It seems like just yesterday we were here for our swearing in. Time quickly passed, and we’ve been busy.

      The Purpose of this report is to highlight our accomplishments, discuss how your Council is working together, summarize our current priorities and highlight some of our short term plans.

II. Immediate Accomplishments

Our first accomplishment was the removal of the credit card requirement for our Band members to stay in our hotels. With that, we implemented a standard Band member rate of $40/per night. So far, we’ve had nothing but positive feedback on this change. We intend to keep this new policy in place.

Next, we set up and created our Day Labor program. We realize this program is in its infancy. Yet we can already see the impact our Day Labor crews are having across the Reservation, as we see our lands returning to the beautiful place it once was. As the new Council grows, we expect the Day Labor program to mature by serving more Band members. The Day Labor program will also grow as we have other government bodies – like the Chippewa National Forest – requesting our Day Labor crews for forestry projects.

The new Council’s administration has been in office for 84 days now. Over this time period, our administration has settled into place. For example, a new Budget Team has been working diligently on this Council’s budget. Note that the Budget Team has been working closely and intimately with the Secretary/Treasurer by including him at the budget team meetings. The Secretary/Treasurer is included in the budget planning and budget recommendations to the Council. The inclusion of the Secretary/Treasurer as part of the budget team indicates the Chairman’s internal directive to improve communication and work together.

We have an administration that believes in giving our people “a hand up, not a hand out.” Internally, our administration and division directors are charged with the difficult task of holding your governmental employees accountable for their time, their programs and their budgets. We can no longer afford to have mismanagement of program funds and a lack of accountability in our employees. Our challenge is to inspire pride in our employees. We need to recognize and reward employees who are truly dedicated to their work. We must continue to foster a work ethic our children can witness and our Band members can proudly see. We know that work ethic and the spirit of working together must come from the RBC to the rest of the organization.

It didn’t take long for this Council to realize that we can do more by working as a team than any of us can accomplish individually. As a result, this Council has regular work sessions with all 5 members and our top administrators. We use our work sessions to communicate. We use our work sessions to establish our priorities. We use our work sessions to learn about each member’s needs. Mostly, we use our work sessions to get the work done on behalf of the Band because now, more than ever, the people need a Council that works together – and we are.

The people should know that this Council continues to schedule our work sessions on a regular basis and all 5 members desire to keep working in these sessions regularly.

In addition to our work sessions we have “briefings” scheduled for every Tuesday of the week. Because the RBC has numerous issues presented to us that don’t require a Special Meeting, we have regular briefings with the Council in an effort to keep all 5 Council members apprised of anything from internal governmental issues to outside agencies, politicians, or governmental agencies presenting the Council information. Again, our regular briefings are a key for our continued willingness and need to work together.

IV. Priorities

Last week your Council visited the State Capitol. We were hosted by Senator Mary Olson. There, we learned that the state is facing up to a 4 billion dollar deficit this session. Now more than ever, Leech Lake needs a positive, meaningful presence at the Minnesota Legislature. We need to be strong there because the State will be looking for solutions to their budgetary problems. The timing is right for Leech Lake to step in and be part of the solution for the State’s budget shortfall. One way for us to do this is to expand our Joint Powers agreements with the four counties within our Reservation borders.

We are looking at expanding our Tribal Court power to extend to Juvenile Delinquency cases, Adult Drug Courts, and Family Law matters like custody and divorce. The timing is right for us to assert our Sovereignty because we can help reduce the overburdened and underfunded State Courts by reducing their caseloads.

In St. Paul, we also met with the Chief of Staff for the Senate Majority Leader, Larry Pogemiller. There, we spent time discussing the Band’s 3 legislative priorities; 1) Regional economic partnerships, 2) Safeguarding the Energy Assistance Program dollars, and 3) the reduction of the high reinstatement fees for revoked or suspended driver’s licenses.

Also, we shared the same legislative priorities with the Minnesota Attorney General, Lori Swanson. In our meeting with the Attorney General, she pointed our various departments that can help us with our priorities and our daily operations of our tribal government. We intend to follow up and foster a positive working relationship with Attorney General Lori Swanson.

The people should note that Leech Lake is again a participant in the Get Out the Vote Campaign. With the economy in shambles and the State facing a 4 billion dollar deficit, the people of Leech Lake need tom make our voices heard. Politically, with the Democrats and Republicans so entrenched in their candidates, Indian people are being looked at by the political experts at the difference makers in the 2008 elections. We are stepping up our efforts to get voters to the polls, so please contact your representative to find our what your District can do to help you and your family vote on Tuesday, November 4, 2008.

V. Short Term Goals

Now that Day Labor is up an running, and we implemented the new hotel credit card/band member rate policy, we have more short term goals. We reallocated $500,000 to our elders services to get a full-service elders program up and running at full capacity. We reallocated $150,000 to improve the services to our Youth programs. Also, this quarter we plan to develop and create a Special Projects Outreach to our Districts for important Special Projects that your District Representatives have identified as priorities.

With these short-term goals in mind, this Council understands that our budget has very little “wiggle room.” Therefore, division directors know that our programs con no longer rely on gaming dollars to subsidize their budgets. Our Gaming dollars only go so far. With the high price of gasoline, and the economy in a crunch, we are expecting our gaming revenue to decrease because there will be less destination gamblers coming to our casinos. So, in this second quarter we will continue our comprehensive examination of our gaming operation to ensure gaming maintains its profitability and runs as efficiently as possible.

We also need Aftercare facilities for our Youth who return to the Reservation after their 30 day treatment. It is the priority of this Council to pursue funding for the development of 2 half-way houses (transitional homes) and five community based Family empowerment Centers to help our youth maintain their sobriety when they come home after treatment.

VI. Long Term Goals

Given the State’s budget shortfall, a weak economy in the region, State and Nation, the time has come for Leech Lake to become viable in Economic Diversification. Long term, we can’t rely on Gaming dollars to subsidize all of our needs. We need economic Diversification.

We also know that Leech Lake is not an island. We are not alone in our needs. We need to create and nurture Regional Economic Partnerships. There are four counties within our borders. We have cities like Cass Lake, Walker, Deer River, and Bemidji that we can and need to start doing business with. It’s time for Leech Lake to reach out and come to the table with our neighbors and find common needs. Together we have power.

As an example, Leech Lake has a Memorandum of Agreement with RREAL, a non-profit organization out of Pine River, to explore an opportunity to create a solar panel manufacturing plant in Ball Club. We are at the table with Cass County and Health Care conglomerate Essentia, exploring partnership in the Cass County Regional Health Center. Leech Lake is an active participant in the Regional Economic Development Commission with our friends from the White Earth and Red Lake Nations where we are working on using our buying power in a collaborative effort.

As a final example, Leech Lake is in a strong position in working with the 3 major Power Companies in Minnesota. They need to install a power transmission line across the Reservation, because the power grid is antiquated for the needs of our neighbors in Bemidji and Grand Rapids, Seeking to link those two cities, Leech Lake has an opportunity to work with our neighbors to the east and west on this project in hopes we can develop working relationships with those communities.

The above are just some of the ventures, projects and partnerships that will help the Band diversify and ultimately become financially solvent. But, these long term goals take time. They don’t happen overnight. Our long term goals require hard work and patience. This Council is willing to do the heavy lifting and hard work because it is in the Band’s best interest to move in this direction.

In summary, we put our first quarter behind us. We immediately accomplished some of the things we set out to do, but we have more work ahead of us. You have a Council that works together. Your Council is working together, and communicating with one another. This Council is building important bridges at the Minnesota Legislature. We have important short term goals, while we have long term goals that require hard work and patience.

Finally, please note that it is a pleasure to work with this Council. We are driven to make the Reservation a better place than what we had before we took office. We appreciate your attention and attendance at our first quarterly meeting. Once again, thank you.

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