Department of the Interior 

Office of the Special Trustee 

for American Indians 

Volume 11, Issue 2 

Spring 2011 

TRUST MATTERS

Each WAU is a Story 

A seventy-seven year old elder would probably not access the Internet 

looking for the list of Individual Indian Money (IIM) account holders 

who do not have their addresses on file with the Office of the Special 

Trustee for American Indians (OST). Account holders without current 

address on file are referred to as whereabouts unknown, or WAUs. 

In addition, a tribal list of WAUs usually only includes members of 

that tribe. So, how did one elder — let’s call him Jim — learn he was 

listed as a WAU on another tribe’s website? And what did he do with 

his IIM account when he was found? 

Late one summer, one of OST’s Fiduciary Trust Offi cers was meeting 

with tribal officials. Although the tribe did not have any active 

accounts with OST, 19 members of the tribe were listed as WAUs. 

The total value of those 19 accounts was more than $93,000. OST’s 

local Account Maintenance Technician worked with the tribe’s web 

designer to post the list of WAUs on the tribe’s website. Access to this 

tribe’s website is only available to tribal members. 

Whether family or friend, someone told Jim his name was on the 

tribe’s WAU list, although he wasn’t a member of that tribe! Now 

OST’s detective work began — to be sure that Jim was one and the 

same as the person listed. 

Records were requested from the American Indians Records 

Repository in Lenexa, Kansas. A journal voucher from decades earlier 

listed Jim as heir to the account. But the search for verifi cation didn’t 

end there. The tribe provided an extensive family history and probate 

records were checked. Still more checking was done with Jim about 

his tribal affiliation. He had changed his affiliation because his tribe 

was terminated in 1966. Although the tribe was restored in 1990, Jim

stayed with his current enrollment, which explained why he had an 

account with one tribe although enrolled with another. Finally, it was 

confirmed that he was the true account holder. 

The perseverance and thoroughness of all the people involved in 

assuring that the funds were provided to the right person made a real 

difference in someone’s life. The funds — more than $3000 — were 

a windfall for Jim. He chose to have them deposited into his bank 

account so he could use them to augment his paycheck, because Jim

is still a working man. 

 Table of Contents 

Each WAU is a Story 1 

Tuiition-Free Training 2 

Pay.gov 2 

Native Report 3 

OAS Appraiser Trainee 3 

Responding to Your Call 4 

There are almost 91,000

WAUs as of April 30, 2011. 

The total dollar value of all

these WAU accounts is more 

than $64 million dollars. 

While many accounts have

small amounts of money in

them, there are more than two 

dozen WAU accounts that

contain $100,000 or more. Know 

anyone who might be a WAU?

Call the Trust Benefi ciary Call 

Center, toll free: 1-888-678-6836. 
 

 

2 TRUST MATTERS 

Tuition-Free Trust Training Available to Tribal Employees 

Tribal staff that compact or contract trust functions 

may take advantage of training provided by the Office 

of Trust Training (OTT) within the Office of the Special 

Trustee for American Indians. OTT encourages tribal 

employees who are responsible for any Indian trust 

functions to participate in the courses listed. Tuition is 

free, however, attendees are responsible for their own 

travel arrangements and costs. 

Choose from among these courses: 

Trust Fundamentals 

an historical and legal framework concerning Indian 

affairs and fiduciary responsibilities involved with 

reform eff orts 

Guardianships 

explores the concept of guardianship by comparing and 

contrasting Indian and non-Indian (federal and state 

programs) systems available to this special population, 

and the role of each participant 

Indian Fiduciary Trust Principles 

examines the Indian trust and the private trust 

environments to learn their similarities and diff erences; 

cover trust and fiduciary concepts, laws and 

regulations; fiduciary accounting principles; investment 

principles and concepts; the risk management process; 

operations and support processes and real property 

management 

Investment Fundamentals 

an analysis of all pertinent investment products and 

a wide‐range of investment management concepts; 

prepares individuals to discuss investment portfolios 

and understand the theory and principles behind how 

portfolios are constructed 

Trust Accounting 

trust accounting concerns recording and accounting 

for transactions within an account; concentrates on 

preparing and understanding trust accounting related 

to the Indian fiduciary trust arena 

Probate 

analyzes current practices for administration of trust 

and restricted estates by federal and tribal employees; 

reviews property types, wills, the American Indian 

Probate Reform Act and its impact upon the probate 

process 

Asset Management 

explores the vast variety of real property assets that 

constitute the Indian fi duciary responsibility 

Fiduciary Behaviors 

expands the detail and discussion begun in the four day 

Indian Fiduciary Trust Principles course dealing with 

how eff ective fiduciary behavior has and continues to 

impact modern Indian Trust business practices 

Risk Management 

examines risk management as it relates to Indian 

trust assets; review traditional and enterprise risk 

management; outline activities associated with risk 

assessment and define exposure quantifi cation 

OTT develops, delivers, oversees and coordinates 

training to meet the needs of trust programs within the 

Department of the Interior (DOI). New OTT Director 

LaVern Sam is excited about managing this top notch 

trust training program. She knows that trust training 

for DOI employees improves their performance and, 

ultimately, beneficiary services. 

Tribal employees can contact OTT at 505-816-1023 for 

more information or to register for classes. Check out 

course dates and locations, and even register online, at 

OST_Training@ost.doi.gov. 

Pay.gov is Coming
 

Pay.gov offers lease holders the option to pay invoices online. OST plans to go live 

with Pay.gov before September 2011. 

Payments made via Pay.gov are faster, safer, easier and more convenient 

than payments by check. And faster payments mean faster disbursements to 

beneficiaries! Look for more information about Pay.gov in the next issue of Trust Matters. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VOLUME 11, ISSUE 2 3 

Native Report Features OST
 

Last fall, a Native Report crew visited the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) at its 

Albuquerque office. They recorded footage and interviews about OST’s operations. Native Report is a 

magazine style series that celebrates Native American culture and heritage. The programs entertain, 

educate and promote understanding. It is a production of public radio stations WRPT in Moscow, Idaho, 

and WDSE in Duluth, Minnesota. 

Native Report produced two shows with content about OST as part of its sixth season (2011). The 

episodes (episode 1 and episode 2) aired on WDSE in February 2011. In March, the episodes were 

distributed to affiliate stations for broadcast. View them anytime on the Native Report website. 

www.wdse.org/shows/native/watch/season-6 

Make a note! Native Report plans to include content about the American Indian Records Repository in 

one of its shows during season seven (2012). 

OAS Appraiser Trainee Program
 

Arenewed program is being offered through the 

Office of Appraisal Services (OAS), within the 

Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians 

(OST). The Appraiser Trainee Program provides an 

exciting career path and offers trainees an opportunity 

to gain experience in real estate appraising with a 

specialization in Indian trust land evaluations. Th e 

program was prominent from 1980 through 2000. 

In fact, 10 of the current 12 Regional Supervisory 

Appraisers were part of the appraiser trainee program. 

Currently, there are three appraiser trainees working with OAS appraiser mentors. Two trainees are in 

the Rocky Mountain Region and one is located in the 

Southern Plains Region. Through this program’s formal 

process, trainees engage in offi ce and field work, practicing alongside seasoned OAS appraisal experts. For 

example, recently a trainee and mentor in the Rocky 

Mountain Region completed 40 inspections on a reservation. (The state of Montana requires that the mentor 

accompany a trainee on the first 100 inspections.) 

Although states have diff erent specific criteria, generally changes in the appraisal profession in recent years 

have included appraiser state licensing/certifi cation 

and entry level requirements that are substantially 

higher and more difficult than before. In order to 

become licensed/certified as an appraiser since 2008, 

one must work under the direct supervision of a 

certified general appraiser who is registered with 

the state appraiser board as the mentor/supervisory 

appraiser of the trainee applicant. 

To be eligible for the OAS program, trainee applicants 

must have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent hours. 

They need to acquire 165 hours of specifi c appraiser 

training through professional appraisers or commercial 

organizations. In the program, they become licensed 

apprentice appraisers. After completing the education 

and experience requirements, the trainee applicant is 

eligible to take the national examination to become a 

certified general appraiser. 

OAS staffing analysis has determined that a majority 

of OAS staff who are certified general licensed appraisers are approaching retirement age. This program will 

improve the opportunity to promote from within and 

to recruit new appraiser talent into OAS. It insures that 

the organization is able to replace talent that is being 

lost through workforce attrition and allows OAS to 

better serve its clients now and in the future. 

For information about the program, contact 

Supervisory Appraiser Rena R. Sanford at 

503-231-6722. Information about OAS is on the 

OST website at www.doi.gov.ost.oas. 
 

 

4 TRUST MATTERS 

Responding to Your Call
 

When benefi ciaries contact 

the Trust Benefi ciary Call 

Center (TBCC), they expect 

knowledgeable responses to their 

questions. Ninety-three percent 

of the time, callers’ questions are 

answered while they are on the 

phone. That’s referred to as fi rst line 

resolution. It means only 7 percent 

of calls are forwarded to Fiduciary 

Trust Officers. More good news, 

that first line resolution rate is 

averaging 97 percent this year. 

Just how experienced and 

knowledgeable are technicians 

who answer the phones at TBCC? 

Each new technician works with 

a senior technician and trains for 

a month to learn about accounts, 

systems and statements. Th ey 

become expert in responding 

to beneficiaries’ inquires about 

trust assets and processing 

requested account updates and 

disbursements. 

Patience, however, is something 

technicians bring to the job. Th ey 

are expected to respond to a 

variety of issues, sometimes with 

short notice about things like OST 

procedural changes, oil and gas 

sales or mass mailings. Technicians 

may even help benefi ciaries frame 

their questions, at times making 

connections on the fl y from 

fragmented information. 

Technicians help educate 

beneficiaries about their statements 

— because knowledgeable 

beneficiaries can manage funds 

in their IIM accounts and their 

trust assets more eff ectively. 

Holding onto past statements aids 

beneficiaries because statement 

information is useful, for example 

when applying for credit. 

This year, calls to TBCC have been 

increasing. Prior to January 2011, 

the average monthly number of 

calls was about 14,000. During 

the first quarter of calendar year 

2011, TBCC received over 15,000 

calls each month, sometimes, 

significantly more. Quite a jump 

but, thanks to a performancebased contract that allows TBCC to 

maintain staffi ng levels appropriate 

to demand, technicians have been 

able to manage the increase while 

continuing to provide superior 

service to benefi ciaries. 

Many recent callers have been 

requesting updates to their account 

information. These updates may be 

name, address or similar personal 

information changes. Current 

address information is required to 

receive statements and funds. 

HINT: Hold onto your 

statements. Compare 

your current statement 

with your previous 

statement. Check your 

assets, disbursements 

and receipts. Take part in 

the management of your 

account. If you have a 

concern, be proactive by 

immediately bringing your 

question to the TBCC or 

your local Fiduciary Trust 

Offi cer. 

Remember, benefi ciaries who 

receive their funds via direct 

deposit and debit card still need 

accurate address information 

on file, not just those who have 

checks mailed to them. Even 

one statement returned as 

undeliverable because of address 

information affects the account, 

which is moved to the whereabouts 

unknown list. That stops delivery 

of funds, whether by check, 

debit card or direct deposit! 

The TBCC is open six days 

a week for your calling 

convenience: Monday 

through Friday from 7 a.m. 

to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 

8 a.m. to noon, Mountain 

time. The TBCC toll-free 

number is 1-888-678-6836. 

Principal Deputy Special Trustee 

Ray Joseph (right) and TBCC 

Manager Bryan Marozas confer 

in the call center about TBCC 

operations.