Beneficiary Call Center 

1-888-678-6836 

ext. 888 

Hours of Operation 

Monday-Friday 

7:00am-5:00pm 

(Mountain Time )

On Friday, December 3, 2004, the Department of the Interior (DOI) deployed 

the first phase of the Indian Trust Beneficiary Call Center, which is designed to 

enhance the delivery of services to trust beneficiaries. The nationwide, toll-free 

call center will enable beneficiaries to conveniently access a wide variety of information regarding their trust assets. The Call Center also is expected to improve 

communications between DOI and Indian beneficiaries. 

Why is a central Beneficiary Call Center needed? 

Currently, staff from the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians 

(OST), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Minerals Management Service (MMS) and 

other offices receive inquiries from Indian trust beneficiaries on a daily basis. To 

track, coordinate and facilitate our responses to beneficiaries, increase accountability and improve the level of beneficiary service, the Department has begun to 

consolidate these calls to a central number. The consolidation is expected to provide beneficiaries with timely, accurate responses to their trust inquiries, and relieve some of the workload from DOI staff at the local agencies. 

What will happen during the first phase of the Beneficiary Call Center? 

During Phase 1, which is the initial testing phase for the Call Center, beneficiary 

calls normally routed to OST- Field Operations in Albuquerque, NM and beneficiary calls coming into the Concho and Anadarko Agencies and the Shawnee Field 

Office in Oklahoma will come to the Call Center. The initial testing phase will 

allow for the development of Standard Operating Procedures, measure call volume and determine the efficiency of the Call Center. Over the next ten months, 

calls to the remaining OST offices and calls to the Whereabouts Unknown Project 

are expected to be directed to the Call Center. 

What is the toll-free Call Center number? 

Beneficiaries can continue to make inquiries using the existing toll-free number 

1-888-678-6836 ext. 888. In the future, as the individual agency locations are 

consolidated to the Call Center, an IIM accountholder will no longer need to enter the appropriate Tribal Code that is part of the account number. 

y Initial testing phase 

began December 3, 

2004. 

y The Call Center received 10,144 calls, as 

of February 25, 2005. 

y Provided first-call 

resolution for 94%.

y The Center anticipates answering 20,000 

- 25,000 calls per 

month by the end of 

2005. 

TRUST MATTERS

Department of the Interior — 

Office of the Special Trustee 

for American Indians 

March 2005 

Volume 4, Issue 2 

Beneficiary Call Center Opens Beneficiary Call Center Opens
Page 2 Trust Matters 

FY06 OST Budget Proposed 

FTOs Plan Outreach Meetings Across Indian Country 

OST Fiduciary Trust Officers (FTOs) are hard 

at work planning outreach meetings for beneficiaries throughout Indian Country. At these 

meetings, FTOs will be able to introduce 

themselves to tribal and individual beneficiaries, explain the role of a trust officer, answer 

questions, and outline many OST plans and 

programs. In the past, outreach meetings have 

proved helpful to both FTOs and beneficiaries. Because of information gathered at outreach meetings on the Rosebud reservation, 

one trust officer successfully located nearly 

200 account holders who had trust account 

funds, and whose whereabouts were previously unknown. 

The following is a partial list of outreach 

meetings planned in the coming months. 

Dates and locations may 

change. More information will be available 

from OST FTOs and 

Regional Trust Administrators. 

Southwest: 

Albuquerque, New Mexico, Gathering of 

Nations Pow Wow, April 28-30 

Navajo: 

Tohaajiilee, New Mexico, April (date to be 

determined) 

Mescalero, New Mexico, April (TBD) 

Houck/Lupton, Arizona, May (TBD) 

Great Plains: 

Rapid City, South Dakota, April 2 

Rosebud Sioux, South Dakota, April 20 

Rosebud Sioux, South Dakota, May 25 

Southern Plains: 

Watonga, Oklahoma, April 19 

Concho, Oklahoma, April 26 

Clinton, Oklahoma, May 3 

Hammon, Oklahoma, May 10 

Seiling, Oklahoma, May 17 

Geary, Oklahoma, May 27 

Eastern Oklahoma: 

Muskogee, Oklahoma, April 2-3 

Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma, April 3 

Wewoka, Oklahoma, April (date to be determined) 

Chickasaw, Ada, Oklahoma, May (TBD) 

Rocky Mountain: 

Wind River, Wyoming, April 4-8 

Blackfeet, Montana, ITMA Tribal Listening 

Conference, April 5-6 

Northern Cheyenne, Montana, April 20 

Fort Peck, Montana, May 10 

Eastern Region: 

Seminole & Miccosukee, Florida, April 11-15 

Alaska: 

Bethel, April 12 

Anchorage, April 14 

Homer, April 19-20 

Nome, April 26 

Kotzebue, April 28 

Fairbanks, May 10 

Juneau, May 12 

The President’s FY2006 request for 

the Office of the Special Trustee for 

American Indians (OST) is $303.9 

million, an increase of $75.9 million 

above the FY 2005 appropriated level. 

The increase for the Office of Historical Trust Accounting, managed by the 

Office of the Secretary, but funded 

through OST, is $77.8 million. The 

request provides funding for the implementation of key components of 

the Fiduciary Trust Model, improves 

beneficiary services and encourages 

Indian land consolidation efforts. 

When combined with other departmental spending on Indian trust management, the Unified Trust Budget is 

$591.4 million, an increase of about 

17 percent over FY2005. 

Contact local FTOs or 

Regional Trust 

Administrator (RTAs) 

for more information 

on date, time, and 

specific location. 
Volume 4, Issue 2 Page 3 

Staff Changes at OST 

On February 13, 2005, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs 

David W. Anderson announced W. Patrick Ragsdale as the 

new Director of BIA. Ragsdale, 

who is a member of the Cherokee 

Nation of Oklahoma, has been serving for the last year as Director, 

OST Office of Trust Review and 

Audit in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

“Mr. Ragsdale comes to this position with a wealth of experience in 

Indian Affairs,” said Anderson. “I have every confidence in his 

management abilities and his dedication to meet the needs of 

Indian people.” 

The Director of BIA directly oversees the day-to-day activities 

of the Bureau, administers all laws governing non-education 

portions of Indian Affairs, provides leadership and direction of 

BIA employees, and oversees and monitors the work of the 

BIA regional offices, agencies, and field offices. 

Joining the staff of OST in January, 2005, is Malcom 

Shorter, the new Director of Budget, Finance and Administration. Shorter previously served as 

the Assistant Director for Programming and Budget, United States Department of Homeland Security 

(DHS), Counternarcotics Office, 

where he collaborated with key 

counter-drug resource managers in 

all DHS components, and assisted in 

the oversight of the drug interdiction 

budgets of multiple federal agencies. 

As the Director of Budget, Finance 

and Administration, Shorter is responsible for the OST budget 

formulation. He provides budget, planning and analysis support; and oversees the administration of the personnel, acquisition, finance, and Government Services Administration space 

contracts. He also coordinates required reporting to the DOI, 

the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and to the 

United States Congress. 

Upcoming Cannon Certification Upcoming Cannon Certification Upcoming Cannon Certification 

Courses Courses Courses

DOI and tribal trust employees are invited to 

sign up now for the following training courses: 

Trust Accounting 

y April 4-6 Sacramento 

y April 13-15 Oklahoma City 

Fiduciary Behaviors 

y April 18-20 Phoenix 

y May 4-6 Minneapolis 

Asset Management 

y April 4-6 Tulsa 

y April 20-22 Phoenix 

Guardianships 

y April 6-8 Tulsa 

y May 2-4 Minneapolis 

For more information or to sign up for classes, 

call 505-816-1023. 

W e are beginning to implement several new trust business processes which 

will streamline and improve services we offer to Indian trust beneficiaries. I am 

confident that in the months ahead, beneficiaries will enjoy the results of the 

trust reform effort as well as the new resources OST is making available to assist 

them. 

I am pleased with the progress being made in the hiring and placement of 

Fiduciary Trust Officers nationwide. With the addition of these new OST 

employees, beneficiaries have, for the first time, a federal employee who is 

dedicated to finding and providing answers to their questions about their trust 

assets. This improves the level of service we provide to beneficiaries, and enables 

other Departmental trust employees to focus on their primary responsibilities 

without the competing interest of assisting beneficiaries with their inquiries. 

The successful launch of the initial phase of the Beneficiary Call Center last 

December also represents our commitment to increasing accessibility to respond to 

beneficiary questions. The nearly 8,500 calls fielded in the first two months of 

the call center indicate the need to which this service is responding. To date, the 

vast majority of the questions posed by callers were answered immediately, 

without the need for additional research or escalation within the organization. 

DOI employees are encouraged to continue to inform Indian trust beneficiaries 

about the Trust Officer and Call Center resources that OST is making available 

to them. 

Message from the Special Trustee 

Malcom Shorter 

Pat Ragsdale 
Probate Reform Bill Enacted 

On October 27, 2004, the President signed the American Indian Probate Reform Act of 2004, which amends 

the Indian Land Consolidation Act to provide important 

tools to reduce fractionation of individual Indian land 

interests and establishes a uniform probate code for Indians. The Act changes the way trust estates are probated. 

Additionally, the Act: 

  Increases the importance and benefits of writing a 

will or preparing an estate plan. 

  Ensures that tribal probate laws are consistent with 

Federal probate laws. 

  Improves individuals’ ability to consolidate interests 

in trust or restricted land. 

  Improves individuals’ ability to manage parcels of 

land in which an interest is owned. 

  Limits inheritance without a will when ownership is 

less than five percent 

of the total. 

These and other provisions of the law will enhance Indian land consolidation efforts by providing useful tools to individuals, tribes, and Interior. The law requires the Secretary to send a notification to tribes and 

individuals who might be affected by the law, and to certify that such notice was sent. Most of the provisions of 

the law will take effect one year from the date of the certification. 

Official notification of the new law will be mailed to all 

owners of trust land and published in the Federal Register on April 1, 2005. A National Video Teleconference, 

produced by the National Indian Programs Training Center and designed to provide DOI and tribal trust employees with information about the law, will be broadcast to 

the 12 BIA regional offices and 87 agencies nationwide 

Department of the Interior 

Office of the Special Trustee — 

  Office of External Affairs 

18th and C Street, NW 

Room 5140 

Washington, DC 20240 

(202) 208-4866 

Coming to a Mailbox Near You! 

During the first quarter of 2005, OST is including an 

insert (see below) in every beneficiary’s quarterly account 

statement. The insert outlines the benefits of receiving 

trust fund disbursements through Direct Deposit. 

Beneficiaries interested in participating in OST’s Direct 

Deposit program, can contact their local servicing agency 

or call the Beneficiary Call Center at 1-888-678-6836 

ext. 888. There is no charge to participate. 

Look for this insert

in your statement!