03/16/2020
Effective Monday, March 16th, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has instituted a travel ban for all employees and tribal officials. In addition, all scheduled community events and trainings are canceled or postponed until May 1, at which time they will be evaluated for the safety of our tribal members.
Tribal Council would like to remind our entire tribal nation that this is a rapidly evolving situation and we will put additional measures in place as necessary. Council also wants to reassure you that we are actively monitoring the latest developments and are working to mitigate any potential effects that could harm our tribal community, especially our elders and other vulnerable populations. To that end, the following travel ban is being issued until further notice.
Effective March 16th, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is issuing a tribal wide travel ban for all tribal employees and officials. This ban applies to all employees and entities under the Ponca Tribe as well as Tribal Council, boards, and committees.
• This includes new travel as well as any currently booked out-of-state (and international) trips.
• If you are currently on travel (out-of-state or international), you are to make the Emergency Response Team aware of your return in case additional safety measures are needed.
• No outside meetings or rentals are to take place at the tribal offices.
• All tribal events are being postponed during this time.
• Travel between the tribal offices and within the tribal service areas should be limited, unless deemed essential.
• These restrictions are in place regardless of funding source.
All directors and supervisors are instructed to consider valuable training alternatives such as video or teleconference in place of in-person training. Directors and supervisors should work with their employees in minimizing the financial burden to the Tribe by making all attempts to get travel and registration costs refunded or credited for future use.
Furthermore, only essential or mandatory out-of-state travel would be considered on a case-by¬case basis by the Tribal Council.
On behalf of the Tribal Council, we appreciate your understanding and patience as we get through this together.
