Karuk Tribe of California

1. Approval of the Minutes for January 8, 2004

Leeon Hillman moved and Florrine Super seconded to approve the Minutes for January 8, 2004. 5 haa, 0 puuhara, 2 pupitihara. (Karen Derry and Leaf Hillman).

1. Trista Parry

Trista states there is a grant coming up with the US Department of Justice very quickly. They can apply for a two-year $75,000 planning grant that is due on February 24, 2004. They will use it to develop protocols for an initial response team for domestic violence and an advocacy program through the Tribal Court. They would partner with the local law enforcement and court agencies to do this. She just wanted to give them a heads up that she will be doing a phone vote for the grant. The grant will fund a person to head the program. Arch asked how it is different from the Stop the Violence Coalition’s request last month. Trista states that their grant was for an actual shelter in Hoopa and would be through a partnership with other Tribes. This would be a planning grant for the Karuk Tribe to do their own project. They already work with the County and local law enforcement in this area without the partnership. Florence asked about those that live downriver and are in Humboldt County. Trista states that Orleans would be a part of the service area and would be included, they would coordinate services for Humboldt residents also.

1. Old Business

Emergency Preparedness Plan for Elders: The Council asked what the status of this is. David Eisenberg updated the group on the progress they have made with surveying of the Elders to gather the information they need to determine who is at risk without power. They asked questions like; if the power were out can you cook, do you have heat, do you have water, etc. David states there was a very surprising number of elders that have generators. There were many that have driveway access problems when it snows. He does not have final numbers for them yet but once it is finalized they will submit the information to them and to Trista to use it for planning to make the situation better. They can look into funding to purchase generators for the elders, etc. Florence points out that in Orleans all of the new Elder’s homes will have electric heat only. Karen wanted to know why they can’t put in the same heaters they put in the Happy Camp Elder’s homes to have backup heat and be able to cook. Arch asked if Flo sends out any kind of flyers to the Elders. He suggests reporting back to them the results of this survey so that they know as they were the ones that were concerned with the situation.

David continued with his Director’s report also. He announced that Phil Albers wrote a grant to get youth involved with obesity prevention. He took a youth group to Sacramento and they are here to report on their trip. Their group was one of 10 in the entire state selected. They would like to videotape the presentation so they can send it back to Sacramento. David also handed out an overview on the project.

Luke Supahan of Orleans, Alma Navarro of Yreka, and Tamara Alexander were the youth present. He states they did a really good job and were younger than most of the youth that attended. They wanted to tell them about the trip to Sacramento for the Youth-Full Government Academy (YFG), January 10-13, 2004. They were able to go to the State Capital and have breakfast with Tom Torlakson. They attended many different workshops while they were there. In the future they would like to have a youth board with more members to continue to be involved in these types of activities. They haven’t decided what their main focus will be or what they will call the board. Alma said the part she liked the best was the tour of the capital building and seeing where everything happens. Tamara was able to meet a Pediatrician and hear him talk about his ideas for reducing obesity in children. Luke’s favorite part was also the tour of the capital building. He states it was very interesting. They were able to see the governor’s door but not him! They went from 7:30 to 9:00 everyday working in their workbooks and going to meetings and workshops and it went very well. Phil states the new CHR will take the lead for the kids but he will remain involved. The grant is called Capital Focus and there are some dollars for follow up down the road. They were the only individuals from Northern California. There was no one there from above Sacramento. Their next step is to get more people involved. Alma states that she deals with obesity directly in her family and she wants to get kids involved in the program to help prevent the obesity. She is also going to do a presentation in her PE class at her school at all different school levels. They would be willing to do presentations at other schools also in Happy Camp and Orleans.

David requested approval of two policies for Decorations at Clinics and Use of Automatic External Defibrillators by non-licensed/certified staff. They were both approved by ACQI. There were minor changes to the policies and he distributed and pointed out what the changes are. The AED policy gives details of the training staff will have and some basic protocols for what they should do. They indicated the age must be 8 or above to use it on them and also developed an incident form for anytime the device is used to have documentation. The Council made a change to the first page to specify it will ONLY be used on patients greater than eight in age.

Karen Derry moved and Robert Goodwin seconded to approve the AED Policy with changes and Decorations at Clinics policy as presented. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

He also wanted to announce that the Clinics are now Preferred Providers for Blue Cross of California, this also makes them a Healthy Families Provider. They will get reimbursed at a higher rate now of 80% instead of 60% for Blue Cross patients. They will also get more patients that did not come in because their insurance wasn’t accepted.

Robert Goodwin moved and Leeon Hillman seconded to approve David’s report. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

1. Lessie Aubrey

Not present, written only. Florrine asked if Karen is involved in the ACQI Meetings. She states she has not been involved because she was not given a schedule. Sara will e-mail Lessie to add Karen to the list to receive the meeting schedule.

Leaf Hillman moved and Robert Goodwin seconded to approve Lessie’s report. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

1. Vickie Walden

Vickie was present to request a modification to the amount that was authorized for the compressor. There will be an additional $423.31 paid to Sullivan-Schein Dental in addition to what was previously approved.

Robert Goodwin moved and Karen Derry seconded to approve the additional $423.31 to Sullivan-Schein Dental. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

She states she will have an explanation of how the dental labs work at the next meeting as requested by the Chairman. Karen also asked if they can get data regarding the school screenings to see if the teeth are getting better or worse or staying the same.

Wes states they are actively recruiting the dentist that visited last week and they have received good reviews on his work. There was wonderful feedback on how he works with children. There was also good feedback from the Chair side Dental Assistant. He was well received by both staff and patients. Wes will discuss it further with them in closed session. There have been five phone calls in the last month regarding the position which is more than they have had for the last year. They feel it relates directly to the salary increase which makes them equal with their competitors. There is also another dentist that is coming on Tuesday to visit. Vickie states they are still fully staffed but she has notified the staff that if they do not hire a dentist soon, there will be staff cutbacks.

She asked for feedback on the chart she submitted to them. Karen states she likes it better than the old way she was reporting the data.

Leeon Hillman moved and Leaf Hillman seconded to approve Vickie’s report. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

1. Marsha Jackson

Marsha had one additional item to distribute to them with her report. She pointed out that there are some variances in the reports as there are some staff working on a ten hour schedule in Yreka resulting in the providers and nurses having two schedules. She wanted them to know why the numbers are different.

Marsha presented them with the CHS Register Balances and pointed out that since they have raised the eyeglass assistance amount they have spent $8,354.09 in four months and they only have a budget of $15,000 for the entire year which will not allow them enough to make it through the year at that level. The Managed Care Committee has recommended that they make an adjustment to the allowed amount. They would like to reduce the allowed amount to $200.

Karen Derry moved and Robert Goodwin seconded to reduce the assistance for eye glasses to $200. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara..

She states that was her only action item unless they have any questions. Robert asked about the fact that dental is very close to running out, he asked what she will do with that. She states she will most likely move some dollars from medications into dental once the Pharmacy is up and running and they see how it goes.

Karen Derry moved and Leeon Hillman seconded to approve Marsha’s report. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

1. Joe Snapp

Not present, written only. Florrine states that she really likes the new report better as it has more information. As this is his last semester to complete his Bachelor’s Degree he will then be able to attend more meetings. Marsha also states that once he is finished with school he will be able to start inputting social services data into RPMS for more information. Friday, February 20, 2004 at 9:00 AM in Yreka there will be a meeting between the social services and RPMS staff to start doing data entry and get better reports from the system. This will also help with billing.

Robert Goodwin moved and Florrine Super seconded to approve Joe’s report with the exception of the $25,000 request. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

They state they will discuss the $25,000 with Trista on February 29, 2004.

1. Wes Valentine

Wes was present to review his written report with them

The Pharmacy is ready to open locally on February 17, 2004. They will use the first two weeks to get everything worked out before they bring on CHS. He states there will be a grand opening once they are ready to handle everyone’s business. They are setting everything up so that they are prepared in case the Board of Pharmacy comes for a site visit.

He states the Orleans Elders Program will be starting up at the Panamnik Center tomorrow. Wes states that rather than holding back services to get the facility opened they are going to have a special ceremony at the first meal. Leeon Hillman asked if Babbie can put together a list of everything that she needs for the facility and present it to them so they can look for funding for the furniture. Karen states that Housing should have a big screen TV in storage that could be put in that building. Leaf states he will check on that. They could then get a satellite or a DVD/VCR combo to play movies as they are reasonably priced now.

He states Third Party revenues are looking good. If they stay in line they will receive $100,000 more than they budgeted which is a very good thing.

His first action item is Contract 04-C-029 with Merin Mcabe to do billing catch up work as they continue to be three months behind on their billing. Every time they try to catch up they increase their services so they stay behind. They have used this person before and she is an IHS employee. The cost would be no more than $8,000 to complete the billing and it would bring in about $200,000 in back bills.

Karen Derry moved and Florence Conrad seconded to approve Contract 04-C-029 with Merin Mcabe to do the catch up billing work. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

His next action item is the Pharmacy Courier position description. The changes have been made to require the person be bonded and also they changed it to reflect that it is Monday through Friday and not daily as they will not make deliveries on the weekend. He is leaning toward two part time employees to make it a better position and also that way if one person were sick they could use the other person for a full day and also have a third person lined up to be on call. The silver Subaru Forester can be used for this purpose. They may be able to share the same vehicle and then plan ahead for a replacement in the future as 250 miles per day is a lot for it to handle.

Karen Derry moved and Robert Goodwin seconded to approve the Pharmacy Courier position description. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

The next action item he has is Resolution 04-C-006 authorizing participation in a Nation Wide Elders Survey. It is recommended by the Area on Aging and there needs to be a survey done for the Title VI funding also.

Leaf Hillman moved and Leeon Hillman seconded to approve Resolution 04-C-006 authorizing participation in the survey. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

He announced the IHS Leaders meeting is going to be March 31-April 2, 2004 in Reno. He needs Council representatives as there are decisions requiring voting at these meetings. Wes will be attending as well as Arch. Roy will go and Karen may want to go also.

Margo Kerrigan is also requesting donations to cover the expenses of the conference. She is requesting $1,000 which they donated last year but they can donate any amount they want. They discussed making the $1,000 donation every other year. Robert feels they should make the donation as IHS commits many, many dollars to the Tribe each year.

Robert Goodwin moved and Leaf Hillman seconded to donate $1,000 from discretionary funds. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

He gave them an update on Title VI. They have talked to them about the unmet needs in Happy Camp and are working with them to obtain dollars for Happy Camp also. They have suggested that in order to increase the number of elders needing service they could change their age limit from 60 down to 55. They asked that Council vote to lower the service age to 55 for the Senior Nutrition Program.

Karen Derry moved and Roy Arwood seconded to lower the service age for the Elders program to 55. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

He also distributed to them a draft termination letter for Raley’s Pharmacy. They have stated there is an agreement and a need to give them thirty days notice to cancel the services with them. The Yreka staff have told Wes that the contract expired last month but he will send the letter as a courtesy anyway.

Consensus: To send the letter to Raley’s. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

The patients will get starter packs at the clinics and then can pick up their medications at the clinics the next day. They will also look into getting an individual 800 number for the pharmacy for people to call in for refills. They can call the main 800 number and get transferred though right now.

Robert Goodwin moved and Leeon Hillman seconded to approve Wes’ report. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

1. Committee Reports

Florrine reported on the recent activities of the ICWA Committee. They had the first meeting and there was a very good turnout. She states they went over the Committee policies and they had a sample from another Tribe to use as a guideline. They decided to go forward with a foster home rather than an agency because it would be better. Sami has stated they could have minimum rent until they have kids and then it can be raised. Steven Zufelt will be working with foster care agencies to get more information also. She states the next meeting is February 24, 2004 at 10:00 AM in Happy Camp. They are going to recruit people to be foster parents and get someone into the house and then also have emergency parents and homes lined up. Their feeling is that there needs to be a home available that has been approved by the Tribe and is available when it is needed. They would be able to get the kids to an ICWA approved home any day of the week. They would like to get it started in housing and then move it if there is a problem with the location and the families. If they have other approved homes they could put the housing kids in those homes so they aren’t in the community near their parents to avoid a conflict. Karen asked about the payments that come in. Will it go to the foster parents or will it go to the Tribe. Florrine states basically they would be providing them a home and the parent will get the money and pay the rent.

Florrine states they have flown the Happy Camp Representative slot on the ICWA Committee twice and received no responses. They will discuss it further in closed session possibly. They could also allow another representative from another community to fill that vacancy. Flo states she submitted a letter, however; it was not received. They asked if she was still interested. She states she would be interested, she would just have to take annual leave during the meetings.

Leaf Hillman moved and Florrine Super seconded to appoint Flo Lopez to the ICWA Committee as the Happy Camp Representative. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 1 pupitihara (Robert Goodwin).

1. Sara Spence

Sara presented the procurement for the re-flooring for the Administration building. The only responsive bidder is Hanon’s Floors To Go in Yreka in the amount of $11,412.21 which would come from Indirect.

Leaf Hillman moved and Florence Conrad seconded to approve the re-flooring of the Administration building in the amount of $11,412.21 from Indirect. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

She also asked for clarification on the Council Planning Session scheduled for February 29, 2004. She asked which staff members need to be present. They requested the Management Team and Jennifer Goodwin. They want each of them to have a needs assessment for the next year for their program and also a plan to obtain their goals. They would also like a late lunch by Blanche. She asked if they would like a facilitator at the meeting and they stated they did not want one this time.

Sara also requested and extension to the painting contract for the Administration Building to March 31, 2004 to give her enough time to complete the project.

Leaf Hillman moved and Robert Goodwin seconded to extend the contract for painting. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

Sandi requested that Sara present two position descriptions for an Environmental Administrative Coordinator and an Environmental Programs Assistant for approval. They asked if the money is available in the budget. Sara states she does not know but is sure that Sandi checked before she sent them up. They asked if the pay is reasonable as it is quite higher than average office staff. Sara explained that the clerical employees at DNR are required to perform a higher level of clerical duties and also process information that is brought in from the crews which also requires increased knowledge. It was asked if this will result in overstaffing at the office. Sara states that they are nowhere near overstaffed as there are so many different projects running through the same office.

Leaf Hillman moved and Florence Conrad seconded to approve the position descriptions. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

Florence states that every Monday they have staff meetings and it is on Tuesday if there is a holiday. All staff are present and all Council are encouraged to attend.

April requested the Council approve her Title IV B funding paperwork for the upcoming year.

Florence Conrad moved and Robert Goodwin seconded to approve the Title IV B funding report and request. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

Closed Session from 8:10 PM to 9:20 PM

Robert Goodwin moved and Leaf Hillman seconded to uphold the CHS denial and approve payment out of third party money in the amount of $1405 for Tribal Member #3727. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

Robert Goodwin moved and Leaf Hillman seconded to send Scott Quinn and Carrie Davis to Right Away Training March 24-25, 2004 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Scott will also attend Zoning on Indian Land on March 30-31, 2004 and stay the days in between to save on airfare. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

Leaf Hillman moved and Robert Goodwin seconded to loan Employee #8628 $4,000 to be repaid $100 per pay period. The funding will come from the revolving loan fund. 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 maanata.

Leeon Hillman excused himself at 8:38 PM.

Consensus: ICW Case #YRE-04-002; To place youth into protective custody and to support placement in a structured environment such as a group home or residential treatment facility. The Karuk Tribe Social Services Department will provide aftercare assistance.

Karen Derry moved and Leaf Hillman seconded to revise the personnel policy manual to reflect that employees that are laid off, in good standing, for a period of one year or less will accrue annual leave that the same rate they were receiving when laid off. 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

Directive: For Lynn to prepare a schedule for the Council and distribute it to all Council Members and the Management Team.

Consensus: To not deny the loan request from Tribal Member #867.

Next Meeting Date: March 11, 2004 at 5:00 PM in Happy Camp.

Leaf Hillman moved and Roy Arwood seconded to adjourn at 9:23 PM. 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.

Respectfully Submitted by,

_____________________________

Arch Super, Chairman

Recording Secretary,

Sara Spence