said the full cost of the center
would be approximately $2.1
million with the other funding
coming from myriad revenue
streams, including a projected
$400,000 in foundation awards.
The center would have three
classrooms with nine children
each, significantly increasing the
number of newborns and toddlers
the Tribe could care for;
• Sent an amendment to the En-
rollment Ordinance out for a first
reading. The amendment would
add the ability to use genetic test-
ing of other family members if a
parent is unable to be located or
refuses to provide DNA. The first
reading will give Tribal members
30 days to comment on the pro-
posal;
• Approved a $251,420 contract
with Scholten Construction of
Willamina to repair and replace
the pavement on Murphy Road,
which runs adjacent to Spirit
Mountain Casino;
• Approved appointing Spirit
Mountain Casino Assistant Gen-
eral Manager Camille Mercier
to the Spirit Mountain Commu-
nity Fund Board of Trustees,
replacing Ron Reibach, who has
resigned. Mercier’s term will run
through September 2023;
• Approved the Tribal Housing
Department’s 2022 Indian Hous-
ing Plan to be submitted to the
Department of Housing & Urban
Development’s Office of Native
American Programs. The Tribe
expects to receive $2.8 million in
funding during fiscal year 2022.
Tribal Council also approved an
Abbreviated Indian Housing Plan
that will allow Housing to use
$1.943 million in COVID-19-re-
lated funding to develop low-in-
come housing for Elders and
renovate the basketball court in
Tribal housing;
• And approved the enrollment of
one infant into the Tribe because
he or she meets the requirements
outlined in the Tribal Constitu-
tion and Enrollment Ordinance.
Also included in the Oct. 13 Trib-
al Council packet was a staff direc-
tive for all supervisors to document
and track Tribal assets that should
be returned by each employee upon
their separation from Tribal em-
ployment and an approved autho-
rization to proceed to pay indirect
costs on a $4,000 mini-grant from
the Oregon Department of Veter-
ans’ Affairs to help prevent veteran
suicide.
To watch the entire meeting, visit
the Tribal government’s website
at www.grandronde.org and click
on the Government tab and then
Videos. 
ENROLLMENT ORDINANCE
OPEN FOR COMMENT
The Tribal Council is considering amendments to the Enrollment
Ordinance. The proposed amendments were given a First Reading
at the Oct.13, 2021, Tribal Council meeting.
The proposed amendments will (1) add the ability to use genetic
testing of other family members if a parent is unable to be located or
refuses to provide DNA; (2) removes the requirement for affidavits
when other genetic testing is used; (3) makes DNA results confi-
dential; and (4) may include other minor and technical changes.
Tribal Council invites comments on the proposed amendments
to the Enrollment Ordinance. For a copy of the proposed amend-
ments, please contact the Tribal Attorney’s Office at 503-879-4664.
Please send your comments to the Tribal Attorney’s Office, 9615
Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347, or by e-mail to
legal@grandronde.org.
Comments must be received by Monday, Nov. 15, 2021. 