Siletz.Net

A tribal member has written to me regarding the members' desire to see the creation of an elders center, a place where elders can go during the day.

While the tribe offers outings and events for in-area elders, there isn't a place for them on a day to day basis. Elders in the tribe are diverse. Some are barely ambulatory and some are quite vigorous, but they could all benefit from a center or a place they could go on a daily basis where they can network, share thoughts and ideas, assist one another, and enjoy the company of others. Having a place for them to go on a daily basis would be a valuable service for the tribe to provide.

There are a number of ways an elders place could come about. Below are just a few examples of wasteful spending which could be corrected to free up resources for it.

The tribal government has committed over $8 Million dollars for new clinic facilities that we don't need. While some expansion could be merited and some of that funding will be provided by the Federal Government, we are about to go much further into debt to build a Taj Mahal of a health care center which can only benefit a fraction of tribal members. It's far more than is needed to upgrade our health care service.

The Tribal Council voted to take General Welfare casino profits to put in a fiber optics system for local projects, like the new gym and the USDA building, at "costs not to exceed $135,000," according to Resolution No. 2007 - 443 they passed a year ago. That's a huge amount of money to wire a gym and USDA Building for internet and I can't think of why other needs go should unmet when we spend so much for a fiber optics system.

I was present at the June 2007 Tribal Council meeting when General Manager Brenda Bremner got the Tribal Council to approve a $3000 coffee break for a conference in Hawaii. I was stunned that Brenda would ask tribal members to pick up the tab for coffee and croissants for others at a Hawaiian boondoggle. That money could have been better spent or, heaven forbid, saved. $3000 would buy furniture and a nice entertainment system for an elders center. Instead it took about 15 minutes to spend at that conference in Hawaii. Gone in 15 minutes for what? To stroke the vanity of the General Manager.

Our investment entity, STBC (Siletz Tribal Business Corporation) has apparently been hemorrhaging hundreds of thousands of investment dollars every year since its inception. If we could stem the flow of those losses, the tribe could use just a modest amount of the savings to benefit our elders and their families.

We have the means to do this now with properties like Salem Flex. We already spent millions for the Flex Building and continue to lose money on it. Why not use some of that vacant space? A small part of the building houses Salem Area Office, but most of it sits there empty, year after year. We might lower the ceiling in a section of it and remodel an area for an elders center. It's right next door to some great facilities at Hee Hee Illahee RV, which has amenities that our elders could share with the customers there.

We could also utilize room in the new buildings which will comprise the $6 million dollar museum and cultural center that is partially built near the Siletz Community Center. There are so many ways we could make an elders place happen.

There was small amount of discussion about an elders center in the minutes some time ago, but nothing lately. The plans for that seem to have drifted along the wayside. I challenge the Tribal Council to seriously reconsider it now. If we throttle back on some of the more extravagant projects and wasteful STBC ventures the tribe could afford to have one or more elders centers.