By Shaun Scott, Puyallup Tribal News
When an individual works for the same company for nearly 15 years they tend to know everyone in the building.
Andrew Strobel, who originally joined the Puyallup Tribe as an Associate Planner in April 2010, epitomizes this reality. He seems to know everyone and everyone seemingly knows him. The well-spoken Strobel stands out because of the legacy of excellence he cultivated over the past decade and a half. Strobel rose through the ranks during his career with the Tribe, ascending to the role of Planning and Land Use Director.
Strobel’s final day of work with the Tribe will be on Jan. 15.
He recently accepted a position working for incoming Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello. His first day on the job will be Jan. 16. Strobel will be working as the Strategic Advisor for Regional and Tribal Affairs for the county, an at-will position that serves at the leisure of the new Pierce County Executive.
“I will have the responsibility to represent the county and communicate with our local Tribes which includes not only Puyallup, but other Medicine Creek Treaty Tribes — Nisqually, Squaxin Island and also Muckleshoot,” Strobel said.
Strobel said he will be collaborating with the Puget Sound Regional Council, Pierce County Regional Council and Sound Transit in his new position.
“I’m not really going away either in my new role. I will be around working with whatever is taking place between the Puyallup Tribe and Pierce County,” Strobel said.
Strobel has witnessed the Tribe’s growth firsthand in many different capacities since his arrival in spring 2010. He believes his top two accomplishments at the Tribe during his tenure were getting a comprehensive land use plan approved by the Tribal Council about a year and half ago and being part of a team who helped the Tacoma Tideflats Subarea plan get over the finish line this past December.
“The Tacoma Tideflats Subarea plan was a seven-year project. The Tribe had been fighting many battles related to pollution and contamination at the Port of Tacoma in and around the reservation in how it was affecting fish. I feel like a lot of the goals in that plan will prevent those types of dirty uses from happening ever again on the reservation,” Strobel said. “While not a perfect document, I believe the work in the Tideflats Subarea plan creates the roadmap for a more sustainable future for the Tribe and its members.” “There was a promise out of the land settlement agreement (1990) that the Tribe would one day do a comprehensive land use plan. We finished that about a year and a half ago. There had been several attempts to pass such a plan previously but we finally were able to create a plan during the challenging times of the pandemic. ”
The joy of what Strobel calls his No. 1 achievement, the completed comprehensive land use plan, is something he will always cherish.
“That was one of the hardest things that I ever worked on. There was a promise in there (land settlement agreement) that we would do that and come 30-plus years later we finally accomplished it,” Strobel said. “It really does set a blueprint for what the Tribe needs to work toward for the next 20 years.”
Strobel worked on various projects during his tenure with the Tribe including the new Emerald Queen Casino (completed in 2020) and various road and transportation projects on Tribal lands. Creating sidewalks and making roadways safer is something he is extremely proud of.
“Natives have some of the most disproportionate impacts for traffic collisions. I have spent a lot of my career trying to make roads safer to minimize the chances that Tribal Members were going to get hurt from a road that didn’t have good signage or didn’t have good treatments on it,” Strobel explained. “We still have accidents here on the Puyallup Reservation, but I hope I had some part in minimizing the number of collisions and accidents that happened to Tribal Members.”
Outside of his work for the Puyallup Tribe, Strobel has also served as a delegate to the Tlingit and Haida Tribes, which he is a member of.
Strobel admitted turning in his badge and computer on his final day in mid-January will be an emotional experience.
“I’m excited for what lies before me, but I’m also really respectful and observant of what the Tribe has been (able) to provide me for my career, my growth and setting me up to be successful in my next position,” he said. “I have described to people that the Tribe is such a unique place to work because I feel so connected and I feel a familial bond with Tribal Members here. It is going to be weird to leave and not see them every single day in my new role.”
