Railbelt Mental Health & Addictions

Nenana Wellness Coalition Meeting Minutes

March 30, 2004

Attendees:

Rose Allen	DeLois Burgraff	Shawna Burk	Diane Carson	Carol Davila
Natalie Dean	Gary Edwin	Antonia Graffia	Milton Haken	Ralph Harrison
Clara Ketzler	Gilbert Ketzler	Alfred “Bear” Ketzler	Lois Law	Nita Marks
Miles Martin	Jason Mayrand	Kat McElroy	Endil Moore	Samantha Rathbone
Blaine Reed	Bonnie Reed	Gregory Russell	Roy Smart	Paul Verhagen
Wendy White

Note: If you see that the name of someone who attended this meeting is missing from the above list please let us know so that the minutes can be corrected. The attendees names are taken from the sign-in sheet located on the table near the door. Please take a moment to sign in and remind others to do so. The attendance of those who did not sign-in may be overlooked. In order to qualify for some funding sources accurate records of attendance at our meetings is required.

LOCATION: Nenana Senior’s Center. Meal provided by Nenana Senior Center for a donation.

TIME: Meeting Convened at 12:23 PM

WELCOME: by Endil Moore

PRAYER: Prayer by Lois Law, followed with the Pledge of Allegiance

APPROVAL OF MINUTES AND AGENDA:

Agenda - The agenda was reviewed and visitors were added.

Minutes -The minutes were also accepted and any corrections can be emailed to Paul.

VISITORS:

Ralph Harrison - Engery Cell

Greg Russell - AMLJEA

DeLois Burgraff

Shawna Burk

ANNOUNCEMENTS/UPDATES:

Bear K. - Nenana Native Council

Carol Davila is here today and she brought with her Bear’s mother, Delois Burgraff.

Bear thanked Shawna Burk for helping in the kitchen.

Alcohol Lawsuit -

Bear reviewed an earlier discussion that Native Council is considering filing a lawsuit against the alcohol industry. A man in Florida has already filed such a lawsuit. Bear contacted him and learned that he is a retired electrician and recovered alcoholic. Bear then read an article about this man and his complaint. This article was published almost six years ago. Bear also read a proposal that outlines the goal or aim of the Nenana Native Council to go ahead with their plan to sue the alcohol industry. Bear is waiting to get all the information together before he makes a report on this.

Community Development Block Grant -

The State of Alaska sent out a letter regarding the Community Block Development Grant being available again this year! This grant is available to the City of Nenana but not for the Tribe. There is just over one million dollars still available in this program and they are looking for communities to award this grant to and grants could be as large as $500,000. The request is due by April 15, 2004 and the paperwork is due by June 1, 2004. The categories are: Business, Community Planning and Community Development.

Local Emergency Planning -

The Nenana Local Emergency Planning: We now have the names of those on this committee (from our group Endil and Milt volunteered) and it was proposed that Gary Edwin, the new environment technician for NNC act as the lead person for this committee. It was agreed that the group will meet together on Monday April 19, 2004 at 6pm at the Senior Center to discuss their goals and objectives.

NNC Organizational Structure -

Bear then showed us a chain of command for the Nenana Native Council for every department and aspect of their organization. A copy of this chart will be posted at the Senior’s Center. This way everyone will be able to see all the services they provide.

Sleep-off Center -

Those with addictions in our community have been a problem for themselves, their families and the rest of us. A Sleep-off Center may be a good solution. The idea of a Sleep off Center has been discussed as a place for people to be taken who need a place to go for a short period of time. The Tribal system or the local court system could mandate a person to stay there for things like public drunkenness or disorderly conduct. It could also be used for protective custody cases. These people would then be given a bill to cover the cost of their stay at the center i.e.: meals, supervisors, lights etc. Currently the City of Nenana levies a fee of $100.00 against anyone that is picked up by our police force under title 47. It is difficult to collect this fee from those who come here, get into trouble and then leave for elsewhere in the state. Paul V. talked about how city ordinances against public drunkenness and using conditions of release might fit into this. Roy S. explained how while he was in Metlakatla his church did something similar and that it worked well. Paul suggested that a local churches setting up this type of program is what faith-based initiatives is all about.

Strategic Planning Meeting -

The next community-wide coalition meeting to discuss strategic planning will be April 22 at the Senior Center and will include a Potluck.

Natalie H. - Nenana City Schools - Special Ed.

Natalie said that she has some ideas of things that we might do to help get some jobs going for youth this summer. Paul suggested that she be put on the agenda for two weeks from now to discuss her ideas with us but that she needn’t wait until then to discuss her ideas with us. He suggested that she call and share her ideas so that we are better prepared to discuss them at the meeting.

Paul V. - Alaska Court System, General comments

Can-Do Attitude -

Talked about having a “Can Do” attitude and that because of our can-do attitude we have already accomplished much. He said that although we are getting a lot done because we are meeting weekly that it is also due, in large part, to the fact that we don’t just wait for the meetings. We are accomplishing things together during the week even if we’re not at an organized meeting.

Crucial Conversations -

Paul said that he met a man named Ted Dodge in Healy recently who asked him what he did. Paul was so excited about the things we are doing with wellness that he shared that information with the man. The man was impressed and told Paul that what he does is to go around helping families set up Family Foundations to better manage their own finances so that eventually their family can become like the Ford Foundation or Rasmussen Foundation - a granting agency that helps fund projects dear to their hearts and promised to send Paul some material about it. When Ted went home he shared with a friend of his what Nenana is doing and his friend was also impressed - so much so that he too sent Paul a book that he thought would be helpful for us. The book is called Crucial Conversations. It is #32 on the National Bestseller list at present. It helps individuals and groups to improve their wellness by helping them modify the way they communicate with each other while discussing difficult and emotionally charged subjects. Paul will share more with us as he has a chance to review it.

Wellness Court -

There is an organization in Anchorage called Partners For Progress that heard about what is going on in Nenana and they would like to come to our community and help by sharing their skills and perhaps even their resources with us. They work closely with the Anchorage Courts and would like to attend our next meeting on April 6^th, 2004. The head of the organization is Janet McCabe and she will bring with her another member of her organization, Judge Wanamaker from the Anchorage Wellness Court, Larry Cagnena from the soon-to-be Fairbanks Wellness Court and our consultant Carol Davila.

Ask and You Shall Receive -

Paul said he believes in the expression “Ask and you shall receive, knock and it will be opened unto you” and suggested that the more each of us talks to others in our day to day conversations about what we are trying to do the more help we will receive and the more we will be able to network and learn about other great things going on around us.

Milt H. - Nenana Police Dept

D.A.R.E -

Milt teaches D.A.R.E. classes in the school and believes from his contact with the kids that most of the kids in our community are not into inhalants, most are aware of tobacco concerns, and are also aware of drug problems. He is concerned that their questions focused largely on designer drugs like ecstasy. These are packaged like candy and we need to be aware of what these drugs look like and how they are packaged.

Police Department -

Milt introduced Greg Russell as consultant who is here to go over their program and give some insight as to the workings of our Police Dept. and to make recommendations for any changes that he believes should be made. The city of Nenana is going over their budget and there is talk of getting rid of one officer on the police force. One recommendation that Greg has already made is for each officer to receive training on a regular monthly basis. Next month officer Brown and Milt will be going to Fairbanks one or two days a week for training updates.

James is in Las Vegas right now at the Criminal Justice Forum for training.

Public Relations -

James has been working in our community with the young people ever since he got here and he has been a good resource for interacting with them.

Airport Use -

Police Departments from other parts of the state have been invited to use our airport for E.V.O.C. (which is law enforcement drivers training) so several officers from the Fairbanks area and elsewhere will be out here working with the NPD. Part of this training will be taking place along the Parks Hwy. Watch out!

Community Growth -

Clear Air Force Station is continuing to change over from Air Force to Air National Guard. That will result in 94 new families moving into our area of the next few years. They are continuing to look for adequate housing and some are looking in the Nenana Area.

Greg Russell - Police Department

Greg complimented us on what we are accomplishing with our wellness meetings and mentioned that he recently worked in Kotzebue where they write more tickets for under age drinking than anywhere else in the state. They are trying to address this issue in a positive way in Kotzebue. Lately some teens there have started prayer meetings and other programs for the youth in their community and are working with their wellness committee. So everyone there now seems to be trying to help the community get on track.

Kat McElroy - RMHA

Email List -

Kat handed out an email list. If you are not on this list and want to be please call her and she will add you.

Building Our Communities -

She also handed out a pamphlet on a Building Our Communities workshop.

Tobacco Control Alliance -

She passed out an Alaska Tobacco Control Alliance membership form. If you are interested please fill out the form and give it back to her.

Aunties’ Place -

She also outlined a proposal for a facility that we might use for our much-discussed Auntie’s Place. It would be a facility for sobriety and treatment. What we need is a building in our community to use for this purpose. The proposal is the bar that is going to be for sale. This could be a great idea for our community and if you would like to help in anyway please get together with the RMHA and offer your assistance.

This subject generated much positive discussion. One concern that was expressed was the proximity to an operating bar. The concern was noted and should be further discussed. DeLois B. pointed out that Carol D. has already found the funding - the CDBG grant that is once again available to us!

Ralph Harrison - Energy Cell:

Ralph shared information with us about a magnetic fuel conditioner. This device helps to increase fuel consumption by 10% – 15%. It can also be used in connection with you home heating units. He will leave the pamphlets and agreed to allow one to be installed at dealer cost on one of the local police vehicles for a test. Milt H. will then report to the community what changes he sees with its use.

REPORTS/OLD BUSINESS/NEW BUSINESS

There was no old business, new business, or reports made.

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

Alcohol Sales -

Many opinions were voiced about the drinking in Nenana and some ways we may be able to combat the after hours partying and the best way to handle the drinking in our area. Endil M. stated that he intends to submit a motion to the city council to shorten the hours of operation of the bars and package stores. Milt H. suggested that from his experience as a police officer it might be wise to reduce the hours of take-out sales but that having a bar open for people to go until the wee hours is a good idea from a public safety stand-point. He said that he has very few problems with violence occurring in the bars and a whole lot more problems from those who take large amounts of alcohol home, get drunk and then assault each other. He suggests limiting the sales of take-out alcohol to perhaps 9:00 PM so that if they want to stay and drink all night in the bars they can but they would not be able to take more alcohol home with them to continue their partying. Jason pointed out that alcohol sales provides tens of thousands of dollars of revenue to the community in the form of taxes and suggested that we should consider what impact each action will have on the revenue of the city.

HAPPENINGS -

The young people in Nenana are going to have a BBQ at the Tribal Hall and the topic will be handling being sober.

NEXT MEETING DATE/TIME/CHAIRPERSON/GUEST SPEAKERS/SUBJECTS

Janet McCabe and Judge Wanamaker will be our main guest speakers next week.

We will be discussing the Anchorage Wellness Courts and how their programs might be modified for use in our community as well as how Partners for Progress might assist us with this and in our general efforts to improve wellness in our community.

We’ll need a volunteer to chair next week’s meeting.

ADJOURNMENT

Meeting adjourned at 2:20 PM

Minutes respectfully submitted by Diane Carson and Paul Verhagen. Please send corrections or additions to paulverhagen@prodigy.net.

Nenana Wellness Coalition

AGENDA

April 6, 2004

WELCOME (By this week’s chairperson).

PRAYER (To be said by next volunteer on the prayer list)

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE (Remain standing after prayer for this)

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS

APPROVAL OF LAST WEEK’S MINUTES

ANNOUNCEMENTS/UPDATES

(We’ll need to limit to a few minutes each this week because we have full agenda)

Native Council

Tribal Counseling Center

City Schools

City of Nenana

Alaska Court System

Chief of Police

Railbelt Mental Health and Addictions

Ch’eghutsen’

Seniors

Chamber of Commerce

Ice Classic

Assembly of God Church

Nenana Community Church

Other Churches

Yutana Barge Lines

Other Businesses

Other Organizations

Visitors

General Public

GUEST SPEAKERS

Judge Wanamaker - Founder of Anchorage’s Wellness Court

Janet McCabe - President of Partners for Progress

OLD BUSINESS

NEW BUSINESS

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

NEXT MEETING DATE/TIME/CHAIRPERSON/GUEST SPEAKERS/SUBJECTS

ADJOURNMENT

Nenana Wellness Coalition Meeting Minutes

March 23, 2004

 

Attendees:

Mike Brooks	Robin Campbell	Diane Carson	Rhonda Coghill	John Dewey	Gary Edwin
Jane Franks	Ned Griffith	Daylinda Griffith	Milt Haken	Natalie Hoover Dean	Gene Jensen
Diane Jensen	Bear Ketzler	Bud Krause	Lois Law	Ricky Martin	Teresa Mayrand
Jason Mayrand	Endil Moore	Margaret Sanders	Russ Sharrock	Anna Starr	Laura Vance
Paul Verhagen	N. Woodward	Mae Jensen	Roy Smart	Cynthia Charlie

 

Note: If you see that the name of someone who attended this meeting is missing from the above list please let us know so that the minutes can be corrected. The attendees names are taken from the sign-in sheet located on the table near the door. Please take a moment to sign in and remind others to do so. The attendance of those who did not sign-in may be overlooked. In order to qualify for some funding sources accurate records of attendance at our meetings is required.

 

LOCATION: Nenana Senior’s Center. Meal provided by Nenana Senior Center for a donation.

 

TIME: Meeting Convened at 12:20 PM

 

WELCOME: by Jason Mayrand+

           

            Prayer by Roy S. and then the pledge of allegiance

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES AND AGENDA:

 

            Jason asked for corrections or additions to the minutes or to the agenda.

Minutes - Teresa M. sent corrections to Paul V. who stated that he had received them as well as corrections from Gayle R. and Rita O. and has made the corrections. No other corrections were offered and the minutes were accepted. Jason urged continuing the practice of sending corrections or additions to Paul.

Agenda - Lois Law introduced Jane Franks, from Ch’eghutsen’, and asked that she be added to the agenda. She was added to the agenda and the agenda was accepted.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS/UPDATES:

 

Bear K. - Nenana Native Council

            Bear welcomed Anna Starr who has joined us today from Fairbanks as they are in the beginning stages of rebuilding her home that was lost due to fire last fall.

            The new head of native council’s environmental service is Gary Edwin and at the next community meeting they will be discussing what his duties might include.  They are looking into a community clean up, new dump sites for Nenana, getting rid of the non-working vehicles that are scattered around town, evaluating some of Nenana’s old waste sites, and recycling - just for starters.  We want to define these duties more in the near future.  This program could grow to four or five employees with air quality and water quality.

Reminders:

The tax consultant will be at the Tribal office at 3:00 PM on Saturday March, 27 and will stay Sunday if necessary.

The next community-wide coalition meeting to discuss strategic planning will be April 22 at the Senior Center and will include a Potluck.

 

Natalie H. - Nenana City Schools - Special Ed.

 

            My duties include helping junior and seniors find summer employment. If anyone knows of available positions please let me know. I’m also looking for ideas of how we might create more positions for kids for summer employment. Please consider that and get back to me with any ideas.

 

Jason Mayrand - City of Nenana

 

Airport Update

            John Dewey and Mike Brooks are here from the Racing Lions in Fairbanks and are looking into racing at the airport in Nenana for the summer of 2004 and will be speaking to us about it later in the agenda.

            The city has a $750,000 grant to construct a building at the airport to house equipment. Progress is being made on the building.

 

Paul V. - Alaska Court System

 

            We are hoping to put in place a three-day alternative sentencing DUI  program in the community but it will take an agreement between the Court System and the Department of Corrections so it will not happen immediately. The soonest I would expect it could happen would be later this summer. I received a copy from Chief Haken of the packet that Spokane uses for their DUI program. I will be sharing it with Carol D. who will be working with us in our efforts to establish a program similar to theirs. It is available for anyone who would like to look at it. The participants would have a variety of workshops to attend.  If anyone wants to help work with this program please let us know.  Spokane charges $250 per person for a one day program. DUI’s in Alaska have a mandatory minimum sentence of THREE days and we hope to include more than they offer so this could bring as much as $1,000 per person into the community. We expect that the program could handle 40 participants per session. Spokane does one session a month.

            Jane Franks, who was introduced earlier, is here to figure out how her organization can work with us in order to fund a portion of our new electronic monitoring program. We’re grateful to her and Ch’eghutsen’ for their help.

 

Endil M. - Yutana/City Council/Seniors

 

Yutana

            We’re gearing up for the season at Yutana. Things are going well.

 

Electronic Monitoring

            I also want to comment on my involvement with the electronic monitoring program that we recently started. Things are going well there. We’re working with a company called BI and we’ve now got all the necessary accounts set up so we are just waiting to receive more equipment so that we can set up the Nenana branch of the program and begin getting our law enforcement personnel trained. That should happen soon. The program is working well and we’re getting reports from several sources that the individual that we have on our first monitor is doing well. 

 

Paul V.

 

            The electronic monitoring is working well in Cantwell and we expect it to work just as well in Nenana.  At first the clinic in Cantwell wasn’t very optimistic about the program but now sees that it is working very well and that the patient comes to the clinic every day as part of this program. The clinician is also the president of the Native Corporation in Cantwell. I explained to her that our wellness coalition is very supportive of the program and invited her to come to one of our meetings. She said that she would be interested in attending to see if they can’t get something similar going in Cantwell.

People all over are hearing what we are accomplishing and they are interested.

            Since our last meeting we’ve created a sign up sheet that will be located near the door for anyone who would like to volunteer to lead the Pledge or say a Prayer at the beginning of our meetings.

 

Endil M.

 

            We are sharing our information with other communities in the area so they can see what is working here and try to spread it to these areas.

 

Milt H. - Nenana Police Services

 

Paul talked about the DUI alternative sentencing program in Spokane. We may want to consider sending two or three individuals from here to Spokane to see in-depth and first hand what they have available in their community for the 24 hour alternative jail.  It would be beneficial to see this program already in progress so that we might avoid any pitfalls they have already discovered.

 

Endil M. - Nenana Senior Center

 

            The Nenana senior center board is in the process of reviewing their bylaws and grants. I’m on the board and this senior’s program is run very well and with very little money spent.  If anyone has ideas or suggestions for other ways to help seniors in the Nenana area please let me or any board member know. 

 

Bear K.

            In years past the Tribe has donated money to the Nenana Senior Center and if someone could get a letter of request from the senior center I will take it before the board.

 

Diane J. - Chamber of Commerce

            We are working on developing a Nenanopoly Game.  We are selling spots on the board for businesses right now but will sell them to anyone whose family wants to be on the board.  The price for putting your family name on the board is $40.00. We will have a letter out soon letting everyone know what is available at this time and the price for all of the spots.

For more information contact: Annette McDonald at  832-5563  or  832-5533, or Christine Shields at 832-5291.

 

Roy S. - Nenana Assembly of God Church

            Last week I volunteered to make up flyers for the Community Strategic Planning meeting scheduled for April 22^nd. I am passing around drafts of what I’ve put together. Please get back with me about corrections or modifications.

 

Lois L. - Ch’eghutsen’

A Fetal Alcohol Syndrome clinic is available for a two day, 14 hour class.  If you are interested please call Lois at 832-5208.  The class can count for 1 credit if you are interested. Proposed dates are April 20^th -23^rd, the 5^th - 7^th, or May 3^rd - 5^th.

Ch’eghutsen’ can help families in the area including with such things as paying for assessments that aren’t covered otherwise - but we need referrals. Please keep our services in mind and tell others about us.

 

Ralph Harrison

 Energy Cell from Fairbanks:

            He will be back next week and bring information on what he is doing in the area.

 

Bear K. - Tanana Native Council

            Carol Davila from Cardinal Consulting will be here next week.

            In doing some further research on the subject of bringing a law suit against the alcohol industry we’ve discovered that there is already a law suit being served on the Alcohol Industry from a religious organization in Florida.  We are researching to see who they are. The lawyer I spoke with warned that you never know how something like this will turn out - maybe just a warning label on the bottles.

 

            LEPC:  The community needs to get this committee established.  The Tribe is now volunteering to help on this and there are funds available to use.  The council is willing to take ideas on this but is not willing to be the lead on this project.  If anyone wants the background on this committee you can see Jason Mayrand for the information.  This is funded annually and there is money available.  There are some committee members now who should get together and recruit new members in order to get this online. 

 

Fairbanks Racing Lions:

            Mike Brooks shared that they would like to come down four different times over the summer and have races here.  They did this in the past but the runway at the airport got so bad they could no longer use it.  Now it is in good shape and would be a good time to try coming back here.  This would help employment for the kids over the summer the seniors could set up a food booth and others in the community could set up stands to sell food or beverages NON-ALCOHOLIC. There are plenty of people in Fairbanks and Anchorage wanting to get this started in Nenana. They propose taking 25% of the gate money and the city would take 75%. They are not coming in with their hand out looking for money they have money and are bringing it to Nenana. They currently have $110,000 in funds with which to build up the strip. At the same time as they would be advertising their races throughout the state they would incidentally be advertising Nenana throughout the state at no cost to Nenana. Over the last few years they have donated $350, 000 to community projects and development.

What they are proposing is a shared-use facility. They would use it for races once a month during the summer and facilities they build could be utilized for cold weather automobile testing during the winter. Car shows could be held here, snowmobile racing could take place here. They are also involved with Junior Dragsters which is a good way to help get the kids off the streets and onto the race track instead. Nenana could make some money off of fuel sales. There are 185 drag race cars in the Fairbanks area. They would not require much from Nenana in the way of services because they bring their own ambulance and EMTs, they have their own power, they do their own advertising, and provide their own Insurance. With the development they do it could be the impetus for further development at the airport such as hangers, etc.

Cold weather testing needs a place to locate and Nenana could get a grant to help build a building to use for this. Nenana is an ideal location for something like this. Also, the State Troopers and other police departments could use the runway for their required driver training. 

 

REPORTS/OLD BUSINESS/NEW BUSINESS

 

There was no old business, new business or reports made.

 

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

 

Nothing more offered.

 

NEXT MEETING DATE/TIME/CHAIRPERSON/GUEST SPEAKERS/SUBJECTS

 

Paul V. agreed to make up the agenda for next week.

Carol D. will be our main guest speaker next week and we will be discussing her role and hearing her ideas.

We’ll need a volunteer to chair next week’s meeting.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

Meeting adjourned at 1:35 PM

 

 

Minutes respectfully submitted by Diane Carson and Paul Verhagen. Please send corrections or additions to paulverhagen@prodigy.net.

Nenana Wellness Coalition

AGENDA

March 30

 2004

 

 

WELCOME (By this week’s chairperson).

 

PRAYER (To be said by next volunteer on the prayer list)

 

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE (Remain standing after prayer for this)

 

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS

 

APPROVAL OF LAST WEEK’S MINUTES

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS/UPDATES

Native Council

Tribal Counseling Center

City Schools

City of Nenana

Alaska Court System

Chief of Police

Railbelt Mental Health and Addictions

Ch’eghutsen’

Seniors

Chamber of Commerce

Ice Classic

Assembly of God Church

Nenana Community Church

Other Churches

Yutana Barge Lines

Other Businesses

Other Organizations

Visitors

General Public

 

GUEST SPEAKERS

            Carol Davila - Consultant

Regarding helping us move forward with our treatment programs.

OLD BUSINESS

NEW BUSINESS

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

NEXT MEETING DATE/TIME/CHAIRPERSON/GUEST SPEAKERS/SUBJECTS

ADJOURNMENT

Nenana Wellness Coalition Meeting Minutes

March 16, 2004

Attendees:

Diane Carson	Barbara Carson	Rhonda Coghill	Patrick Dailey	Gary Edwin	Ken Eggleston
Tony Graffia	Daylinda Griffith	Ned Griffith	Mae Jensen	“Bear” Ketzler	Clara Ketzler
Gilbert Ketzler	Mary Kleinschmidt	Bud Krause	Nita Marks	Miles Martin	Theresa Mayrand
Kat McElroy	Endil Moore	Blaine Reed	Bonnie Reed	Margaret Sanders	Russ Sharrock
Laura Vance	Roy Smart	Paul Verhagen	Traci Wiggins

LOCATION: Nenana Senior’s Center. Meal provided by Nenana Senior Center for a donation.

TIME: Meeting Convened at Noon

WELCOME: by Paul Verhagen:

Paul received a call from Alvina F. stating that she would not be able to make it on time and asked if he would take her place chairing the meeting until she arrived. He stated that at the last meeting we discussed beginning our meetings with prayer and the pledge of allegiance. By private ballot those present at the last meeting turned in comments on the issue. Upon review of the ballots by Pattie Adkisson it was clear that the majority were in favor of prayer (15 out of 15 ballots were in favor and 7 people did not submit a ballot) and on the subject of saying the pledge of allegiance 7 ballots were cast in favor with none against. This being the case, Roy Smart blessed us with a prayer which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. This will be the opening of each meeting from now on.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES AND AGENDA

Paul asked if there were any corrections or additions to the minutes and if anyone had anything other than announcements that should be added to the agenda. Hearing none he moved on to the announcements and updates.

ANNOUNCEMENTS/UPDATES

Bear K.

As a group we had agreed to schedule another strategic planning meeting for Monday, March 22. It was to include a potluck and be held at the school. Bear asked: Is this still a go or no? Is there anything pressing that needs discussed? The group felt that we should postpone the meeting and potluck to around mid-month in April. The date selected was Thursday, April, 22 at 6:00pm at the senior center. Roy S. volunteered to make the flyers and be sure the meeting is well announced.

Electronic monitoring equipment: The tribe reminded Ms. Jane Franks[1][1], that she had offered to help fund this endeavor. We anticipate a positive response soon.

A professional facilitator Darlene Wright came to Nenana on March 10^th and helped the tribe set out its priorities. Housing and economic development were on top. This is a document to let the community know what direction the tribe is headed in.

The Denali commission responded to Nenana and will recommend funding for the Nenana School/Recreational building request. The letter stated they did not think Nenana asked for enough money and wants us to revise the request by asking for additional funding to more fully cover various aspects such as more furnishings, landscaping, etc. We are working with a cost estimator on this (Dean Designs).

Traci W.

Traci handed out flyers that describe some of the services that Railbelt Mental Health and Addictions clinic offers as well as others that it could offer if desired. It also lists the names, positions, and phone numbers of their employees so they could be contacted if anyone has questions. They also have many handouts available on various health topics and can get pamphlets on other specific topics if they are needed. Please let them know.

Ken E.

For the benefit of the public who have offered suggestions of ways the school might work with the community Ken explained that although money might be available and the idea a good one, the school cannot just spend money without considering its source. In particular if the available money came from a grant - then approval from that granting agency is required before it can be spent. If it is spent without their approval the school, upon audit, may be required to pay back the grant money. He made clear that the school is very willing to work with the community on many such things but must go through the process of getting a modification to the grant approved before doing so.

The student living center has submitted a grant application for Alaskan Communities Education funding. It is a $431,846.00 request that would help with academics and the after-school programs. In would include funding for salaries for dorm parents, water, fuel, offset food costs, transportation and other misc. expenses. We should hear back on this grant by April 16^th.

He gave an update on the No Child Left Behind program which is being audited at this time. There are five people in town checking on this program to be sure that we are operating within the parameters. The federal government says that in order to teach, teachers must now have a degree in their field and not just certification. So someone teaching Science could end up needing six degrees in order to be able to teach what they now teach with one. Since some of our teachers don’t have degrees in all the subjects they teach the school must send letters out to the parents of the students informing them that these teachers are not “highly qualified”.

Ken has been online looking for grants and has found several that may be beneficial to the Nenana area.

He explained that if any of us would like to involve the school in something that we would consider to be of value to the community we should contact the staff members who would be applying for the grant and they will work with us. They may be able to help customize the grant to fit the needs. Ken has brought along to share some grants he found on the internet that might benefit other organizations in the community.

Roy S.:

Roy has some applications for the “faith based” organizations in his office and is willing to share them with anyone in the community that can use them.

Kat M.:

Just came back from a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder training. They were given lots of new information on this condition. The terms of their grant states they must get this information out to the community. She would like us to help her find ways to disseminate this information to the community as broadly as possible. She also would like to get a committee started to look into the feasibility of the Oxford House. Those interested in volunteering please contact her.

Bear K.:

Bear has asked Diane Kaplan from the Rasmussen Foundation for her help with funding for an Oxford type house in Nenana. He expects that it will be funded but perhaps not until December.

Margaret S.:

Food Commodity boxes are now available for those needing it in Nenana. They will deliver these boxes to Nenana if we get enough people to sign up.

Miles M.:

There will be a tourist convention in Valdez, April 5,6,7. If anyone has information they would like to present to other communities he will be glad to take it along and present it to the committee.

OLD BUSINESS

Paul V:

Carol Davila has been hired and we need to discuss what we want her to work on first. Paul reviewed the minutes from previous meetings and drafted a document for us to consider sharing with Carol regarding various proposals that we have come up with in the past.

Included in this were the different projects we would like to see in Nenana. Some of these are: a regional holistic treatment center, a detox center, a three day DUI center, a wellness court, a transitional housing project (modeled on the Oxford House), community sentencing in conjunction with the tribal court, AA and other self-help programs, a job center, circle peace making. These are some of the things we have talked about in past meetings. Are there any other things we talked about that needs to go on the list? Suggestions for prioritizing them?

The agreed upon priorities were a 3-Day DUI Treatment Center, Wellness Court and Transitional Housing with a Regional Holistic Treatment Center as an umbrella over these and the other programs listed above. It was agreed that we should work from both directions in order to accomplish the above goals meaning that we should pursue large scale funding for the holistic treatment center while simultaneously seeking lesser funding in order to proceed with developing the other programs that will eventually become component parts of the whole. In other words opening the umbrella may be first or last, depending on how soon we acquire funding for which - but the goal is to eventually have all of the above working together to improve individual and community wellness in Nenana.

Kat M.:

A transactional housing project is needed in Nenana for Alcohol patients. This type of living set up helps the patient recover; get away from their old habits and helps them find work. It is more cost effective for the state as well as the individual (Modeled after the Hope House in Phoenix, Arizona).

Miles M.:

Would like to see a work force program started where the insurance and liability is covered by the program and then people in the community could hire these people to work for them without the fear of being sued for an accident. They could do snow shoveling, split wood or wood hauling or even work at a small business and even get some training at the same time. This list of people would be able for work at a “for profit business” not only for non-profit places.

He also stated that he felt the sober dance was a great success and a good thing for the community to continue having.

NEW BUSINESS

Traci W.:

A community readiness assessment was done in the past and the results came back indicating that the community of Nenana is denial resistant. In order to comply with their grant Railbelt was given specific guidelines to follow and must try to draw the community in to talk about this issue. They are considering trying a non-smoking street dance in order to get the kids involved. They would like to make it a dance area in front of the bandstand the first year and see how large that area could eventually grow to. They have access to a Mr. Butts costume they may use around River Daze. They would like any input from the community on this issue. Maybe it could be on July 4^th along with the chamber’s rib roast.

Bear K.:

When Mary Ann was here from the National Judicial College she was surprised at the devastation of alcohol in Alaska. She talked to Bear about the idea of suing the alcohol industry because of this. He contacted an attorney about this issue and they discussed it at length. The attorney already knew about this issue and had some ideas about a class action suit. It needs to be done soon because Pres. Bush is trying to kill the amount of payouts on all class action suits because of what happened with the tobacco, gun and alcohol industries. He gave Bear the name and number of another attorney that could help in this issue. The question now is should this idea be pursued? You don’t really know how this will turn out or how long it would take. Is there a reason no other group has tried this before? The group was interested in hearing the results of Bear’s conversation with the other attorney.

Gail R.:

What is the status on the newsletter, now that Shelly C. will be leaving? RMHA offered to attach it to and mail it out with their quarterly newsletter. Kat M. suggested that perhaps we could put the minutes on a website and agreed to work on developing the website? Paul V. offered the use of a website that he is already paying for but is not using.

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

Bear K.:

Introduced Patrick Dailey as a guest who has been helping the tribe with their computers. Spyware on their computers was causing serious problems. He has been working on this problem and is doing a great job getting it corrected. He is available to help others with computer problems they may have.

NEXT MEETING DATE/TIME/CHAIRPERSON/GUEST SPEAKERS/SUBJECTS

Mayor Mayrand will conduct next week’s meeting. Carol Davila may be here to discuss the community’s objectives.

ADJOURNMENT

Meeting adjourned at 1:55 PM.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Diane Carson and Paul Verhagen. Please send corrections or additions to paulverhagen@prodigy.net.

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[1][1] Clinical Supervisor of Ch’eghutsen’, 116 Minnie St. Suite B, Fairbanks, Alaska 99701

Nenana Wellness Coalition Meeting Minutes

March 9, 2004

Attendees:

Pattie Adkinson	Diane Carson	Gary Edwin	Alvina Fowler	Cherrie Forness	Daylinda Griffith
Ned Griffith	Mae Jensen	“Bear” Ketzler	Mary Kleinschmidt	Bud Krause	Lois Law
Nita Marks	Rick Martin	Theresa Mayrand	Endil Moore	Christine Shields	Gary Shields
Margaret Sanders	Laura Vance	Paul Verhagen	Virginia Young

Location: Nenana Senior’s Center. Meal provided by Nenana Senior Center for a donation.

Time: Meeting Convened at 12:30

Welcome: by Pattie Adkinson

Entertainment - Sober Dance

The sober dance at the tribal hall on Sat. March 6 had a good band and everyone had a good time and had nice food to eat. Kids would like to do this again.

Education - Job Preparedness

Pattie gave a report on an organization called Business Education Coalition from Oregon. It involves more than just job shadowing. It helps kids with post high school preparedness. Earl Polk from this organization will be here at the school from April 7^th - 9^th, and would like us to sponsor a community-wide meeting in the evening.

Friday, April 9^th there will be a sober dance at the Student Living Center (in conjunction with Earl’s visit).

The Inter-tribal dance group is still practicing. Christina Sonnyboy and Rita Pierce will be traveling to different conferences to compete with other groups.

Education - Grant Writing Class

Sometime in April the school will sponsor a class on Grant Writing here in Nenana. Maybe around the 14^th. The teacher would be coming from TCC. Maybe it could be split between the day and night for classes. Should last about 3 hours. Paul V. suggested that it be in the evening so that those who work during the day would be able to attend.

Economic - Open Air Market

The Nenana Chamber is trying to help promote the city of Nenana. This summer they would like to have a Farmers Market on the edge of town. They are negotiating now for property to set this up. This would be a great opportunity for the community to get out and sell their products right here in town. If you would like to be a part of this please come to the Chamber Meeting on Tuesday March 9, 2004 at the Senior Center, 8pm.

Economic - Community Garden

We’re looking for an empty plot at this time. Needs to be a little protected so the produce does not disappear before it can be sold. The Chamber has a lot that could be cleared and used for this purpose if it is large enough. It should be a dedicated spot that can be used from season to season. Daylinda G. suggested that the land behind the TCCC compound could be used. Maybe there could be more than one location in town used for this purpose. It could be a way to clean up and beautify the community. Native Council is willing to roto-till the ground for us. There should be someone in charge that could head up this project keep it online and find a committee to help run it. Pattie asked for volunteers and suggested Ned G. Margaret suggested Steve Fitzgerald, Joyce Jauhola or Janice Krenski. We may be able to get seeds and starts donated to us from UAF and TCC.

Spiritual - Prayer in our Meetings

Some members would like to see each of these meetings start with a prayer. Discussion of this topic was held and the Pledge of Allegiance could also be recited. Some people would rather keep these meetings on a community level and not a spiritual level.

Maybe we could have a moment of silence. Should this be voted on? Today? Next week? Would this be a prayer specifically for the Wellness Committee? We could have a sign up sheet for those wanting to say a prayer and each week someone different would have a turn. Paul V. addressed the concerns that some have had on this subject by sharing a summary of the email that he sent out last week which offers suggestions of how we might handle prayer in our meetings:

· Limit prayers to two minutes or less.

· Limit the subject of our prayers to such things as giving thanks and asking for help.

· Maintain a list of those who volunteer to offer public prayers.

· Keep it always available so new people who want to can volunteer.

· Follow the list, skipping those who are not present until the next time through the list.

· Invite visiting ministers to pray - but ministers who are members (or frequent visitors) should add their name to the prayer list.

· Show respect for others by remaining quite and still during their prayer.

· Don’t make hand-holding (or other touching) part of our prayers.

Gary E. recently attended a gathering where some of the visitors felt that they had to walk on eggshells when certain subjects came up. This is an indication to him that many of those who attended the gathering are not well. He felt it a shame that we, a wellness coalition, have to walk on eggshells on this subject of prayer. It shouldn’t be hard for us to pray.

Everyone was given a piece of paper to write their thoughts on the prayer issue. They were collected and will be looked at by Patti to see what the majority has to say.

Bear noted that several people who regularly attend (specifically the Railbelt Mental Health people and Chief Haken) are traveling and may want to have input on this subject.

Community Development - TCCC

Daylinda Griffith said that TCCC needs letters of support from the community. Paul V. suggested that she write something up indicating what kinds of things they would like us to address in our letters of support and bring them with her to the next meeting.

Community Development - Regional Holistic Treatment Center, DUI Incarceration Center, Recreation/Head Start Building.

The tribe has authorized Bear to hire Carol Davila and she will start working on the 23 of March. Her title will be Contractor for the Wellness Coalition for our concepts to get under way. She would help set up the three-day incarceration center (for first time DUI offenders), and also the Recreation/Head Start building. She would keep all the different organizations in line with each other so they would know what each other is doing. She will be the consultant living in Fairbanks. Bear read the contract aloud to all in attendance. Bear asked us to discuss what direction we want to give Carol. Paul V. suggested that we review the minutes for ideas already discussed and make a list of proposals under each of the 7 areas of wellness that we have defined to date. He will look over the minutes of previous meetings and put together a list of topics to give to Carol.

Bear also had a letter from Washington DC about the Presidents Commission that has grants available for tribes trying to support programs treating people with substance abuse.

Community Development - Electronic Monitoring Program

Endil M. gave an update on the electronic monitoring program that we agreed to fund last week. While our units are being shipped we borrowed a unit from Fairbanks Native Association/Ralph Purdue Center in Fairbanks and installed it the home of the first participant in our new program. There were some glitches with the equipment the first night but since then things have smoothed out and are going well.

Community Development - Headstart Program

Karen Lord will be hired to lead the Head Start Program to sign up kids in the area to see if there are enough to begin this program. She needs information about every child between the ages of birth to five years including pending births.

Community Development - Environmental Conservation

Gary Edwin was hired by Native Council as an environmental technician to help clean up the village of Nenana. He has already started on this job.

Alcohol Related - Better Year

For the past three months the alcohol related incidents have dropped (compared to last year) in our area. One of the bars has been closed while the owners were on vacation and this seems to have helped in this area. We would like to thank them for taking a vacation and having the bar closed for so long.

Economic Wellness - Free Tax Form Help

March 27 and 28 tax preparers will be available at the tribal hall to help anyone with filing their taxes. This is a free service.

Law Enforcement - Need for Local Law Enforcement

Thursday March 18 the assembly members will be looking at the police service in Nenana. They are thinking about reducing the police force in Nenana. If you would like to voice your opinion on this issue please attend this meeting and speak up. Right now things are going pretty well and residents feel safe in the community. Endil M. noted that the subject has been raised several times in the past and that each time it is raised by people whose family members have been in trouble with the law or who themselves have received traffic citations. He stated that he remembers times in the past when there was not adequate law enforcement and how nice it is that we now have adequate law enforcement. Margaret Saunders agreed that it is nice to be able to call for help and have it readily available which would not be the case without a department (or if there were a reduction of employees). Endil stated that the mayor has submitted a balanced budget that includes current staffing levels and suggests that there is no need to change things. He urged us to attend the city council meeting scheduled for next Thursday night to show our support for leaving the police department funding as already budgeted.

Community Development - Nenana Student Living Center

Patti A. would like letters to be written to help the Living Center keep running. Theresa Mayrand volunteered to write a letter for the Living Center to help keep it open and get the funding it needs to continue. She would like to encourage others. We all need to stand behind the Living Center to keep it open for the community and the teens that come in from the villages to live and go to school here.

Next week’s chairperson: Alvina Fowler

The meeting ended at 2:00 P.M.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Diane Carson and Paul Verhagen. Please send corrections or additions to paulverhagen@prodigy.net.