Tribal Council OKs two fee-to-trust applications

By Dean Rhodes

Smoke Signals editor

Tribal Council approved two resolutions on Wednesday, Feb. 11, that will seek fee-to-trust status for the Chachalu Museum and Cultural Center property in Grand Ronde and the Rattlesnake Butte property in Lane County.

Land and Culture Manager Jan Looking Wolf Reibach said during the Feb. 3 Legislative Action Committee hearing that of 67 properties owned by the Tribe, 10 are not in trust, including Chachalu.

“Of those 10 properties, three are currently with the Bureau of Indian Affairs for conversion, one we are presenting today (Chachalu) and four of the remaining six we are in the process of removing obstacles to make them good conversion candidates,” stated the staff report.

In addition, Reibach said the Rattlesnake Butte fee-to-trust application is the first non-local one for the Tribe.

The Chachalu property is eight acres in size and Rattlesnake Butte encompasses 97 acres.

In other action, Tribal Council:

•        Held a first reading of amendments to the Children & Families Ordinance that will incorporate notification of grandparents at various stages of dependency hearings;
•        Appointed Tribal Council Secretary Toby McClary as the Tribal delegate to the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians with all other Tribal Council members named as alternate delegates;
•        Requested that Cheryle A. Kennedy be re-appointed as the Grand Ronde Tribal representative to the Legislative Commission on Indian Services;
•        Appointed Chris Mercier as the Tribal representative to the Mid-Willamette Valley Area Commission on Transportation with remaining Tribal Council members named as alternate representatives;
•        Appointed Jon A. George as the Tribal representative to the Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Government with remaining Tribal Council members named as alternate representatives;
•        Appointed Tribal Council Vice Chair Jack Giffen Jr. to be the Tribal representative to the National Indian Gaming Association and named all other Tribal Council members as alternates;
•        Appointed Mercier as the Tribal representative to the Oregon Tribal Gaming Alliance and named all other Tribal Council members as alternates;
•        Approved the correction of one Tribal member’s blood quantum;
•        Approved a one-year extension of a contract that allows Full Gospel Lighthouse Recovery Services to use space at Chachalu;
•        Approved applying for a State Homeland Security grant worth $72,753 to pay for equipment, training, consultant services and indirect costs to support the Tribe’s emergency management efforts;
•        And approved applying for U.S. Department of Justice Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation funding to fund activities within the Tribal Police and Social Services departments.

Under other business, Tribal Council also approved emergency adoption of amendments to the Tribal Housing Ordinance that, among other things, dissolves the Tribal Housing Authority and creates a Housing Department that will report to the General Manager’s Office. The former Grand Ronde Tribal Housing Authority board will become a Grievance Review Board.

Also included in the Feb. 11 Tribal Council packet was an authorization to proceed that will locate the new Tribal Police Department building on the Curl property on Grand Ronde Road near the main entrance to the Tribal campus and a staff directive for the Tribal Attorney’s Office to revise the Fiscal Management and Public Records ordinances to allow mailing of audited financial statements to Tribal members.

Tribal Council member Jon A. George and Land and Culture employees Jan Looking Wolf Reibach and Michael Karnosh opened the meeting with cultural drumming and singing.

The meeting, in its entirety, can be viewed on the new Tribal website, www.grandronde.org, under the News tab and then click on the Video link.