New Swinomish modular building walls off office staff

The Swinomish Tribal Community has gone the extra mile to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Make that 259 miles.

Swinomish has joined together administrative office units transported from the Salem, Oregon area that will provide safer and more socially distanced work spaces for tribal employees.

A local contractor, Colacurcio Brothers, began installing the units on site at Pioneer Parkway and Moorage Way, just north of the Rainbow Bridge, in November. Project manager Robert Pell has overseen the work.

Substantial project completion is anticipated this month, tribal officials project.

A 500-ton crane from Ness Campbell Crane & Rigging in Mount Vernon placed the units, which the tribe ordered from the Oregon firm Blazer Industries, said Stephen LeCuyer, director of the Swinomish Office of Tribal Attorney, who is also serving as the tribe’s interim co-general manager.

“The modular building recently delivered to the reservation will provide the tribe with additional space necessary to ensure the Swinomish government can continue to deliver critical programs and essential governmental services to tribal members and the reservation in a safe manner,” LeCuyer told the Weekly News.

“As an employer,” he said, “the tribe takes seriously its responsibility to provide safe working environments.”

LeCuyer said tribal officials opted to order the modular office units after undertaking a comprehensive needs assessment of its workforce that addressed available workspaces and the need to ensure continuity of government programs and services.

The office complex is the latest in a series of measures undertaken by the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community in response to the pandemic, LeCuyer said.

“Like most governments,” he said, “the tribe is doing all it can to address the COVID-19 public health emergency.”

Over the past nine months, the Swinomish Tribal Senate has initiated programs and issued resolutions designed to protect public health and safety, LeCuyer said.

Those measures have included a mask mandate, food distribution and financial assistance to community members in need, home medical services for tribal elders, assistance for tribal members and employees with unemployment claims and drive-through and/or workplace COVID-19 testing for tribal members and employees.

Last month, in response to increases in infection rates across Skagit County and Washington state, the Swinomish Tribal Senate modified its in-store retail operations COVID-19 requirements, said LeCuyer.

Those call for a reduction in store capacity to 25 per cent of occupancy and a requirement that masks be worn in all on-Reservation retail establishments, he said.

LeCuyer said tribal officials opted to order the modular office units after undertaking a comprehensive needs assessment of its workforce that addressed available workspaces and the need to ensure continuity of government programs and services.

“As an employer,” he said, “the tribe takes seriously its responsibility to provide safe working environments.”