sNok signflz
DECEMBER 1, 2024
Former longtime Tribal employee
elected Willamina mayor
By Nicole Montesano
Smoke Signals staff writer
Former longtime Tribal employee
Vickie Hernandez has been elected
city of Willamina mayor.
Hernandez, who retired from
Human Resources in 2022 after 25
years, said she is enjoying working
with city staff and fellow councilors,
as well as “showing my grandkids
you can go out and do all kinds of
things even when you’re old.”
“They think it’s very cool,” she said.
Hernandez said she loved work-
ing for the Tribe. Her husband,
son, son-in-law and daughter are
all employed with the Tribe as
well, she said, and her children are
Tribal members.
By 2022, Hernandez was ready
to retire and enjoy a new phase of
her life.
“It’s been wonderful,” she said.
Her retirement years involved
spending time with her grandchil-
dren and pursuing various inter-
ests. A couple of years ago, that
expanded to include fi lling a vacan-
cy on the Willamina City Council.
“My friend is the city manager,
and they had a vacancy needed
to appoint to city council, and she
said, ‘Just do it,’” Hernandez said.
The appointment was only for a
few months but once she was on
board, the manager and her fellow
councilors convinced her to run for
election, according to Hernandez.
Hernandez said she has thor-
oughly enjoyed her experience
serving on council.
“It’s a great group of people on the
council; they don’t fi ght and every-
body’s on there for the right rea-
son,” she said. “And what a great
group of staff.
If it wasn’t for
them, I’d have
run the other
way.”
Last year,
then-Mayor
Ila Skyberg
Vickie Hernandez d e c i d e d s h e
was ready to
retire from the job and Hernandez
was appointed as interim mayor
through December, and then will
be sworn in to serve her elected
term of offi ce.
“I think our biggest focus right
now is revitalizing some of our
town,” Hernandez said. “Re-engag-
ing with our citizens, getting people
excited to call Willamina home, not
just, ‘Oh, it’s just Willamina.’ City
staff is very excited about that.”
It’s also a goal of the city council
to expand community involvement.
“Community engagement, I guess
that’s the buzzword,” she said. “We
want the townsfolk to know we’re
on their side; we’re not the big,
scary city council that makes deci-
sions without them. We’re just peo-
ple who live here, just like them.”
A recent community engagement
process has provided feedback for
the council to start working on 5
and 10-year plans with goals for
housing affordability, working
closely with local schools and other
aspirations, Hernandez said.
Meanwhile, the city has also been
working to make sure its water and
sewer infrastructure is up to date.
“Of course, it all comes back to
money,” Hernandez said. “We have
a great city staff that’s amazing at
fi nding grants and resources.” n
Attention All Artisans
Now accepting bids for our Little Miss crown.
Submit full design that includes:
First food planting
Photos by Kamiah Koch
Tribal Natural Resources Department Native Plant Nursery Supervisor
Jeremy Ojua, right, and volunteer Kathy Chambliss plant traditional fi rst
foods at Champoeg State Heritage Area on Saturday, Nov. 9, as part of
Champoeg Volunteer Day. Volunteers with the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde and the Institute for Applied Ecology are working to restore
native plants such as camas, brodiaea and yampa to the area.
Tribal member Joseph Ham clears
SEE MORE OF THIS STORY
some of the grass thicket before
planting native plants as part of
@SmokeSignalsCTGR
the Champoeg Volunteer Day at
Champoeg State Heritage Area
on Saturday, Nov. 9. Ham and other volunteers with the Confederated
Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Institute for Applied Ecology are working
to restore the fi rst food populations of that area. According to the event
fl yer, the word “champoeg” translates to “the place of the yampa.”
Prepared by JBS International, Inc., under Grant No. 3 H79 T1026800-01S1 for the U.S. DHHS, SAMHSA, CSAT
• The Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde logo including feathers.
• Court Year 2025–26.
• Title: Little Miss Grand Ronde.
• Crowns must be completed and
delivered by July 31, 2025.
Must submit photos of progress when requested.
Bid deadline is Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. (deadline is
firm and no bids will be accepted after 5 p.m.)
Mail bids and designs to:
CTGR Royalty c/o Shannon Simi
9615 Grand Ronde Road
Grand Ronde, OR 97347
13
Questions: Call Shannon at 503-879-1358 or
email shannon.simi@grandronde.org
*Bids and designs can be sent to the above email address.
Ad by Samuel Briggs III
Grand Ronde Health & Wellness Center
Behavioral Health Program