Tribal Council OKs change in Election Board compensation

The Tribe’s Election Board members are getting a raise.

During the Wednesday, Aug. 17, Tribal Council meeting, the compensation for Election Board members was brought in line with that paid to other Tribal committees and special event board members.

Currently, Election Board members receive $10 per hour. The board is the only one required to hold office hours that are staffed by individual board members.

Under the new compensation schedule, Election Board members will receive $325 per month for any month in which the board meets, $50 for each special meeting in which individual board members participate and $10 per hour for hours spent staffing the Election Board office.

The increase in pay was approved as part of Tribal Council’s consent agenda.

In other action, Tribal Council:

• Adopted two resolutions allowing the Tribe to participate in the “Identifying Our Needs: A Survey of Elders” being conducted by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Administration on Aging and authorizing the Tribe to apply for grant funds based on the survey’s results for Grand Ronde;

• Approved a ground lease with CoastCom Inc. that will allow the company to use a portion of Tribal land for a repeater station along its fiber optic route. The Tribe will receive a one-time $50,000 payment for the 50-year lease. Tribal Lands Manager Jan Reibach said the Tribe purchased the Upper Nestucca Property in Tillamook Country for $56,000 in 1999;

• Approved a $134,102 contract with Cearley Construction of Estacada for the Tilixam Circle Paint Project, which will paint residential units and carports in Tribal housing;

• Declared Friday, Sept. 9, as the next per capita distribution date;

• And approved the Burton Coast Confluence Property timber harvest as presented by the Natural Resources Department. The timber harvest is projected to net the Tribe slightly more than $1 million in revenue after expenses and fees.

Also included in the Aug. 17 Tribal Council packet were authorizations to proceed that directed the Natural Resources Department to administer the 2016 Cone Collection Harvest and authorized staff to divert treated wastewater effluent from the wastewater treatment plants to the existing re-use irrigation system in family housing.

There also was a failed staff directive to invite Tribal Court of Appeals judges to meet with Tribal Council to discuss the court’s recent decision reversing 66 Tribal disenrollment cases.

Tribal Council member Jon A. George joined Lands Department Manager Jan Reibach, Cultural Protection Coordinator Jordan Mercier and Tribal Artisan Brian Krehbiel in opening the meeting with cultural drumming and singing.

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