Kennedy elected Tribal Council vice chair, George becomes secretary

Only Tribal Council’s vice chair position was supposed to be up for election at the Wednesday, Sept. 14, meeting since Jack Giffen Jr. ran for re-election on Sept. 10.

However, two officer positions were eventually elected.

Tribal Council members elevated Secretary Cheryle A. Kennedy to vice chair and then filled Kennedy’s suddenly empty officer’s spot with Jon A. George.

Tribal Council member Chris Mercier nominated Kennedy as vice chair. She had to resign as secretary to accept the nomination. No other nominations occurred, so Tribal Council Chair Reyn Leno ruled that Kennedy was elected vice chair by acclimation.

Tribal Council member Tonya Gleason-Shepek then nominated Jon A. George to succeed Kennedy as secretary. Again, no other nominations were put forth and Leno ruled that George was elected secretary by acclimation.

Kennedy has a long history of service as a Tribal Council officer, including 11 years as Tribal Council chair. This is George’s first appointment to a Tribal Council officer position.

Several audience members and fellow Tribal Council members thanked Giffen for his years of service as a Tribal Council officer. He has been vice chair since September 2012 and served as secretary before then.

Kennedy thanked other Tribal Council members who had expressed an interest in serving as an officer for stepping aside so that Tribal Council could unanimously approve the new officer lineup.

The Sept. 14 meeting also was the first for new Tribal Council member Kathleen George, who was the top vote-getter during the Sept. 10 election.

In other action, Tribal Council approved a U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service five-year grant that will pay the Tribe $31,605 a year to help maintain forest stewardship and enhance forest resources.

Also included in the Sept. 14 Tribal Council packet were staff directives that will allocate revenues from annual hay licenses from 2016 through 2019 to the Chachalu Museum-Museum Contributions budget line, as well as an authorization to proceed that requested the Tribe’s Enrollment Board to act “expeditiously” on enrollment cases recently remanded to the board by the Tribal Court and as directed by the Tribal Court of Appeals.

Tribal Cultural Resources employees David Harrelson and Jordan Mercier performed the cultural drumming and singing to open the meeting.

The meeting, in its entirety, can be viewed on the Tribal website, www.grandronde.org, by clicking on the News tab and then Video.