April 2013 Message

Note: This is the lead article in the April 2013 issue of the Delaware Indian News.

He’, Kulamàlsi hàch? Sikònëmihëna, nulelìntàm! I hope this issue of the DIN finds you well and enjoying Spring. Check out the Tribal seal! The old seal was adopted in 1970, and over the years many discussions have occurred about modifications to the seal for accuracy. Small modifications had been made. The Tribal Council researched suggestions made over the decades and with just a few important modifications developed the Tribal seal you see today.

We submitted the Fee-to-Trust application for the Tribe’s Kansas Headquarters at 601 High Street in Caney, KS. Shortly, we will have our first Trust Land since our removal from Kansas in 1867!

The Caney building houses DFMS (Delaware Facilities Management Solutions), DTFS (Delaware Tribal Financial Services), and the Child Support Enforcement Program. If you are in the area I encourage you to stop and see the building.

We will manage the Kansas expansion and the Tribe’s presence in Kansas by continuing to build on the programs already offered. Currently programs under review include TANF, expansion of Housing services, health care and work under Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 (Public Law 93-638) programs.

As you know, we are limited in exercising our rights as a Tribe in Oklahoma due to the MOA with the Cherokee Nation. A copy of the MOA can be viewed on the web site at https://delawaretribe.org/tribal-documents/. For those who cannot view the web site, a copy can be mailed to you by request.

We plan for the expansion of services in Kansas for unserved Native Americans as well as tribal members in 37 counties from southeast Kansas up to and including our last reservation area. Currently, our Economic Development consultant, Dee Ketchum, is looking at properties at Leavenworth, KS.

But we want to make it clear that we plan to continue to serve our members in the five counties in our Oklahoma Service Area, as well as the rest of Oklahoma and nationwide! We will continue our presence in Bartlesville.

Speaking of our Bartlesville campus, the new Social Services building is complete. The Environmental Program, the Tribal Archives and Library/Museum, the Housing Program, Education, Community Services, REACH, LIHEAP, and ICWA have moved into the new building.

The kitchen expansion should be finished in early April. Thanks to the hard work of our kitchen staff led by program supervisor Judy Dull, the Title VI program has continued to serve meals during the expansion, but was limited in their menus. Thank you to those who loaned their roasters to help the program. Thank you to our Title VI staff for keeping the program open during this time, we appreciated the social time.

We look forward to the delicious lunches out of the new kitchen. We will announce a grand opening soon. If you live out of the area, make sure to stop by and see the improvements on your next visit. The Bartlesville facilities are located on the northern edge of Bartlesville on the east side of Tuxedo Blvd off Hwy 75.

Recently we moved the Housing Program office from Chelsea to Bartlesville, but the Chelsea program office building is still staffed Monday through Friday, and has a drop box as well for your convenience. With the announcement of the move, three of our Housing Program employees have resigned. We wish them well and have advertised and filled two positions.

Chelsea has vacant units if you or someone you know is interested in living in Tribal housing. The Tribal Council is in the process of reviewing the Housing Program for improved ways and opportunities to serve Native Americans and Tribal members as well as ways to simplify processes and communication.

In efforts to continually move forward, we restructured DEA (Delaware Enterprise Authority), reduced overhead, and eliminated three positions. Three Board members have also resigned. In August 2012, the DEA Charter was revised to increase the Board to seven members. The Tribal Council is considering repealing this change to the Charter and returning to a five-member Board.

The Tribal Administration is focused on infrastructure, staff development, and training. Our immediate six-month plan is to shore up our foundation and help the staff with developmental needs in order to support expansion and growth of the Tribe and service to Tribal members. We are confident the staff will benefit from this focus. As a direct result, Tribal members will benefit. We all look forward to increased organizational strength and communication, both internally and to our Tribal members.

Early this year, River Trails, a gaming developer in Ohio, filed a lawsuit against the Tribe (but did not actually serve it). See our comment on this lawsuit on page 22. We appreciate the media’s conservative approach in reporting the disagreement. Although the rumor mill reported differently, at no time were the Tribe’s properties or judgment fund monies in danger. We are happy to report, we were able to negotiate with River Trails and keep the issues out of court.

Councilwoman Jenifer Pech-onick and I went to the NCAIED (National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development) conference recently. Jim Gray (past Osage Nation Chief) made appointments for us with major Native contractors. All of the meetings were productive, allowing us to spread the word about DFMS and our other economic entities. Each of our contacts volunteered to help us in various aspects of government contracts, including providing technical assistance on the DFMS 8(a) application. We were able to network, promote the Tribe, and promote DFMS.

I attended the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) planning meeting in March, and will be involved in project planning for the NCAI annual meeting, the first in a while to be held so close to home. The planning committee will meet monthly to prepare for its annual convention in October 2013 in Tulsa, OK. Tribal members who might be interested in volunteering the week of October 13-18, please contact the Tribal Office.

Please take your time reading the newspaper. Other than the web site (and our official Facebook page), the newspaper is the only current way we are able to keep you all up to date. However, mailing the paper to 4500 households does cost money. Keep in mind that the newspaper (along with past issues) is posted on the tribal web site. If you would rather read it that way, and save us a little bit in postage costs, please send us an email at tribe@delawaretribe.org requesting to be removed from the paper’s mailing list. This in no way cuts you out of any other communications or services, including your election ballots.

As always, please contact me if you have any questions or comments. Also feel free to submit questions or comments to our generic email address at tribe@delawaretribe.org if you aren’t sure to whom your questions or comments should be directed; this email is checked daily and questions are directed to the appropriate individual. Our official website (www.delawaretribe.org) is updated as frequently as we can with information about our programs, meetings, and career opportunities.

Lapich Knewël,
Chief Pechonick
ppechonick@delawaretribe.org
918-337-6590