Council Dispatch #136                  January 10, 2023

 

Tribal Member Services/Tribal Lands Department

 

  • Council received an update on a fire that occurred last night at Second Circle. There are two females and four males residing in the facility. Patricia Hibbeler is still waiting to receive the police report. It appears a mattress had been lit on fire. The six children and two staff members were relocated to the Kwataqnuk Resort. It will take some time to complete the investigation and repair the damages so they need a temporary relocation. The Tribes have a three-bedroom home at KHJCC that is vacant.  They also have the Smith purchase that has a three-bedroom house that is being remodeled this week. Council reached consensus to look at both homes for possible relocation until the repairs are made to the Second Circle facility.

 

Tribal Council

 

  • Jim Malatare requested an update on the fence at Nkwusm. Mark Couture advised he is working with Desirae on that; two bids were received.

 

Tribal Health Department

 

  • Council approved a contract with Well Health. Well Health offers HIPAA compliant secure communication for patient appointment reminders and health campaigns to specific patient populations and works well with the EPIC system.  Well Health would be linked into the scheduling system and can be used to send direct text messages to patients which would improve communications and also be used for patient registration. The current messaging system only allows patients to respond yes or no to confirm their appointments.

 

  • Council will be scheduling a meeting with the Tribal Health Department and requested the staff provide information on the vacant positions and the plan to fill those so the backlog can be addressed.

 

Personnel Department

 

  • There was discussion on whether to modify the Temporary COVID-19 Leave Policy to extend the leave through calendar year 2023. The team recommended approving option 1. Council will discuss it again on Thursday.

 

  • Council took action to direct financial services to develop a resolution that leave applies to emergency hires to receive administrative leave with pay.

 

 

  • There was discussion regarding PayScale. Loretta Hoots provided her input. Council will continue to have further discussions on PayScale and asked the staff to come back in two weeks. Council took action to change the language in the Personnel Ordinance from “shall” to “may” in relation to PayScale. 

 

Legal Department

 

  • Council approved a resolution denying any requests from public schools on the Flathead Reservation to waive tribal consultation and/or Indian policy and procedures as a part of Impact Aid applications.

 

  • Council took action to direct the legal team to look at the grievance policy language in Ordinance 69-D.

 

Tribal Education Department

 

  • Council received a presentation on the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 Indian Education Reports for the Ronan School District and took action to accept the reports.

 

Economic Development Office/S&K Business Services

 

  • Council received a presentation on the annual Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. The CEDS is a locally based and regionally driven economic development planning process and document that creates the space for regions to identify their strengths and weaknesses and brings together a diverse set of partners to generate good jobs, diversify the economy, and spur economic growth. The CEDS is comprised of seven main goals for the Flathead Reservation.

 

  • Council took action to have departments incorporate succession planning in their work plans.

 

 

NOTE:  The official Council Minutes will contain more complete details about lengthy discussions and should be considered the official record of Council. Dispatches are written from notes taken live and may occasionally contain partial information, over-simplified characterizations or an occasional error. Council reviews and corrects the draft minutes before approving as the official record.  Comments (both affirmations and concerns) are part of change and are expected and encouraged. Along with any specific comments, please also share what you would like to hear more about in upcoming communications. The email address for comments is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..