I have read some very interesting material recently in regards to an employment relations matter within our Tribal workforce. I would first like to explain that Tribal Council directly supervises seven employees. Collectively, council has a responsibility to manage each of them as individual employees of our government.
As a manager, there is a responsibility to supervise employees and there is a responsibility to protect an employee's rights. This should be considered a very important responsibility for any manager, even if that manager is an elected government official.
In my opinion, there is a fine line between information considered to be confidential and information that is appropriate to be released to the public in an attempt to operate an open, honest and transparent government. Believe me, I am all for giving the Tribal membership the most information possible without crossing boundaries. However, I am also in support of keeping confidential information confidential as well as protecting the rights of our employees. There are state labor laws and policies that prohibit public notification of disciplinary action taken against an employee.
I commend those who have chosen to respect their Oath of Office and uphold their responsibilities as a manager. I believe we have done the right thing.
I can also assure each of you that if our tribal resources or the future of our tribe was in jeapordy, Tribal Council would have made a public statement to the entire membership.
I hope this gives you all a peace-of-mind. There are no secrets here, just a group of individuals acting in an ethical manner and in my opinion, doing their job.
Thank you for reading,
Toby
Monday, August 30, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Parent on the Roll....
At the beginning of the year, Tribal Council decided to begin ongoing discussions in three areas of great concern. The meetings are to be had on Fridays and the areas of concern were identified as enrollment, health care and economic development.
On Friday, April 2, we had our enrollment discussion. The fact that enrollment is a burning issue within our tribe was clear by the number of concerned tribal members in attendance. These meetings are open to the public and it seems that there are consistently tribal members who show up for the enrollment discussions. I am happy that they come and I feel it sends a clear message to the members of Tribal Council.
During the most recent enrollment discussion (April 2, 2010), the phrase "born to a parent who was a member of the tribe at the time of the applicant's birth" continued to rise to the surface as an area of concern. Every Tribal Council member in attendance agreed that this particular language was concerning and wanted to see a constitutional amendment to omit that phrase. I recommended to have an "Authorization to Proceed" (ATP) drafted by our Legal Department so we could get a resolution approved and sent to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for a vote by the membership to omit this unfair criteria. To pass an election for a constitutional amendment, it would require 2/3 of the registered voting membership to vote in approval of the amendment. Basically, before the election was held, everyone that wished to participate in the vote would be required to register. Of those registered, 30% would have to actually vote and 2/3 of those individuals would have to vote in favor of the amendment.
There was argument by the part of some council members. Their argument was that if we move forward with a constitutional amendment, we should amend all of the unjust criteria and not focus on one particular area. I completely understand this way of thinking and in a perfect world, I would support this 100%. However, my biggest fear is that Tribal Council will not come to an agreement on how to achieve this. I feel like there are areas of the enrollment requirements that members of Tribal Council take different positions on and we all know how long these negotiations have taken in the past. I feel we have a rare opportunity to take immediate action and not only prove to the membership that we are committed to working on enrollment but help a large percentage of those who have been wrongfully denied or disenrolled. I, along with many, am tired of Tribal Council meeting on this issue and never taking any kind of action. I guess I felt that this was our chance to prove the urgency of this issue and to help as many people as we can while we continue our battle in the other areas of enrollment.
With that being said, if this ATP fails, I will support the decision of this Tribal Council. I will wholeheartedly participate in fixing the unjust enrollment criteria as a whole or support taking some sort of other immediate action. I will contribute by sharing my ideas and concerns and regardless of the direction we go, I refuse to let this become a dead issue or let my pride get in the way of what is right.
As of today (April 7, 2010), the ATP has received three "approve" votes, three "deny" votes and one individual abstained. Two council members have yet to vote.
Keep your fingers crossed and your hopes high.
Thank you for reading,
Toby
On Friday, April 2, we had our enrollment discussion. The fact that enrollment is a burning issue within our tribe was clear by the number of concerned tribal members in attendance. These meetings are open to the public and it seems that there are consistently tribal members who show up for the enrollment discussions. I am happy that they come and I feel it sends a clear message to the members of Tribal Council.
During the most recent enrollment discussion (April 2, 2010), the phrase "born to a parent who was a member of the tribe at the time of the applicant's birth" continued to rise to the surface as an area of concern. Every Tribal Council member in attendance agreed that this particular language was concerning and wanted to see a constitutional amendment to omit that phrase. I recommended to have an "Authorization to Proceed" (ATP) drafted by our Legal Department so we could get a resolution approved and sent to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for a vote by the membership to omit this unfair criteria. To pass an election for a constitutional amendment, it would require 2/3 of the registered voting membership to vote in approval of the amendment. Basically, before the election was held, everyone that wished to participate in the vote would be required to register. Of those registered, 30% would have to actually vote and 2/3 of those individuals would have to vote in favor of the amendment.
There was argument by the part of some council members. Their argument was that if we move forward with a constitutional amendment, we should amend all of the unjust criteria and not focus on one particular area. I completely understand this way of thinking and in a perfect world, I would support this 100%. However, my biggest fear is that Tribal Council will not come to an agreement on how to achieve this. I feel like there are areas of the enrollment requirements that members of Tribal Council take different positions on and we all know how long these negotiations have taken in the past. I feel we have a rare opportunity to take immediate action and not only prove to the membership that we are committed to working on enrollment but help a large percentage of those who have been wrongfully denied or disenrolled. I, along with many, am tired of Tribal Council meeting on this issue and never taking any kind of action. I guess I felt that this was our chance to prove the urgency of this issue and to help as many people as we can while we continue our battle in the other areas of enrollment.
With that being said, if this ATP fails, I will support the decision of this Tribal Council. I will wholeheartedly participate in fixing the unjust enrollment criteria as a whole or support taking some sort of other immediate action. I will contribute by sharing my ideas and concerns and regardless of the direction we go, I refuse to let this become a dead issue or let my pride get in the way of what is right.
As of today (April 7, 2010), the ATP has received three "approve" votes, three "deny" votes and one individual abstained. Two council members have yet to vote.
Keep your fingers crossed and your hopes high.
Thank you for reading,
Toby
Monday, March 15, 2010
Respect
One of the earliest lessons in life that I remember was that I always respect my elders. To which I feel they deserve not only my respect but the respect of everyone. For these are the leaders and story tellers that have paved the path that I now walk upon. Not just in my professional life but in my personal life as well and not just tribal elders but elders from all ethnicity groups.
I have always cherished the time I spent with the elders of not only the tribe but elders as a whole. There are many lessons to be learned from their words. Their wisdom and patience are tools that I use almost every day as I continue in my journey of life.
As a child, one of my father's best friends was an elderly man from the Siletz Tribe. His name was Gilbert "Gib" Baker. He was a very large man and I remember him to be loud. One of the most important lessons I learned during those impressionable years of my life came from Gib. That was the ability to have a sense of humor even in situations when a sense of humor might not necessarily fit. I remember him smiling and cracking jokes even at the most inopportune times. I respected Gib and my respect for him came easy, along with the many elders that have played a role in my life. My respect for them has never been in question nor will it ever be.
Being the youngest member of Tribal Council means that all eight of my colleagues are considered my "elder". And six of the nine of us are over the age of 55 which in terms of the tribe is recognized as elder status. One thing I have noticed since being elected is that there is a fine line between "disagreeing" and "disrespect". As I stated earlier, one of the most important lessons of my life was to respect my elders. Now that I am in a position where I often have to disagree with my elders, I understand that it could be misinterpreted as disrespect. However, it has nothing to do with respect. It is simply a difference of opinion and I feel I need to share my opinions and participate in discussions to not only do this job but do it with integrity. I can honestly say that I have some level of respect for each of my eight coworkers and have never treated any of them disrespectfully. Whether or not they respect me, I do not know. I would hope that they do.
When I graduated high school, the most meaningful and important message given to me was from an elderly gentleman by the name of Lester LaBonte. He wrote in a card to me, "Make Big Tracks".
I don't know how big my tracks are or ever will be, Lester, but I hope they make you proud.
Thank you for reading,
Toby
P.S. The results of my most recent poll are as follows:
50% of the voters stated Healthcare should be the most important budget item while 50% felt Education should be the most important.
I have always cherished the time I spent with the elders of not only the tribe but elders as a whole. There are many lessons to be learned from their words. Their wisdom and patience are tools that I use almost every day as I continue in my journey of life.
As a child, one of my father's best friends was an elderly man from the Siletz Tribe. His name was Gilbert "Gib" Baker. He was a very large man and I remember him to be loud. One of the most important lessons I learned during those impressionable years of my life came from Gib. That was the ability to have a sense of humor even in situations when a sense of humor might not necessarily fit. I remember him smiling and cracking jokes even at the most inopportune times. I respected Gib and my respect for him came easy, along with the many elders that have played a role in my life. My respect for them has never been in question nor will it ever be.
Being the youngest member of Tribal Council means that all eight of my colleagues are considered my "elder". And six of the nine of us are over the age of 55 which in terms of the tribe is recognized as elder status. One thing I have noticed since being elected is that there is a fine line between "disagreeing" and "disrespect". As I stated earlier, one of the most important lessons of my life was to respect my elders. Now that I am in a position where I often have to disagree with my elders, I understand that it could be misinterpreted as disrespect. However, it has nothing to do with respect. It is simply a difference of opinion and I feel I need to share my opinions and participate in discussions to not only do this job but do it with integrity. I can honestly say that I have some level of respect for each of my eight coworkers and have never treated any of them disrespectfully. Whether or not they respect me, I do not know. I would hope that they do.
When I graduated high school, the most meaningful and important message given to me was from an elderly gentleman by the name of Lester LaBonte. He wrote in a card to me, "Make Big Tracks".
I don't know how big my tracks are or ever will be, Lester, but I hope they make you proud.
Thank you for reading,
Toby
P.S. The results of my most recent poll are as follows:
50% of the voters stated Healthcare should be the most important budget item while 50% felt Education should be the most important.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Rumor Mill
Since deciding to enter the world of politics, I have noticed that there is no shortage of rumors involving the tribe, Tribal Council and the operation as a whole. It seems that everyday there is a rumor that shows it's ugly face. I'm not saying that everything in question is false. However, in my short five months I would say that 95% of what I hear is absolutely inaccurate. More often than not, there is no truth whatsoever to the information being passed around.
With that said, please know that I was not blindsided by the amount and the inaccuracies of the rumors. Afterall, it wasn't that long ago that I was a concerned tribal member and relying on the information passed on to me as being the truth. Now I guess I am still a concerned tribal member, I just have access to more accurate information. Which, if you remember, was a platform of mine; getting more accurate information to the members of the tribe in as timely of a manner as possible. Please know that I am still committed to fulfilling that obligation and have, in conjunction with other council members, already taken steps in that direction. Also know that finding free or even inexpensive ways to distribute information to the entire membership comes with many challenges in itself. I do know how frustrating it can be at times to not have any insight on what is happening with the tribe. I have not forgotten and will not forget.
Now, back to my original point. It was not long ago that somebody asked the council at a Tribal Council Meeting if it were true that the membership was only going to get $300.00 for the March per capita payment. They had heard this rumor and were visibly upset about the amount. There was absolutely no truth to that rumor at the time it was asked. Please allow me to explain how the per capita distribution works in an attempt to bring some relief, or at least some answers.
Per capita is distributed quarterly to the entire membership with an amount based upon the revenue of the casino in a three month period of time (quarterly). Let's take this quarter for instance. The revenues from December, January and February will be added together and a percentage of those numbers will be distributed. So, it would be impossible for the amount to be decided upon before the first of March. the Finance Department will work diligently in the first week of March to crunch the numbers and present an amount to Tribal Council.
My point is that not even Tribal Council knows what the amount will be until about a week prior to the distribution date. Sometimes earlier depending on what that date is. But never before the end of the final month of the quarter.
So where do these rumors originate and why? I can not answer that question. I can only speculate that rumors like this are politically motivated or used for entertainment purposes. Either one brings a sense of unfairness to those who choose to believe what they hear.
I spend a lot of time explaining both the truths and the non-truths surrounding rumors that are brought to me. I have had to overcome many rumors about me and I know that there are more to come. It comes with the territory and I understand that.
I would like to take this opportunity to offer my time as a council member to any of you who may have heard a rumor or those that hear them in the future. I am not always available but guarantee I will return phone calls, emails or set up personal meetings to discuss tribal issues. I would also encourage anybody with concerns to contact any of the Tribal Council members in an attempt to better explain the issues surrounding our tribe. It is our job to listen to the concerned members of this tribe and we should all be committed to doing so.
Thank you for reading,
Toby McClary
Email: toby.mcclary@grandronde.org
Cell: 503-437-5368
Office: 503-879-4555
1-800-422-0232 ext. 4555
P.S. The results of my poll are as follows:
55% felt there would be less than 15 candidates
45% felt there would be 15 or more candidates
With that said, please know that I was not blindsided by the amount and the inaccuracies of the rumors. Afterall, it wasn't that long ago that I was a concerned tribal member and relying on the information passed on to me as being the truth. Now I guess I am still a concerned tribal member, I just have access to more accurate information. Which, if you remember, was a platform of mine; getting more accurate information to the members of the tribe in as timely of a manner as possible. Please know that I am still committed to fulfilling that obligation and have, in conjunction with other council members, already taken steps in that direction. Also know that finding free or even inexpensive ways to distribute information to the entire membership comes with many challenges in itself. I do know how frustrating it can be at times to not have any insight on what is happening with the tribe. I have not forgotten and will not forget.
Now, back to my original point. It was not long ago that somebody asked the council at a Tribal Council Meeting if it were true that the membership was only going to get $300.00 for the March per capita payment. They had heard this rumor and were visibly upset about the amount. There was absolutely no truth to that rumor at the time it was asked. Please allow me to explain how the per capita distribution works in an attempt to bring some relief, or at least some answers.
Per capita is distributed quarterly to the entire membership with an amount based upon the revenue of the casino in a three month period of time (quarterly). Let's take this quarter for instance. The revenues from December, January and February will be added together and a percentage of those numbers will be distributed. So, it would be impossible for the amount to be decided upon before the first of March. the Finance Department will work diligently in the first week of March to crunch the numbers and present an amount to Tribal Council.
My point is that not even Tribal Council knows what the amount will be until about a week prior to the distribution date. Sometimes earlier depending on what that date is. But never before the end of the final month of the quarter.
So where do these rumors originate and why? I can not answer that question. I can only speculate that rumors like this are politically motivated or used for entertainment purposes. Either one brings a sense of unfairness to those who choose to believe what they hear.
I spend a lot of time explaining both the truths and the non-truths surrounding rumors that are brought to me. I have had to overcome many rumors about me and I know that there are more to come. It comes with the territory and I understand that.
I would like to take this opportunity to offer my time as a council member to any of you who may have heard a rumor or those that hear them in the future. I am not always available but guarantee I will return phone calls, emails or set up personal meetings to discuss tribal issues. I would also encourage anybody with concerns to contact any of the Tribal Council members in an attempt to better explain the issues surrounding our tribe. It is our job to listen to the concerned members of this tribe and we should all be committed to doing so.
Thank you for reading,
Toby McClary
Email: toby.mcclary@grandronde.org
Cell: 503-437-5368
Office: 503-879-4555
1-800-422-0232 ext. 4555
P.S. The results of my poll are as follows:
55% felt there would be less than 15 candidates
45% felt there would be 15 or more candidates
Monday, January 25, 2010
Hot Topics
As many already know, there are concerns among the membership, as well as Tribal Council, that continue to surface at public meetings, private discussions and even at the Tribal Council table. Although these topics continue to be brought up, developing a way to enhance continuation and follow through seems to be our biggest challenge. It is very frustrating as a member of council to only discuss these issues when they are thrown in our face and then forgetting about them until they surface again later. They are legitimate concerns that we should all be passionate about and committed to finding resolve. And I know from experience how frustrating it is as a concerned individual of the general membership. I recently read a quote that I printed and hung in my office so I am forced to see it every day.
"A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided." - Anthony Robbins
I want to constantly be reminded of that because I feel it rings very true and if we, as the governing body for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, are going to accomplish our goals, we have to take action. It seems that all too often we discuss the changes that need to be made, which I do feel is a good start. It's what we do with that discussion and information that proves our decision-making skills. If we do nothing with the information provided, our discussions mean just that, nothing.
With that said, Tribal Council has unitedly committed to focusing on three areas within the tribe we feel are very important. The three issues are enrollment, health-care and economic development. As Fridays are usually a bit slow around the office, we have now dedicated two hours of every Friday to each of these concerns. They have permanently been added to our scheduling sheets and will rotate throughout the month. Enrollment discussion will be the first Friday of the month, health-care on the second and economic development the third. The fourth and sometimes fifth Friday will be left open for further discussion needed in any of the three "hot topics" or any other areas identified as needing help. Trust me, I know there are other areas needing attention.
The beginning of the new year marked the implementation of these new work sessions. We had our first enrollment discussion on January 8, 2010. I felt the discussion was very productive. We had members of the Enrollment Committee, the Enrollment Department and Legal present. Each of the members of council presented a written or verbal explanation of what their personal goals were for enrollment. Each of the goals were written down in the council conference room and will be referred to in future meetings. Each of the committee members and staff members shared ideas and participated in the discussion. I feel like we are headed in a very positive direction. After our goals were presented, it seemed like there were a lot of commonalities among our statements.
On Friday, January 15, we discussed the ever-growing health-care costs and how we can stay ahead of the curve when it comes to the health and wellness of our people. There were members of the Health and Wellness staff and it seemed to be a little less organized than the enrollment discussion. It was basically just an open forum for Tribal Council to listen to future challenges and share their ideas and concerns. I am hoping that we invite members of the Health Committee for the next scheduled session.
We were unable to meet on the 22nd because of an off-site meeting in Warm Springs. Our next meeting scheduled is for January 29th and the focus will be economic development. I believe this will be a productive meeting as there are some very strong advocates for diversifying our portfolio.
Keep your fingers crossed and your hopes high.
Toby
Monday, December 21, 2009
My First 100 Days Resolved
As my first 100 days come to an end, I'm sure some of you wondered if I would follow through with updating you. Some of you may have wondered if I would remember and some of you probably didn't care or have forgotten yourself. The truth is I am committed to communication (as I hope you learned through my campaign) and here are the updates regarding the areas I committed to working on in my first 100 days.
I will address my two commitments surrounding "accountability".
1) I proposed to council that we hang a dry erase board in the atrium for several reasons. One, it would allow the Central Phone Operators to know which council members were available should someone need their assistance. Two, it would serve as an indicator as to who from council is in the office for anyone visiting the Governance Center. Three, it would allow for council to not only inform the general public of their absence but give an explanation as to where they are. I will say that when council is out of the office, we are often times out on business and not just "taking time off". After my proposal, a majority of council decided to not only approve but add it to our Tribal Council Operating Procedures (TCOP). The Legal Department created the language and the amended TCOP will be presented to Legislative Action Committee (LAC) on Tuesday, December 22, 2009. Given that LAC approves it to move forward, it will then move to the Wednesday, December 30, 2009 Council Meeting where we will hopefully approve and adopt the resolution. My guess is that shortly after the first of the year, there will be a dry erase board hanging in the atrium at the Central Phone Operator's station. As a positive side note, since we are doing a resolution to amend and approve the TCOP, they will become public information and my hope is to post them on the website.
2) The second issue was doing a daily roll call. As much as I would like to take the credit for this, a roll call was already being done upon me being elected. There have been many discussions regarding this particular issue and we are looking into having these roll calls posted on the website daily.
I will now address my two commitments surrounding "communication".
1) Since my being elected, we have established a "Website Enhancement Group" to brainstorm and share ideas on how we can pump more information through the website. We have made a lot of progress as far as identifying how we can enhance the website for little-to-no cost. Please refer to blog post "Latest Revelations" which was posted on November 20, 20009 and will explain in detail the areas our group has given attention. Although my push was to publish the Tilixam Wawa every month, budget restraints have allowed only six issues per year. We will work with the Publications Department to assure that the most information possible will be published including articles authored by Tribal Council, the Executive Staff and it is our hope that the presentations given at the monthly General Council Meetings will be minimized and published as well. It is a work-in-progress but with some commitment, creativity and teamwork, I'm confident that we will open up our communication line between Tribal Council and their boss, the general membership.
2) My second area of commitment was developing a Tribal Council blog. After speaking to the Information Systems (IS)staff, this would be possible to do on our tribal website. There would be some cost associated with this and it would obviously need to be implemented with its own set of policies. The research is being done by the IS Team and we will be meeting shortly after the holiday season to discuss this further. On a positive side note, we are also hoping to incorporate not only a Tribal Council blog but departmental blogs as well. This way the membership gets information from all areas of our government.
Again, as much as I would like to take all of the credit for any achievements in these areas, I can not do that. I simply introduced some of these ideas, it was a majority of council that approved them.
Keep your fingers crossed and your hopes high.
Toby
I will address my two commitments surrounding "accountability".
1) I proposed to council that we hang a dry erase board in the atrium for several reasons. One, it would allow the Central Phone Operators to know which council members were available should someone need their assistance. Two, it would serve as an indicator as to who from council is in the office for anyone visiting the Governance Center. Three, it would allow for council to not only inform the general public of their absence but give an explanation as to where they are. I will say that when council is out of the office, we are often times out on business and not just "taking time off". After my proposal, a majority of council decided to not only approve but add it to our Tribal Council Operating Procedures (TCOP). The Legal Department created the language and the amended TCOP will be presented to Legislative Action Committee (LAC) on Tuesday, December 22, 2009. Given that LAC approves it to move forward, it will then move to the Wednesday, December 30, 2009 Council Meeting where we will hopefully approve and adopt the resolution. My guess is that shortly after the first of the year, there will be a dry erase board hanging in the atrium at the Central Phone Operator's station. As a positive side note, since we are doing a resolution to amend and approve the TCOP, they will become public information and my hope is to post them on the website.
2) The second issue was doing a daily roll call. As much as I would like to take the credit for this, a roll call was already being done upon me being elected. There have been many discussions regarding this particular issue and we are looking into having these roll calls posted on the website daily.
I will now address my two commitments surrounding "communication".
1) Since my being elected, we have established a "Website Enhancement Group" to brainstorm and share ideas on how we can pump more information through the website. We have made a lot of progress as far as identifying how we can enhance the website for little-to-no cost. Please refer to blog post "Latest Revelations" which was posted on November 20, 20009 and will explain in detail the areas our group has given attention. Although my push was to publish the Tilixam Wawa every month, budget restraints have allowed only six issues per year. We will work with the Publications Department to assure that the most information possible will be published including articles authored by Tribal Council, the Executive Staff and it is our hope that the presentations given at the monthly General Council Meetings will be minimized and published as well. It is a work-in-progress but with some commitment, creativity and teamwork, I'm confident that we will open up our communication line between Tribal Council and their boss, the general membership.
2) My second area of commitment was developing a Tribal Council blog. After speaking to the Information Systems (IS)staff, this would be possible to do on our tribal website. There would be some cost associated with this and it would obviously need to be implemented with its own set of policies. The research is being done by the IS Team and we will be meeting shortly after the holiday season to discuss this further. On a positive side note, we are also hoping to incorporate not only a Tribal Council blog but departmental blogs as well. This way the membership gets information from all areas of our government.
Again, as much as I would like to take all of the credit for any achievements in these areas, I can not do that. I simply introduced some of these ideas, it was a majority of council that approved them.
Keep your fingers crossed and your hopes high.
Toby
Friday, November 20, 2009
Latest Revelations
Since my last update, there have been some very positive discussions and I believe that there will actually be some follow-through in the world of communication. We have put together a "Website Enhancement Group" and have met twice, to date.
First off, we are working on synchronizing the "Shared Tribal Council Calendar" with the website so members from anywhere will have access to our daily schedule. We presume that this will be relatively easy but it is moving forward and that is what I am excited about. There is research being done regarding the capabilities of blogging on the website. We are also discussing a blog page for any interested departments within the organization and this would obviously have to come with a set of policies. It is a work in progress with "progress" being the key word.
I believe that something we will all see in the very near future is the Legislative Action Committee (LAC) meeting minutes being posted on the tribal member side of the website. Another item from our list of website enhancements is using the email database in order to send registered users information in more of a timely manner. Another suggestion that I believe will move forward in the near future is posting all of the information sent to the membership via United States Postal Service (USPS) to the website immediately. This seems more timely than waiting to receive it in the mail.
It is our hope to put together "downloadable" press kits on the website that would allow individuals to download a kit that introduces Tribal Council (with photo) and explains the tribe's history, cultures and other pertinent information. We would also like to post the information provided at the General Council Meetings on the website as well as getting a PDF of the "Smoke Signals" online as soon as possible so the membership doesn't have to wait to receive it in the mail. One thing that I am pushing to move forward ASAP is providing all website users an extension from each department so users can easily obtain contact information and make communication with tribal staff more convenient. It has also been reported that changing the requirements to become a registered user is now being worked on. Basically, one would only have to submit the last four digits of their social security number rather than the entire number to become registered.
To me, these are great things and there are people who are committed to following-through and not letting these issues become dead issues. We all need to understand how important communication is and we will relentlessly continue our efforts.
Keep your fingers crossed and your hopes high.
Thank you for reading,
Toby
First off, we are working on synchronizing the "Shared Tribal Council Calendar" with the website so members from anywhere will have access to our daily schedule. We presume that this will be relatively easy but it is moving forward and that is what I am excited about. There is research being done regarding the capabilities of blogging on the website. We are also discussing a blog page for any interested departments within the organization and this would obviously have to come with a set of policies. It is a work in progress with "progress" being the key word.
I believe that something we will all see in the very near future is the Legislative Action Committee (LAC) meeting minutes being posted on the tribal member side of the website. Another item from our list of website enhancements is using the email database in order to send registered users information in more of a timely manner. Another suggestion that I believe will move forward in the near future is posting all of the information sent to the membership via United States Postal Service (USPS) to the website immediately. This seems more timely than waiting to receive it in the mail.
It is our hope to put together "downloadable" press kits on the website that would allow individuals to download a kit that introduces Tribal Council (with photo) and explains the tribe's history, cultures and other pertinent information. We would also like to post the information provided at the General Council Meetings on the website as well as getting a PDF of the "Smoke Signals" online as soon as possible so the membership doesn't have to wait to receive it in the mail. One thing that I am pushing to move forward ASAP is providing all website users an extension from each department so users can easily obtain contact information and make communication with tribal staff more convenient. It has also been reported that changing the requirements to become a registered user is now being worked on. Basically, one would only have to submit the last four digits of their social security number rather than the entire number to become registered.
To me, these are great things and there are people who are committed to following-through and not letting these issues become dead issues. We all need to understand how important communication is and we will relentlessly continue our efforts.
Keep your fingers crossed and your hopes high.
Thank you for reading,
Toby
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