November 15, 2023. The November 14 Tribal Board Meeting demonstrates needs for change in the rules to serve on committees. As of today the Sault Tribe has 35 Sault Tribe Committee Vacancies.
Why the vacancies? The simple truth may be that very few members are willing to follow the 1970 style rules currently in place to apply to be on the committees or leave their approval of these Volunteer Posts up to the vote of the Tribal Board especially after viewing the behavior of the Chairman during the November 14 Board Meeting in which he that would not allow Board Members to vote for a Tribal Member to serve on a committee, appearing instead to favor another Board Member's Candidate using the excuse of parliamentary rules for his behavior or after watching multiple Board Members disparage Election Committee Volunteers in past Board Meetings.
The changes needed that could result in Tribal Members being willing to serve as Committee Members can start with simplifying the application process to allow for any Tribal Member living at any address, over the age of 14 that passes a background check to serve as a Volunteer while being provided the option to attend meetings on Zoom along with ending the need to be approved by the Board or provide letters of recommendation from other Tribal Members. Our View is if you are you a Tribal Member that wants to volunteer your time and energy to serve your tribe the official position on this issue should only be "Thank You"... so much....your amazing... It absolutely should not be "We have to vote on that and will get back to you".
- In other news from the November 14 Board Meeting, the costs of elections for referendums in 2023 exceeded $100,000.
- A report of the need to improve the Compensation Plan of a Staff Member working in Traditional Medicine or risk loss of vital services provided by this department was reported with no comments or feedback provided by the Board.
- Now that all Tribal Members 18 and older are automatically registered to vote with the ability to choose the Unit you want to vote in if living outside the service area left one Board Member seemly paranoid that Tribal Members will register in her unit just to remove her from office during the next election.
- A Tribal Board Member reported her rights to privacy were violated and appeared to believe her safety is threatened as a result of this violation committed by an unknown party.
- November 14 Meeting
The Mission of the Sault Tribe Guardian is provide an independent source of news about our tribe while advocating for changes in our Tribal Government Policy that we believe will support Enrolled Tribal Members best interests.
We believe that...
1. The Youth Development Fund should serve ALL Sault Tribe Children no matter where they live or how much their parents earn.
2. We support the creation of a 2.5% Tribal Sales Tax charged on all purchases made on the Sault Tribe Reservation by all People with no exceptions along with a 2.5% Elder Fee added to purchases made on sales at any business owned by our Tribe that is located off the Reservation with the funds used to increase the Annual Payments made to Tribal Elders.
3. The Tribe's Interest Rates paid for the loans currently due to the Elder Fund should be raised to 12.5%.
4. The fees paid to the Tribe by Lume and the money due from Indian Energy should be placed in a fund to share with all Enrolled Tribal Members annually. Indian Energy should be required to immediately start paying back the funds they were provided by our tribe along with a plan to pay future profits.
5. We need to respect and support all current health care providers, while looking for ways to improve service without compromising patient care. We do not support the idea of doubling the patience load in an attempt to make profits to replace lost casino income as proposed during the November 7 Board Meeting.
6. We can disagree with the actions of the Tribal Board but still respect the Tribal Board. We do not advocate harassment of any kind. If you don't like what your Unit Representative is doing vote for someone else during the next election and/or run for office yourself.
7. The Tribal Rolls should be open at all times to enroll all qualified persons.
8. The ability to run for Tribal Board should be open to all qualified individuals regardless of their address because the majority of the Tribe lives outside of the service area.
8. We will fight to protect all the rights provided under Article III of the Constitutions' By-Laws.
9. While we support the recording of all Tribal Board Meetings, we believe access should be restricted to Tribal Members only to protect our Tribe however because they are on You Tube and Facebook we include the meetings as part of our reports when available.
