Karuk Tribe of
Council Meeting Minutes
April 24, 2008
The meeting was called to order at 5:02 PM by Florrine
Super, Secretary.
Roll Call (2 minutes)
Present
Florrine Super, Secretary
Leeon Hillman, Treasurer
Roy Arwood, Member
Sonny Davis, Member
Robert Goodwin, Member – 5:04
PM
Alvis Johnson, Member
Absent
Arch Super, Chairman –
absent, excused
Leaf Hillman, Vice Chairman –
absent, excused
Florence Conrad, Member –
absent, excused
Quorum is established.
Sonny
Approval of the Agenda for April 24, 2008 (3 minutes)
Alvis Johnson moved and
Leeon Hillman seconded to approve the Agenda for April 24, 2008. 4 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
1) Approval of
the Minutes for March 27, 2008 (4 minutes)
Hester had one change to her
report; the phrase “revenues of $800,000” needs to be changed to “profit of
$800,000”.
Leeon Hillman moved and
Sonny
2) Old Business
None at this time.
3) Holly
Hensher (10 minutes)
Holly was present to address
the Council along with Susan Corum to discuss the possibility of a childcare
center being developed in
Robert Goodwin arrived at 5:04 PM.
They have also spoken with
Dion and he has some sources for assistance including construction and/or
renovation and startup costs.
Their biggest question
tonight is regarding a location; beside the
There is a high probability
that this program will not be self sustaining and will require support. In mid-May the only licensed daycare program
will be closing in
Sami states the Housing
Committee spoke of the slight possibility of Housing being able to pay for a
portion of the costs with an IHP Amendment if it were providing services to
Housing residents. One idea that was
mentioned was doing a two story facility with TANF upstairs and daycare
downstairs.
They state they are not
experts in this process but want to do any research and information gathering
they can to allow the project to move forward as quickly as possible and get
staff in place to provide daycare when the center closes next month.
Their biggest question to
allow them to move forward and plan is knowing if it is possible to have the
facility located on Trust property or not.
Sami states that the Tribe owns the property that is next to the
Florrine states they can
discuss this further at their Wednesday meeting.
3a) Irene
Miranda (3 minutes)
Irene is present to address
the Council and request assistance from the Tribal Council to purchase
graduation gifts for the children at the Yreka Karuk Tribal Head Start. They would like to purchase small buckets
with beach toys for the kids; there are 40 children in the two classes that
they would be requesting assistance for.
They are requesting any dollar amount they would be willing to
contribute.
Florrine states they will
take it to their Wednesday meeting for a decision and get back to her.
4) Kayla Super
(1 minute)
Not present, no report
submitted. From this point forward she will
submit her report to April Attebury to include with hers and not be listed
separately on the agenda since she is now only working 10 hours per week.
5) Jim Berry (2
minutes)
A written report was included;
he could not make it to the meeting tonight.
Head Start’s program review is coming up and the Council is requested to
be present May 5, 2008 at 9 AM for the entrance interview.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Leeon Hillman seconded to approve Jim’s report.
5 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
6) Hector
Garcia (5 minutes)
Hector is on travel and no
written report was received; Carrie’s report was included which usually goes
along with his. He has requested to meet
with them Wednesday. Council inquired if
the memorandum mentioned in Carrie’s report was issued to all Staff regarding
Resolutions and the appropriate procedure for a number being issued and
required copies. Sara states she will
check and see.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Alvis Johnson seconded to approve the Self Governance report. 4 haa, 1 puuhara (Leeon Hillman), 0
pupitihara.
6a)
She was present to mention
some activities going on at the
She states she traveled to
7) April Attebury
(4 minutes)
April’s written report was
included in the packets.
Alvis Johnson moved and
Sonny
8) Jennifer
Goodwin (5 minutes)
Jennifer was present to
review her written report with the Council.
She has no action items for this month; she states they continue to be
very busy with the end of the school year for many college students rapidly
approaching and financial aid paperwork that is necessary. She states the applications for the 2009
School Year will be mailed out in the very near future and if they know anyone
who needs an application she asks that they contact her with their
information. She also distributed a copy
of the picture from the Indian Club Trip.
She states the kids behaved themselves and everyone had a great
time.
The necklace making grant
that she has been working on with Verna is just about out; there was some
travel included and so she and Verna went to
She states the Student Rent
Voucher applications will be available in the next week or two and will be distributed;
she needs to work with Sami before they go out.
She states there was another scholarship through Amerind (Housing’s
insurance provider) for a $500 scholarship for a Housing resident who is also a
full time student, Sami sent her the information and she passed it along to the
students.
Leeon Hillman moved and
Sonny
9) Lisa Aubrey
(4 minutes)
Lisa was present to review
her written report and the information submitted. She states she has no action items for this
month. She states they continue to have
funds available for qualified members who have a need.
She states that she attended
training in
Leeon Hillman moved and
Sonny
10) Susan Gehr
(8 minutes)
Susan was present to review
her written report. She states she has
no action items.
Her word of the month is
a-thi-thuf-vuu-nup-ma (Happy Camp). She
distributed them each a portion of the word broken down into syllables to show
how easy it is to pronounce the word if it is broken down. It is six syllables which is rather overwhelming
at first.
She updated them on other
activities in her program; she recently traveled to a class in the William
Bright Seminar Room which was a wonderful experience. She is also working on the next round of
online language classes.
Leeon Hillman moved and
Robert Goodwin seconded to approve Susan’s report. 5 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
11) Erin
Hillman (8 minutes)
She states IHS contacted her
about the Tribe’s sanitation deficiencies system. Last year they rated and ranked the projects
to determine which are most important, IHS is now wanting to set up a meeting
to go over these projects in more detail and would like to know which Council
members are interested in participating, Bob and Sonny state they would like
to; she states she will distribute the dates/times via email so that they can
come if they are able.
She states she received an
email from the Smithsonian apologizing for their lack of response to their
request for an inventory; they stated that they sent it but apparently it was
not received and they were very sorry for that.
She was also given information regarding loans of items that could be
granted, she will forward that information to Dave and the Advisory Board; she
will also follow up with the group that did the video demonstration project
further.
She states she has requested the
dates given for the ICS Training; June 2-3 and 23-24 are the two sets of dates. She will come back to them with a request for
the snacks to be provided once she knows how many participants there will be
and if it will be two separate trainings or one combined.
She has a request for them
regarding letters that are being sent to members who are eligible for the
disaster preparedness kits; she would like to have permission to put that
letter through the Enrollment Department for mailing to the appropriate
households.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Sonny
Bob inquired about the
meeting with
Robert Goodwin moved and
Sonny
12) Hester
Dillon (4 minutes)
Hester is present to review
her written report which has one correction; she has received two bids and
expects the last this Friday for the radio project and FCC licensing
process. She does not have any action
items this evening.
Leeon Hillman moved and
Sonny
13) Dion Wood
(28 minutes)
Dion was present to review
his written report; Daniel was present along with him. He distributed an updated report as several
items have changes.
They have been anticipating
the final report from
Laura states that the problem
still exists that they must argue the poverty rate; Daniel states that the
State has led him to believe that they will accept this information since it is
from another source. She states there is
nothing to lose all they can do is try.
Robert Goodwin moved and Roy Arwood seconded to approve submission
of the data from
Daniel’s one addition is that
the individuals who prepared the report will also travel down and meet with the
State if necessary. He states he and
Dion would like to be on the Agenda for Wednesday regarding their next steps
anticipating that these numbers will be accepted and they will be moving
forward quickly. They suggest a meeting
that will be about one to two hours or during a Planning Meeting. Leeon states if they can get any information
to them ahead of time that would be helpful.
Laura asked how long after
they find out that they will accept these numbers would they hire staff; Daniel
predicts June 1 hiring staff and then providing services July 1. Bob states that all position descriptions
need to go through Sara’s office and they need to work with Laura on the
budgets before requesting approval.
Dion states cigarette sales
are going forward at the People’s Center; they have some ideas for ways to hide
them so they are not in plain view and apparent in the gift shop. It is going well; he included options for a
Smoke Shop in Yreka; 1) pay someone to set it up, 2) hire a Program Manager to
work on this process, or 3) use existing staff to accomplish their tasks.
They feel that option 3 is
best and they are all working on tasks for the next meeting on May 6,
2008. He asked if Council wants this
made a top priority so that they can link into staff for support. They would like a timeframe for being up and
running and operational (60 days, 6 months, etc.). He also states that Council needs to
designate areas on an aerial map for locations and planning ahead for other
developments.
Bob asked what the cost is
for a gas station to be put in. Hester
states around 2 million is a low estimate for what it costs to build a
facility. Bob points out though that
they made $800,000; Hester clarified that Susanville was the Tribe that
reportedly brought in $800,000 of profit not
Bob asked Davey how long it
would take to build a convenience store.
He states with a good crew it would depend on their design, a fairly
safe estimate would be about six months.
Bob suggests a full design including everything to grow and then
implement different items in phases; also planning ahead for a casino and
incorporating those sales into the casino.
Bob would like to see some more options from the committee that are on
paper and planned out. He would like to
see it move forward as quickly as possible but be well planned out for future
growth and expansion. Hester suggests
doing a very conservative market study for any venture they select to avoid
having a loss at the end of the project.
Laura states there are so
many options they need to know which the Council prefers; for example they
could purchase a concession trailer and get started right away or a construction
project type trailer that could be pulled in setup and open for sales within a
week or two. If they build something it
requires more site preparation. They are
looking into all of these options and will be meeting again on May 6. Sonny would like to go with Fred to look at
the property for drainage issues.
They would like to hear back
from the group at the Health Board Meeting on May 8.
Leeon Hillman moved and
Alvis Johnson seconded to approve Dion’s report. 5 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
14) Dave
Wrobleski (10 minutes)
Dave states that the Spring
Basketweavers Gathering starts tomorrow in Happy Camp and continues through
Sunday. He encourages Council Member
attendance.
He states online sales are
moving forward, the camera came and the computer is there so they are getting
closer. He is also working with Mark
Oliver and two youth, Justina Harrison and Ashley Goodwin, on a video
documentary that will be shown in the Center; he will have them review it ahead
of time for content before showing it there.
He states they are averaging
$100-300 per day in cigarette sales (gross) without aggressive advertising and
only word of mouth. He suggests they
consider having the store open on Mondays.
Bob asked when they will receive a report regarding the cost, sales, and
profit. Laura states she can give them a
report next Wednesday so they can see how it is developing.
Dave states he is working on
a grant to the History Channel for students to document the federal recognition
process of the Karuk Tribe; he would like to have these in depth interviews completed
before the individuals responsible for recognition are not available for this
project, they can also put together a booklet as well.
He requested to be on their
agenda for Wednesday to discuss the system at the Center.
He states he has a slot
reserved for May 7-8, 2008 in
Sonny
Sonny
15) Laura
Mayton (3 minutes)
Laura states she has nothing
to add to her written report and has no action items for them. Bob states that there was an issue that came
up with a Tribal vehicle at Ron’s shop and the insurance adjustor not including
items that need to be repaired. He
suggests that they call the adjustor to have the items added. Laura states that the insurance company has
not stated that the quote was too high or included any items that would not be
covered. Bob states that someone should
call Ron and speak to him about it to make sure.
Roy Arwood moved and
Robert Goodwin seconded to approve Laura’s report. 5 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
16) Sami
Difuntorum (19 minutes)
Sami was present to review
her written report with the Council.
She pointed out that the
Bennett home continues to move forward and the homeowner is very pleased. They will be taking him the keys in the near
future and photos were included with the report. It will be completed next week. External painting will be done once the
weather gets better.
She reviewed the remaining
items in her report and went over the status of several projects. There was discussion regarding the Head Start
Center and the Housing exchange. If a
building purchased with Head Start dollars is sold the amount must be sent back
to the funder. It cannot be leased
either, the only way to do it is allow Housing to utilize the building is to
transfer it to them. Housing cannot
renovate the building unless it were going to be for childcare also that it provides
services to low income residents of housing.
These glitches have put up some roadblocks for how to do it and cover
the costs of renovation.
Florrine inquired about
funding for diaper changing tables in the restrooms in the new building in
Yreka and the bathrooms in Headway. Also
they asked about mirrors in the bathrooms at Headway. Sami states she will look into these items.
She states the
She states the Annual
National Housing Council Strategic Planning Session was done by the training
group from
She asked about the CDFI
project and how that is moving along.
Are they close to loaning money; Housing obligated $500,000 for loans
but have not received any requests for loans.
Bob states they are getting very close.
Her last item was the Block
Grant Formula. They are trying to stop
the shifting of data in the area up to
Leeon Hillman moved and
Alvis Johnson seconded to approve Sami’s report. 5 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
17) Earl Crosby
(13 minutes)
Earl was present to review
his written report; he has two action items.
The first is their Emergency
Equipment Rental Agreement with the Forest Service for equipment they have on
file with them to be used during incidents.
The Agreement Number is 08-A-011.
There was some conversation regarding the dates; and the signature area
will be fixed as well.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Roy Arwood seconded to approve Agreement 08-A-011 with the
His next item is the
Roy Arwood moved and
Robert Goodwin seconded to pay the balances via electronic transfer on Harold
Tripp, Leaf Hillman, Craig Tucker, Toz Soto, Susan Corum, Earl Crosby, and Ron
Reed’s VISA cards. 4 haa, 0 puuhara, 1
pupitihara (Leeon Hillman).
Leeon Hillman moved and
Sonny
18) Scott Quinn
No written report, not
present.
19) Davey Davis
(15 minutes)
Davey was present to review
his written report. He distributed a
picture of the structure he plans to build for the awning at the back entrance
to the Clinic where the ambulance pulls up.
He states he made some errors on the procurement for the project; the
concrete was not included and he trusted Meek’s with a verbal agreement which
was an error on his part. The revised total
for the project is close to $5,000.
He states there has been some
speculation about the footings for the structure and if they are the proper
size. He states the reason he designed
it the way he did was because the height of the structure must be 12 feet high
so that the ambulance can pull underneath of it, it then has to link into the
existing structure and in order to properly support it, the footings must be
that size.
Sonny asked why Erin and Fred
questioned Davey’s design for the project and the sizing of the footings. She states there was no question about his
integrity or knowledge; she was simply commenting about the immense size of the
footing and that in she had not seen one that large before on a construction
project. She states she meant no offense
by her comments. Sonny feels that
Davey’s work was stopped by his Supervisor, Fred, because of her comments. Laura pointed out that Fred is his Supervisor
and should be able to have a say in any project that is going on and if he
chooses to stop the work, that is his decision and he has the authority to do
that.
Bob states that if they
choose to discuss this later they are more than welcome to do that; but for all
purposes the conversation is over and they need to move on. It is not appropriate for open session.
Davey states that he has been
working on getting the Fire Barracks at Somes Bar functional, it has resulted
in many problems and has become very time consuming; he is already behind on this
project and needs to know what they recommend.
The problem is with the electrical system in the facility. He does not know what the cost will be to
hire someone to address it. He states he
can do it; it will just not be immediate to get it repaired. There are also plumbing problems. Laura asked what he estimates the cost would
be. Davey states that in a modular there
are marriage lines and electrical lines that cross over; he suspects the
couplings have gotten crossed over somewhere and need to be figured out. Bob suggests having Bill Johnson look at it
and issue them an estimate to repair the problems. Skip Davis may be able to do an evaluation as
well.
Consensus: Davey will get quotes and then bring it back
to them for a vote Wednesday.
He states they are looking at
$13,000 to $14,000, to date, to Metal Masters to repair the problems with the heating/cooling
systems in Happy Camp. They always give
him reasons for why it is not working and the costs continue to rise. The system was not properly installed and there
are not enough sensors in the facility to regulate it without excessive strain
to the system. One suggestion is to have
someone else look at it for an evaluation of what could fix it.
Davey states the conduit job
at KCDC and Housing was moving forward well until he needed someone smaller to
go beneath the building and run the wires.
They ran into problems when they were working on it; there was a
miscommunication somewhere in the process due to digging and the foundation
being compromised and the work was stopped.
Sami clarified that having
Smokey go under the building and pull wire was not a problem but him digging
beneath the support beams and coils that are driven into the ground to support
the building did not make her comfortable and she felt it would compromise the
integrity of the structure. Davey states
he spoke to the engineer about how they would access the building to add items
without destroying the floor; he also stated that when the building was
constructed, the beam was dropped down to accommodate them being able to add
additional conduit later down the road and not compromise the building.
Sami states she understood
that a trench would run between the buildings to the corner of the building
through a small section of the asphalt and no digging beneath the building. She states that if she were to receive an OK
from an engineer, she would feel more comfortable going forward.
Bob again suggests that they
meet to discuss the project and what is reasonable and allowable without
hurting the building and the foundation outside of a public meeting.
Davey has received a request
to build a partition in the Orleans Community Room for meeting privacy. They suggest partitions instead so it is not permanent.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Sonny
Robert Goodwin moved and
Leeon Hillman seconded to revise their previous approval and allow up to $5,500
for the awning from Third Party. 5 haa,
0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
20) Fred
Burcell (2 minutes)
Written report only, no
action items.
Roy Arwood moved and Leeon
Hillman seconded to approve Fred’s report.
4 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara (Robert Goodwin not present for voting).
21) Sara Spence
(5 minutes)
Sara was present to review
her written report. There are no action
items for open session. The policies can
be approved at the Wednesday meeting.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Leeon Hillman seconded to approve Sara’s report. 5 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
22) Requests
None at this time.
23) Phone Votes
24)
Informational
None at this time.
25) Committee
Reports (1 minute)
The NCIDC Meeting Minutes
were included for their information.
Closed Session from 8:46 PM to 10:40 PM.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Sonny
Robert Goodwin moved and
Alvis Johnson seconded to approve Resolution 08-R-046 removing one member. 5 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara. (2 minutes)
Request: for the Enrollment Committee to add language
to their Resolutions indicating that the member has been duly noticed regarding
the ramifications and consequences of relinquishing enrollment. (1 minute)
Robert Goodwin moved and
Leeon Hillman seconded to approve Resolution 08-R-047 formally recognizing the
genealogical records of Francis Brazille to be Abenaki Indian. 5 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara. (5 minutes)
Consensus: To accept the Case Work Planning Form as
formal agreement with Tribal Member #2645 and spouse. (10 minutes)
Consensus: Sami will work with the Housing attorney on
the Amicus Brief. (10 minutes)
Sonny
Tribal Member #1900’s
request will be tabled to the Wednesday Meeting for further consideration. (8 minutes)
Sonny
Leeon Hillman excused himself at 9:21 PM.
Robert Goodwin moved and
Roy Arwood seconded to rescind approval for Employee #0207 and approve sending
Dave Wrobleski to the NAGPRA Training in
Leeon Hillman returned at 9:46 PM.
Robert Goodwin excused himself at 9:47 PM.
Consensus: To deny Tribal Member #916’s request and
refer to the Student Rent Voucher Program.
(3 minutes)
Robert Goodwin returned at 9:49 PM.
Leeon Hillman assumed chairing the meeting at 9:50 PM.
Alvis Johnson moved and
Robert Goodwin seconded to approve the gas costs and vehicle use for the Yreka
Culture Class to come down to the Basketweavers Gathering. 3 haa, 0 puuhara, 1 pupitihara (Roy Arwood)
(Florrine Super did not vote). (16
minutes)
Florrine Super re-assumed chairing the meeting at
10:07 PM.
Directive: For Employee #1051 to 1) look into scheduling
a meeting with the OIG’s office in Sacramento regarding the Indirect Cost Pool
issues, 2) report back to Council regarding this situation and what progress
has been made and what other Tribes are doing, and 3) report regarding the
non-gaming distributions and their status.
(10 minutes)
Robert Goodwin moved and
Alvis Johnson seconded to pay $77 for Council Member #0681’s lodging charge in
Consensus: To continue to push forward on the economic
development project with short timelines to begin generating revenues as
quickly as possible with revenues being re-invested to expand the operation in
phases that are well planned out. (5
minutes)
Consensus: To deny Tribal Member #651’s request and
refer to the LIAP Program. (4 minutes)
Roy Arwood moved and Florrine
Super seconded to approve an exception to policy allowing Tribal Member #2408
to enter into a payment agreement for $10/month allowing eligibility for
assistance through CSD. 10% interest
will be assessed on the amount owed. 5
haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara. (6
minutes)
Consensus: To approve the CDFI sending out a bulk
mailing to be distributed by Enrollment. (3 minutes)
Directive: For Employee #3177 to schedule a meeting with
the Roads Program to go over the budget and projects. (4 minutes)
Next Meeting Date:
May 22, 2008 at 5 PM in Yreka.
Meeting adjourned at 10:41 PM.
Submitted by,
Florrine Super, Secretary
Recording Secretary, Sara Spence