NEWS

"The strongest and sweetest songs yet remain to be sung.”

When we first erected our 16,000-sq. ft. tent structure to use as our casino in the summer of 1994, none of us could have imagined what the future had in store for us. Without Tribal-State Compacts we were declared illegal operations and were subject to closure at any given time by the federal government. It was extremely difficult to do any kind of long-term planning under these circumstances when we didn’t know if we were even going to be open tomorrow. It took a lot of hard work and resources by California’s Tribal Governments to get where we are today.

Big Valley Rancheria did it’s share by getting the word out through advertising and by collecting thousands of signatures for both the Prop. 5 campaign in 1998 and the state constitutional amendment 1A in 1999. This is the first time in the history of this country that tribes have amended a state constitution! This is a feat for which we all should be proud.

We as Big Valley tribal members should also be proud of the progress that we have achieved as a tribal government. We have a stable, professionally staffed tribal office that provides many services for tribal members.

Our staff administers several grants that benefits tribal members, such as Indian child welfare that provides services for our children most in need, environmental protection that ensures our natural resources are free from contamination and maintained for our future generations,community development projects like our gymnasium/community center that we will begin construction on soon, and housing planning and development that has allowed us to prepare the Big Valley Strategic Housing Plan that will be implemented next year.

Additionally our staff administers the many different programs that we have set up with our casino revenues. Believe me, these are no easy tasks when there are tribal members want their healthy activities or housing assistance money RIGHT NOW!! Yes, we still have some work to do, but our little tribal office has come a long way in the past year. I thank our tribal staff for their hard work and commitment.

I especially would like to thank our Tribal Administrator Steve Citron. Steve is always at work and always working. He is a professional, intelligent person, dedicated to our mission, bringing a lot of experience to our tribe. Tribal politics can sometimes be hard and very stressful, and it’s at these times that we need a determined, focused administrator to help us get through our turmoil and provide stability to our office. Early this year our Tribal Government went through some pretty difficult times politically. Steve helped me to stay focused and continue our progress when I sometimes felt like giving up. For this I am grateful. All too often we forget to say thank you. I encourage you to let our staff know that we are thankful for the good work that they do.

The Tribal-State compact between Big Valley Rancheria and the State of California was signed in September of 1999. Early in the year, in anticipation of a favorable vote we began the process of developing a long-range master plan. A lot of time and hard work went into the development of the Big Valley Rancheria Master Plan that was presented to you for your approval in April of 1999. On March 7, 2000 the voters of this state passed SCA 1A, which made tribal government gaming in California legal. We were no longer held back by the threat of closure and could now begin the process of expansion of our gaming enterprise. We were already in the process of recruiting a competent and experienced management team that could assist us in implementing our Master Plan.

After an exhaustive nation-wide search we selected First Nations Gaming out of Louisiana to manage our new destination resort. In May of 2000, with your approval I negotiated and entered into a consulting and management agreement with First Nations Gaming. It is now time to take our gaming operations to the next level of professionalism and profitability.

In June of next year Phase 1 of our destination resort, which includes the hotel and casino, will be open to the public and reign in a new era of economic prosperity for our people. Construction on Phase 2, which includes the marina and RV Park, will then immediately be initiated. Phase 3, the golf course and other retail centers, will follow thereafter. If and when we can we will move projects forward into earlier phases so that we can complete our overall development sooner. We must also be prepared to diversify our resources and take advantage of other gaming opportunities that become available, so that we can provide more and better services to our people. I have one such opportunity to present to you for your approval.

When I negotiated the management agreement with First Nations Gaming I inserted a clause which states that First Nations Gaming could not provide consulting or management services to any tribe within a 75 mile radius of us without first getting our approval. Other tribes have approached First Nations Gaming requesting their services. This is an opportunity for us to get a share of profits from other casino’s within this 75 mile radius. If First Nations and Big Valley does not provide the management of these other casino’s then somebody else will. If we form a partnership with First Nations and these other casino’s we have some way to monitor their activities and get a share of their profits. Therefore I am requesting that you grant a waiver of the exclusivity clause in our contract so that we can negotiate favorable terms for Big Valley and in turn bring in additional revenues to our Tribe. This will be an agenda item at our Oct. 7 meeting and I strongly recommend that we take advantage of this

Big Valley Rancheria, our future looks bright. If we stay on course and not let anything or anyone slow us down, we will be successful. I would also like to commend and thank you for your vision, trust and support. Each and everyone of you has a very important role. You must be familiar with the issues that we have to deal with and then act in the best interest of our Tribe. It is your responsibility to set the overall direction of our tribe and then it is your chairman and business committees’ responsibility to get us there. We have come a long way since initiating gaming and re-establishing our Tribal governmental operations in 1994. I am both proud and honored to have been a part of it all since the beginning. We have gained a tremendous amount of experience and in the coming years we will gain even more. I am confident that you will continue to make wise decisions so that our people can prosper for generations to come.