Picuris Pueblo welcomes 2019 tribal government
The government of Picuris Pueblo, though small like the tribe itself, is filled with familiar faces for the 2019 term.
Governor Craig Quanchello will serve a third term in his position. He is joined on the tribal council by Lt. Governor Wayne Yazza Jr., Tribal Sheriff Celestino Yazza, First Fiscale Charles Simbolo, Second Fiscale Jerome Salazar, First War Chief Manuel Archuleta, Second War Captain Ryan Griego, Third War Captain Joe D. Martinez and Tribal Secretary Gwen Simbolo.
Picuris Pueblo has made strides in recent years toward a longtime goal of self-sufficiency for the tribe. Top among
them was the building of a 1-megawatt solar array, located in Vadito, that supplies power to the tribe and the southern end of Taos County. The project was unique, as few other tribes owned their own solar arrays.
Another solar array is in the works, Quanchello said, as well as a fast-charging station for electric cars.
However, the tribe is still dependent on the federal government to fund many of its programs and the partial shutdown, which began Dec. 22 over funding disputes about a proposed border wall, has impeded the steady progress Picuris was making on a number of projects.
Top among those projects is a travel center, to be located on the edge of the tribe’s land. Before the shutdown, Picuris planned to open the center sometime around early summer. But because federal dollars and loans are partially paying for construction — and federal workers are supposed to be helping process paperwork — the finish line is a complete unknown, Quanchello said.
“As of right now, I don’t know. It’s hard to say…(the Bureau of Indian Affairs) have to regroup and find out where they’re at,” he said.
“The positive in this shutdown (is) it forces us to realize we’re not where we want to be,” he said. “It shows our pueblo workers that we need to step it up. We have directors, we have supervisors, we have managers who need to work that extra mile in case this ever happens again. It’s a governor’s and council’s ultimate goal to be self-sustainable.”
“It makes me want
to step it up. You have to think about your future, your kids, the next generation. What are they going to do?”
Quanchello said the tribe, which early on supported Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in her bid for governor, has had positive interactions with her office so far this year.
Outside the federal government shutdown, the tribe hopes to work with the state to make its next attempt at medical cannabis production both supported and successful.