By the CUJ
MISSION – The Board of Trustees (BOT) for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) on May 13 told Executive Director Ted Wright to begin recruitment for an individual to work under his supervision as a Deputy Executive Director (DED).
The exact duties of the DED were not fully flushed out during the BOT work session, but it’s safe to say the new position will help Wright manage some of the more than 400 tribal government employees who currently work in 17 different departments.
The job will first be advertised to members of the CTUIR. If a CTUIR member does not apply, it will be opened to other Native Americans and then to non-Indians. Veterans will receive preferential status as well.
The BOT, which supervises the Executive Director, discussed at length whether or not it should also supervise the DED.
Wright told the Board that the duties between the ED and DED will be parsed out after an organizational assessment is completed.
“Until that work is done we won’t know how to split the work up, but that person could work side by side with me and the Executive Management Team to figure it out,” Wright said. “There may be restructuring here and there and right now we can’t just say who will be under me and who will be under the Deputy ED. But it will be a huge advantage to have that person on board while we work that out.”
BOT Vice Chair Jeremy Wolf said it will be advantageous to have two top managers so that when one is working directly with the Board the other can deal with government operations.
At one point in the meeting, BOT members appeared to be split. Half wanted to discuss the pros-and-cons of leaving both the ED and DED under supervision of the Board, and half wanted to leave the deputy under the supervision of the Executive Director.
That’s when Armand Minthorn made his first statement of the day.
“What Ted presented in part is to help the Executive Director’s office. What the last Board’s done, that’s all done,” Minthorn said. “What we’re dealing with now is how to continue to move forward. Yes, we can learn from the past what has happened before, mistakes, etc., etc., that can help guide us, guide anybody really. What’s important is that this is to me cut-and-dry. Move forward with this position so we can go forward to continue to focus on our priorities and issues and accomplishments with the Deputy under the Executive Director.”
The hiring process is expected to take at least six to eight weeks and likely much longer.
