Monday, February 10, 2025
37.1 F
Pawhuska
HomeGovernmentBusinessCarnett to serve second year as ON Gaming Enterprise Board chair

Carnett to serve second year as ON Gaming Enterprise Board chair

Bartlesville Osage Casino employee wins national hospitality award

Claudette Carnett will serve as the Osage Nation Gaming Enterprise Board Chair for a second consecutive year after being elected to the post by her three colleagues.

At the board’s Oct. 23 meeting, the gaming board held its annual board officer elections as required by Osage law on boards and commissions. The board includes Carnett, Bruce Pollock, Holli Wells and Amy Tallchief and one vacancy after Geoff Hager did not receive a majority ON Congressional confirmation vote on Sept. 26 during the 2024 Tzi-Sho Session to serve another three-year term on the board. Tallchief has since resigned from the gaming board and taken a job at the casino.

For the officer election, Carnett asked for chair nominations and Pollock nominated her. Carnett asked for other nominations and none were voiced. Carnett received a 4-0 vote with her own vote included.

Next, the board selected a vice chair with Pollock nominating Wells for the post and no other nominations received. The board also voted 4-0 on Wells to serve as vice chair.

For the board’s secretary-treasurer post, Wells nominated Pollock and no other nominations were made. The vote for Pollock’s post was 4-0 as well.

Carnett then asked for a motion for the board officers to begin serving their posts immediately and the board voted 4-0. The board officers will serve for the remainder of the Nation’s current 2025 fiscal year.

For ON gaming, the next fiscal year includes continued efforts to build a Missouri casino on Nation-owned land near the Lake of the Ozarks. Osage Casinos CEO Kimberly Pearson told the board that progress continues on improvement projects to existing Osage Casino properties.

During the Nov. 5 General Election, Missouri voters rejected a proposed amendment to the Missouri Constitution to allow for a competing casino to also be built near Lake of the Ozarks.

The non-Osage development would have included a casino, a hotel, restaurants and other attractions. Bally’s was set to operate the casino and was a major backer of the campaign to pass Amendment 5, according to a KCUR radio news article. Osage Nation purchased a former hotel property and submitted a land-into-trust application to the U.S. Department of Interior for gaming purposes. The application needs federal approval and a sign-off from Missouri’s governor.

Jarred West, middle, received the ServiceSTAR from ImageFIRST, a national hospitality award for his work as the Food and Beverage Supervisor for the Osage Casino Hotel in Bartlesville. From left, Gaming Enterprise Board member Amy Tallchief (who has since resigned), GEB Chair Claudette Carnett, West, Osage Casinos CEO Kimberly Pearson and GEB Secretary/Treasurer Bruce Pollock. Courtesy Photo/Kasi Stumpff

Also during the Oct. 23 meeting, Pearson recognized a Bartlesville Osage Casino employee who received a national hospitality award. “We have Mr. Jarred West with us, he is our food and beverage supervisor at our Bartlesville property and this year, ImageFIRST did a campaign called the ImageFIRST national ServiceSTAR awards. This is a contest that recognizes hospitality professionals who go above and beyond to enhance the guest service. There were 10 finalists that were selected by the ServiceSTAR panel and then the public had a nationwide vote … Jarred West was the first place winner,” Pearson told the board.

West said it was an honor to work for Osage Casinos as he expressed thanks and received well-wishes from the gaming board members.

As for upcoming projects, Pearson said the flagship Tulsa casino property will receive new landscaping with native plants for the front side. The Ponca City casino will undergo renovations including adding a high limit gaming room where the current bar is located and a newer bar will also be constructed, and the hotel pool will also be updated, Pearson said.

The Bartlesville casino and hotel property has a new warehouse, and a training room has been built inside the Tulsa casino recently, Pearson said. She added that requests for proposals are also going out for a digital sign project to add signage to the Bartlesville and Pawhuska properties, which opened last year, as well as two digital boards in Tulsa.

Author

  • Benny Polacca

    Title: Senior Reporter

    Email: bpolacca@osagenation-nsn.gov

    Instagram: @bpolacca

    Topic Expertise: Government, Tribal Government, Community

    Languages spoken: English, basic knowledge of Spanish and French

    Benny Polacca (Hopi/ Havasupai/ Pima/ Tohono O’odham) started working at the Osage News in 2009 as a reporter in Pawhuska, Okla., where he’s covered various stories and events that impact the Osage Nation and Osage people. Those newspaper contributions cover a broad spectrum of topics and issues from tribal government matters to features. As a result, Polacca has gained an immeasurable amount of experience in covering Native American affairs, government issues and features so the Osage readership can be better informed about the tribal current affairs the newspaper covers.

    Polacca is part of the Osage News team that was awarded the Native American Journalists Association's Elias Boudinet Free Press Award in 2014 and has won numerous NAJA media awards, as well as awards from the Oklahoma Press Association and SPJ Oklahoma Pro Chapter, for storytelling coverage and photography.

    Polacca earned his bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and also participated in the former American Indian Journalism Institute at the University of South Dakota where he was introduced to the basics of journalism and worked with seasoned journalists there and later at The Forum daily newspaper covering the Fargo, N.D. area where he worked as the weeknight reporter.

Get the Osage News by email!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Benny Polacca
Benny Polaccahttps://osagenews.org

Title: Senior Reporter

Email: bpolacca@osagenation-nsn.gov

Instagram: @bpolacca

Topic Expertise: Government, Tribal Government, Community

Languages spoken: English, basic knowledge of Spanish and French

Benny Polacca (Hopi/ Havasupai/ Pima/ Tohono O’odham) started working at the Osage News in 2009 as a reporter in Pawhuska, Okla., where he’s covered various stories and events that impact the Osage Nation and Osage people. Those newspaper contributions cover a broad spectrum of topics and issues from tribal government matters to features. As a result, Polacca has gained an immeasurable amount of experience in covering Native American affairs, government issues and features so the Osage readership can be better informed about the tribal current affairs the newspaper covers.

Polacca is part of the Osage News team that was awarded the Native American Journalists Association's Elias Boudinet Free Press Award in 2014 and has won numerous NAJA media awards, as well as awards from the Oklahoma Press Association and SPJ Oklahoma Pro Chapter, for storytelling coverage and photography.

Polacca earned his bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and also participated in the former American Indian Journalism Institute at the University of South Dakota where he was introduced to the basics of journalism and worked with seasoned journalists there and later at The Forum daily newspaper covering the Fargo, N.D. area where he worked as the weeknight reporter.

RELATED ARTICLES

In Case You Missed it...

Upcoming Events