TULALIP – That Terri Gobin is chairwoman of the Tulalip Tribes is a shock to her.

“I didn’t plan to be on the board ever,” she said Monday in her office that overlooks Tulalip Bay.

But Gobin, whose dad, Stan Jones, was chairman of the tribes for 44 years, said she changed her mind two years ago.

“I needed to be part of a positive change,” she said, adding there was some divisiveness at the time. “We need to bring our community back together.”

Gobin said she was nominated to be chairwoman the past two years, but declined. Marie Zackuse instead became the first chairwoman in the history of the tribes.

When she was nominated this year, “I decided to let it ride. I needed to step up,” she said, adding this is the last year of her three-year board term.

Gobin said she didn’t campaign for the job. She said she had enough of that helping her dad.

As for what kind of advice Jones has given her, she said, “It’s all about taking care of your people – figure out how to make their lives better.”

As a leader, she said she is fair and respects people. “I lead with my heart and have strong convictions,” she said. “We can speak and disagree and still be friends.”

Gobin said she lives near her dad and has coffee with him every day. She said she shares his traits of being a hard worker and showing “compassion for his people.”

As for what she remembers most about her dad during all those years in office, she said it was his connections to U.S. presidents and the White House. During the Bill Clinton years, when the president left the room, Jones and some others sat in the president’s chair. Gobin said she can only imagine what the Secret Service agents thought while watching that on camera.

She actually got to go with Jones to the Inaugural Ball the year Clinton famously played the sax.

Like her dad, she wants to be a “driving force and not back down, but still show integrity in the process.”

As for her political future, she said she won’t be chairwoman another 43 years. “That’s for sure. But let’s see how the next year goes,” she said.

Gobin said while tribal government is faster than the federal government, it “still takes so long to get things done.”

She said she wants to empower other tribal leaders to think out of the box.

“Think of new ways to get things done. Don’t bring me an issue without a solution,” she said.

Here are just some of the issues she wants the tribe to work on.

Environment

One big one is the environment. The water has always been a part of her life. She’s been told that when she was an infant she was on the beach – in a basket. She patched fishing nets and worked as a deck hand for her dad before she became a commercial fisherman when she was 16. “We need to clean up the water and the keep the salmon alive,” she said.

Gobin said she wants the tribal hatchery to increase its fish count to help save the whales. She also wants to make sure culverts are fixed to improve salmon habitat.

Education and culture

She wants to work with the Marysville School District to improve student learning. “It’s failing right now,” she said, adding it needs to be more hands-on to engage kids.

She wants to continue to have tribal members learn the Lushootseed language. Students in the birth to age 5 Early Learning Academy are learning it, as are students in grade school. Middle school students are just starting to learn it, and Rosetta Stone-type instruction is being looked at for high schoolers.

Instruction about Native Americans, a curriculum called In Time Memorial, is behind schedule. She would like to see progress made there.

“The schools are ready. We just have to write our part of the curriculum,” she said, which can be a challenge since so much of their history is oral.

Business development

Everyone can tell by the huge crane that work has started again on the new Q casino next to Interstate 5. But development also will take place on the marina, with a new Gathering Hall for up to 2,000 people done by fall.

She said there is interest in a water park, but if they could partner with someone else it could get done faster.

Health

Gobin wants universal health care for all tribal members. She said many members already have it. She believes in more naturopathic medicine and is a firm believer in stem cell medicine after having it done on both her knees.

She believes in taking care of the elderly. To help with that, she would like to see the elders’ home remodeled.

Housing

“We need more affordable housing,” Gobin said, adding they are looking at apartment buildings for between 25 and 100 people.

She said the tribes don’t have much of a homeless issue. “We take care of each other,” she said.

But many nontribal members live in their woods. She said similar to in Marysville and Arlington, they have an embedded social worker who tries to help homeless get services.

However, also like in those two nearby cities, the goal of their police is to “clean up homeless camps” of drug needles, etc.

The Tulalip TERO pre-apprenticeship program has been building tiny houses for homeless in Seattle for years.

Gobin would like to see some of those put into a tiny village in Tulalip with a common area where they could cook and take showers.

“But they would need to commit to clean up,” she said, getting mental health counseling and other services. “We want them to get clean.”