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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 2023)
sNok signflz OCTOBER 15, 2023 CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF GRAND RONDE TAX PREPARATION REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL The Request for Proposals (RFP) is being conducted by the Mem- ber Services Department for the purpose of obtaining a licensed contractor who has at least five years of experience preparing tax returns. Qualified applicants shall possess the ability to: • Provide tax preparation services to Tribal Elders and foster youth living on and off Tribal lands. • Assist Tribal members in completing tax-related paperwork. • Serve as a resource to Tribal members who have questions regard- ing payment and filing of state and federal tax returns. Preference will be given to members of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and/or Indian-owned businesses registered with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde TERO. Contact Shannon Simi at Shannon.simi@grandronde.org or 503- 879-2253 for information. All proposals must be submitted by 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17, to the following address: Shannon Simi, Member Services Department 9615 Grand Ronde Road Grand Ronde, OR 97347 FISH AND WILDLIFE ORDINANCE OPEN FOR COMMENT The Tribal Council adopted, on an emergency basis, amendments to the Fish and Wildlife Ordinance at the Sept. 6, 2023, Tribal Council meeting. The primary purpose of the amendments is to reflect the terms of the memorandum of agreement for off-Reservation and non-trust land hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering between the Tribe and the state of Oregon. The adoption of the amendments on an emergency basis will allow the Natural Resources Department to implement the changes for the 2023 hunting season. Tribal Council invites comment on the amendments to the Fish and Wildlife Ordinance. For a copy of the amendments, contact the Tribal Attorney’s Office at 503-879-4664. Send your comments to the Tribal Attorney’s Office, 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347 or by email to legal@grandronde.org. Comments must be received by Oct. 15, 2023. BURIAL FUND ORDINANCE OPEN FOR COMMENT The Tribal Council is considering amendments to the Burial Fund Or- dinance. The proposed amendments were given a first reading at the Sept. 6, 2023, Tribal Council meeting. The proposed amendments increase the burial benefit from $7,000 to $8,000, and may also include minor technical (i.e., formatting, typo- graphical, housekeeping) modifications. Tribal Council invites comment on the proposed amendments to the Burial Fund Ordinance. For a copy of the proposed amendments, con- tact the Tribal Attorney’s Office at 503-879-4664. Send your comments to the Tribal Attorney’s Office, 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR, 97347 or by email to legal@grandronde.org. Comments must be received by Oct. 15, 2023. 5 Tribal Council approves design services for Tumwata Village site By Danielle Harrison Smoke Signals editor Tribal Council approved a design contract with GBD Architects of Portland for a portion of its Tum- wata Village site in Oregon City during its Wednesday, Oct. 11, meeting. The $673,000 contract will in- clude a schematic design for what is known as block one of the former Blue Heron Paper Mill site that the Tribe purchased for $15.25 million in 2019. “This is pretty exciting work,” Tribal Engineering and Planning Manager Ryan Webb said at a Tuesday, Oct. 3, Legislative Action Committee meeting. “This will help with the design and is part of the first phase of redevelopment at this site. It’s an exciting milestone. In- stead of tearing things down, we’re doing design (work).” However, the demolition portion is not yet complete. Tribal Council also approved a contract increase to $2.7 million for Elder Demolition of Portland to complete demolition work on the former administration building and associated structures. When that work is finished, 26 of the more than 50 abandoned and dilapidated buildings will have been demolished. Tribal Council first approved an almost $850,000 contract with the company in May 2021. Funding has mostly come from a combination of grants, fed- eral money and private donations. Since purchasing the property, the Tribe released its vision state- ment for the site in March 2021, started environmental remedia- tion, launched the first phase of building demolition in September 2021, secured federal support by obtaining an $800,000 EPA grant in May 2021 and $2 million in federal funding included in the appropriations bill signed into law in March 2022, and started a third round of demolition work in March of this year. The Tribe also renamed the site Tumwata Village after the Native word for Willamette Falls. The 23-acre site has been used for numerous industrial purposes since the 19th century. In other action, Tribal Council: • Approved a credit card authori- zation in the amount of $2,500 for Warriors of Hope Program Manager Cassie Dandy; • Approved enrolling two infants into the Tribe because they meet the requirements outlined in the Tribal Constitution and Enroll- ment Ordinance; • Approved appointing Jesse Rob- ertson Jr. to the Veterans Special Event Board for a term ending on March 31, 2025; • And approved a resolution for the Tribe to fund the construction of five homes for phase one of the Tribe’s home ownership develop- ment. The amendment is due to lender Tribal First backing out of processing the five pre-approved construction loans because of a staffing shortage. The Tribe is working with HUD to find a solu- tion so that the Tribal members can still purchase the homes. Additionally, Tribal Council Vice Chair Chris Mercier read a state- ment that council would not be moving forward with proposed amendments to the TERO Ordi- nance. The changes would have removed seven executive level positions at the Tribe and Spirit Mountain Ca- sino from the standard minimum preference that is applied in the TERO Ordinance and modified it to a “tiebreaker preference,” meaning if there were equally qualified Trib- al member and external candidates, the Tribal member would be hired. The amendments also would have removed executive-level applicants from TERO director qualification assessments review. “We received a number of written comments and great participation from our Tribal membership,” Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy said. “No action will be taken on the proposed amendments.” To watch the entire meeting, visit the Tribal government’s website at www.grandronde.org and click on the Government tab and then Videos. smok signflz offering fast e-mail subscription Want to be one of the first Tribal members to receive smok signflz? Want to receive the Tribal publication on your computer instead of waiting for it to arrive in the mail? Want to get up-to-date and in-the-know about the Grand Ronde Tribe before anyone else? In an effort to be more efficient and reduce printing and postage costs, smok signflz electronic subscribers receive a PDF (portable document format) version sent to them instead of a newsprint version sent via the mail. All you need on your computer is Adobe Acrobat or another program that can read a PDF and you’re set. Why would you want to do that? The PDF version is available before the newspaper is sent to our printing contractor in Salem. You can read the paper on your computer or print out a copy of individual pages yourself. And you will receive Tribal news much faster than the current standard mailing utilized by the Tribe. If you would like to receive an e-mailed PDF version of smok signflz and stop receiving a mailed newsprint version, send your e-mail to esubscrip- tion@grandronde.org. Stopping mailed delivery of the newspaper will not affect other Tribal mail.