Did you know? Three women have 

served on the Special Trustee’s 

Advisory Board: Elouise Cobell 

(First Board’s Chair), Sue Masten 

and Helen Sanders. 

T

Department of the Interior Of

RUST 

fice of the Special Trustee for American Indians 

MATTERS 

Volume 11/Issue 4 Fall 2011 

Pay.gov is Here 

OST now can accept electronic payments for Bureau of Indian Aff airs 

(BIA) leases and permits through Pay.gov (www.pay.gov), a secure 

Internet based collection service provided at no cost by the 

U.S. Department of the Treasury. Pay.gov can accept both electronic 

check payments and those made by credit card. Payments made by 

check, money order or certified check will continue to be processed at 

the Indian trust fund lockbox. 

Payments made electronically at Pay.gov are faster, safer, easier and 

more convenient than ones made by mailing a check to the lockbox. 

Faster payments mean faster disbursements to benefi ciaries. Th is 

represents another step in the ongoing effort by the Offi ce of the 

Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) to improve the delivery of 

trust services to individual Indian and tribal benefi ciaries. 

Electronic payments can’t get lost or delayed in the mail and are 

significantly less likely to be dishonored. They are received at Treasury 

the same business day they are sent. To allow time for confi rmation of 

transactions, payments made by electronic check generally take two 

business days to clear while payments made by credit card take just 

one business day to clear. 

OST developed a process to enable electronic payments received 

through Pay.gov to be posted automatically to benefi ciaries’ accounts 

in a manner similar to payments received through the lockbox. Th is 

further reduces the risks of error and delay and enables benefi ciaries 

to receive their lease and permit income promptly. 

Pay.gov began to receive trust payments on August 29, 2011. During 

its first two months of operation, Pay.gov received 100 payments (39 

credit card payments and 61 electronic check payments) totaling more 

than $500,000.00 in trust income. 

If you have questions about Pay.gov, contact Rien Heymering, with 

OST’s Product Development Initiative, p

at 505-816-1323. 

Table of Contents 

Pay.gov 1 

Annual Audit 1 

Administrative Savings 2 

Land Consolidation 2 

Financial Skills 3 

Expand Financial Skills 3 

New Era: OTRA 4 

Qualifying: CIFTS 4 

Fiscal Year 2011 Audited 

Tribal and Other Trust Funds 

and Individual Indian Monies 

Trust Funds 

The independent reports on 

audited financial statements 

for funds managed by the 

Department of the Interior 

Office of the Special Trustee 

for American Indians (OST) 

have been published on the 

OST website. 

Visit www.doi.gov/ost and 

access the 2011 AUDIT link 

at the top of the page. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 TRUST MATTERS 

$3.3 Million FY2012 

Administrative Savings 

The Office of the Special Trustee 

for American Indians’ (OST) 

budget for fiscal year 2012 refl ects 

administrative savings of $3.3 

million. Employees are pitching 

in to achieve greater efficiencies 

at work while maintaining the 

current level of service. OST 

employees want their efforts to be 

transparent to benefi ciaries. 

Administrative savings in the 

budget include expenses 

associated with travel, training 

and awards, acquisitions and 

space. For example, holding 

virtual meetings helps minimize 

travel costs and strategic 

sourcing aims to reduce costs by 

aggregating purchases across the 

Department of the Interior. 

Office space is being addressed 

from several perspectives. Space 

was recently reduced by closing 

three fi eld offices of the Offi ce 

of Historical Trust Accounting 

(OHTA). The Offi ce of Trust Records 

and OHTA are combining, and 

thereby reducing, their offi ce 

spaces at the American Indian 

Records Repository. Additional 

space savings are planned for the 

next couple fiscal years as well. 

As leases expire and employee 

workspaces are reduced in 

response to a government-wide 

effort to employ a standard 

utilization rate (square footage 

per person), OST will require less 

total offi ce space. 

The administrative savings target 

is part of the ongoing challenge to 

do more with less. OST employees 

are meeting that challenge now 

and will continue to work hard 

to achieve more savings in the 

coming fi scal years. 

Land Consolidation Tribal Consultations 

What do July 15 and September 27 have in common? On each day, 

Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians Principal Deputy 

Special Trustee Ray Joseph attended land consolidation tribal 

consultation meetings. In July, he traveled to Billings, Mont., for the fi rst 

meeting. The September meeting was in Albuquerque, N. M.; it was the 

fourth meeting. Joseph observed that as the consultations continued, 

tribal input became more focused and critical issues were emphasized. 

The consultations are a component of the $3.4 billion Cobell settlement. 

The Cobell settlement was approved by Congress on November 30, 

2010 (Claims Resolution Act of 2010) and signed by President Obama 

on December 8, 2010. The settlement establishes a $1.9 billion fund for 

the voluntary buy-back and consolidation of fractionated land interests. 

The land consolidation program will provide individual American 

Indians with an opportunity to obtain cash payments for divided land 

interests and free up the land for the benefit of tribal communities. 

On May 27, 2011, U.S. Senior District Judge Thomas F. Hogan granted 

communication between representatives of the United States and Cobell 

class members only in regard to the trust land consolidation component 

of the settlement. 

Department of the Interior Secretary Salazar selected high level officials 

to attend the consultations, although representatives of the Department 

varied from meeting to meeting. In addition to Salazar and Joseph, 

attendees included Deputy Secretary David Hayes, Solicitor Hilary 

Tompkins, Associate Solicitor Division of Indian Aff airs Michael 

Berrigan, Associate Deputy Secretary Meghan Conklin, Assistant 

Secretary Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk, Deputy Assistant Secretary 

Indian Affairs for Policy and Economic Development Jodi Gillette and 

Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Michael Black. 

On September 29, the Department of the Interior announced a 

seventh date had been added to the six consultation dates that were 

previously scheduled. Th e final consultation was held in Rapid City, 

S. D., on October 26. For information about the consultations, visit the 

Department’s Cobell website at www.doi.gov/cobell. 
 

 

 

 

VOLUME 11, ISSUE 4 3 

Financial Skills Training: Start Young! 

Fiduciary Trust Officer Eileen McBride, Winnebago Agency, assisted Shawn Spruce, a trainer from First Nations 

Development Institute (FNDI), at a financial skills workshop on July 6, 2011. The half day workshop, Investing 

for the Future, was part of the investor project for Native youth and families. The training was created by FNDI. 

The workshop, attended by 30 teenage members of the tribe’s summer employment program, was held at the casino hotel. Three administrators from the tribal school who attended 

the training had very positive comments about 

the workshop. 

The tribe pays per capita payments to tribal youth 

when they reach the age of eighteen. This workshop was designed to provide information that will 

enable those young tribal members to invest their 

per capita funds wisely in order to provide for their 

long-term fi nancial security. 

Expanding Financial Skills Training 

Financial training through the in Connecticut, October 2011. Th e quarterly financial skills training 

Office of the Special Trustee for reports contain recommendations that would earn high school or 

American Indians (OST) off ers an to help tribes ensure that minors, college credit. Along with Shawn 

opportunity for tribes to provide when given control of trust or per Spruce, a trainer with FNDI, they 

their young people with informa- capita funds, have skills to make also provided a two-day training 

tion to help them handle their trust well-informed choices that support session on basic investing to the 

or per capita lump sum disburse- financial success. (NAFOA is a Santa Rosa Band of Cahuilla 

ments. OST Field Operations has national not-for-profi t organization Indians tribal council and investment 

been partnering with First Nations that builds the financial strength of committee to assist them with long 

Development Institute (FNDI) tribal governments and their en- range planning for the use of their 

since 2009 to provide fi nancial terprises by providing educational trust and revenue sharing income. 

skills training across Indian country forums and resources and impartto youth, adults and elders. Th is ing finance and accounting best OST would like to assist your tribe 

culturally sensitive training, practices.) with financial skills training. Contact 

developed by FNDI, emphasizes your FTO for information about 

the circle of life and support of local Currently, OST is working with training being offered in your area. 

communities. It covers budgeting, several tribes to provide fi nancial To locate your FTO, visit 

investing and planning for the skills training to youth, adults, and www.doi.gov/ft o. 

future to grow and manage personal elders. For example, recently, the 

wealth. Th *See the FNDI reports Big Money: e training can be tailored Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla 

Structuring Minor’s Trust Programs for various age groups and interests. Indians and representatives from 

the First Nation Development For Native Communities, published 

FNDI has released two reports* Institute met with Jim James, OST’s July 2011, and Developing Innovaabout tribal per capita payments Regional Trust Administrator of the tions in Tribal Per Capita Distributo minors in conjunction with Navajo, Western and Pacifi c Region, tion Payment Programs: Promoting 

financial training. Th e reports and Theresa Glinski, Fiduciary Education, Savings, and Investments 

were highlighted at the Native Trust Officer at the Palm Springs for the Future, published July 2011 

American Finance Offi cers Asso- Agency, to discuss potential online 

ciation (NAFOA) fall conference curricula for tribal members and 
 

 

 

 

4 TRUST MATTERS 

New Era of Trust Reviews and Audits 

The Office of Trust Review and Audit (OTRA) was 

created within the Office of the Special Trustee 

for American Indians (OST) in 2003. In 2004, OTRA 

conducted the first Indian Trust Examinations (ITE) 

using the Indian Trust Rating System (ITRS). ITRS 

provides a method for assessing and measuring 

the operational effectiveness and performance 

of Indian fiduciary trust activities and operations 

within the Department of the Interior (DOI), as well 

as external to DOI. 

OTRA also performs annual tribal trust evaluations 

for all self-governance compacted tribes 

operating trust programs under annual funding 

agreements with DOI. Annual trust evaluations are 

congressionally mandated reviews pursuant to 

federal law and required by 25 CFR 1000.350. 

Originally, OTRA was intended to implement 

a nationwide Indian trust risk management 

program aimed at providing guidance to Indian 

trust managers in OST; Bureau of Indian Aff airs 

(BIA); Bureau of Land Management (BLM); Offi ce 

of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR), formerly 

Minerals Management Service; and to tribes. In 

2004, the risk management function was moved 

to OST’s Trust Accountability offi ce and OTRA 

was realigned to report directly to the Special 

Trustee. In 2011, OTRA made the following 

changes: (1) risk management is being performed 

by OTRA to provide better service to customers 

and to streamline the reporting process for risk 

management activities, and (2) an offi ce has been 

established in Washington, D.C., to conduct audits 

and reviews of BIA, BLM, ONRR and OST. 

OTRA is working with the Department, BIA, and 

within OST to avoid duplication of site work 

to ensure effi cient and eff ective management 

controls; compliance with applicable laws and 

regulations; protection of assets from waste, fraud 

and abuse; and reliability of fi nancial information. 

These changes in operation are under the guidance 

of Director Sylvia Anderson, who came to OTRA in 

June 2011. If you would like to know more about 

OTRA’s responsibilities, please call 202-254-2144. 

Qualifying as a Certified Indian Fiduciary 

Trust Specialist 

Congratulations to Jennifer Jojola, an Associate 

Trust Administrator with the Office of the Special 

Trustee for American Indians (OST) Field Operations and, as of August 2011, OST’s newest Certifi ed 

Ind an Fiduciary Trust Specialist (CIFTS). To obtain 

certification, over the period of several years Jennifer 

took all eight Cannon Financial Institute courses in 

this series, completed the CIFTS review and passed 

the exam. 

Those who become CIFTSs are responsible for 

completing a designated number of hours of continuing 

education every three years. The continuing education 

requirements have been established to ensure that 

CIFTSs can document a high level of commitment 

to maintain the knowledge, skill and expertise that 

originally qualified them to be certifi ed. 

Along with Jennifer, seven BIA employees also 

passed the CIFTS exam in August. The BIA employees are LaDonna Carlisle, David Hopkins, Bonita 

Nipper, Felicia Sandoval, Sherri Tano, Wanita Walker, 

and Dorothy Wallner. To date, 137 Department of 

the Interior employees have earned the CIFTS 

designation. 

Cannon Financial Institute is the leading trust 

trainer in the nation for the private sector 

fiduciary industry. Implementation of Cannon 

training marked the first training program 

developed 

specifi cally to 

focus on fi duciary 

Indian trust.