TGS:
Tribal Administrator's Handbook |
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Tribal
Administrators carry out many important tasks, including
maintaining tribal enrollments, governing documents, contracts
and village finances. BBNA's Tribal Administrator's Handbook
is a guide to help tribal and village administrators fulfill
these and other important responsibilities. Tribal members
may also find this information useful as a guide to knowing
how village records are maintained.
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Village
Administrator's Office Set-up
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Part
I: Official
Village Records (Return)
These
files contain the official documents of the Village.
They are essentially the history of your village. A
useful way to structure the system is in three sections:
A.
Village Government |B. Village Enrollment |C. Village Business.
A. The
Village Government file should
include:
1.
The Village Constitution.
2.
Ordinances.
3. Resolutions.
4. Meeting minutes.
5.
Amendments.
6. Elections.
(Return)
B. The
Village Enrollment file should
contain:
1.
A copy of the Village Constitution. The constitution describes
who and what it takes to become a member of the Village.
2. The Village Enrollment Ordinance. The enrollment ordinance describes
the process one has to complete to apply for membership in the
Village.
3. The Village Base Roll. The Village Constitution describes the
village's base roll. The base roll is the membership roll used
to establish the Village, and it never changes.
4. The Current Membership Roll. The Village Constitution describes
the village's Current Membership roll, which lists all current
members and the total village enrollment. This roll changes periodically
when new members are accepted and added to the village or when
other members pass away and are taken off the roll.
5. Individual members files. Every enrolled member of the village
should have an individual file containing (i) Their membership
application; (ii) their proof of eligibility for membership; and
(iii) a copy of the Village Council resolution accepting and adopting
them as a member. Individual member files should never be
removed or deleted.
(Return)
C. The
Village Business file should contain:
1.
Any and all contracts, agreements or Memoranda of
Understanding involving the Village and any agencies
or organizations. Typical examples include:
- BBNA's
Compact MOA with the village plus any and all associated
documents involved with BBNA Compacting.
- BBNA's
Tribal Children Service Workers (TCSW) agreement.
- BBNA's
Village Public Safety Officer (VPSO) agreement.
- Indian
Health Service Clinic lease agreement.
- Lake
and Peninsula Borough state revenue sharing budget agreements.
- Lake
and Peninsula Borough Raw Fish Tax budget agreements.
- Lake
and Peninsula Borough Borough Village Capital Projects
funding documents or agreements
- The
Village Electric Utility contracts or agreements.
- Village
Water and Sewer contracts or agreements.
Many
if not most of these contracts renewed on annually. For
example, once a year BBNA negotiates with the federal government
compact funding agreement. When the agreement is signed
and money is transferred into BBNA's account, BBNA draws
up new funding agreements with each compacting village.
Villages also negotiate new lease agreements each year
with Indian Health Service for leasing the clinic. It may
be useful to have new file folders for each organization
each year for the new agreements with the Village. To complete
the file, you may also want to include copies of budgets,
invoices, bills, checks, reports and other paperwork associated
with each year's agreements for each organization (See
Section II).
(Return)
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Example: With
BBNA, villages sign annual funding agreements for
compact pass-through funds. Along with the signed
funding agreement, the village submits a budget
to show how the money will be spent. This budget
should go in a file folder with the signed funding
agreement.
When
the compact money is spent according to the budget,
copies of vendors and employee records (bills,
statements, copies of checks, timesheets, etc.)
can go into the BBNA Compact file folder.
This
may seem like extra work, but it gives you a complete
file folder on each agreement and project your village
is involved in each year. Like vendor, customer and
employee files, it is recommended that you keep the
current and previous years' files. Files more than
two years old can be moved to a labled and dated
storage box (Village Business Files, Jan. 1, 199_
to Dec. 31, 199_.
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2. Documents detailing any and all development projects present
and future the village may be involved with.
3.
Documents detailing any and all grants or projects awarded to
the village. Record keeping requirements here are the
same as under Section A, above. Keep current grants and
projects in your business file. where again you might
want to make extra copies of bills, timesheets, checks,
etc. to have complete files for each grant or project.
In this case, you only need to keep the current grant/project
file folder in your business file. Past year grants/projects
file folders can go into storage.
(Return)
Section
II: Village Finances
Here's
how to keep accurate records of where your village's money
comes from and how it's spent.
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NOTE: Somewhere
in your files should be documentation indicating
who is authorized to sign checks. The document
should clearly state for what amount one signature
is required, and for what amount two signatures
are required. Check
signers should not be the same person to whom
a check is written.
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An
employee is anyone who works for the Village Council,
whether part-time, full-time, or temporarily.
1. Every
employee should have a file of their own, which
should include:
a.
A signed W-4.
b. A signed I-9, along with a copy of two pieces of identification
c. A job description.
d. An employment application.
e. A letter of hire or documentation stating:
(i)
When they were hired.
(ii) What they were hired to do.
(iii) Who their supervisor is.
(iv) How much they are getting paid.
(v) When they are to be paid.
(vi) Their work schedule.
f. Time sheets.
g. Copies of their paychecks.
h. Job evaluation or performance record.
2. Each employee file must be maintained and current for
as long as the individual remains employed. The only
time an employee file is not a current file is when
the employee quits, is terminated, fired or laid off,
or when the employee's position is eliminated.
Maintaining
an employee's file is very basic. While the employee is
working, the employee is submitting time sheets and getting
paid. Copies of time sheets and paychecks go into their
file. When a employee gets a pay raise, documentation of
the raise goes in the employee's file. Anything affecting
that person's employment goes into the file, including
performance evaluations, resignation and termination letters.
3. When
an employee stops working for the Village Council,
his or her file becomes inactive or is no longer current.
a.
As long as a person was employed by the Village Council
during your current tax year, you keep their file in
the current employee file drawer. You will need employee
wage information to issue W-2s for each of employees
at the end of the tax year. And when your office is
audited, you need to have all files for the year available
to the auditors.
b. Once the year-end filings and reports are complete and the
auditors have completed their job, you can move inactive or
non-current employee files to storage. Store the inactive files
alphabetically in a labled storage box.
(Return)
Your
filing system should include Vendor Files. A vendor
is someone you buy something from.
1. Each
vendor should have its own file.
2. In
each vendor file, keep copies of the bills or invoices
sent by the vendor requesting payment.
3. Attached
to each of the bills or invoices should be
a copy of the check used to pay the bill.
4. This
process should be repeated each and
every time bills are received and
paid.
Keep
vendor files current and up to date based on your fiscal
year. For example, you need a Year 2000 file for each vendor
you do business with during your 2000 fiscal year (Jan. 1
to Dec. 31, 2000). When Jan. 1, 2001, start a new file folder
for each vendor from which purchases are made during the
year 2001. These 2001 files now become your current vendor
files, and should be placed in front of the Year 2000 vendor
file folders.
Keep
two years worth of files. Starting Jan. 1, 2002, you will
again need new file folders for each vendor, to be placed
in front of each of the year 2001 file folders. The 2002
files then become your current vendor files. Remove and store
in a safe place the Year 2000 vendor files in a box labled "Vendor
Files: Jan. 2000 - Dec. 31, 2000."
C. Customer
files
A customer is any individual, business or organization that buys
goods or services from you.
1. Each
customer should have its own file containing that
customer's billing information: name, address, contact
telephone number and service location.
B. Each customer file should
contain copies of billing statements,
overdue notices, payments received, receipts
issued, credit memos and current balance.
C. Each customer file must be
maintained and current throughout any
fiscal year in which goods or services
are purchased from the village. Like employee
or vendor files, maintaining current customer's
file is very basic. Copies of the customer's
bills or invoices, statements or receipts
need to maintained in chronological order
in each customer file.
D. When acustomer file becomes
inactive (that is, when it stops buying
services from the Village):
a.
Keep the file in the current customer file drawer until
the end of the fiscal year. The files need to be available
for the auditors.
2.
Once the audit is complete, inactive or non-current customers'
files can be removed from the current customer file drawer
and re-filed, alphabetically, in a labled and dated storage
box.
D.
Other Files To Consider
1.
Grant Information: This file could contain any and
all available information on possible grants for which
you may wish to apply, now or in the future.
2.
General Information: Because your village is involved
with many organizations, local, state and federal, another
useful file could containing background information on
the various organizations and how they can help your community.
3. Working Files: These are the files probably
located in your desk file drawer containing all
the projects you are currently working on.
(Return)
D. Computer
Tips (Return)
ScanDisk & Disk
Defragmenter -- It's
a good idea to run Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter once
a week, either first thing Monday morning or at the end
of the day on Friday.
How
to run ScanDisk
1.
After your computer is turned on and the Shortcut Icons appear
Click on the Start button in the lower left hand corner.
2.
Move the "mouse" arrow up to programs.
3.
After all your program names appear, move the "mouse" arrow
up to "Accessories".
4.
Once the program names appear for the "Accessories", move
the "mouse" arrow over to "System Tools".
5.
After the program names appear for "System Tools", move the "mouse" arrow
over and down to ScanDisk.
6.
Click on ScanDisk.
7.
Make sure that the (C:) drive is highlighted.
8.
Make sure that in "Type of Test" that only the standard has
a black dot in the circle.
9.
Click on Start and let ScanDisk run its course.
10.
After ScanDisk has finished running, click on the center
icon "Cancel".
11.
This completes the ScanDisk program.
(Return)
How
To Run Disk Degragmenter
1.
After your computer is turned on and the Shortcut Icons appear
Click on the Start button in the lower left hand corner.
2.
Move the "mouse" arrow up to programs.
3.
After all your program names appear, move the "mouse" arrow
up to "Accessories".
4.
Once the program names appear for the "Accessories", move
the "mouse" arrow over to "System Tools".
5.
After the program names appear for "System Tools", move the "mouse" arrow
over and down to Disk Defragmenter.
6.
Click on Disk Defragmenter.
7.
Make sure that the (C:) drive is highlighted.
8.
At this point your computer will tell you "How Much" your
hard drive is Fragmented. (Even if your computer shows you
are 0% Fragmented, run Disk Defragmenter anyway.)
9.
Click on Start and let Disk Defragmenter run its course.
10.
After Disk Defragmenter has finished running, you will receive
a screen telling you that Disk Defragmenter is finished, "Do
you wish to quit?" Click on the "Yes" button.
11.
This completes the Disk Defragmenter program.
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