October 22 2018 Chairmans Notes

Posoh Nec Omaeqnomenewak, The Tribe has been awarded large grants that will provide for bringing services we have long strived for. One of those areas is the Public Defender Office for the Tribe. Staff from many tribal departments worked diligently to develop a Strategic Plan for Tribal Justice Systems over the past two years and used that plan to develop a successful application to establish a Tribal Public Defender office. In other grant wins, the Tribe was awarded two grants from the US Department of Justice to assist in combating the opioid crisis on the Reservation. Nearly $1.3 million in grants for Opioid issues will allow us to hire and partner social workers with our tribal police officers, hire treatment staff and build a collaborative framework between law enforcement, tribal social services, and our treatment center to reach families impacted by opioids and other drugs and provide treatment to those afflicted with addiction. In all areas of government, the Tribe had a record year of grant wins with more than 16 million dollars in grants awarded. This win rate is due to the planning work led by Tribal Administration and our government-wide focus on strategic planning, community engagement, and collaboration across departments. The Tribe’s Chief of Police was removed from his position by the Tribal Legislature in accordance with Chapter 132, Section 19.1 of the Tribal Code. The Tribal Legislature will be looking at Chapter 132 over the next several weeks for areas that can be strengthened to improve the police department. The development of the new Tribal Identification Card has been delayed due to upgrade requirements in equipment needed to properly print the cards. We are hopeful this should be resolved soon and cards will be available by early November, 2018. Tribal members will be able to carry their tribal id cards as they are accepted everywhere due to the initiative that started in the State-Tribal Relations Committee a few years back was approved by the State Legislature last year. Recently I presented at the First Nations Conference in Cabazon, Ca. on the efforts we have undertaken to fight the Back 40 mine. During that trip, I also took the time to travel to visit with the Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians of California to provide a presentation on the Back 40 mine and its threat to Menominee. Chairman Robert Smith indicated that he would be presenting the information to their council at its next meeting. To date, we are still waiting to see if there are any offers for assistance from Pala. With these three separate legal challenges ongoing concurrently, we can expect that decisions would not be made by any of the judges for many months. Although this can be a costly venture, it has added significant delays to the plans to mine the site. Recent communications and consultations have occurred with State Agency Secretaries, including the Department of Health Services, Department of Administration, Department of Trade, Ag and Consumer Protection and Department of Revenue. The consultations included discussions on our opioid crisis and response that both the State and Tribes are implementing. Information was provided to Tribes on upcoming funding programs that can provide support to us on our battles with the opioid and other drug epidemic. We also discussed the Tribal joint effort to develop an Adolescent Treatment Facility that could be operated jointly by Tribes in Wisconsin. Support is currently being sought by Wisconsin Tribes from the DHS to provide funding, programs, technical and planning resources to help us move forward with the Adolescent Treatment Facility. Tribes were also able to discuss the Chronic Wasting Disease rule with DATCP. Some of the important part of the discussion with regard to our Tribal concerns included; notifications to Tribes when CWD is found, and a herd is quarantined, double fencing requirements for deer farms with CWD positive animals, and Threats to our wild deer population on the reservation. I will have additional reports in my future Chairman notes, and in the meantime, if there are any questions, please feel free to contact our office. For now, Posoh and Waewaenen. Douglas Cox, Chairman Menominee Nation

Douglas Cox

  

Date: 10/22/2018