I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Dec. 14, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe announced Thursday it has adopted a revised version of its Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance, ending a process that began more than a year ago.
"We feel confident that the revised TERO ordinance will be viewed positively by those who had problems with the original ordinance," Leech Lake Tribal Chairman Eli Hunt said in a statement, "because it addresses the primary concerns received from local governments."
The primary purpose of TERO, according to the tribe, is to ensure that members of the Leech Lake Band other American Indians gain their share of employment, businesses and training opportunities in construction projects located on or near the Leech Lake Reservation.
The ordinance, which was enacted in December, sparked a controversy in May when the tribe announced it would enforce rules assessing fees to construction projects within the reservation's boundaries and rules governing the employment of Indians on such projects.
About a month later, the band announced it was suspending its TERO ordinance for 30 days to address various concerns. In August, the band announced it was accepting comment on a new ordinance and just recently adopted its revised version.
"We have listened to our colleagues, friends and neighbors," Hunt said. "It is our hope that they in turn will support our TERO program's goals, which is to eliminate employment discrimination as an element of unemployment, thereby helping to reduce poverty and economic dependency."
The revised TERO ordinance includes three major revisions, including reducing fees assessed to construction projects, limiting the scope of the ordinance to construction contracts with the band and providing incentives for those willing to voluntarily comply with TERO.
Consensual construction contracts are contracts in which tribally certified contractors and subcontractors perform work on lands within the reservation's boundaries for the tribal government or its entities.
For example, the recently announced expansion of the Leech Lake Head Start building would be a consensual construction contract with the band.
The new ordinance also will reduce the TERO fee applied to consensual construction projects from 3 percent to 2 percent on each contract valued at $200,000 or more. Contracts under that amount will be assessed a 1 percent fee. Previously, there were several levels of projects with higher fees assessed to each level of construction project.
In addition, the new ordinance will not assess a fee on non-consensual projects except where reimbursement is available such as on County State Aid Highway projects.
For instance, CSAH roads are maintained with federal money. Therefore, contractors working on CSAH roads can receive 100 percent reimbursement on any fees assessed by TERO ordinances.
The third major change is that the tribe will offer construction companies working on non-consensual contracts incentives to participate. For instance, according to the tribe's statement, companies voluntarily complying with TERO are eligible for federal tax credits, Job Training Partnership Act funds and the TERO apprenticeship program training.
For example, the Internal Revenue Service provides contractors who hire Indian workers with the Indian Employment Credit, which awards a 20 percent tax credit.
Cass County Administrator Bob Yochum said Monday although the county had not yet been informed of the tribe's adoption of the new TERO ordinance, the Cass County Board should be pleased to hear the news.
"The ordinance appears to have considered input from Cass County as well as other sources," he said. "I think our board would be pleased to know that it came to a satisfactory conclusion. We're pleased there was some follow up on this issue."
The Cass County Board took a rigid stance against TERO in early June, directing all county departments not to execute any contract or comply with any order that recognized the sovereign authority of the band in respect to TERO.
In addition, the board's resolution asked Attorney General Mike Hatch's office to rule on the legality of the band's TERO ordinance.
In August, the band announced it had a revised ordinance for the public to review, and then on Aug. 30 the tribe met with the Cass County Board at tribal headquarters in Cass Lake. The two governments discussed the TERO issue, among others, according to Yochum.
The meeting may have been the most productive result of the TERO ordinance, as it was the first meeting of the two governments in more than three years.
"Looking back on (the happenings of the last six months) our board and the Tribal Council met for the first time in three years on this subject and some others," Yochum said, referring to the positive aspects of the TERO debate. "It is a priority for our board to maintain a working relationship with the band and other governmental jurisdictions."
The Leech Lake Tribal Employment Rights Office has begun implementing the program, according to the tribe.
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