Karuk Tribe of
Council Meeting Minutes
September 27, 2007
Happy Camp,
The meeting was called to order at 5:06 PM by Arch
Super, Chairman.
Roll Call
Present
Arch Super, Chairman
Leaf Hillman, Vice Chairman
Leeon Hillman, Treasurer
Roy Arwood, Member
Sonny Davis, Member
Robert Goodwin, Member – 5:11
PM
Alvis Johnson, Member
Absent
Florrine Super, Secretary -
excused
Quorum is established.
The mission statement was read aloud by Roy Arwood.
Approval of the Agenda for September 27, 2007
Alvis Johnson moved and
Leeon Hillman seconded to approve the Agenda for September 27, 2007. 5 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Robert Goodwin arrived at 5:11 PM.
1) Approval of
the Minutes for August 23, 2007
Sonny
2) Guests
None.
3) Old Business
4) April
Attebury, Tribal Court
April is present to review
her written report. She has one action
item for approval which is submission of a grant proposal to OES in the amount
of $100,000. It has been reviewed and is
ready to be submitted. There is a small
amount of un-recovered costs although the program will be a pass through to
KCDC.
Leeon Hillman moved and
Alvis Johnson seconded to approve Resolution 07-R-155. 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
She states she also submitted
a contract for review but does not know if that made it through for the CASA
Program. It is Contract 07-C-079 with
National CASA (NCASAA) in the amount of $7,000 for consulting to do three site
visits for the program and make recommendations.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Leaf Hillman seconded to approve Contract 07-C-079. 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 1 pupitihara (
She states those are her only
action items for tonight.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Leaf Hillman seconded to approve April’s report. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
5) Jim Berry,
KCD
Jim’s written report was
included. He was not present. Bob asked if there will be a report regarding
the Naa Vura Yee Shiip Program. Yes, Chuck
is on the Agenda for closed session tonight.
Alvis Johnson moved and
Leeon Hillman seconded to approve Jim’s report.
7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
6) Hector
Garcia, Self Governances
Written report only, not
present. Arch states he will be here in
about a half an hour. They will wait
until he is present to review and approve his report.
7) Scott Quinn,
Land/Transportation
Scott was present to review
his written report. He has one action
item not listed which is approval of Resolution 07-R-136 for the title
exceptions on the Tebbe Property. He
would also like to schedule a meeting with the Council to discuss land and transportation
with the Council; the funding is annual.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Leeon Hillman seconded to approve Resolution 07-R-136. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
He states that there was a
technical change on one of the resolutions for the Jacobs allotment which Arch
signed today. It is currently going through
the final approvals at BIA and as soon as the notarized documents are received
by BIA and this resolution is received an invoice will be mailed and the Tribe
can then pay for it. The property is
going from Trust to Trust. There needs
to be a streamlined process at BIA so it doesn’t take this long in the future
if they do this again.
They need to schedule a date
to review the Transportation Plan. It
will take about 2-3 hours. They will
also discuss some land and roads issues.
They will meet with Scott after the Wednesday Meeting at 2 PM.
8) Sandi Tripp,
DNR
Sandi was present to review
her written report with the Council. She
has many action items for approval.
There are three contracts
that were not issued numbers; Smartmeme, Biostream, and Mid Klamath Watershed
Council. They will be done Wednesday
after Ramona makes the necessary changes to them.
Her first action item is
Contract 07-C-076 with Jeanette Quinn for $18,525 to provide Environmental
Education services for FY2008.
Leaf Hillman moved and
Leeon Hillman seconded to approve Contract 07-C-076 with Jeanette Quinn. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Her next action item is Contract
07-C-077 with Aquatic Eco System Science in the amount of $25,000 to compile
algal toxin results for the reservoirs and monitor the field sampling
techniques.
Dwayne Myers asked if there
is anything that can be done to counteract the algae and clean the reservoirs. Sandi states they cannot clean the
reservoirs. He asked why the River is green;
she states it is from the water coming from the reservoirs down the river. She explained that this is not for lab work
but to compile data gathered.
She submitted an application
to seek funding for their freshwater muscle research project similar to what
Ron was working on this field season.
The amount is for $100,000 for the main-stem of the
Leaf Hillman moved and Roy
Arwood seconded to approve Resolution 07-R-141.
7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
She has a grant for Earl for
US Fish and Wildlife for his program that is the same funder of the mussels
study. You can only apply for $200,000
from this funder so they split it between the mussel study and Earl’s program
at $100,000 each. It is due by Sunday
but she does not have copies for them.
It has been reviewed and is ready for approval. It is for the Fish Lake Road Complex, not the
lake road itself. Resolution 07-R-133
has been assigned.
Robert Goodwin moved and
9) Susan Gehr,
Language
Susan was present to review
her written report. She has one action
item which is approval of the Agreement Packet related to the mini-grant from
NCIDC for $10,000 which was funded to prepare a second edition of the Karuk
Language Dictionary. They require an MOA
and Tribal Resolution for their mini-grants.
The Resolution is 07-R-142 authorizing an MOA with NCIDC.
Leaf Hillman moved and
Alvis Johnson seconded to approve Resolution 07-R-142. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Alvis Johnson seconded to approve Susan’s report. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
10) Rick
Hill/Hester Dillon, Grant Writer
Hester is present to address
the Council and review her written report.
Her first item requiring
attention is the radio station project and a decision that needs to be made
regarding the financial assurances section of the application. She states she spoke to the engineer on
Tuesday and requested he forward a spreadsheet with necessary budgetary
information, he indicated he would forward it by today, however, he did not. Her estimate is that the project could cost
up to $275,000 to start and operate for a period of three months.
There are three financial
choices 1) they must have assets to fulfill the needs, 2) state they will apply
for NTAI grant funding but that requires a 50% match, or 3) specify they will
apply for funding from charitable corporations (this option is not recommended
by the attorney because they cannot be approved without the funding being
secured and could lose the license). At
this point in the application process they must decide which option they will
proceed with. She still has not received
the information needed from the engineer.
She reviewed the information received from the engineer and issues
related to each option he presented.
She states that the Council
would need to budget between $100,000 to $150,000 toward the project in order
to move forward with an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000 for start up and
operating costs for the first three months.
The window to submit the application is October 12-19, 2007 so it must
all be completed for submission by that time.
They would like to see the breakdown from the engineer as soon as it
comes through; she states she will forward that to them when it comes in and
then decide.
She updated them on the grant
progress for the Summer. They have been
quit successful on their grant writing and continue to move toward the
timelines they have in place. They have
received around $600,000 in funding for programs.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Roy Arwood seconded to approve Hester’s report.
7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
10b) Hector
Garcia
Hector was present to address
the Tribal Council and update them on his activities. He states the majority of his time has been
spent working with Earl on legislation.
It is moving along and is approaching the Governor’s Office and he has
been requesting letters of support for the legislation from all California
Tribes for AB 1032 to help it through the process and get it signed by the
Governor. He hopes to report that it was
successful at the next meeting.
Robert asked when the next
BIA Consultations will be taking place.
Hector states that all of the information is supposed to be posted to
the internet for everyone to read and then it will be moving forward with further
meetings, he encourages Council to be involved in the second round of
consultations. Hector states he will
keep them informed of the dates. He
states he attended to take the chance to meet with Amy Dutschke who is filling
in for Clay Gregory; she is not interested in taking his place but is only
filling in.
He spoke regarding the fact
that their Trust Applications are moving through too slowly and no one is up to
date on the files, they are sitting stagnant and not moving. They have been there so long that the rules
and regulations have changed; DC stated they would send the files back to
He also spoke regarding the
fiduciary trust responsibility that BIA has to the Tribes and the active
participation that was promised to them with the dam removals in this
area. BIA has not come to support them
or tried to work with them which is not fulfilling their responsibilities.
They have indicated BIA’s new
focus is economic development; he asked them how they can seek to implement
economic development when they cannot get the parcels of land into Trust.
The good news he received is
that the Probate Code will be published and the Demonstration Project will be
funded.
11) Dave
Wrobleski, People’s Center
Dave was present to address
the Council and review his written report.
He states he is settling in
and getting comfortable. He states the
Basketweaver’s Gathering was a success and went very well with over 100
attendees.
He distributed Resolution 07-R-137 authorizing a proposal to fund non-cosmetic
improvements at the People’s Center. The
amount of funding will be $11,160 to fund an upgraded security/alarm system for
the Center.
He is also working on several
other grants as well and the Cultural Resource Management and Archaeology
Program. He will be giving the first
presentation on October 5, 2007 beginning at 5:30 PM. He states that California Gold filmed at the
Center and Verna, Paula, Susan, and Alvis were all filmed for the segment. He is seeking funding for the martial arts
classes he spoke about last month.
He would also like to speak
to them about the Public Meeting the Forest Service Plans to hold to discuss
their timber harvest plans in the areas of the fires. There was no mention of Tribal Areas in that
letter and he would like permission to attend the meeting and ask them some
questions regarding their lack of mention of the Tribal areas this harvest plan
will cover. Sandi states DNR was
personally invited to attend the meeting.
Bob states there was a direct presentation to the Tribe at the Health
Board Meeting last month regarding their plans and they also work with the Fire
Crew and Harold on these projects as well.
There is consensus that the Forest Service is working with the Tribe but
not openly conveying that to the public.
Sandi states there are cultural resource monitors working on the fires
when they occur as well.
Sandi states that there will
be a US Forest Service Summit Meeting coming up that he should attend to see
how the consultation process works and how they are able to work with the local
Ranger District and Alan. He can also
attend DNR Management Team Meetings.
Dave read aloud the questions
he would like to ask them regarding their timber harvest plan and explained
each question; he states that many Forest Service employees do not realize what
the laws are and that they are violating them.
There was further discussion
regarding appropriate forums to deeply question the Forest Service on their
practices and how the consultation process is supposed to work.
He states he is preparing
flow charts to detail when grants are due, when gatherings are scheduled, what
his progress is on different projects so they know what is going on. He has also scheduled a Museum Advisory
Committee Meeting for October 13, 2007.
October 11, 2007 at 10:30 in
Somes Bar is the next Monthly USFS Meeting.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Alvis Johnson moved and
Leeon Hillman seconded to approve Dave’s report. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
12) Lisa
Aubrey, LIAP
Written report only, not
present.
Alvis Johnson moved and
Roy Arwood seconded to approve Lisa’s report.
7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
13) Dion Wood,
TERO
He distributed his written
report to the Council for review.
He states there is no new
information on the TANF Program and what their grant amount will look
like. He will be at the regional meeting
next week and hopes to find out something.
The first round of interviews are scheduled for October 15, 2007 and he
encourages that they all attend if they can.
He has been requested to
submit clarifications on the Childcare Plan; they should receive around $99,000
for next year. He will be able to roll
over $17,000 from this year to next year.
They are badly in need of childcare providers in Happy Camp and he is
encouraging a community member to open a daycare center that will serve the
communities needs.
He is trying to enhance early
literacy services as that is the big push from the federal government. He states that he assisted with setting up
the Kindergarten Camp and worked with the Family Resource Center and other
agencies to put it together, then an article was written that misconstrued who
did what for the event and gave most of the credit to the Family Resource
Center, when in actuality they did not have a large role in that event. Another collaborator who participated in the
activity was so upset by the article that they will be writing a response
explaining who really worked on it. He
states that PR for the Tribe is very important to get the word out regarding
what they do.
He has been collaborating
with many other CCDF programs and the local schools to ensure that the needs of
the youth are being fulfilled in this region.
He states the IHS water project in Happy Camp is winding down and it has
worked very well. The final inspections
are scheduled for next week.
A meeting has been scheduled
for October 9, 2007 at 2 PM at the People’s Center to plan the Cultural Monitor
Training that will be held to design their vision and goals for the Cultural
Resource Management program Dave just spoke of.
TERO will be paying for Dave to join the California Historical Resources
Information System as well to aide their program.
He has been working with
NCIDC to put together the Storm Damage Crew that will be working on projects in
collaboration with the Tribe under the supervision of the Vice Chairman and
funded by NCIDC. They are awaiting
funding to be awarded so the crew may start work.
He has not been able to pull
together the Early Childhood Education Committee they authorized as those
individuals are very busy and it is hard to get them all together.
Roy Arwood moved and Alvis
Johnson seconded to approve Jennifer’s report.
7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
14) Jennifer
Goodwin, Education
Jennifer was present to
address the Council and update them on her activities.
She states the Kindergarten
Camp was very successful and she helped with those activities; there was a
wonderful turnout at that activity. She
states she has received the same thank you letters that TERO did for that
event.
She states there was a Title
7 meeting last week which went very well.
School started she has been trying to keep on top of things and getting
tutors for the students that have requested that service.
The basketweavers gathering
was great; there were no major problems during the event. Verna and Paula sold their tickets to help
offset the costs of the event bringing in over $1,600! She states they finished up the grant for the
dress that was shown at the last meeting and it is now complete.
They now have a grant for
$5,000 to do necklace weaving in the Somes Bar, Happy Camp, and
She states there is one tutor
in the
She states the grants for
Higher Education have been awarded and are obligated, she has seen the number
of grants raise which shows there are more youth going to school.
She updated them on her
upcoming activities and scheduled events as well.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Leeon Hillman seconded to approve Jennifer’s report. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
15) Erin
Hillman, Administrative Programs and Compliance
She updated everyone on the
projects she has been working on. She
states the Orleans Community Project has gone out to bid but needs to be re-bid
to meet the budget for the project.
The suggested items for the
She distributed her training
report from Emmetsburg, MD for Emergency Management that she attended with
Sandi, Laura, Hester, and Arch. There
will be two follow up trainings in November and December which she will attend. This training will be used to implement the
objectives in the CSD Grant that Rick submitted to prepare an Emergency
Response Plan through a Council/Management Workshop, distribute emergency
preparedness kits to Tribal households, and fund training that is necessary to
prepare staff for emergency response.
Leaf Hillman moved and Roy
Arwood seconded to approve
16) Sami
Difuntorum, KTHA
Sami was present to review
her written report. She updated them on
a couple of items that have come up since they last met. She states there was discussion at the Health
Board Meeting regarding Social Services Referrals and how it will work with
Housing rules. They will be preparing a
policy and referral form that should be ready for approval Wednesday that can
meet the needs they want to pursue.
She states that they are
opposing the Alaska proposals for legislation that allow them to take their
Housing Block Grants and Compact them; most of the Self Governance Tribes have
opposed that as there is not enough information to support it and it should be
limited to Self Governance Tribes if allowed at all, the Alaska groups are
corporations, not actual Tribes. It is
possible this may be stand alone legislation and they are working to ensure
that it is monitored and does not slip through the cracks.
She states they stand to lose
$500,000 in their FY2008 estimate based on the differences in numbers and how
the counting is done. She is working to
determine what needs to be done to address the unresolved BIA TRSAIP Count
issue. BIA has accepted the Self
Governance reports but HUD will only accept the number from BIA; if BIA accepts
the information and reports it to HUD it will address the issue but it will not
be a retroactive increase to their grant amount.
Sami states she can challenge
the number but a successful challenge will not change the current year funding.
Leaf inquired why Hector did
not pursue the appeal process available.
Hector states that he worked on it with BIA but no one wants to touch
the topic because it has become so political.
Sonny inquired if the Elder’s
driveways are going to be paved this year.
Sami states it will not be done this year. There were some issues because they were not
actually roads, so roads dollars could not be used for that. She will check on that with Scott and see
what she can find out.
Leaf Hillman moved and
Alvis Johnson seconded to approve Sami’s report. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
17) Laura
Mayton, CFO
Laura distributed her written
report which included Cecilia’s travel report.
The most important item she
returned with and that she has verified as true is that effective October 1,
2007 they will not longer be able to charge 50% of all Council travel to
Indirect, only travel which is actually indirect type training can be paid from
there so it will have to come either 100% from program funding or from discretionary. She is pursuing disputing that change but
will change the coding October 1, 2007 until it is resolved and there if a
final answer to avoid having to shift it all later. Leaf would like her to vigorously object to
this change.
She encourages Harold and DNR
to use the training facility that Laura and Erin went to with Sandi, Hester,
and Arch because it is so cost effective.
She states that when they travel and get rental vehicles they do not
need to purchase the additional insurance.
She states that Sunday is the last day of the fiscal year and they are
working toward that.
She cautioned them regarding
their discretionary spending for the coming year as it appears to be a year
where they will have more requests than funding so they will need to prioritize
and plan ahead when approving requests.
The clinic move is almost
complete, the Maintenance Staff will work tomorrow to get everything out of the
building and be completely finished before their lease expiration date of
September 30, 2007. It is slightly
disorganized but will open for business on Tuesday.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Leaf Hillman seconded to approve Laura’s report. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
18) Fred
Burcell, Maintenance/Construction/Automotive
Written report only, not
present.
Roy Arwood moved and Leaf
Hillman seconded to approve Fred’s report.
7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
19) Sara
Spence, Human Resources Manager
She was present to review her
written report. There were three action
items included.
The first is approval of two
additions to the Personnel Policy Manual.
The first is the inclusion of the stand-alone Exercise Policy which was
approved on June 8, 2005 but never incorporated into the manual. The second is an addition that addresses Work
Hours of the Tribe to help with questions that often arise regarding this.
Leaf Hillman moved and
Alvis Johnson to approve the two additions to the Personnel Policy Manual. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Her second action item is
approval of Contract 07-C-075 with Kathleen Davis for Council Cooking
services. The cost is $130.00 per
meeting for paper service and $150.00 for dish service plus food costs.
Roy Arwood moved and Leaf
Hillman seconded to approve Contract 07-C-075.
7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Her third action item is
approval of Contract 07-C-080 with Hermanett Albers to provide food services
for the 3rd Annual Karuk Youth Leadership Conference for $350 for
labor and $936 for food. This was tabled
to closed session.
Leaf Hillman moved and Leeon
Hillman seconded to approve Sara’s report.
7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
20) Requests
There was a request included
from the Special Olympics of Northern California to support their
activities. The Council has not
contributed to this for the past several years as it is better to obligate
funding toward local events and youth.
Consensus: To not donate to the Special Olympics.
21) Phone Votes
a) Request to
contribute $100 toward Big Bucks Bingo for Whitman Family. Passed.
b) Approval of Resolution 07-R-128 to the
Unitarian Universalist Funding Program in the amount of $15,000 for
environmental justice. Passed.
c) Approval to give up claim to landscaping and
maintenance costs for 38 Park Way facility in order to gain ownership of all
items included in Attachment A of the Lease agreement with the exception of one
desk and one filing cabinet. Passed.
d) Request to
allow Council Members other than Executive Council to sign Council Secretary authorizations for
travel. Passed.
e) Approval to
loan Tribal Member $1,200 to be repaid by September 30, 2007. Passed.
f) Approval to
submit OES Proposal for FY2008. Passed.
22)
Informational
None at this time.
23) Committee
Reports
None at this time.
Closed Session from 9:12 PM to 12:03 AM
Robert Goodwin moved and Leeon
Hillman seconded to approve Resolution 07-R-129 enrolling nine Tribal Members. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Leaf Hillman moved and
Leeon Hillman seconded to approve utilization of the Tribal Credit Card to hold
rooms in the amount of $1,300for Employee #3138 and Tribal Member #1013 to be
paid upon check-in in March 2008. 7 haa,
0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Leaf Hillman moved and Roy
Arwood seconded to transfer Employee #5541 to KCDC to be funded from
discretionary for FY2008 in the amount of $80,000 for salaries, fringe,
benefits, and indirect. 7 haa, 0
puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
The USFS
Leaf Hillman moved and
Consensus: To suspend employee #1017 pending investigation
into the matter and report back to Council with consultation of Personnel
Attorney to advise.
Leaf Hillman moved and
Leeon Hillman seconded to approve a loan to Tribal Member #633 for $1,000 to be
repaid in six weeks 5 haa, 0 puuhara, 2 pupitihara (
Consensus: To issue confidentiality reminder to all
Election Committee Members.
Leaf Hillman moved and Roy
Arwood seconded to accept Barbara Norman’s recommendation to offer assistance
to Tribal Member #3101 and travel to
Leeon Hillman moved and
Leaf Hillman seconded to approve Contract 07-C-080 in the amount of $350 with $100
deduction for KTOC debt and $100 deduction for KCDC debt. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Alvis Johnson seconded to approve Booster Club request to pay $50 to
Consensus: To advise the Election Committee that
candidate statements are to be mailed to all eligible voters with photos
included; this needs to be incorporated into the Ordinance as a standard item
for all future elections held.
Consensus: To transfer Tribal Member #538’s loan to a
monthly payment of $100/month rather than lump sum payment.
Consensus: To have DNR do research regarding which
campgrounds will be evaluated in the Forest Service’s study to determine which
are not supporting themselves to determine if any others can be leased to the
Tribe similar to the project they are working on for West Branch such as Dillon
Creek, Aikens Creek, Oak Bottom, etc.
Roy Arwood moved and Leaf
Hillman seconded to fund the water system for the cemetery at the Starritt
Property in the amount of $3,434; NCIDC crew will do installation with funding
to come from leftover BIA dollars from the Jacobs allotment or discretionary if
necessary. Ongoing maintenance needs will
be handled by the
Directive: To Self Governance Director regarding the
fee-to-trust applications. Immediately, he
is to coordinate with Land/Transportation Manager to assemble the backup
documentation on the issue of the length of time it is taking for the
properties to go through; including what date they were submitted, who it was
submitted to, and where is at currently.
There will also be a detail of follow up after the submissions. That will then show where they are so that
they can then send a formal letter from the Chairman to the Secretary of the
Interior and copy it to Carl Artman and the Committees and Chairman that
oversee Indian Affairs requesting that he respond to the situation. These letters then go to all of the
congressional representatives; Herger, Boxer, Feinstein, Thompson requesting
they may inquiry on the Tribe’s behalf regarding this situation which is
intolerable.
Roy Arwood moved and Leaf
Hillman seconded to approve a loan to Tribal Member #11 for $2,000 to be repaid
at the rate of $300/month. 7 haa, 0
puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Next Meeting Date:
October 25, 2007 at 5 PM in
Meeting adjourned at 12:04 AM.
Recording Secretary, Sara Spence