Hopi EDC team off to fast start

KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz. - In just over a month since the Hopi Tribal Council voted to take the Hopi Tribe's Economic Development Corporation in a new direction, a three-member transition team is off to a fast start. Transition team Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Bohlke and Finance Director Mary Smeal were introduced to the council.

Bohlke's job is to lead the transition team in managing the economic development corporation's business affairs. She specializes in profitable turnarounds. Smeal has worked for more than two years as financial manager of the Hopi Three Canyon Ranches. More recently, her responsibilities have included bookkeeping and financial management for the corporate operations of the economic development corporation.

Bohlke and Smeal presented a check for $502,781 representing an up-to-date loan repayment from the Kokopelli Inn in Sedona, one of the economic development corporation's enterprises.

The pair also noted that Hopi ranches have been able to pay their 2009 line of credit in full, and have made a large payment toward the old balance. They said improvements have been made at the Hopi Cultural Center on the reservation, including bringing the wastewater treatment system up to sanitation standards. The restaurant, lobby and kitchen are being painted, they said, and roofing for the motel is being replaced, with replacement of the restaurant roof planned soon.

They also noted that the EDC donated $1,000 to the Hopi Education Endowment Fund.

Other key enterprises of the EDC are Hopi Three Canyon Ranches along Interstate 40 between Flagstaff and Winslow and the 26 Bar Ranch in Eagar; Hopi Travel Plaza in Holbrook; three commercial properties in Flagstaff (Continental Plaza, Kachina Square and Heritage Square); and Walpi Housing Management on the reservation.

Sandy De Bonis is the team's business development consultant. She is an owner of First Commercial Real Estate in Flagstaff and has managed the tribe's Flagstaff properties since 1998. She has extensive real estate experience.

According to Dale Sinquah, head of the Tribal Council's land task team, Bohlke, Smeal and De Bonis "will assess all the enterprises and give us their sound judgment on where they stand, how much money it will take to improve, stabilize operations and make recommendations." The land team is providing oversight to the transition team, acting as the corporation's board of directors.

How long this state of transition exists depends on what its members find once they have examined all the economic development corporation's enterprises. Sinquah said transition team members would visit all the enterprises and evaluate how to operate them at their best potential. Land team members will follow suit.

"The big thing is we are actively trying to do something," Sinquah said, adding that new board will meet twice a month. "We wanted to get a team in right away."

He noted that the job ahead will be hard, but that the economic development corporation is key for the tribe.

"I am excited that ... we are moving forward," Sinquah said. "I view it as a huge task that needs a lot of attention and research ... This is a corporation that affects a lot of people and we have to move ahead with caution."

Putting the transition team in place came after the council approved three resolutions at a special meeting Nov. 22. At that time, the council voted to remove the development corporation's board of directors, name the council as the new board and decided that the council's land task team should provide oversight, direction and a plan for the development corporation to move forward.

In bringing the three resolutions to Tribal Council, Sinquah had said that after many meetings, workshops and evaluating the history of the economic development corporation, he concluded the board needed to be revamped.

"We feel there comes a time for change," Sinquah said of the economic development corporation, which was formed about four years ago as a for-profit business.

Among other things, the economic development corporation's tasks are to improve the lives of the Hopi people, secure tribal homelands, stimulate the local private sector, and provide the opportunity to the tribe to develop its resources on or near the Hopi Reservation.

"When we looked at [the economic development corporation], we saw there needs to be a concerted effort to raise the level of performance," Sinquah said. "We want to invigorate it and move on."

Donate to nhonews.com Report a Typo Contact
Most Read