Administrative

Tribal Administration

The tribal administration was created to oversee all aspects of the Nation and to ensure that each person in the community is considered and heard. The administration keeps the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation running smoothly and is completely compliant with the Federal Government.

General Manager of Tribal Operations Office

This office serves as the liaison between the Tribal Council and the program directors, primarily to assist directors in making proposals and responses to the Council. The General Manager has supervisory responsibility over all program directors, managers and coordinators and assists with program development, resolution of issues and coordination of multi-program activities. The General Manager also coordinates and develops program budgets with the directors and works cooperatively with the fiscal and accounting department.

Please contact the General Manager’s office if you have questions or concerns regarding tribal programs and services call (785) 966-3900 or (785) 966-4037.

Member Services

Member Services is located on the lower level at the PBPN Government Center.
There are nearly 5,000 enrolled members of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. Enrollment has declined considerably since a May 2000 amendment to the constitution which made it necessary for members to possess at least 1/4 PBP Nation blood.
Applications for enrollment are available through the Member Services Department. All applications reviewed for enrollment must be complete. All incomplete applications will be returned to prospective members with 30 days to make revisions before the application goes before the Enrollment Review Committee to determine eligibility.

The Election Board can also be contacted through the Member Services Department. The goal of the Election Board is to conduct orderly elections in accordance with the provisions of the Election Ordinance. The Election Board requires 75 working days to prepare for a national election. The schedule includes a start-up date, date to mail announcement of upcoming election to adult Nation members, deadline date to file for candidacy, cut-off date to register (if not already registered prior to an election), set-up date to mail ballots to registered voters and the scheduled election date. Nation members who are not registered to vote are encouraged to register.

For additional information contact the Member Services Department at (785) 966-3934.

Grants Office

The mission of the Grants office is to develop programs and projects in coordination with program directors and the Tribal Council. All development must be in synchronization with program planning and guidance from the Tribal Council.

For more information call (785) 966-4054.

Human Resource Department

The responsibilities of the Human Resource Department include administration of personnel policies and health insurance plans, tracking employee’s hours of work and all leave time. The Human Resource staff works closely with other program supervisors and directors to plan and implement effective personnel staffing plans. The department continually implements new wage and salary scales for all employees so workers on the Reservation can enjoy increased financial freedom. The main goal of the Human Resource Department is to provide on-going training for all employees. The department schedules quarterly training sessions with varying employment/employee topics that enhance and increase productivity.

For additional information contact (785) 966-3060 or fax (785) 966-3062.

Newspaper and website

The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation newspaper and website are the Nation’s primary communication tools that have the purpose of distributing local news items and contributing news items received from PBPN members and other sources throughout the United States. Beginning in late 1998 the newspaper was readily embraced by PBPN members and in 2005 received a general excellence award from the Native American Journalists Association. The newspaper office is located in the Government Center and is staffed by an editor who edits the website and ensures the newspaper is distributed on a quarterly basis.

For more information call (785) 966-3920 or fax (785) 966-3912.

Potawatomi Tribal Land Office

Steven Duryea, Tribal Land Planner

The Potawatomi Tribal Land Office (Land Office) is responsible for coordinating the Nation’s land acquisitions, coordinating the Nation’s purchase of undivided interests in trust lands, executing the Nation’s fee-to-trust applications, maintaining the records of the Nation’s land holdings including purchase documents, appraisals, reports, maps, etc., and acts as a liaison between the Nation and the BIA, as well as other necessary agencies, in regards to the Nation’s land business. All tasks are conducted with guidance from Tribal Council through the General Manager’s Office.

Tribal Land Holdings – The Nation’s land mass consists of 673 tracts (33,720 acres) through tribal allotment and owned individually by the Nation. The following table illustrates the ownership of the Nation’s lands. Data is current as of 3/8/2023.

Based upon an area of 77,440 acres, the Nation’s holdings and tribal allotments account for 46.2 % of the Nation’s land mass.

Land Acquisitions – In 1998, the Nation established a land acquisition program with the purpose of re-purchasing Reservation land, previously sold by the Nation or its members. The following table illustrates the reversal in declining tribal on-Reservation land ownership from 1918 thru 2015.

Undivided Interests – In 2014, the Nation re-implemented the program for the purchase of undivided interests in US Trust land. The purchase of undivided interests generally follows a six-step procedure, managed by the BIA Horton Agency.

Interest is indicated to the Nation by the individual,
Tribal Council endorses a solicitation to the BIA for the purchase of the indicated interests,
The BIA conducts an appraisal of the property and determines its value,
The interests are offered initially to the other co-owners and then to the Nation,
The Nation purchases the interests through a resolution, and
The BIA completes the transaction and files the deed.

Since the policy was re-established, the Nation has increased its holdings by 3,582 acre-equivalents.

Fee to Trust Applications — The Land Office works closely with the BIA in transferring tracts of land the Nation purchases from fee back into U.S. Trust. The Nation’s fee-to-trust applications follow a process managed by the BIA that consist of:

Submission of the application,
Review of the application,
Review of the legal description,
Draft of a preliminary title opinion,
Opportunity for county and state comment/appeal,
Submission of an environmental site assessment,
Draft of a final title opinion, and
Completion of the transfer into trust.

Records Management – The Land Office maintains purchase documents, appraisals, reports, maps, etc. for all of the Nation’s land purchases. Currently, staff are scanning these documents to create a digital records database, the Potawatomi Tribal Land Information System (PTLIS), and also working on developing an on-line mapping app to illustrate the Nation’s property ownership.

Do you want to try out the Nation’s new mobile mapping app on your smart phone? Its free. Just go to the store and download ArcGIS by ESRI. Once installed, open the app and search for the “Potawatomi Lands” map.

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