Red Lake State of the Band 2018 - P12

The Red Lake 2018 State of the Band Address as presented by Red Lake Tribal Chairman Darrell G. Seki, Sr. on Friday, February 23, 2018, beginning at 11 AM.

"Today we gather as the Red Lake Nation and we see that the cycles of life continues," Seki stated. "We all have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things! So now today we bring our minds together as one Nation as we give greetings and thanks to each other. Now our minds will be one!

"One arrow can be easily broken. But when we as a Nation are bound together, we become a stronger Nation with our Anishinabe ways, teachings, customs and culture. This will symbolize as that of a stronger Nation that's united and we are one mind!

"With the creator watching over all of us and the spirits around us, we all stand together as one Nation. We will conquer the drug epidemic that has entered our Nation, that is destroying families, relationships, children being taken away, losing jobs, homes and destroying minds of our membership.

"Standing together, we will all see the horizon to overcome the pain and the burden to become a strong nation for generations to come!!"

Chairman Seki then spoke and reported on Tribal Programs.

CHEMICAL HEALTH PROGRAMS

The Red Lake Chemical Health Programs was reported to be in a $900K Deficit on December 4, 2017. Due to non-billing, and other procedural components that were not adhered to in regards to the billing process like Consolidated Placement Authorization (CPA's) not being completed after the Rule 25 Assessment was completed and the constituent being referred to a treatment episode, or Service Agreements not being entered into Admission DAANES to authorize billing on a client file, or DAANES not being completed to close out the client file for State Reporting purposes in collaboration with State funding agreements. However, that deficiency is continually being addressed as billing and back billing issues occur, otherwise still has some complications as on-going training with the billing process as Supervisors are being trained as the billing process continues.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

• November 13, 2017 the Medication Assisted Recovery Services (MARS Program) is a culturally specific Medication Assisted Treatment service in with combination with Individual and Group Counseling. Suboxone is administered daily and Subutex administered to pregnant clientele. The MARS Program currently has 16 clients. The program is currently being operated as daily dosing program to help prevent diversion and misuse of the medication outside of the treatment program. The MARS Program also collaborates with the "Be Well Mother & Baby" Program and the "Red Lake Jail".

• November 2017, Be Well Mother & Baby Program started, 8 pregnant moms and 6 pregnant moms gave birth and one male client. Will be doing outreach work, making sure mom gets prenatal care and gets to doctors, take them to appointments with WIC, Rule 25 Assessments, Doctor appointments. Helping with Individual & Group Counseling. Getting clients services, ultimate goal is to get baby to go home with mom. Collaborates with FCS & child protection team, Helping Hands Program. Providing cultural based activities such as picking medicines, naming ceremonies.

• September 2017 Chemical Health has implemented a new Electronic Health Record System (EHR) in collaboration with Family & Children Services to help facilitate and expedite our billing capacity and help secure treatment records and protocols to ensure accountability with documentation and necessary functions of a treatment program with tools needed within a treatment setting. Easier access to clinical data. The ability to establish and maintain effective clinical workflows. Fewer medical errors, improved patient safety and stronger support for clinical decision-making.

Chemical Health Goals for 2018

The Programs as a whole, needs more training to be effective as treatment providers and prevention leaders here on the reservation, so one of our many goals for 2018 is to have all essential staff members undergo rigorous training to become effective and certified counselors, peer support specialists, rule 25: assessors and prevention specialists. With the current State of Emergency, our staff is currently undertrained to meet the needs of this epidemic and it is critical to make our staff more knowledgeableof what we are up against through ongoing trainings.

The program does see long term recovery as priority on the reservation and is looking at a Step Down program that will keep our constituents engaged in treatment for up to 2 years. Currently, we are taking outpatient to serve our working clientele that have day jobs. In the near future we are also looking at a very important relapse prevention component and recovery maintenance component that will aid in the long term recovery and provide extra revenues to our existing treatment programs.

The program is currently initiating a culturally specific mental health component to all our billable services within our treatment programs to ensure that culture is being promoted and community elders are utilized to help in our mental health efforts while implementing a more culturally specific component into our treatment programming, utilizing cultural coordinator and a psychologist.

We continue addressing the non-use of a Chain of Command and/or disciplinary actions for employees that did not utilize supervisors or if they did, the supervisor sent the employee up the chain of command and did not inform administration that they were doing so, otherwise employees bypassed supervisors and approached upper management staff without discipline. It is a recommendation to include supervisors to be held accountable for lack of supervisions and breaking the chain of command. At present, the program has an old outdated Organizational chart that needs to be updated and enforced.

It is a goal of Chemical Health Programs in 2018 to be more visible in the communities, transparent with our Tribal Administration and constituents and be more accountable to providing quality treatment services by providing our reservation with more education and the dangers about addictions and alcoholism and more prevention activities to help our youth, the future leaders of our reservation to become educated and hopefully prevent future epidemics.

Since September 7, 2017, a group of tribal employees representing various Programs and Agencies have been working together in response to the drug epidemic issues; they are the Three Day Response Team. The sole purpose for the Team and meetings were to bring programs together to provide a unified and effective response addressing the drug epidemic. The team members worked together addressing program concerns; we identified needs and sharing of resources and resource information. The member of this team talked frequently about the importance of communication amongst the programs and subsequently identified service gaps. Training opportunities became available for team members and for programs and agencies they represented. One particular important note is improvement was realized in service response time pertaining to Rule 25 Assessments. Additional Assessors were training starting at perhaps 15 and realizing a peak of 40 Assessors available to work on a backlog of Rule 25 Assessments. The time required to schedule and complete a Rule 25 Assessment has been significantly reduced. Other training opportunities for the team members and programs included Narcan certification, Red Cross certification in CPR/AED for programs and community and Suicide Prevention. We have also scheduled Training for 12 members to become Facilitators and be recognized Red Cross Trainers in CPR/AED for Northern Minnesota. We as a team also became more aware of how other programs operate and how we could continue to work together. The work of this team has created professional relationships and greater awareness of other program challenges. We will continue our team efforts to improve upon services for members of the Red Lake Band.

SELF GOVERNANCE

Most of our government services programs operate with funding from the BIA as part of the federal government's Treaty and Trust obligations. BIA funding has been insufficient to operate many of our programs, especially after Congress enacted Sequestration cuts several years ago. For instance, our public safety programs, including Law Enforcement, Detention, Courts, Fire Department, and Road Maintenance, must operate on a BIA funding shortfall of $3 million each year. It is a great challenge each year to manage this shortfall, but we have been successful in doing so. One of our biggest successes, which we expect to continue in 2018, is that despite BIA funding cuts, funding for Red Lake's programs continues to increase overall. Over the last 10 years Red Lake's self governance BIA funding has increased more than 100%, compared to about 20% overall for BIA.

Last year President Trump proposed a massive $375 million cut to the BIA and tribes. Programs that serve children, families, and education were hit the hardest. The good news to report is that Congress rejected President Trump's 2018 budget proposal.

Unfortunately, Trump is back at it. His proposed 2019 BIA budget would cut a whopping $465 million from BIA and tribal programs. Again, programs that serve our children, families, and education are hit the hardest, including:

Social Services is cut 37%

Welfare Assistance is cut 12%

Indian Child Welfare is cut 28%

Law Enforcement is cut by 8%

Tribal Courts is cut 28%

Job Placement & Training is cut 36%

The Tiwahe Family Initiative and our Children's Healing Center are eliminated

Johnson O'Malley education grants for our kids are eliminated

Tribal Scholarships for our College students are eliminated.

Rest assured, Red Lake will not allow President Trump to break our Treaties and the federal government's Trust responsibility to tribes. We will oppose his reckless proposals at every turn, and we will reach out to our allies in Congress to stop him in his tracks.

TIWAHE INITIATIVE

Red Lake is one of 6 pilot tribes participating in the BIA's Tiwahe Family Initiative, which is intended to reduce poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence, and associated outcomes such as youth suicide in Indian Country. One outcome of this initiative is that we've been able to open and operate the Red Lake Children's Healing Center to provide services to our youth. The Children's Healing Center had 48 active youth who received services in 2017. Of those 48 youth, 56% have not reoffended in 6 months or more since receiving services in the area of mental health, substance abuse, anger management and cultural/spiritual supports. The Children's Healing Center offers an outpatient intervention program for youth who are involved in the justice system or at high risk to become involved in the justice system. The intervention program offers mental health counseling, anger management, cultural support and referrals to chemical health. There is also an onsite school for high risk middle school students as a partnership with Red Lake School District. The School District handles the referrals and provides two teachers. The Children's Healing Center provides youth mental health, anger management, and cultural support services. There are 8 students enrolled this year. The youth have shown a decrease in behavioral referrals, suspensions and an increase in attendance. The Children's Healing Center provides cultural support for youth and families by offering language tables, ceremonies and other cultural activities onsite. New activities in 2018 will include a Juvenile Healing to Wellness Court, as well as a 24/7 Residential Treatment Program. Another benefit of the Tiwahe Initiative is that we've been able to add four new child protection positions within our Court. These positions will ensure that the interests of our children will be the first priority and any court proceedings.

CHILDREN'S HEALING CENTER

The Children's Healing Center had 48 active youth who received services in 2017, of those 48 youth 56% have not reoffended in 6 months or more since receiving services in the areas of mental health, substance abuse, anger management and cultural/spiritual supports. The Children's Healing Center offers an outpatient intervention program for youth who are involved in the justice system or at high risk to become involved in the justice system. The intervention program offers mental health counseling, anger management, cultural support and referrals to chemical health. Children's Healing Center has an onsite school for high risk middle school students as a partnership with the school district. The school district handles the referrals and provides two teachers. Children's Healing Center offers the youth mental health, anger management and cultural support services. There are 8 students enrolled this year. The youth have shown a decrease in behavioral referrals, suspensions and an increase in attendance. The Children's Healing Center offers cultural supports for youth and families by offering language tables, ceremonies and other cultural activities onsite. New things on for 2018 is the inception of the HWJC and the Residential Treatment Program.

RED LAKE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICES

The Red Lake Department of Public Safety encountered several issues in 2017 and mainly focused their efforts on concentrating on the State of the Band Emergency surrounding the drug epidemic, search and recovery operations for 3 separate drowning victims and focused on community policing initiatives.

Grant Awards

Funding is always a constant concern for the Tribal Council each year and particular with law enforcement which is a mandated and required service for the community and thankfully in 2017, Red Lake Law Enforcement had a banner year in successfully obtaining over 1.6 million in grants to address community needs surrounding crime, traffic and sexual offender enforcement. With each of these grants, law enforcement has used the additional funding to decrease fatalities and reduce impaired driving on tribal roadways, increase law enforcement presence, effectiveness and response when addressing criminal and drug related activity and tribal game and fish enforcement, improve community policing initiatives and lastly use funds to maintain ongoing monitoring of tribal sexual offenders residing within reservation boundaries.

Traffic Safety - $272,085.00

DOJ-COPS - $988,040.00

Adam Walsh Grant - $400,000.00

Drug Epidemic

In 2017, the Red Lake Department spent a tremendous amount of time and resources fighting war on drugs and there was one (1) drug related fatality due to opiates in 2017. Illegal drugs consisted of heroin, methamphetamine, prescription pill and marijuana. There could have been a lot more lives lost but law enforcement and EMT's saved many lives with Narcan.

Law Enforcement has waged a serious war on drugs and in the last five years including 2017, the Red Lake Department of Public Safety has taken over 27,904 grams of drugs valued at over 1 million dollars out of reservation communities and seized vehicles, personal property and confiscated over 38 thousand cash in 2017 alone.

Law Enforcement also doubled the number of drug related search warrants in 2017 and executed over 54 search warrants as compared to 2016 where there were only 27 and drug dealers are going down every week and we are holding those accountable for bringing drugs to Red Lake both tribal and federally.

In 2017, law enforcement also confiscated 248.99 grams of heroin valued at $32,368.70 but that number tripled compared to 2016 where 68.99 grams valued at $11,038.40 were seized.

However, there was less meth seized in 2017 showing a higher usage of heroin because there was 2,387.09 grams of meth valued at $278,531.00 versus 2016 where 1,183.24 grams valued at $94,659.20 were seized. Although the amounts of meth seized dropped from the year before in 2016, the use of heroin almost tripled in 2017 therefore leading to the Tribe declaring a state of emergency.

In fighting the drug epidemic, the department used the Red Lake Drug Task Force in coordination with the Emergency Response Team on many occasions. The trained tactical team was deployed to ensure officer safety and protect innocent victims located at residences with the potential to turn into violent situations. The team has been very effective and to date has not encountered any situations resulting in loss of life.

Officers with assigned K9's trained in apprehension and drug detection have also been used at search warrant operations and vehicle stops and have also been very successful in locating illegal drugs and cash with drug related scents at search warrant locations and vehicle stops in addition to conducting searches for illegal drugs at all three casino properties when requested. The department previously had a total of two K9's but added an additional dog in 2017 to the Traffic Patrol division that is exclusively trained for the detection of illegal drugs but is not an apprehension dog.

In addition, Narcotics Investigators and traffic safety officers have conducted several trainings at all three casinos in 2017 on drug identification and illegal drug evidence processing and also trained community members on drug identification at the 11th Annual Community Wellness Summit – "Coming together for the People" where community members were allowed to view a power point presentation and observe actual illegal drugs in sealed containers. Many community members and elders have never seen illegal drugs nor did they recognize paraphernalia that may have been present in their homes and now they are equipped to identify and report illegal drug activity.

Search and Rescue/Recovery Missions

In July of 2017, law enforcement worked with Red Lake Fire, community residents and outside search and rescue agencies to recover a missing fisherman on north Red Lake and then again started searching for two more reported missing fishermen in November of 2017 on lower Red Lake. To date, the two missing fishermen on lower Red Lake have not been recovered and the department has logged in several thousand man hours in addition to spending over $100,000 towards the recovery of the fishermen and has worked closely with several other tribal, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

As a part of this process, the fisheries and law enforcement program partnered to purchase a Remote Operated Vehicle valued near 100K to assist local law enforcement with searching for the missing fishermen by using sonar and camera system for searching under the ice and in open water because the recovery of these fishermen is the utmost priority of the tribe.

Community Policing Initiatives

School Resource Officer: The Department has (1) School Resource Officer assigned in the Red Lake School District who works on truancy and mental health issues, school bullying, suicide prevention, child neglect, stranger danger and trains students on good touch bad touch and also works with students throughout the summer months for outdoor related activity to keep kids out of trouble.

Traffic Safety Enforcement: The Department has (2) highway Safety Officers hired under a Grant that is used to increase the Tribes Traffic Enforcement and safety efforts is aimed at reducing death and injuries on the reservation as a result of motor vehicle crashes. Officers and assigned law enforcement participates in several mandated traffic safety mobilizations called "Click it or Ticket, Drive Safe or Get pulled over, and Don't Shatter the Dream". The Officers conduct holiday mobilization through high visibility patrols, sobriety check points and saturation patrols and also engage on community policing training efforts, and conduct educational presentations to elementary, high school, college students or community members on traffic safety issues.

Victim Liaison Officer: The Department has (1) Victim Liaison Officer who provides services to victims of general crime on the reservation in addition to assisting in court process at the Red Lake Nation Tribal Courts. The primary function is to work exclusively on providing services for victims of crime of and assisting with filling out orders for protection.

Adult Protection Team: The Department has several law enforcement members who participate on the adult protection team. The team is tasked with addressing elderly and vulnerable adult's issues and concerns and develops protocols and policies and procedures in addition to making recommendations to the tribal code committee to improve services for tribal members who fit in either category. The group also spends time talking about the best solutions for individual tribal members and what services are available.

Multi-Disciplinary Team: The Department also participates in the Multi-Disciplinary Team which is formed to discuss ongoing cases of individuals who have been victims of crime to ensure that they are afforded all the necessary crime victim services and are kept informed of prosecutor status regardless if the was tribal or federal. The meeting is also used to determine if the case needs additional investigation or a process still needs to be met surrounding any detail affecting the criminal case for the victim. Meetings are conducted by the FBI Crime Victim Advocate and is attended by tribal and FBI investigators, tribal and federal court personnel and other tribal service providers.

Emergency Response Team: The Department has received professional training for a 10 member swat team to assist with operations involving barricaded suspects, armed subjects, service of search warrants and any assigned duty. The officers of the tactical team are equipped with Ballistic Helmets, dynamic entry rams, tactical portable radios, tactical body armor, tactical uniforms and boots, ballistic shields and assault rifles.

Dive Team : The Department also has a 10 member dive team with each officer certified to conduct search and rescue operations and body or evidence recoveries. Each officer is equipped with drive team equipment and capable of immediate deployment from a large search and rescue trailer that can be towed to any location for mission operation.

K9 Officer Narcotics Dogs: The Department was awarded (2) Narcotic dogs donated by San Antonio, Texas, Universal K9 School. Officers received the two and half weeks of training with the dogs. Both K9's have had 17 months of training prior to being united with the K9 handler and have been trained to detect 5 different Narcotics.

Family Children Services: The Department has (1) Criminal Investigator assigned to the FCS staff building who provides exclusive services to Family and Children Services. The investigator assists in 72 hour holds requiring children removals, investigations related to child endangerment & abuse, conducts forensic interviews related to sexual assaults of minors in addition to attending of Multi-disciplinary crime victim, child and adult protection team meetings.

Crime Victim Services: The Department has one victim advocate assigned to the Police Department from the Women's Shelter who provides services to victims of crime who need crime victim assistance for court room processes and to provide funding to replace items lost or damaged due to a criminal activity.

Sex Offender Registry: The Department has (1) Sex Offender registry Project Office Assistant. The primary job duties are to monitor and track sex offenders residing on the Red Lake Indian Reservation to ensure compliance under Adam Walsh registration requirements.

Indian Health Service Transport Officer: The Department has an assigned police officer who provides Mental Health Transports for people who have been placed on 72 hour mental health holds. Patients are transported to locations as requested by hospital physicians.

Community Policing Activities

Narcan (Naloxone) Training: Law Enforcement Staff partnered up with IHS pharmacy staff to hold narcan (Naloxone) trainings for community members to share opiate abuse information and inform them what resources are available for their loved ones and how they can save lives with proper training.

Neighborhood Watch/Operation ID: The Red Lake Department of Public Safety has conducted Neighborhood Watch and Operation ID programs in Red Lake communities. Neighborhood Watch and Operation ID are National Crime Prevention programs where neighbors look out for each other and report any suspicious activities in addition to sharing their concerns involving information related to criminal activity. Meetings have also been used to train individuals on the use of narcan and crime reducing strategies.

Annual Cops and Bobbers Event: This event is sponsored by tribal law enforcement each year and is held on Fuller Lake. Officers bring their own boats and use other boats from the DNR to take reservation youth fishing. The program is designed to encourage youth and officer relationships and allows youth to view officers in a different and fun atmosphere. The event has been getting larger each year and last year there were over 120 participants and the kids are also fed hamburgers and hot dogs and giving free fishing poles and tackle.

Safety Camps: Law Enforcement participates in the spring and fall of each year and focuses on personal safety surrounding watercrafts, ATV's, firearms and seatbelt requirements.

Impaired Driving Checkpoints: The Department holds several vehicle checkpoints throughout the year in the detection of impaired drivers and preventing the transportation of alcohol. Officers have seized large amounts of alcohol throughout the year in addition to locating drunk drivers and illegal drugs at some checkpoints.

Hunter, Watercraft & ATV safety classes: Red Lake Conservation Enforcement conducts classes throughout the year for reservation youth to teach proper operation techniques, discuss tribal codes and laws in addition to ensuring personal safety when using a firearm during hunting or ATV's in the field or just fishing on the lake.

Annual Powwows: Law Enforcement has a presence at every powwow held throughout the year to ensure the safety of all participants and to deter criminal activity and attends powwows both in Thief River and Warroad as well.

Natives against heroin: The Department participated in the walk for Natives against Heroin and also gave presentations on the effects of opiates in the community and answered questions from community members about opiates at the Red Lake powwow grounds.

Redby Spring Fling: The Department participates each year at the Redby Spring Fling and donates food for the event in addition to cooking for community members and playing games with community members.

Community Wellness Summit: "Coming Together for the People" where community members were allowed to view a power point presentation and observe actual illegal drugs nor did they recognize paraphernalia that may have been present in their homes and now they are equipped to identify and report illegal drug activity.

MINO-BIMAADIZIWIN

Our strength comes from our shared values and our commitment to expand opportunity for our people. We believe that all of our people have the right to a safe place to call home and should be treated with dignity and respect.

To address the lack of options for safe affordable housing in the metro, the Red Lake Nation is developing a six-story building in Minneapolis. This development is called Mino-Bimaadiziwin, "the good life". The development will include 5 stories of housing, a wellness clinic, and Urban Embassy.

Mino-Bimaadiziwin will offer 109 units of affordable and workforce housing. The apartment sizes will be efficiencies, and 1, 2 and 3 bedroom units. As the developer of the project, we are entitled to make the rules for who can live there. We can prioritize band members who have been homeless the longest and who the most urgent needs.

But we can't just build walls and windows, we have to give our people the tools they need to rebuild their lives.

The onsite clinic will offer a wide array of culturally-based services that integrate traditional healing with science-based practices – providing our members with easy access to health care and other services that connect them to our history and traditions, helping to empower them to live better lives.

And this development will not only better serve our Band Members in the Twin Cities area, but it will also bring much needed dollars back home to the Reservation.

The Mino-Bimaadizin project is part of a much larger diversification strategy that is aimed at maximizing revenue we receive for providing services to our people. As developer of the property, we will receive a fee for completing the project as well as the ongoing revenue from the operations of the health care services. As we look towards the future we will continue to use these dollars to help our Tribal Members live a better life and provide more prosperity for our Great Nation.

This innovative project has already received 5.7 million in grants targeted towards the housing development. We hope to secure the full funding package by the end of this year, start construction in the summer of 2019, and begin moving in residents at the end of 2020.

OSHKIIMAAJITAHDAH

Tribal TANF, 477 programs, TERO, Child Support, Child Care, Vocational Rehab and OIT.

2017 Highlights

1. November 2017, the Red Lake TANF Program was approved by ACF to expand Red Lake's Tribal TANF service area to include all of Beltrami County. An office will opening soon in Bemdiji. (April 2018)

2. Three year of Tribal TANF, which has created 35 new jobs.

a) Serving over 700 families on the Red Lake Nation.

b) 100-150 families are projected to be served in the Bemidji area.

c) Employment Services had 227 part time and 155 full time workers throughout 2017.

d) Work participation at 40%

3. All programs received zero hits for the 2016 Audit – 3 years in a row.

4. Oshkiimaajitahdah Institute of Technology had a grand opening of the new Welding Facility.

a) OIT graduated 21 students in the Welding program. Welding I had 18 graduates and Welding II had 3 graduates.

b) Welding III will begin in 2018 with Arctic Cat.

c) 11 students from Leech Lake Tribal College went through a week long welding course.

5. Oshkiimaajitahdah had 16 GED graduates

6. Oshkiimaajitahdah had 35 individuals obtain their driver's license.

7. Oshkiimaajitahdah provided 227 post-secondary scholarships – as far as Hawaii.

8. Oshkiimaajitahdah had 86 Summer Youth Workers, the most in 6 years.

9. Oshkiimaajitahdah along with TERO opened a café at the RLNC "Oshkiimaajitahdah Wiisiniiwigamig"

10. Giniw Waakaa'igan – Red Lake Vocational Rehabilitation

a) The move to Oshkiimaajitahdah has been quite rewarding. The number of people served has sky-rocketed due to increased traffic. A total of 79 persons were employed during the year due to the efforts of the Vocational Rehabilitation Services staff.

b) Giniw Waakaa'igan had 22% above our proposed number of hires – an additional $60,000.00 was added to the budget.

c) Training initiatives at Oshkiimaajitahdah that were handled by Vocational Rehabilitation includes CPR/AED with openings for 100 participants. The course was certified Facilitators for the American Red Cross training.

d) Oshkiimaajitahdah and Giniw Waakaa'igan distributed Emergency Assistance to Red Lake families with the total cost of $80,550.00 all spent to prevent disconnection or re-connect electrical utilities.

11. Ganawenindiwag – Oshkiimaajitahdah Cultural program finished the Birch Bark Canoe.

Oshkiimaajitahdah Goals for 2018:

Welding III – Arctic Cat Training program – They are in need of 20 employees asap – We are having a job fair tomorrow at the Welding facility for Arctic Cat.

Bemidji office grand opening – April 2018

Transportation Program (Non-emergency)- Building a transportation facility

Radio Station Tower construction this spring

Our motto this year is "MINOCHIGE" Getting things right!

CHILDREN & FAMILY SERVICES

Family & Children Services continues to move forward with two main goals; 1. Safety 2. Reunification. Our Nation has declared a State of Emergency due to the Opioid epidemic which has a dramatic effect on the calls we receive regarding illegal drug use by our community members. Addiction is a thief, people with addictions miss out on the life they were given by our creator. We believe the answers to the issues we face are within our culture. With that said, we've increased our case managers and cultural services to more actively work alongside the families we serve. We believe the answers to the issues we face as a Nation are within our culture.

Children's Mental Health

We now have four staff members working for our mental health department providing culturally specific services to our children. We recently moved this team to the DNR building. We are now approved thru Department of Human Services to provide Children's Therapeutic Support Services. These services will enable us to work with our children on specific skills to enhance their life skills and give them tools to be successful adults. We are collaborating with Red Lake ISD #38 and our Elders Advisory committee on culturally specific services for our youth, Healing bundles, Native STAND (Students Together Against Negative Decisions), story times and cultural teachings, sweat lodge and youth trips.

Elders/Vulnerable Adults

Beginning March 1, 2018, Family & Children Services will be the lead agency for elders over 65 that are entitled to services through Medical Assistance. We will be hiring an R.N. to assist us with the services we will be providing to our elders. Our goal will be to do all of the Personal Care Assessments that are now provided by Beltrami County. We will also be hiring a mental health professional to work with our community members by utilizing culturally specific services. We recently got awarded a grant to hire an Adult Protection Advocate. Our advocate will be working on educating our professionals and community members on our Tribal Adult Protection Code. We will have an on-call phone that Red Lake Nation Police Department will be able to contract staff as/when needed. We also purchased a handicapped assessable van and started transporting elders that are in need of services.

"As a Nation we need to be judged on how we treat our Elders and Children"

RED LAKE YOUTH COUNCIL

Red Lake Youth Council is in its tenth year as an Organized youth group of Red Lake Nation. The objective of the Red Lake Youth Council is to provide a collective voice and represent tribal youth in all matters that concern them, to serve as a means of mobilizing and coordinating the actions of the youth, other community members and organizations towards positive goals and to promote future leaders and to coordinate school and community serve projects and to provide for youth to interact for fun and fellowship.

As a member, youth agree to accept spiritually as an important foundation for a healthy lifestyle, to recognize that pride in their culture and preservation for their heritage gives them strength and dignity.

The annual youth conference is the biggest project that the youth council plans. Youth members recognize the importance of addressing issues that the Red Lake Nation youth to build self-esteem, to motivate other youth to become leaders. This year, the Youth Council had decided to get into more agriculture learning and start their own garden and promoting more youth to join the Youth Council.

RED LAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT #38

The Red Lake School District would first like to recognize the contributions of Dr. Anne Lundquist over the past three years.

• We are continuing to see an increase in students in most buildings.

• The truancy project and collaborative agreements with Oshkiimaajitahdah have been very successful in increasing the number of students attending traditional and alternative education programs.

• We have had National recognition at all levels:

o High School: Autumn May winning the History Day contest and being able to go to both D.C. and Normandy, France accompanied by Maria Roline. The 9th grade cohort has worked hard to develop transitional programs from MS to HS and we are seeing the result with a decrease in student drop-outs.

o Middle School: Turn Around Arts participation and recognition at local and national levels, invitation by the Kennedy Center for principal and a student to be guest speakers at a National Conference.

o Ponemah: principal and dean recognized for their work with Restorative Practices by MN Department of Education and also the Pearson publishing company.

o Elementary Drum and Dance Groups from Ponemah and Red Lake Elementary performed in the days prior to the Super Bowl.

o Red Lake Elementary: The "Hero's in Training" project has created additional opportunities for our students to show their responsibility and care for others.

o Additional work by a group of staff and community members has been crucial in the development and production of curriculum and programs.

o ECC: The number of parents and family members attending and participating in functions at the Early Childhood Center has significantly increased... to the extent that we are trying to figure out where to put people.

• Mary Jo Lang was named "Food Service Director of the Year".

Most importantly the District has benefited from the collaboration and strength of collaboration with the Tribal Council as well as Red Lake Nation Departments and Programs and looks forward to what we can continue to do together for our children and community.

RED LAKE GAMING ENTERPRISES

It has been a year since we dramatically changed the management of our Red Lake Gaming Enterprises, Inc. We are proud to share the fact that it has been a successful one. We have increased our profit margin by 80%.

The increased profit is a result of the following:

• Created and implemented a new philosophy for Red Lake Gaming which is based on accountability and customer service.

• The new management team that has created an atmosphere with the emphasis on "accountability".

• Formation of an Executive Oversight Committee that consists of 5 Gaming Board members who meet weekly with the management team to discuss, establish, and oversee best practices for operation.

• Redesign of our Food and Beverage plan for all our properties with focus on new menus, inventory control, and customer service.

• Created and hired an IT director to oversee, monitor, and upgrade our information technology.

• Completed the renovation of the water park ductwork support system, the air exchange system, and Phase 1 of the water park upgrade.

• Installed a new $1.1 million surveillance system in Thief River.

• Completed a renovation and rebranding of the restaurant, kitchen, and dining area at Thief River.

• Opened a new snack bar, Triple 7's, with plans to add a non-smoking gaming section in Thief River.

• Moving forward with a complete remodel and upgrade of Thief River hotel and lobby.

These changes have been made to ensure and increase the profitability for all the properties. These changes have resulted in the following at all properties.

1. Made the necessary management changes to provide the guidance needed to bring "accountability" to all levels of employment.

2. The development and implementation of the new marketing plan "has created excitement on our gaming floors".

3. Continue to strive to upgrade our properties and improve our customer service.

4. Maintained control of expenditures and fiscal responsibility at all sites.

5. Increased profitability at all three gaming sites.

RED LAKE GAMING ENTERPRISES, INC.

GOALS FOR 2018:

• Double our revenue for the year

• Installation of our new Table Trac casino management accounting

• Completion of our Thief River Falls hotel room renovations in June.

• Installation of a new wi-fi system at Seven Clans Casino, Thief River Falls

• Complete Phase 2 of the renovation to the Seven Clans Casino, Thief River Falls, Water Park, replacing of new slides and bridge.

• Upgrade and remodel our Red Lake Hotel.

• Increase our customer service training for ALL of our employees

• Develop a plan to upgrade the Super 8 Motel in Warroad, MN

Note: The renovations on the Seven Clans Thief River Falls hotel started the third week of January 2018 and will be completed mid June 2018.

We are receiving great response from the region with regard to our renovation project from the corporate community, Sanford Health, Artic Cat, Digi-Key, contacting us for corporate rates.

The following provides an update on our projects which prepare our Nation for 21'st century:

1. Red Lake Solid Waste Department purchase of a new garbage truck and funds to upgrade the transfer station.

We have been successful in receiving funding or the purchase of a second new garbage truck. The funding included a partial grant and financing to make this acquisition possible for our Solid Waste department

2. The construction of a new Red Lake Dialysis Center.

We will begin construction this spring of our new state of the art dialysis center. It will be constructed next to our hospital and will be connected to it via a corridor. It will be owned and operated by the Red Lake Nation. It will provide approximately 10 jobs and provide additional revenue for the Band. We will utilize our partnership with the University of North Dakota to hire a dialysis doctor to oversee and administrate the operation of the facility.

We have received funding from the United States Department of Agriculture – Rural Development program to construct and purchase the necessary equipment for the center. We will use income derived from the services offered by our dialysis center and third party billing, to pay for the facility.

3. The purchase and delivery of 4 new ambulance for Ponemah and Red Lake community areas.

We were successful in acquiring the needed funds to purchase four new ambulances. Grant funds and USDA funding was utilized, and two ambulances will serve the community area of Ponemah and two for the Red Lake community area. The four ambulances were delivered during the past couple of months.

4. We will begin construction of our Red Lake and Ponemah Fire Departments.

Our community fire departments are responsible for providing fire suppression, prevention, inspections, safety education, and investigate all suspicious fires. It is imperative that our facilities meet national standards to facilitate better response time and preventive activities. Public safety provides the foundation needed to build the required infrastructure for a community and a nation.

With that being said, we are moving forward with the construction of two new fire departments, one in the community of Red Lake and the other in Ponemah. We will begin construction of both of these facilities this spring.

The Red Lake Fire Hall will have 4 stalls for fire trucks, 4 smaller stalls for other vehicles, training room, gear room, offices for dispatch, fire chief and assistant, and fitness room. Ponemah will have one stall for their fire truck, training room, gear room, and office space for the fire chief and assistant. Comprehensive Health will also provide garage space for 6 transportation vehicles, four bays for the ambulance center and a fitness room.

5. Acquired funding for the purchase of two new fire trucks.

We have ordered two new fire trucks to serve the community areas of Ponemah and Red Lake to provide adequate fire safety and protection to our people. Both grant funds and finance were acquired to make these purchases. We anticipate delivery of the vehicles mid-summer.

6. Construction will begin this spring on our new Red Lake Nation Chemical Dependency Treatment Center.

We will begin construction of our new Red Lake Nation Chemical Dependency Treatment Center this spring. The new treatment center will be a 20,136 square feet facility, designed to provide 16 beds, and serve both men and women. The new building will be built in the community of Red Lake. The facility will consist of the following:

• 16 beds/rooms for clients;

• Two large circular therapy/group rooms;

• Fitness room;

• Craft room;

• Office space;

• Intake/assessment room;

• Small theatre room;

• 2 Living rooms;

• Dining room;

• Kitchen;

• Shower and Sauna rooms

The mission of the Red Lake Chemical Health Programs is to enhance the well-being of all Red Lake Tribal Members through alcohol and drug abuse prevention, education, intervention, and treatment. All programs are based in our Anishinaabe culture and philosophy to strengthen the minds, bodies, and spirits of the members, families, and communities.

We have received funding from the United States Department of Agriculture – Rural Development program to construct our new treatment center. We will use income derived from the services offered by our treatment facility and third party billing, to pay for the facility.

7. Moving forward with our Red Lake Nation Solar Energy Project.

As I shared with you last year, our Red Lake Nation Solar Energy Project consists of 3 phases. These phases will display growth and progress within the solar energy industry, display to all our commitment to renewable energy, and address the needs of the Red Lake Nation and our People.

Phase I: The installation will begin of solar panels on Red Lake Nation facilities.

Phase 1 consists of the development of approximately $30 million of solar energy equipment to address the high cost of electricity in our larger facilities, such as our 3 casinos, government center, college, justice center complex, and Red Lake and Ponemah schools. We will provide about 15 Megawatts of electricity and save our Tribe $2 million per year. Plus, solar energy training for our People will be provided and jobs in the construction, installation, and maintenance of this infrastructure.

Installation of our solar panels on our facilities will begin in a couple weeks on the Government Center. Some of the equipment has been delivered, the racking for the solar panels, and we await a date for the delivery of the balance of the equipment. Once all the equipment is delivered, the crane will be scheduled to place on the roof and begin the installation process.

It has a been a challenge to initiate this project, it has been delayed due to the local power companies that presently supply our electricity. The power company providers are co-ops who are subsidized by the federal government and do not have to comply state and federal mandates They are not interested or concerned with renewable energy, and will not purchase our excess electricity we generate from our solar panels. Therefore, we had to add electrical storage to our solar plan design. In fact, the addition of state of the art solar storage will place Red Lake in the forefront of utilization of this technology.

Phase II: Will be the development of solar energy farms on our Tribal lands.

We have developed and entered into a partnership with Minnesota Power, one of the largest utility companies in Minnesota. They share our vision to develop solar energy and build a Red Lake Nation Solar Energy company. A company, owned and operated by the Red Lake Nation, that will generate a steady revenue stream for the Red Lake Nation.

We are currently working on the development of our first solar farm that will consist of approximately 100 acres of solar panels. The design includes the development of a solar farm which will also include wind energy and storage for our power. It will be a hybrid solar-wind farm. This solar farm will provide 12 megawatts of electricity, all to be sent to the grid of Minnesota Power, then on to a customer who will purchase the electricity from us.

We are currently soliciting various companies, corporations, public utilities, and cities to purchase renewable, green, solar electricity from us, Red Lake Nation Solar, and sign a power purchase agreement with our partnership. Once we acquire a customer, we move on to the development of our first solar farm.

Phase III: Phase three will be the development of a plan to provide the capability for the Red Lake Nation to provide and to develop electricity to address the electrical needs of all the Red Lake Nation members.

Small installations of solar panels on the homes and other buildings of the tribe will be installed by our People after training and starting their own solar business. These solar businesses will employ people in solar product manufacturing, solar installations and solar equipment service.

This final phase of our solar energy plan will display and reinforce our Red Lake Nation sovereignty. It will consist of the creation and development of a clean, renewable source of energy, enough solar electricity to address the needs of our Nation. We will be providing electricity for all our communities, for all of our people, and provide an increase in the number of jobs available on our homeland.

The Red Lake Nation Solar Energy Plan for the future displays our commitment to the preservation and conservation of our environment. It provides an energy source which is compatible with our Tribal beliefs of living in harmony with nature.

Lastly, our solar energy efforts and all of our projects provide the following:

• Improve the quality of life for all Red Lake members;

• Provide training to enhance the development of our labor force;

• Provide meaningful employment for Red Lake Nation members;

• Create a steady source of revenue for the Red Lake Nation;

• Diversification of our tribal economy and investments;

• The development of these projects will be funded by the entities themselves, using the program or the business revenue generated by itself, NOT USING GENERAL FUNDS OF THE TRIBE.

COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH SERVICES

The Red Lake Comprehensive Health Services has four new ambulances to provide emergency services to the Red Lake members and our descendants. Last year our six ambulances were driven 101,295 miles providing emergency care to the people.

The Opioid Crisis

The EMT's administered narcan to 51 individuals that had overdosed on opioids. Our hospital records show that there were 87 total suspected OD's, this means an unresponsive patient that was proactively treated with narcan. 56 of these cases were confirmed/deemed to be related to opioid overdoses in 2017. The ambulance service responded to 51 suspect opioid overdoses, the police responded to 30, the fire department to 5 and this was one community response. 301 narcan doses were administered in 2017 which resulted in 55 saves and one death.

Behavorial Health

The Behavioral Health Team in the schools had a total of 8,095 encounters with children promoting healthy lifestyles. They provided help to 70 students with suicidal ideation, 100 safety plans and dealt with 5 suicide attempts. Unfortunately, there was one youth suicide in 2017.

Red Lake Hospital

The Red Lake Hospital entered into a P.L. 93-638 construction contract with Red Lake Builders to expand the Emergency Department and renovate existing space to accommodate a new Urgent Care Department. The first phase started on September 26, 2017, and is scheduled to be completed by August 31, 2018. To date, Red Lake Builders has completed the water and sewer connections, installed the building foundation, and working on installing the block exterior walls and steel structure. Within the next three weeks, the main entrance to the existing Emergency Room will be closed and patients will start utilizing the main entrance for access to the Emergency Room. The total cost of the proposed project will be $6.5 million.

School Dental Prevention Program

Red Lake School Dental Prevention staff delivered preventive dental treatment to students with consent at St. Mary's Mission School, Red Lake Kindergarten Center, Red Lake and Ponemah Headstart along with the 3 and 4 year old program, Red Lake Middle School, Ponemah school, Red Lake Elementary School, Tribal Immersion Program and Day Care. Once the school year is complete they will be reaching out to other community Day Cares, Wellness camps and other summer programs. Our future goals include access to the Red Lake High School. They have provided 952 children with preventative dental treatment, such as Prophylaxis cleaning, sealants, fluoride varnish treatment and oral health education.

THREE-DAY TEAM

Since September 7, 2017, a group of tribal employees representing various Programs and Agencies have been working together in to the drug epidemic issues; they are the Three Day Response Team. The sole purpose for the team and meetings were to bring programs together to provide a unified and effective response to the drug epidemic. The team members worked together addressing program concerns; identifying needs and sharing of resources and resource information. The members of this team talked frequently about the importance of communication amongst the programs and subsequently identified service gaps. Training opportunities became available for team members and for programs and agencies they represented. One particular important note is improvement was realized in service response time pertaining to Rule 25 Assessments. When the meetings first started, it was a critical concern especially the time delay in having Rule 25 assessments completed. The Chemical Health Representative was also the Trainer for Rule 25 assessments. Additional Assessors were trained starting at perhaps 15 and realizing a peak of 40 assessors available to work on a backlog of Rule 25 assessments. The time required to schedule and complete a Rule 25 Assessment has been significantly reduced. Other training opportunities for the team members and programs included Narcan certification, Red Cross certification in CPR/AED for programs and community and Suicide Prevention. We have also scheduled Training for 12 members to become Facilitators and be recognized Red Cross Trainers in CPR/AED for Northern Minnesota. We as a team also became more aware of how other programs operate and how we could continue to work together. The work of this team has created other professional relationships and greater awareness of other program challenges. We will continue our team efforts to improve upon services for members of the Red Lake Band.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & PLANNING

Red Lake and Redby Community Centers

Phase 1 of the brand new Red Lake Community Center in the shape of a long house will begin construction in late April-Early May and will be completed by the end of 2018. Phase II of the center will house meeting rooms and offices and be completed in the summer of 2019.

The Redby Community Center will have an upgrade around the outside of their new center this summer with a new pavilion, outside patio, walking trail, volleyball and horse shoe court. Perennials flowers and shrubs will also be added.

2 new playgrounds were added to the Redby Ballfields and 1 new playground was installed at the new Redby Community Center.

Waasabiik Ojibwemotadiwin

This is our fourth year of operation for our Red Lake Waasabiik Ojibwemotadiwiin Immersion Program. We are seeing an increase of Ojibwemowin and Anishinaabe wichigewinan in our students, families and in our Red Lake School System.

Our long term goal is to develop motivated, engaged, confident fluent speakers that will serve as our next generation of leaders in Red Lake.

Waasabiik Ojibwemotadiwiin Immersion Program currently serves 21 students: 10 in our three-year-old class and 11 in our four-year-old class. There are also 18 students in our Kindergarten class at the Red Lake School District. We will continue to grow our Immersion Program by adding a 1st grade Immersion Class and a 2nd grade Immersion class in Fall 2018. In doing this, it will provide the opportunity for our students to continue their Ojibwemowin learning within the School District.

Red Lake should be very proud of our Waasabiik Ojibwemotadiwiin program and current students. It's never too late to learn Ojibwemowin and our immersion students are a great example of resiliency. We look forward to serving more students and families. There will once again be a time in which Ojibwemowin will be heard throughout the Red Lake communities and in our youth.

Constitutional Reform Initiative

The Constitutional Reform Imitative (CRI) has been working with the communities since 2013, our goal is to actively engage with the communities to empower us towards a better future.

In January of this year, the CRI committee received a grant extension from the Bush Foundation, in order to allow the committee to continue their work.

On April 13, 2018, the Red Lake Nation will be celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the 1918 constitution. The CRI committee is planning an anniversary celebration for Saturday, April 14, 2018, to be held at the Humanities.

So far, the CRI committee and staff have reached out to a total of 867 Red Lake Nation Tribal members since March 2013. The CRI committee is using the feedback received since 2013 to draft our new constitution for future generations.

Please visit the Constitution Reform Initiative Committee's Facebook page at: Red Lake Constitutional Reform Initiative

Medicated Assisted Recovery

The Opioid Crisis has caused a great deal of suffering for our people -lives have been cut short, families have been torn apart, the community bears the high cost treatment and is burdened by drug-related crimes.

Back in July, we took action to address the crisis-at that time we declared a Public Health Emergency that provided us with access to much needed resources to fight the epidemic.

As a result of the public health emergency, the Tribal Council Officers were able to work closely with Economic Development & Planning and Chemical Health to get a Suboxone clinic running in 3 months. Those on Suboxone in conjunction with treatment are 10x more likely to maintain long-term recovery.

The clinic, which opened on November 13th is now providing culturally based treatment services to those struggling with opiate addiction. Using our traditions and practices as the foundation of the programming will offer our people healing and teach the spiritual tools they need to maintain long term recovery.

Since the clinic in Red Lake has been so successful, we have taken action to make these services available to urban tribal members. The tribal council recently approved a resolution to partner with the Native American Community Clinic to expand Suboxone services to urban tribal members in the Twin Cities. The program will be the first tribally licensed and culturally based Suboxone clinic operated within a primary care setting. Offering primary care in conjunction with treatment, enables the program to address both medical and chemical dependency issues in one place. We anticipate the NACC Suboxone and primary care partnership program will open May 1st, 2018.

4-Directions Development

The Red Lake Entrepreneur Program evolved into a nonprofit in 2017, now known as 4-Directions Development, and obtained their 501c3 status in October. This will allow them to pursue certification as a Native Community Development Financial Institution, which in turn will provide more resources for Red Lake Band members.

They are in the process of funding the renovations of the old Red Lake Nation College building into a business incubator called the Adaawe-wigimig Business Center. The incubator will house 6-8 small business spots, an art gallery, artist maker space, a commercial kitchen and training room, 4-Directions Development's offices, as well as an upgrade of the humanities stage for the performing arts. To-date they have obtained approximately $600,000 of their $4 million goal.

4-Directions also manages the Arts Initiative and the Gitigaanike Local Foods Initiative.

The Arts Initiative provides regular networking sessions called Endazhi-gaganoniding (a place where we come to talk), and has played a key part in the initial funding for the incubator from ArtPlace America. ArtPlace is funding the incubator's art placement in the community. Another strong funder of the initiative is First Peoples Fund, allowing 4-Directions to hire local artists to teach and share their art skills.

Gitigaanike is growing by leaps and bounds. They added a greenhouse with the help of Chemical Health as one of their local partners. They led the Project Grow program and served 383 households with tilling, seeds and seedlings. They produced over 1000 pounds of fresh organic healthy foods that was donated or sold locally. Provided food producer trainings to help develop more local food growers, and have started to develop market outlets for those food producers. They operated a pilot farm to determine the needs and success of farming on the west end of the reservation. Held their 1st Wellness Warriors Challenge, the 2nd Annual Red Lake Food Summit, and continue expanding their network of resources and partners.

Red Lake Housing Authority

Large Project Work completed in 2017

1. Construction began on a new 35 unit project. 23 of the units will be located in the Red Lake District and 12 units in Redby. Funding for this project came from Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the State of Minnesota, Federal Home Loan Band of Des Moines, Iowa, Capital Magnet Fund from the Dept. of the Treasury and the Housing Block Grant for the Red Lake Band, Total cost of the Project is $7.5 Million.

2. Red Lake Housing Finance Corp. entered into 6 new home loans, 7 loans for rehabilitation of existing units and sold 65 of the rental units.

3. Rental Assistance and Security Deposits were provided to 26 families in Beltrami County outside of the reservation. Also 5 families received ongoing rental assistance in Conifer Estates.

4. Down Payment assistance was provided to 2 families in Beltrami County outside of the reservation.

5. 38 furnaces were replaced in units under Red Lake Housing Authority management to provide better efficiency and cost savings for tenants.

6. 4 roofs were replaced for units of elders and low income families outside of Housing Authority management.

7. 4 private wells, 3 community water connections, 11 mound systems, 1 drain field, and 2 R/O Drinking Water Systems for Arsenic Removal were completed in under the Indian Health Services contract.

___________________________________________________________________

Treasurer's Report, as presented by Tribal Treasurer Annette Johnson, State of the Band Feb. 23, 2018

Boozhoo, Ishkode giizhigookwe indizhinikaz; Migizi indoodem; Miskwagamiwizigaaiganing indonjiba.

I would like to say miigwech to our spiritual leader for the appropriate words today as we open up this event. Also to the veterans that we are thankful for their service, and the singers for the beautiful songs they provide and the royalty for their representation they have given.

My name is Annette Johnson and I stand humbly yet with honor before you today giving with the Treasurer's report.

First of all, I'd like to give you an overview of the department.

The Treasurer's office has a duty for accurate accounting of business and financial transactions to Tribal Council on a monthly basis along with presentation of audited financial statements for the Band.

I would like to recognize and give credit to the accounting department staff which consists of 20 employees. Of those 20 employees, 90 % or 18 are tribal members or descendants of tribal members, which further supports ongoing development and retention of tribal members. Service years of the staff averages 10+ years with the tribe and contributes to the productivity and successes of the department. The duties consist of payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, grant/contract accounting and admin/clerical support staff.

In 2016, the tribe processed payroll amounts totaling $38.6 million and in 2017 the payroll costs were $39.6 million. These numbers include some of the non-profit entities or 501c3 entities of BGC, HLS, RLNC and Comp Health.

In 2016 there were 1087 employees under tribal payroll and in 2017 there were 1158 employees (6.5% growth in employment over previous year). In 2016, there were 590 (54%) of tribal employees participating in the 401k contribution and/or match. The 2017 numbers are still being processed and are not final as of yet. In 2016 the total contributions/match paid by the band were $1.8 million or 6.5% of the gross payroll by the band. This shows the potential savings plan benefit that is offered and taken advantage of by our tribal member employees and other employees.

Here are a couple other pieces of information to consider:

In 2016, the accounting staff produced 24,749 checks totaling $43.5 million for costs and expenses of tribal programs. In 2017, 25,003 checks were processed totaling $41.4 million. Staff works very hard and I would like to commend them on the important role they have for the Band.

Also, I would like to highlight the Band has had clean audits or audits of "unmodified" opinions for the last 2 fiscal years 2015 and 2016. What this means is there were no federal findings and that is the highest opinion that can be granted. Again, miigwech to the staff and tribal programs for your cooperation and hard work to make this happen!

This is a summary of 2016 annual audit of the Band,

Total assets were $218 million, showing an increase of $5 million from previous year which was due to the construction of the water, sewer and other capital projects.

Total liabilities were $57 million, with an increase of 1.7 million over previous year due to construction project debt, increase in unearned revenue, advance on line of credit and additional payables at year end.

Net position was $161 million, with an increase of $2.8 million from prior year. A significant portion of assets and net position were related to the Tribal Trust Fund, which is restricted and non-spendable except for an annual calculated amount from its earnings that is available for government purposes as determined by the Tribal Council.

In 2016, the Band was able to provide a trust fund distribution of $250 to 11,870 eligible enrolled tribal members for a total of $2,967,500. In 2017, the Tribe had available funds of $4,008,098 and determined the uses as follows:

Reforestation Plan ....$495,000

Tribal Government Operations...$237,799 geared to the Language and Cultural efforts such as Language Immersion, Community Language Tables and Community Language Education

$190,239 for the community centers/improvement, community events, youth & elders, and local community improvements

Veterans...$47,560

Finally, a trust fund distribution of $250 to 12,039 eligible enrolled tribal members for a total of $3,009,750.

This further shows the tribes' commitment to key priorities –

Retention and development of language and culture

Community centers programming and our youth and elders

Veterans

A highlight of revenues shows (approximately $85 million)

$54.4 million from grants/contributions

$7.5 million from capital grants

$4.5 million from investment income (improved market conditions)

Expenses (totaling $88 million)

Health services $22.4 million

General government of $10.2 million

Natural Resources $9.1 million

Social Services $9.1 million

Public Works $9 million

Public safety $7.6 million

Employment services

Capital projects are those which we have secured funding sources, and are generated through an award letter

Solid Waste Department – new garbage truck (USDA funded) $135,532

Funds for an upgrade to the transfer station

Dialysis construction

4 new ambulances total – 2 to Red Lake and 2 to Ponemah

USDA $636k

Grant $100k

Total of $736k

Other projects in process include RL and Ponemah Fire Dept. construction, 2 new fire trucks for RL and Ponemah, the new CD Tx Center, and the Solar Project

Gaming:

Preliminary unaudited data shows our gaming revenue down from prior year. Fortunately we were able to monitor and work accordingly by adjusting business and managing costs to maintain our market. In 2017 there were some challenges that we continue to work through as we strive to be competitive and keep our customers happy and returning. An Executive Oversight Committee was created consisting of 5 members of the council meeting weekly with gaming management to stay current and watch things as they occur

I would like to make mention of some of the highlights happening with the Tribe as well:

Laserfiche – phase I towards automation of the purchase order/payment process

Contracts – process for review and approvals

Travel department - automation of the travel process

Future project and initiatives that you will hear more of include

Focus on culture/language in the communities for all

Increased revenue in billings and grant opportunities for our programs and services

Despite what you think, remember we are all in this together and we want to make this a place for our future generations. The actions we do today may not benefit us but will be in place for our children and grandchildren.

"Invest in our identity and protect our future"

Mi'iw