Jack Potter Jr., Tribal Chairman
Redding Rancheria
Win-River Resort & Casino in Redding, CA
winriver.com
redding-rancheria.com
NAVIGATING 2021: The tribe has successfully navigated through 2020 and the beginning of 2021 by working closely together with the tribal government, executives, health care director, RREDCO president, WRRC general manager and every team member. We included every department to set protocols to help protect everyone. By keeping them informed and involved, we successfully worked together to protect the tribe, tribal elders, the membership, team members, and most importantly, our community and patrons, while still providing the best services possible during this pandemic. We streamlined and fine-tuned many services such as A and B shifts, as well as drive-thru membership meetings, which allowed the membership to still conduct business while keeping everyone safe and allowing the tribe to move forward. We created a Redding Rancheria safety protocol to allow the membership to have their first in-person meeting within 14 months while following CDC guidelines.
CHALLENGES/OPPORTUNITIES: One of the new challenges this last year was educating the membership about the safety of the vaccines and getting them to trust that they will be safe and protect themselves and their households.
The tribe is a sovereign nation, and we are able to set our own guidelines. We were able to vaccinate everyone 18 years and older, after providing vaccines to elders first, while the county was still in Tier 2 for ages 50 and up. The tribe had an opportunity to provide masks and vaccination clinics to the community on two separate occasions.
KEY TO SUCCESS: Working together and re-evaluating day-to-day operations and policies for the restaurants, spa, valet, administration, bingo, table games, etc., while providing a safe place of entertainment reassuring the guest that their safety is our number one priority. We enforced mandatory mask while in motion, temperature checks, sanitizing stations, 6 ft. barriers, and reduced the number of slot machines on floor to allow for social distancing. This would not possible without the exceptional team members on the front line and their willingness to adapt to change at a moment’s notice while continuing with the best customer service. Sharing our concerns of the pandemic with the community, the Tribal Council granted funds back to 20 small businesses in the total amount of $100,000. Each Tribal Council member felt these businesses have helped make a difference in the community during different times of need.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: During this pandemic we opened up another health clinic in Shasta Lake City, a third Head Start classroom and are in the schematic phase of a Health Care Village in Redding. We broke ground on a state-of-the-art health care facility in Trinity County and we are currently in the process of building a Homewood Suites in Shasta Lake. We are doing the relaunch and rebranding of our restaurant, Elements, which will now be Season Restaurant. We believe the community needed more health care options and more space for our children to learn while staying safe. The tribe is able to continue to expand because we have always followed our elder’s vision of always thinking of generations ahead and making the best decisions for the tribe, team members, community and patrons.