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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTribal-County Relations Committee - Minutes - 5/17/2018P a g e 1 | 3 Minutes of the Bayfield County Tribal Relations Committee Meeting Thursday, May 17, 2018 – 10:00 am Bayfield County Courthouse, Board Room, Washburn, WI The meeting was called to order at 10:04 am by Chair George Newago. Roll call was taken by Dawn M. Bellile, Deputy County Clerk, as follows: Rick Peterson, Tribal Council Chair- present; Nathan Gordon, Tribal Council Vice-Chair; Jeffrey Silbert, County Board Supervisor- present; George P. Newago, County Board Supervisor-present. A quorum was present to conduct business. 1. Introductions were shared with each other. 2. Public Comment. None. 3. Motion Regarding Minutes of the January 25, 2018 County-Tribal Relations Committee Meeting. A motion was made by Silbert/Gordon to adopt the minutes of the January 25, 2018 County-Tribal Relations Committee. Discussion took place. The motion carried. 4. Introduction of Mary Pardee, Area Extension Director. Abeles-Allison introduced Pardee to the Committee. Pardee is the Area Extension Director for Bayfield, Ashland Douglas & Iron Counties. Pardee stated that she wasn’t able to attend the last meeting but had submitted a document on her behalf outlining how the UW-Extension Office works. Discussion took place on the effort being made to 4-H groups. There is a Youth Outreach that is being worked on and presently we have a summer youth person who will do environmental education with youth by taking them on small trips such as biking, kayaking, hiking, etc. It is an effort being made to get kids outside. Discussion took place on how her time would be used with all 4 counties. Discussion as to other people Pardee could contact regarding youth involvement and collaboration. Peterson has been involved in with youth for many years. One thing he stated he would like to see started is a financial training program for seniors that are leaving high school, becoming young adults, helping them to enter into the adult world with good financial advice. Pardee said she would talk to Liz Lexau on this. Pardee informed the Committee that Kellie Pedersen is the person that was hired to replace Tim Kane as the Community Resource Agent. Pedersen will be starting Monday, May 21st. 5. Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Opioid Crisis Report. This is a major concern for both Bayfield County and the Red Cliff Tribe. In regard to this, Abeles-Allison invited Cheryl Hanson, DHS, Family Services Mgr., to speak to the Committee. Hanson gave an update which was not a pretty one, and was not anything the Committee already didn’t know. The use of meth is far greater than opioid, but opioid addictions are causing overdoses, which we have had way too many of. Hanson updated everyone that families can turn to the Sheriff’s Dept. for help. Red Cliff also has had Narcan training and more and more family members have access to this now to help prevent overdoses. Discussion took place on treatment facilities in Wisconsin and Minnesota and how they handle patients for causes such as this and also how much is funded. It was noted that Red Cliff is also addressing this on multiple levels. They do not like how this has taken over the community. Further discussion took place on the lack of facilities that are in our area and what can be done about it. A lengthy discussion took place on incentives to get the drugs off the street, i.e., put penalties to the maximum and stay strong on this. The Community is the best source for who is using or selling drugs. There must be some way to use their influence to get the youth and young adults to stop the cycle. When the Community gets fed up enough they will get involved. Further discussion took place on the P a g e 2 | 3 possibility of a residential treatment facility being built here, something like the Betty Ford Institute and Hazelton. This area would be perfect for this and funding could be worked out. 6. Health Department Activities. Sara Wartman was present to go over what has been taking place in the Health Department. Wartman reported on the 2010 – Have you had enough? This coalition has been meeting for some time. The Health Department is working on a policy change on AODA- you can make a difference as a civilian. A pilot program is in the making collaborating with Ashland County. This will hopefully be used as festivals approach to keep minors free from alcohol and drugs. Wartman reported that 3 permanent sharps and pharmaceutical boxes had been placed in the surrounding communities. They are located where there are surveillance cameras already in place. They are the Bayfield City Hall, Iron River Community Center (which is where the IR Police Dept. is housed); and the Bayfield County Sheriff’s Department. This is an attempt to get drugs off the street and out of the communities. We have seen sharps on the beaches, streets and just thrown in the ditch, and people will reuse the needles rather than buy new ones. Wartman touched base on prescription drug disposal. The containers are for old or unused drugs. This helps to get them out of the house if no longer needed and out of the hands of others that they are not meant for. Discussion turned to the fact that we need to be proactive and educate youth…literally scare them away from the drugs. We need to show kids what the dangers are in a more realistic form. Discussion on how do we get the community more involved in getting rid of the drugs and prevent them from going down the wrong path. Discussed how schools are talking about drug situations more and sending literature home to the parents. Another topic that needs to be addressed is resilience and self-esteem. We need to build our children up so they won’t need to turn to drugs. Wartman informed the Committee that she is in the process of writing a Health Infrastructure Grant. Discussion took place on this. Discussion took place on the Northwoods Coalition. Also discussed was the movie “Written Off” which is about resilience. It was very informative. The Community Health Needs Assessment is talking about what their priorities should be in the next 3 years for health issues. Wartman is interested to see what will be the direction this year. The past 2 years have been AODA. 7. Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Working Lands Initiative. Abeles-Allison reported that the working lands is a standing topic on the Tribal/County agenda. The original agreement was reviewed by the Committee. As we all know, work continues on the transfer of lands. To date, the respective County/Tribal Forestry and Land Departments have coordinated 160-acres of transfer, 80 near Frog Bay and 80 near Sand Bay. Discussion took place regarding delinquent property owners. The entire process if public information, but it was thought that perhaps, if an individual is about to lose their property, perhaps the Tribe could step in to help them in some way so as not to lose the property and keep it Tribe owned. It was felt by all that we are moving in a good direction. The topic of title searches came up and that if a search is done it may show that the property in question is owned by the Tribe. It is a lengthy process, but one which maybe should be pursued. 8. Discussion and Possible Action Regarding County BUILD Project Support. Abeles- Allison stated that the spoke with Jeff Benton from Red Cliff about his experience with this program. Red Cliff has applied the last 4 years for this grant. Bayfield County is also considering applying for County Highway improvement projects. The County has a project that would be about 38 miles reconstructing roads to a higher standard which would be able to be P a g e 3 | 3 used year-round. The two entities will discuss together the information needed for the project funds. 9. Reports: a) Tourism Report: Abeles-Allison spoke on behalf of Motiff, in her absence, giving updates to the Pow Wow and Festival held in Red Cliff. Motiff has been contributing a monthly column in the Forest & Lakes magazine. The last monthly Pod Cast featured Chad Abel. Also, being worked on is destination marketing, the JEM Grant, and promoting trails to name a few. Discussion took place on how both entities have been helping each other out with their publications by Bayfield County putting Red Cliff’s events on their sites and vice-versa. Also through NATOW (Native American Tourism of Wisconsin), everyone’s events have been getting attention. Further discussion took place about the podcasts and when they were shared between Red Cliff and Bayfield County the results that they received were remarkable. Discussion also took place on the 1st Annual Washburn School Pow Wow. It was noted that this was sparked by Vanessa Gordon a student at the Washburn Schools. Ashland also had a round dance which had huge community participation. The webpage was reviewed and showed how it caters to all of the local dining, lodging and places to pay in the area. If you need anything marketed, this is the positive way to do so. b) Hydro Atlas Project. Bayfield County is continuing to work with the Wisconsin Geological Survey on a Hydro Atlas Project. This is a 2-year project and we are half way preliminary depth to bedrock map. c) Superior Days. This is a local grass roots lobbying effort. The 2019 program is scheduled for February 12 and 13. Topics are unique to NW Wisconsin. This is a good time to start discussing topics of mutual importance. 2018 topics were discussed and the topic of unemployment came up. After discussion it was noted that this is something to put on the Superior Days Agenda and Abeles-Allison will take care of this. We will continue to have the standing items as well. There being no further business to come before the Bayfield County Tribal Relations Committee, a motion was made by Peterson/Silbert to adjourn. The motion carried and the meeting adjourned at 12:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Dawn Dawn M. Bellile, Deputy County Clerk DMB