1 1 2 3 4 5 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE 6 COMANCHE BUSINESS COMMITTEE 7 MONTHLY MEETING 8 APRIL 2, 2011, 10:15 A.M. 9 COMANCHE NATION COMPLEX 10 LAWTON, OKLAHOMA 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ________________________________________________ 22 REPORTED BY: KELLY STOABS, CSR DODSON COURT REPORTING & LEGAL VIDEO 23 435 NORTH WALKER AVENUE, SUITE 102 OKLAHOMA CITY, OK 73102 24 405/235-1828 OFFICE ~ 405/235-1266 FAX 877/681-2119 TOLL FREE 25 dcri@coxinet.net ~ www.dodsonreporting.net 2 1 A P P E A R A N C E S 2 3 COMANCHE NATION BUSINESS COMMITTEE MEMBERS: 4 Michael Burgess, Chairman Richard "Bunky" Henson, Vice-Chairman 5 Robert Tippeconnie, Secretary-Treasurer Ronald Red Elk, Committeeman #1 6 Mark Wauahdooah, Committeeman #2 Darrell Kosechequetah, Committeeman #3 7 Clyde R. Narcomey, Committeeman #4 8 9 LEGAL COUNSEL: 10 William Norman, James Burson Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker 11 12 13 * * * * * * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 INDEX OF PROCEEDINGS 2 PAGE 3 Meeting called to order at 5 10:15 a.m. 4 Mr. Wauahdooah reports on Rez 5 5 Economic Development conference. 6 Motion passed to approve Resolution 13 #26-11 Enrollment List No. 862. 7 Motion passed to approve Resolution 13 8 #27-11 Enrollment List No. 863. 9 Motion passed to table Resolution 15 #28-11 Resolution to add Conspiracy 10 to the Criminal Code. 11 Motion passed to table Resolution 29 #29-11 Resolution to Modify 12 Obstruction of Justice Criminal Code. 13 Motion passed to approve Resolution 31 14 #30-11 Resolution for Juvenile Detention Services. 15 Motion passed to approve Resolution 36 16 #31-11 Resolution of the CBC Approving Court Costs of Comanche 17 Nation Childrens Court. 18 Motion passed to approve Resolution 43 #32-11 to approve Comanche Nation 19 Children's Court Prosecutor Professional Service Contract. 20 Motion passed to table Resolution 44 21 #33-11 Adoption of the Comanche Nation Hazard Mitigation Plan. 22 Motion passed to approve Resolution 45 23 #34-11 Grant Application to Department of Health and Human 24 Services. 25 4 1 INDEX OF PROCEEDINGS 2 PAGE 3 Motion passed to approve Resolution 50 #35-11 Contract with Chris Ramsey. 4 Motion passed to approve Resolution 65 5 #36-11 Approving the Tribal Court Civil Jurisdiction Ordinance of 6 2011. 7 Motion passed to approve Resolution 72 #37-11 Approving an Amendment to 8 Section 214 of the Comanche Nation Revenue and Taxaction Act of 1995. 9 Motion passed to approve Resolution 73 10 #38-11 Amending the Comanche Nation General Revenue and Taxation Act of 11 1995 by Enacting Additional Provisions to Part Ten Unemployment 12 Tax. 13 Motion passed to approve Resolution 76 #40-11 Barring the Appointment and/or 14 Employment of Individuals Whose Actions Result in Costly Lawsuits 15 Against the Nation. 16 Thomas Narcomey. 78 17 Ronald RedElk. 89 18 Homecoming. 120 19 Clorandia Tsatoke. 132 20 Nepotism Rules. 140 21 Open session concluded at 1:54 p.m. 164 22 Reporter's Certificate. 165 23 Secretary-Treasurer's Certificate. 166 24 25 5 1 (Meeting called to order at 2 10:15 a.m.) 3 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Mr. Chairman, a two 4 minute report on the trip to Las Vegas. The Rez 5 Economic Development conference was sponsored by 6 Rayathon, Department of Interior and the SBA. 7 Basically two points I need to bring 8 up is that if you're going to do economic 9 development, you've got to set your face like 10 flint and step out of the boat and diversify on 11 economic development away from casino gambling. A 12 lot of tribes are scared and afraid to do so, but 13 all the tribes that have been successful, like the 14 Morongo tribe in California that built the huge 15 casino, they're now teaming up with Nestle 16 Corporation to do a water bottling plant, about an 17 $80 million plant to sell Arrowhead Water in the 18 Los Angeles area. I found a lot of the other 19 tribes are going to water bottling, selling 20 water. It is a thing of the future. 21 I met with some of the grassroots 22 tribes there from the Innuit from Alaska to the 23 Maine Indians to whatever tribes, the Navajos. 24 They're saying that there is some fear in the 25 future that -- you've heard this before. That the 6 1 federal government, once they get rid of this 2 Cobell settlement, once they're dealing with this 3 Kacheri lawsuit, which I understand from the 4 attorneys doesn't affect us directly here in 5 Oklahoma, about fee and trust settlement, that the 6 federal government is going to say no more money 7 to the tribes. So that's why it's motivated a lot 8 of the tribes to diversify quickly away from 9 casino gambling to develop alternative 10 industries. That's my report. 11 MR. BURGESS: All right, Mark. Thank 12 you very much. You're right, that's a long 13 discussion for us to get into with our community. 14 Everybody has a different idea of what's going to 15 work and what's not going to work. 16 MR. NARCOMEY: Mr. Chairman, I've got 17 a different idea also. You know, the college, we 18 give the college 1.8 million every year. That's a 19 lot of money. It's not -- it's easy to give away 20 money when it's not your own money. Just think 21 what we could have done in the past five years, 22 how many homes that we could have built for 23 Comanches, our elders. We could have already had 24 our Elders Center built already with that five 25 years' time, 1.8 times 5. Figure that out. How 7 1 much is that? 2 So as for one, I don't know if these 3 other committee people are for it, which I think 4 two or three of them are. I, for one, am not for 5 it, because two or three years ago I sat right 6 here -- not the tribal administrator but Gene 7 Pekah from the college said it was this close from 8 getting accredited. This close. Now, I hate to 9 see how, if it was a long ways off, if it was this 10 close two or three years ago. As a matter of 11 fact, I bet him my per cap that they wouldn't get 12 accredited by April of that following year. That 13 was two or three years ago, and they still haven't 14 got accredited. So I'm not against -- I'm against 15 giving them all that money, and I hope our 16 absentee voters and you voters will vote it down. 17 I've been there to the college I don't know how 18 many times. All their classrooms in there, 19 they've got all the lights off. There ain't no 20 students there. 21 Another thing that I'm against is the 22 economic development. We give them over a million 23 dollars a year, and they ain't got nothing to show 24 for it. Not a thing to show for it. I've always 25 been against it because they're taking money away 8 1 from you people out here. Like I said, it's easy 2 to give away money when it's not your own, easy. 3 Not your own, you can give it away. 4 MR. BURGESS: I disagree with that 5 part, it's not easy to give away money. It's hard 6 to justify the use of it. 7 MR. NARCOMEY: None of the businesses 8 that she's in is making any money. If they are 9 making money, it's just enough to just get by. 10 They ain't showing no profit, no nothing. Just as 11 an example, they went into the florist business 12 selling flowers and everything. Well, you know, 13 you've got to have a big cooler that's got to have 14 certain temperatures and everything. Well, heck, 15 you know, they had it at the water park. They 16 were operating it out of the water park and had an 17 ice box, a home ice box that had some flowers in 18 there. Now, how can -- you know, that's a -- you 19 know, we're just not ready to go into any kind of 20 other business right now because that's wasting 21 money also. What have they got to show for it? 22 Nothing. They ain't brought back to the tribe one 23 dime yet. 24 And another thing to express my 25 opinion on is the Comanche Nation Enterprise. 9 1 Over a million a year past two or three years. 2 Granted, 2012 they're not going to be on the line 3 item, on the budget, but they're there this year. 4 Two years ago they made $20,000. That ain't very 5 good turn around for a million dollars, 20,000. 6 Plus they kept -- they put it back to invest 7 again. 8 Now, we went to a meeting about six 9 months ago, and they showed us a progress report. 10 Five years from now, Comanches are going to be 11 lucky if y'all are going to be making 40 million a 12 year. Now, I bet my per cap they won't make 4,000 13 a year. That's another waste of money. I'd just 14 like to express my opinion on that because it's 15 you people's money, my money, your kids' money, 16 your grandkids' money, and here we are just 17 throwing money away. 18 MR. BURGESS: Are you finished and 19 complete? 20 MR. NARCOMEY: Yeah, for right now. 21 MR. BURGESS: Don't get upset, 22 though, we're just getting started. Well, in that 23 regard, Clyde, if everybody would pay attention to 24 the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the four major 25 areas that they had initiated for gaming to help 10 1 tribes, it's up to tribal governments to establish 2 those areas. Now, granted, we've inherited a 3 lot. This body has inherited a whole lot of 4 things. We try to work with what we have. You 5 can't just go back up and change every law and 6 shut it down, but we've done things by reducing 7 number of board members, reducing their meetings, 8 reducing their stipends, trying to cut costs, 9 trying to keep money into operations, and those 10 operations have to be here. 11 As you know, in 2007 NIGC told the 12 tribe you will have a gaming board, you will have 13 a gaming commission that is separate from the 14 CBC. Because under the CBC being all three hats, 15 it wasn't working. So in order to keep gaming, we 16 had to establish those two bodies. And then now 17 the auditors are saying you have to pay for those 18 bodies' operations. So we are in a rock and a 19 hard place here. In order to keep gaming open, 20 we've got to have those two bodies, they've got to 21 have sufficient employees and payments for the 22 operations that they have. So we are following 23 the IGRA law in order to keep gaming open. That's 24 what we've inherited here. 25 Now, it's not our fault, nobody in 11 1 this room's fault that the nation could not keep 2 from drawing down on a monthly basis that income. 3 When they started doing that sometime in '03 or 4 '04, that hurt the interest that it would have 5 earned. In 2002 when I left here as a CBC member, 6 we were due to draw down over $9 million from 7 gaming. In 2004 when I come back, they're on a 8 monthly stipend, monthly drawdowns. That's what 9 hurt us when they started doing monthlies. Then 10 our managers weren't doing a good enough job. 11 So we're here today trying to live 12 with what happened and trying to look to the 13 future. Everybody has an opinion about this 14 money, which is well and fine, but we signed a 15 contract with the IGRA law behind it, and we have 16 to follow that law. So we have to go through the 17 process that we said we agreed to do. It's up to 18 people to vote in April on the future, which is 19 what you're talking about, and we all talked about 20 it. You know, okay, let's continue to let Cameron 21 and OU take all this money and not hire Indians 22 and not teach our people. That's well and fine if 23 the people look at it that our college can't 24 educate us, but no college is ever going to have 25 students in their room every day eight hours a 12 1 day. It never works that way. Sometimes some 2 colleges have more students at night than they do 3 during the day. You just have to get out and look 4 at how they operate, how they have to manage. 5 That could be a boon for us. 6 MR. NARCOMEY: I'm glad you brought 7 up the board members, because I was the one who 8 was pushing that, because we had several group 9 members that was on three or four boards. Now, I 10 pushed for that and finally got that out of the 11 way. The next thing I'm going to push for is 12 these people that's on these boards, they need to 13 be just like the CBC. These guys that are on 14 these boards, I guess they homesteaded on there. 15 You know, there's five or six people on there 16 that's been on the same board for two, three, 17 four, five years. There's other qualified 18 Comanches out there besides the ones on these 19 boards. We need to treat them the same way as the 20 CBC, serve two terms and you're out. 21 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Mr. Chairman, I 22 think we need to get back to business here. 23 MR. BURGESS: That's the 24 consideration when we come to look at it, Clyde, 25 you know that, and that's been coming up. We 13 1 don't deliberate with everybody, but those who 2 will sit and discuss that with us, that's what 3 we're telling them and that's what we're trying to 4 do. It's not easy to make changes overnight. 5 So come to Resolution 26-11. These 6 are those applicants to tribal membership who are 7 not eligible according to the constitution. All 8 of these persons do not descend from an original 9 allottee. Do I hear a motion to approve this 10 resolution? 11 MR. NARCOMEY: I'll make a motion to 12 approve, Mr. Chairman. 13 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: I'll second that 14 motion, Mr. Chairman. 15 MR. BURGESS: All right. 16 Mr. Narcomey has made the motion, Mr. Wauahdooah 17 has seconded. All those in favor signify by 18 saying "aye". 19 (Aye.) 20 MR. BURGESS: All those opposed, same 21 sign. All those abstain, same sign. All those 22 abstain say "aye". 23 We go to Resolution 27-11. This is a 24 list of those who are eligible. One page, seems 25 like about 10 people. I need a motion to 14 1 approve. 2 MS. GOODIN: Excuse me, Mike. How 3 many were on this eligible? 4 MR. BURGESS: Nineteen. 5 MS. GOODIN: Could you read them, 6 please? 7 MR BURGESS: Let's finish the 8 motion. We have a motion by Mr. Tippeconnie. 9 Mark, did you second? 10 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: I seconded. 11 MR. BURGESS: All those in favor 12 signify by saying "aye". 13 (Aye.) 14 MR. BURGESS: All those opposed, same 15 sign. All those abstain, same sign. The ayes 16 have it. 17 Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, we have 18 19 new members. 19 We have Henry Alvarez, Nauni 20 Chibitty, Destini Faulkner, China Glover, Sir 21 Hayes, Connor Kaase, Elizabeth Kelley, Innara 22 Luttrell, Levi Maxey, Kaieglonn Mihecoby, Kieylar 23 Mihecoby, Dajuananoki Montague, Kaziah Moore, 24 Joseph Myles, Mercedes Myles, Jocelyn Toyebo, 25 Kathryn Vanderveen, Alejandra Venegas, Donovan 15 1 Williams. Those are the new members. 2 We're going to move on to Resolution 3 28-11. This is a resolution that states: 4 "Whereas, the tradition of 5 sovereignty of the Comanche Nation, since time 6 immemorial long predates the existence of the 7 Nation, establishes the inherent sovereign powers 8 and rights of the Comanche self-government; and 9 "Whereas, the Comanche Business 10 Committee is the duly-elected official body 11 designated to conduct business for and on behalf 12 of the Comanche Nation; and 13 "It is therefore resolved that the 14 Comanche Nation reaffirm its law enforcement 15 service commitment to the nation by strengthening 16 its law enforcement activities by adding the 17 following statute to the Comanche Nation Criminal 18 Codes, Code Number 11.460." 19 This is a conspiracy. We're adding 20 this to the criminal code. It's a conspiracy to 21 commit offense or defraud the Comanche Nation. 22 Vern, did you want to talk about this a little 23 bit? 24 MR. GRIFFEN: We have a federal 25 statute for conspiracy and we have a state statute 16 1 for conspiracy, but there's no tribal statute for 2 conspiracy. Conspiracy is basically where two 3 people conspire against the government to commit a 4 criminal activity. We can't specifically identify 5 if it was like a theft or an arson or a murder. 6 The fact that they conspired to commit the offense 7 is also a criminal activity, so we're just adding 8 that to the tribal statute, similar to what the 9 federal statute has and similar to what the state 10 statute has. 11 MR. BURGESS: Okay. 12 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: And this would go to 13 the CFR Court or to -- 14 MR. GRIFFEN: Yes. 15 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Would this help 16 expedite things? 17 MR. GRIFFEN: You're never going to 18 expedite things at CFR Court. 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Or any court. 20 MR. BURGESS: Gentlemen, how say you? 21 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Let me ask this one 22 last question. The federal counterpart to this, 23 what are the dollar fees or fines? 24 MR. GRIFFEN: Fines are established 25 by each individual court. I know the federal 17 1 court has a very high court cost. 2 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Such as? 3 MR. GRIFFEN: It's not uncommon to 4 pay 200, $300 for court costs. Our CBD docket, 5 most of the cases are 200 and $300 court costs. 6 CFR Court sets the court costs for -- 7 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: What about the 8 fines? 9 MR. GRIFFEN: They're established by 10 the judge. 11 MR. BURSON: Actually, fines for your 12 tribal court are limited. 13 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Right. The way 14 this is spelled out, too, is if a person or party, 15 whatever, is found to do this, this conspiracy, 16 and the court renders that it's through, it's a 17 felony? 18 MR. GRIFFEN: It could be misdemeanor 19 or felony. 20 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It could be either 21 one? 22 MR. GRIFFEN: Right. That's part of 23 the reorganization. 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I just wondered if 25 it should be a little explicit in that respect. 18 1 The way it reads, you could infer that it's a 2 felony. 3 MR. GRIFFEN: That's going to be the 4 determination of the judge, not us. 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I know, but isn't 6 it worthy to say that it could be either, a 7 misdemeanor or a felony? 8 MR. GRIFFEN: You use the federal 9 statute as the guideline on that. You could ask 10 our attorneys if they want to change it. 11 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I think it's worthy 12 to put in here because it's good to see that 13 anyone has brought forward in that respect, that 14 they understand that it can be either/or. 15 MR. BURGESS: Say that again. You're 16 talking about Item B on the bottom of this page? 17 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yeah, when you go 18 into C, really. 19 MR. BURSON: Here's the way that 20 usually works, Mr. Tippeconnie. A conspiracy is a 21 secondary crime that you -- it's usually attached 22 to a primary crime, say, for instance, a 23 burglary. People did the burglary, then it's 24 attached to the burglary. If the primary crime is 25 a felony, then the conspiracy aspect is a felony. 19 1 If the primary crime is a misdemeanor, then the 2 conspiracy is also a misdemeanor. It carries the 3 same -- 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: See, I can 5 understand that, but I just think it's appropriate 6 to put in here that, you know, some persons can 7 read this and we can be so ornery about it to say 8 it's a felony, that we support a felony. I know 9 it's the judge's decision, not ours, but I think 10 the tribal members, all of us need to know it 11 could be either a misdemeanor or a felony. 12 MR. BURSON: We could try to 13 supplement for you, but it's kind of been in 14 subsection B. It says punishment for conspiracy 15 shall be a misdemeanor, unless the conspiracy is 16 to commit a felony. 17 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I read that there, 18 but I just wondered when we go over to C -- he's 19 reading B, but I mean, C -- 20 MR. HENSON: It's pretty clear, Bob, 21 the way it's stated, that it's a federal statute. 22 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I understand that, 23 but I still feel myself -- I'm just making the 24 point. I still feel when it comes over here we 25 get into what it is. And it may be B, but -- 20 1 MR. HENSON: One is conspiracy to 2 commit misdemeanor, and the other one is a 3 conspiracy to commit a felony. It's pretty 4 clear. It covers both. 5 MR. REDELK: I have a question for 6 Chief Griffin. Does this complement the state and 7 federal? 8 MR. GRIFFEN: Yes, it mirrors it, 9 almost exactly. This mirrors the federal statute 10 exactly. 11 MR. TIPPECONNIE: The code is 12 11.460? 13 MR. GRIFFEN: Yes. If you want to 14 discuss this in executive session, we can do that 15 and I can give you information on why -- 16 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I think you can 17 fold it. I make a motion to bring it to executive 18 session. 19 MR. NARCOMEY: Or table it. 20 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Or table it. 21 Okay. I made a motion to table it. 22 MR. NARCOMEY: I second. 23 MR. BURGESS: You make a motion to 24 table? 25 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yeah. I just want 21 1 to go through it a little more. 2 MR. BURGESS: We have a motion by 3 Mr. Tippeconnie to table. 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Narcomey seconded. 5 MR. BURGESS: Okay. Discussion? 6 What's your major reason for the table? 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, I just want 8 to go through it a little more. I know what 9 you're saying to me about the -- I can read B 10 there. I just have a question should it come 11 forward in C. They can show us the code. 12 MR. BURGESS: Well, he said he took 13 it from the state and federal codes already. 14 Mr. Burson, is this something listed in the -- is 15 it not in CFR Codes? It's just not in our codes? 16 MR. BURSON: It's not in CFR Codes. 17 MR. BURGESS: But it is in federal 18 already, district? 19 MR. BURSON: Federal codes and state 20 codes have conspiracy. For some reason, CFR Court 21 isn't, so you need to add it in order to -- if you 22 want this CFR Court to prosecute. 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Then we have 24 something here, I know, in the CFR Court. 25 MR. BURGESS: What is the language, 22 1 Bob, that you wanted to add to this or clarify? 2 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I just want it 3 qualified. I know B is saying that, but when you 4 come over here to C, I just want it inserted 5 there. 6 MR. BURGESS: What is it you want to 7 insert? 8 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Misdemeanor. 9 MR. BURGESS: Oh, you're saying that 10 this B is not clear that -- see, it's the judge's 11 decision on the misdemeanor because it's the cases 12 where different punishment is described by law. 13 The punishment for conspiracy shall be a 14 misdemeanor, unless the conspiracy is to commit a 15 felony. So if you commit a felony, that's where C 16 comes in to say that it's a felonious crime, 17 therefore, the conspiracy to commit the crime was 18 a felony. 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I understand both 20 of those, I can see that. I just -- there's 21 something about it. 22 MR. BURGESS: If we define it here, 23 what legally does the judge have for 24 consideration? None. 25 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Number one, I think 23 1 if we asked it to be rendered in CFR Court, that's 2 our court of jurisdiction. 3 MR. BURGESS: Say that again? 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: The court of 5 jurisdiction is CFR. We have a resolution coming 6 up here talking about that, right? 7 MR. GRIFFIN: That's where we handle 8 all of our criminal cases. 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Given that, I think 10 we have to see what the CFR Court, as well. 11 MR. BURGESS: If they don't have it, 12 are you saying that they should have it before we 13 do? 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: No, I'm saying then 15 we have to do something relative to our standing 16 with that court, other than just this. See, we 17 have a resolution that the CFR Court can act in 18 our interest. And so if we add something, to me I 19 think we need to add this but to there, because 20 they don't have it. 21 MR. BURGESS: Are you saying we 22 shouldn't pass this? I think it's very clear -- 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It's clear, but -- 24 MR. BURGESS: If it meets what you're 25 asking, then why do we need to wait on CFR Court? 24 1 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I want to table it 2 because I think we need to look at both those 3 things. 4 MR. REDELK: Call for the question. 5 MR. BURGESS: He had a question and 6 came back. He should be allowed to speak on this. 7 MR. BURSON: The question on the 8 table is whether or not to table. 9 MR. BURGESS: It's not clear to me 10 why we need to table it. 11 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We can vote and say 12 not table it. 13 MR. BURGESS: But Mr. Henson had 14 wanted to have some discussion on those, too. 15 MR. HENSON: Is it your argument, 16 Bob, that this does not clearly specify what's 17 what as far as felony and misdemeanor? 18 MR. TIPPECONNIE: To me, it doesn't. 19 And also, now that I know the CFR Court I had on 20 that point. You know, if we're to render 21 something that's not within the framework of the 22 CFR Court, then we have to do something in 23 addition to this. 24 MR. BURGESS: In addition to it? 25 We're doing more than CFR Court if we pass it. We 25 1 have it, they don't. 2 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yeah, but my 3 question is do we have to convey something to the 4 CFR Court relative to this. 5 MR. BURSON: Submit it to the court. 6 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Submit it to the 7 court. See, that's my question. 8 MR. BURSON: That's a process. Once 9 you all adopt this into law for them to enforce, 10 you send the law up to BIA regional, they look it 11 over, make sure it's constitutional, doesn't 12 offend the federal constitution, and then they 13 approve it -- prosecute the enforcement laws. 14 As long as they've approved it, 15 they've seen it, they've been noticed of it, they 16 approve it, it passed constitutional muster on 17 their review, then they deliver it to the CFR 18 Court for prosecution enforcement on their 19 behalf. 20 MR. GRIFFEN: For example, our 21 Dangerous Drug Act, our Domestic Violence Act are 22 all acts that we developed first, we sent, we got 23 input into criminal codes prior to the CFR. 24 MR. BURGESS: See, if we table it, 25 we'll never get it to CFR Court. 26 1 MR. TIPPECONNIE: You can go to the 2 vote. 3 MR. BURGESS: We'll go to the vote, 4 but that's what I wanted us to be clear is that if 5 it sits with us, it never goes to CFR Court for 6 determination that we're doing it in a good way or 7 a bad way. We won't know that until we send it 8 out. 9 MR. HENSON: We don't have a court, 10 so it has to go to CFR Court. 11 MR. BURGESS: Yes, but he's already 12 made a statement that CFR is our court. So we'll 13 call for the question. The question is to table 14 or not table, yes. 15 MR. HENSON: But there's none in CFR? 16 MR. TIPPECONNIE: That's the point 17 I'm making. There's none in CFR. 18 MR. HENSON: But you're saying this 19 is a federal statute? 20 MR. BURSON: Well, the federal 21 government has a criminal statute, but it applies 22 to the federal jurisdiction cases. The state has 23 a similar type statute, but it only applies to 24 state cases in their jurisdiction. What he's 25 saying is the Comanche Nation, nor does the CFR 27 1 Court, have any rules of similar laws for Comanche 2 Nation. 3 MR. NORMAN: It fills that gap. 4 There's a void there. 5 MR. HENSON: I guess I'm not seeing 6 that because we're governed by the federal 7 government to begin with. 8 MR. BURSON: Federal jurisdiction is 9 something and you'll have crimes, for instance, 10 Indian against Indian crime, which is fairly -- 11 unless it's a major crime is fairly pure tribal 12 jurisdiction. So for those kinds of cases, 13 Officer Griffin here is proposing to have a 14 conspiracy statute on the books, allow prosecution 15 of two or more individuals conspiring to get a 16 crime, which would fall within tribal reach and 17 they could -- 18 MR. NORMAN: You also have a number 19 of cases over which either jurisdiction may have 20 the authority to prosecute but the federal 21 prosecutors do not want to pursue it. Then the 22 only means by which you could pursue it would be 23 through the tribal court. So you want to make 24 sure you've got similar -- 25 MR. TIPPECONNIE: You don't want it 28 1 to go to federal court if you can avoid it. 2 MR. BURGESS: Mark, did you have a 3 question? 4 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: No, I want to go 5 through the motion -- I know there's a motion on 6 the table, but I guess table it. That's it. 7 MR. BURGESS: Motion made to table 8 this by Mr. Tippeconnie, second by Mr. Narcomey. 9 All those in favor signify by saying "aye". 10 (Aye.) 11 MR. BURGESS: All those opposed, same 12 sign. All those abstain, same sign. All those in 13 favor signify by saying "aye". 14 (Aye.) 15 MR. BURGESS: All those opposed, same 16 sign. All those abstain, same sign. 17 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I vote no. 18 MR. BURGESS: I vote nay. Four, two, 19 one. Gentlemen, to table it, you're saying you 20 want to have further discussion. Then we're going 21 to have a meeting to discuss this. I hope 22 everybody can make it when we call it. We'll have 23 to get the attorneys down here, so what you guys 24 just did will force us to pay them for another two 25 or three hours. 29 1 MR. TIPPECONNIE: No, no, no, not 2 necessarily attorneys. We can visit with law 3 enforcement. Law enforcement is the one -- 4 MR. BURGESS: He doesn't know all the 5 other codes and all the other laws that apply 6 here. 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: But he presented 8 it. 9 MR. BURGESS: Yeah, but -- 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: And when we table 11 it, that means we bring it forward in the next 12 meeting. So we'll bring it forward in May. 13 MR. REDELK: Mr. Tippeconnie, that's 14 not always the case. 15 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I know that's not 16 always the case, but I mean, we can bring it 17 forward, we can still not go anywhere. But since 18 it's tabled, we keep it on the record, bring it 19 forward. 20 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: What's our next 21 business, Mr. Chairman? 22 MR. BURGESS: Resolution 29-11. 23 Mr. Tippeconnie, did you want to hold this for 24 further discussion? 25 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Might as well. 30 1 MR. BURGESS: Similar to the other? 2 This is a resolution that is to 3 modify obstruction of justice criminal code. 4 Mr. Griffin said that since it's similar to the 5 other one, then he prefer we table this and have 6 discussion and bring it back. Motion to table, 7 please? 8 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Would you like to 9 discuss both of them at the same time? 10 MR. GRIFFEN: Yes, please. 11 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Okay. I make the 12 motion. 13 MR. BURGESS: If you read through it, 14 you know it concerns gaming, as well. 15 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, I saw that. 16 MR. BURGESS: Okay. So are you 17 making that motion? 18 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes. 19 MR. BURGESS: Mr. Tippeconnie's made 20 the motion to table. 21 MR. HENSON: Is that 29-11? 22 MR. BURGESS: 29-11, yes. 23 MR. NARCOMEY: Second. 24 MR. BURGESS: Mr. Narcomey has made 25 the second. All those in favor signify by saying 31 1 "aye". 2 (Aye.) 3 MR. BURGESS: All those opposed, same 4 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Four ayes, 5 two nays, one abstention. Motion tabled. 6 Mr. Griffin, legal counsel will be 7 setting a future date to discuss these things. 8 All right. 9 Resolution 30-11. I understand this 10 is a resolution to continue our contract with 11 Detention Services with the Sac and Fox Nation who 12 have a juvenile detention facility. 13 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I make the motion 14 to approve. 15 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Mike, can I discuss 16 this? 17 MR. BURGESS: Let's get a second and 18 we'll go into discussion. You have a motion to 19 approve? 20 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Second. 21 MR. BURGESS: Second by Darrell. 22 Okay, discussion. Mr. Henson? 23 MR. HENSON: Yes, I was going to have 24 a question. The cost here, 10 cents per -- I 25 mean, $10 per hour for the staff and 50.5 cents 32 1 for travel. That's to take them up there. Is 2 that 50.5 cents -- 3 MR. GRIFFEN: We usually do the 4 church transport if they have to come back and go 5 to court, Sac and Fox provides that service. 6 MR. HENSON: And they're charging us 7 50.5 cents. I think the government rate is 45.5, 8 isn't it? It's 50.5. They're going to be 9 charging us $100 a day to keep them up there? Is 10 that the only place that's available? 11 MR. GRIFFEN: That is the nearest 12 place available. 13 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It is one of the 14 best places that is presently available. 15 MR. HENSON: There's no other place 16 that charges less than $100 day? 17 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Maybe nontribal. 18 MR. GRIFFEN: I tried to get into 19 J.V. Services in Lawton and there's no way we 20 could get -- for us there. They're eliminating 21 what they have. 22 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: How many years 23 have we been doing this? 24 MR. GRIFFEN: This will be our third 25 year, and it's worked well. The Citizen 33 1 Potawatomies have a grant, and they're doing a 2 study on putting a development in for juvenile 3 services in Shawnee, and I will look at that when 4 they get open. I'm sure that we may get a better 5 rate since they have done quite a bit for us. 6 MR. BURGESS: How did they build 7 their facility? Federal assistance? 8 MR. GRIFFEN: Sac and Fox? I'm not 9 familiar with our how they started. 10 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: So, Mike, what 11 does this mean if juvenile, if they're in trouble 12 or something, or in trouble, then you take them 13 from here to where? 14 MR. BURGESS: When by court order to 15 Stroud. There's a juvenile detention facility 16 there. 17 MR. GRIFFEN: These children are 18 placed there by court order. They have to be held 19 in a secure area. If they're troubled or at risk 20 to escape or run away, that's where they go. And 21 while they're there, they're also getting 22 instruction. Part of the cost is to have teachers 23 and staff there and counseling there. And so 24 they're getting instruction and counseling while 25 they're there. 34 1 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And how long 2 has this been going on? 3 MR. GRIFFEN: Three years. 4 MR. BURGESS: For the Comanche Nation 5 three years, but there's been other facilities. 6 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: What's the average 7 stay there? I know it differs. 8 MR. GRIFFEN: I think they're 9 originally put in for 30 days. It depends on 10 court. The Children's Court and CFR Court, those 11 are the courts that place the children. 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yeah, if you read 13 the language in there, you know, admission is by 14 court order. There has to be a court order that 15 orders the placement, and then when they're 16 released there has to be a court order again by 17 the judge to release. 18 MR. HENSON: I'm interested, Vern, in 19 how much money you budgeted for that. 20 MR. GRIFFEN: I think 25,000. That's 21 adult and juvenile. 22 MR. HENSON: It's 25 grand? 23 MR. GRIFFEN: Yes. Y'all cut my 24 budget, remember? 25 MR. HENSON: That's what's been in 35 1 the past, it hasn't went over 25 grand? 2 MR. BURGESS: Do you find that budget 3 a little tight at the end of the year, after 12 4 months? 5 MR. GRIFFEN: It's not my intention 6 to exhaust $25,000 to put people in jail. We look 7 for alternatives to arrest. Now, the court system 8 has some funds for those services, also, but we 9 have been below the 25,000 for the last three 10 years that I've been in charge. 11 MR. BURGESS: Okay. 12 MR. GRIFFEN: It's up fairly good, 13 accurate I guess. 14 MR. BURGESS: So it's a good floating 15 average for you. 16 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Chief, the 17 statistics on juvenile crime, are they going up or 18 going down? 19 MR. GRIFFEN: Within Comanche Nation, 20 they're going up. Now, not every individual or 21 juvenile that gets in trouble gets sent to 22 Stroud. It's just those that are at risk, in need 23 of supervision, or there is no other alternative 24 but to send them in there. We look at all the 25 other alternatives first before we place them into 36 1 something like that. 2 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Mr. Chairman, do you 3 have a motion on the floor? 4 MR. NAUNI: Motion and a second. 5 MR. BURGESS: Yes, motion and 6 discussion. Call for the question? 7 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Call for the 8 question. 9 MR. BURGESS: I think we've got 6 10 ayes. 11 Resolution 31-11, Resolution of the 12 CBC Approving Court Costs of Comanche Nation 13 Childrens Court. 14 "Whereas, the Comanche Nation is a 15 federally recognized Indian Tribe with a 16 constitution approved by Secretary of the Interior 17 on January 9, 1967, to safeguard tribal rights, 18 powers, and privileges to improve the economic, 19 moral, educational, and health status of its 20 members; and 21 "Whereas, the Comanche Constitution 22 establishes the CBC as the duly-elected official 23 body designated to conduct business for and on 24 behalf of the Comanche Nation; and 25 "Whereas, the Comanche Children and 37 1 Family Relations Code approved by Comanche Nation 2 Resolution Number 54-08, Section 105(b), allows 3 for the Comanche Children's Court to establish a 4 separate account entitled Comanche Children's 5 Court account. 6 "Whereas, the Comanche Children and 7 Family Relations Code approved by the Comanche 8 Nation Resolution No. 54-08 allows for the 9 collection of court costs. 10 "Now therefore be it resolved that 11 the Comanche Business Committee hereby allows the 12 Comanche Children's Court to establish a separate 13 account entitled Comanche Children's Court 14 Account. 15 "Now therefore be it resolved that 16 the CBC hereby allows the Comanche Children's 17 Court to collect court costs from litigants for 18 court services in the amount of $35 for deposit 19 into the Comanche Children's Court account 20 utilized for appropriate court purposes. 21 Therefore, be it resolved that a receipt will be 22 written to the person paying the court costs with 23 the original receipt being given to that person. 24 A copy of said receipt being furnished to the 25 compliance department along with the funds on a 38 1 daily basis. Now, therefore, be it resolved that 2 the court clerk/court administrator is to keep an 3 accounting for said funds on deposit with the 4 court to be reconciled on a monthly basis and 5 maintain a record of funds received and 6 expenditures from said account. 7 Attorneys? Is some of this verbiage 8 necessary? The first now therefore be it 9 resolved, that's kind of administrative. We 10 stated that in whereas. 11 MR. BURSON: You need the first 12 resolve clause is necessary to allow the 13 establishment -- 14 MR. BURGESS: It was established 15 already in the third whereas. 16 MR. BURSON: Well, the code provides 17 for, I don't know, certainly creates the potential 18 for it. 19 MR. BURGESS: So they never had one. 20 They never established one then. 21 MR. BURSON: No, they never 22 established one under this code. 23 MR. BURGESS: Okay. We need a motion 24 to approve. 25 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I just want to 39 1 make -- before we do that, shall I wait until 2 after the motion? I have a comment. 3 MR. BURGESS: Go ahead. 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I understand, you 5 know, the account, but to me it's an account 6 within our accounts, you know, with Finley & 7 Cook. It just becomes an account in that whole. 8 So they make the deposits through the nation. Is 9 it understood to all of us that way? 10 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: You mean Finley & 11 Cook would cut the checks? 12 MR. BURGESS: They would do the 13 accounting for it. 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: The accounting 15 would be being through that, make the deposits, so 16 they all flow through there and there's good 17 records. 18 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Furnished to the 19 finance department. That does have that in 20 there. That's what it -- 21 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Okay. 22 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: But I understand 23 what you're saying, it's not an outside account. 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It's an internal 25 account. I just want to be sure it's an internal 40 1 account. 2 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: So that answers my 3 question, who cuts the checks for the internal 4 court costs? 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It would move 6 through that account. 7 MR. BURGESS: It would be through our 8 internal financial management. It takes two 9 signatures, and they'll probably have one of their 10 court administrators, the similar system we have 11 for all the other accounts. 12 MR. WAHADOOAH: Let me ask a stupid 13 question. Were they budgeted for the court costs 14 before? How were they absorbing the cost of 15 servers and all that good stuff? 16 MR. BURGESS: This is the first time 17 they established a dollar figure for court costs. 18 So this will be coming in. 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Something new. 20 MR. BURSON: Tippeconnie, you may 21 want to add language on that first resolve. 22 MR. TIPPECONNIE: That's what I saw. 23 MR. BURSON: Separate an account to 24 have for internal. 25 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Separate internal 41 1 account. Insert internal. Yeah, I'd be more 2 comfortable with something like that. 3 MR. BURSON: That clarifies. 4 MR. BURGESS: Was it that first one 5 or the second from the bottom? Jim, read that 6 one. 7 MR. BURSON: -- the finance 8 department leaving you in the loop. Clarify if 9 this is an internal account right there at the 10 first resolve clause would probably suffice. 11 MR. BURGESS: A separate account 12 internal to tribal financing. 13 MR. TIPPECONNIE: No, just separate 14 internal account. Up above put internal. 15 MR. BURGESS: Internal to who? 16 MR. TIPPECONNIE: The nation. 17 MR. BURGESS: We need to say that. 18 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Internal to the 19 Comanches. 20 MR. BURGESS: It sounds like they're 21 going to handle that. 22 MR. HENSON: Who took them up for 23 $35? 24 MR. BURGESS: The court did. Yeah, 25 they brought this forward. 42 1 MR. HENSON: It's awful cheap, isn't 2 it? That doesn't even cover anything. 3 MR. BURGESS: Well, it's Children's 4 Court, remember now, but, yeah. But look at the 5 economic status of our people. 6 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: I want to make a 7 comment. I would have liked to have seen a 8 definition of that, but I'll let it go this time. 9 MR. BURGESS: Vern, I don't know, 10 there's limited things they can use it for when 11 they say court purposes. It might be material, 12 supplies. 13 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: I wish they had 14 referenced it here. 15 MR. BURSON: Your Children and Family 16 Relations Code is not just children, but allows 17 for guardianship, adoptions, those kinds of 18 proceedings also. So that court operates under 19 that code and those are the kinds of litigation 20 and court cases they handle. 21 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: I just don't want to 22 buy flowers for the secretary or whatever. 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I make the motion 24 to approve with the amendment there. 25 MR. BURGESS: Okay. Read the 43 1 amendment then. 2 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Separate internal 3 Comanche Nation account entitled, and it's given a 4 title, Comanche Children's Court Account. 5 MR. BURGESS: Okay. We have a motion 6 made. We need a second. 7 MR. HENSON: I'll second. 8 MR. BURGESS: Mr. Henson's going to 9 second. 10 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Who made the motion? 11 MR. BURGESS: Bob did. All those in 12 favor signify by saying "aye". 13 (Aye.) 14 MR. BURGESS: All those opposed, same 15 sign. All those abstain, same sign. The ayes 16 have it. 17 Moving to Resolution 32-11, this is 18 to approve the Comanche Nation Children's Court 19 prosecutor professional service contract. I 20 MR. HENSON: I'll make a motion to 21 approve that. 22 MR. BURGESS: Motion made to 23 approve. Second? 24 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: I second that 25 motion, Mr. Chairman. 44 1 MR. BURGESS: All right. Gentlemen, 2 any discussion? If not, call for the question. 3 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: I'll bring the 4 notice this is a month-to-month basis I see on the 5 terms on Item Number 2. 6 MR. BURGESS: It's a term of four 7 years. 8 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Is it four years? 9 MR. BURGESS: Yeah, it's four years. 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It can be 11 terminated, you know, 30 days' notice by either 12 one of the parties. 13 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Call for the 14 question, sir. 15 MR. BURGESS: Gentlemen, all those in 16 favor say "aye". 17 (Aye.) 18 MR. BURGESS: Is that five ayes? 19 MR. NELSON: Six. Were you right 20 then? 21 MR. BURGESS: Yes. I don't know that 22 -- Bob, did they give you this contract? 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: No, you have a 24 different one. 25 MR. BURGESS: We have a different 45 1 one? All right. This is a document of the 2 CNHMP. Gentlemen, I think you need to read 3 through this a little bit, this resolution. It 4 puts us on the right track again. We're going to 5 have to have a meeting on this. I think she has 6 it planned for next week. 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Table, then? 8 MR. BURGESS: Well, you could if you 9 want to wait until after we review the plan. 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Make a motion to 11 table it. 12 MR. NARCOMEY: Second. 13 MR. BURGESS: Motion made by 14 Mr. Tippeconnie, second by Mr. Narcomey to table. 15 All those in favor say "aye". 16 (Aye.) 17 MR. BURGESS: The ayes have it. 18 We have a grant application -- well, 19 Resolution 34-11. It's a grant application to 20 Department of Health and Human Services. 21 "Whereas, the Comanche Nation sees 22 the critical need to develop measures that will 23 insure optimal health care is made available for 24 our children; and 25 "Whereas, the United States 46 1 Department of Health and Human Services through 2 provisions of the Children's Health Insurance 3 Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, specifically 4 the Medicaid Program and Children's Health 5 Insurance Program Grants has funds available 6 ranging from 200,000 to 2.5 million to accomplish 7 this purpose. 8 "Whereas, the Comanche Nation" -- it 9 says here, and this is prickly with you guys, "The 10 Tribal Chairman or his designee, being the 11 official representative of the Comanche Nation, 12 and thereby is authorized to negotiate and approve 13 contracts and any amendments to such." 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: That's correct, we 15 need to change that wording. The chairman does 16 need to execute it, but the CBC will authorize -- 17 MR. BURGESS: "Now, therefore, be it 18 resolved, that the Comanche Business Committee 19 does hereby approve the submission of a grant 20 application to the DHHS and the Children's Health 21 Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA.) 22 "Be it further resolved that, the 23 CBC, acting for and in behalf of the Comanche 24 Nation, does hereby authorize this resolution for 25 such intent." 47 1 I think that goes back to the grant 2 language, somebody to negotiate with. 3 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I just wonder about 4 that language in the previous whereas, they're 5 authorized to negotiate and approve. It should be 6 the CBC does that but the signature is by the 7 chair. 8 MR. BURGESS: But then again, it 9 comes back to some kind of language in the grant. 10 So I know it gives you guys heartburn. 11 MR. HENSON: Every federal grant and 12 everything that you deal with dealing with the 13 federal government as a leader of the nation, then 14 that's -- 15 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I understand the 16 signature, but I'm talking about negotiate and 17 approve. See, we approve, the CBC as a whole 18 approves. 19 MR. BURGESS: Actually, there's no 20 negotiation. 21 MR. TIPPECONNIE: There's no 22 negotiation. There's none. You just submit and 23 we authorize him to sign it. 24 MR. BURGESS: The negotiations are 25 written in the proposal. 48 1 MR. TIPPECONNIE: So I think the 2 language is -- 3 MR. BURGESS: Is authorized to 4 approve. 5 MR. HENSON: Take out thereby is 6 authorized to negotiate. Just take that out. 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Is authorized to 8 sign, execute the document, execute the contract, 9 not to approve. It's approved by the CBC. 10 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Is this open to 11 discussion now? 12 MR BURGESS: Yeah. 13 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: What are we asking 14 for, 200 or 2.5 million? 15 MR. BURGESS: Ms. Attocknie has that. 16 We tried it last year, but we were turned down, so 17 I'm feeling a big problem. 18 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Are they going to do 19 vision or dental or emergency or what? 20 MR. BURGESS: I couldn't answer that 21 specifically. I haven't read that grant since 22 last year. I don't remember. 23 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: I don't know what 24 the greatest need among the children of the 25 Comanches would be at this time. That's what we 49 1 need to target. 2 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, I think the 3 grants -- I wish he were here because the grants 4 will say what, you know, they're able to do under 5 those grants. Now, he's not here and we can't ask 6 the question. 7 MR. BURGESS: And we missed the 8 deadline. I think the deadline for submission was 9 the 23rd. 10 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: For this? 11 MR. HENSON: I make a motion to 12 approve. 13 MR. BURGESS: We have a grant written 14 already that just has to be tweaked and updated. 15 We tried it last year, but we didn't get funded. 16 So we take that same grant and they give us a 17 response as to what the weaknesses were, we write 18 the grant to those weaknesses. 19 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Did you say this has 20 been expired? 21 MR. BURGESS: We tried for it last 22 year. 23 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: You said the 23rd of 24 March? 25 MR. BURGESS: No, April, April 24th. 50 1 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: I second the motion. 2 MR. BURGESS: Okay. Mr. Henson has 3 made a motion to approve, so we can get the grant 4 done. Seconded by Mr. Wauahdooah. 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: With the language 6 within it? 7 MR. BURGESS: Yeah, with that 8 language. All those in favor signify by saying 9 "aye". 10 (Aye.) 11 MR. BURGESS: All those opposed, same 12 sign. All those abstain, same sign. The ayes 13 have it. 14 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Mr. Chairman, I hope 15 Ms. Attocknie puts information out over the 16 Website or the newspaper or somehow to find out 17 what the public really needs regarding this health 18 issue. 19 MR. BURGESS: That's what she had 20 last year. She had some of that information. 21 Resolution 35-11: "Whereas, the 22 Comanche Constitution establishes the Comanche 23 Business Committee as the elected body designated 24 to conduct business for and on behalf of the 25 Comanche Nation; and 51 1 "Whereas, the tribal council voiced a 2 need for an assisted living facility. 3 "Whereas, it is proposed upon joint 4 ownership Kiowa, Comanche, Apache lands, 5 respectively, resolutions from the three tribes 6 are necessary." 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: He was rushing that 8 wording this morning. I apologize. That's why I 9 said -- 10 MR. BURGESS: Well, go ahead and 11 start editing as I read it. Whereas, Ramsey & 12 Associates have been engaged in evaluation to 13 render a design. What we want to say here is the 14 Comanche Nation desires to engage Ramsey & 15 Associates in the preliminary design and 16 construction of our independent living facility. 17 We've had to change our language to meet the 18 fundings. Now therefore be it resolved that the 19 Comanche Business Committee hereby agrees to 20 pursue a contract with Chris Ramsey & Associates 21 as consultant to complete the facility design and 22 construction. Mr. Ramsey, is that fair enough 23 language for you? 24 MR. RAMSEY: Yes. 25 MR. TIPPECONNIE: And I would say in 52 1 the whereas there -- 2 MR. BURGESS: Which one? 3 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Second from the 4 bottom. It is proposed to be placed upon joint 5 ownership of Kiowa, Comanche, Apache lands with 6 respective resolutions passed by the three tribes. 7 We do have -- if you'll see here, we do have -- 8 no. Comanche Nation has acted and the Kiowa 9 Nation has acted, and I have not seen one from 10 Apache. 11 MR. BURGESS: It's in the works, I'm 12 told. Chairman Maahona of the Apaches, they know 13 it's coming and I guess when they meet next, they 14 should have a resolution forwarded to KCA and 15 forwarded to us. But this allows us to go forward 16 with Mr. Ramsey. 17 Mr. Ramsey, would you like to explain 18 to the body here what things we have to do before 19 we turn a spade of dirt? 20 MR. RAMSEY: Yes. Would you like for 21 me to stand? 22 MR. BURGESS: Yes, please. Identify 23 yourself for Kelly. 24 MR. RAMSEY: My name is Chris Ramsey 25 with Ramsey & Associates. Prior to us breaking 53 1 ground on the facility, we have visited with KCA 2 Land Use Committee and requested that they do a 3 water well test on the property, as well as a perf 4 test for sewage. The desire of the KCA was to 5 minimize the reliability upon the City of Lawton 6 for the use of their utilities. So this is the 7 first step in going that direction. Prior to us 8 doing the water well or I guess in association 9 with us doing the water testing and the soil 10 testing, we have also taken quotes from licensed 11 surveying firms who do a fourth corner, if you 12 will, corner survey of the 30 acres that we've 13 requested to -- on with the KCA Land Use 14 Committee. So that's kind of where we're at. We 15 need to do a survey, four corner pin survey to 16 locate the 30 acres that we're going to place the 17 facility on, as well as do a water and soil test. 18 That we anticipate will happen probably within the 19 next couple of weeks. 20 MR. BURGESS: The KCA has approved 21 the use of 30 acres on the north side of Indian 22 Hospital. And because we have to be 40 yards from 23 the fence line going on the north side, we're 24 going to have to do a survey, get that area 25 surveyed and marked out, get it back to KCA. KCA 54 1 will forward it over to the BIA, because the BIA 2 is going to have to know about the lease, and wait 3 for the BIA to approve the lease, I guess. The 4 Kiowa Business Committee has already approved it, 5 and it will be a 25 plus 25 year lease. At no 6 cost, I might add. 7 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Well, that's a major 8 accomplishment getting it past the KCA. 9 MR. BURGESS: And as part of covering 10 some of the expenses, the Kiowa and Apache will 11 cover the cost of the parking lot, is it, Chris? 12 MR. RAMSEY: Yes, sir. 13 MR. BURGESS: Parking lot and things 14 we need there. And Mr. Ramsey was doing a water 15 well study. We're going to be engaging 16 Mr. Tahkopfer, who has knowledge of the water 17 levels and the substructure there to do 18 geothermal? 19 MR. RAMSEY: Yes, sir. 20 MR. BURGESS: For the whole facility 21 so that we would not be on county water, paying 22 them for the water. We would be on a water well 23 for use in the facility, provided it passes all 24 the safety standards? 25 MR. RAMSEY: Yes. 55 1 MR. BURGESS: Okay. So that in a 2 nutshell, gentlemen, allows us to go forward with 3 the contract to engage Mr. Ramsey on behalf of the 4 now titled Independent Living Facility. 5 MR. NARCOMEY: Mr. Chairman, you 6 know, we did that before. I presented this 7 resolution for this assisted living/rest home for 8 Comanches, and we passed it then and that was 9 2004. Where we're at now is 2011. You know, 10 something like this, I think it's for the Comanche 11 people, it's for the elders. Each one of us in 12 here are not getting any younger every day. You 13 know, we're getting older as we sit here. 14 Something like this, I'm for it. I'm for 15 something like this. But other projects I've 16 brought up earlier, they had their chance. They 17 had five or six years. Let's give our elders a 18 chance for this rest area, rest home. So with 19 that, I make the motion to approve. 20 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Let me add 21 something. I'd like to add this additional. You 22 heard what I said earlier, but now in the last now 23 therefore be it resolved, I'd like to -- follow me 24 as I read it. The Comanche Business Committee 25 hereby approves the attached contract, so strike 56 1 out agrees to pursue, approves the attached 2 contract. We have the contract, it's been -- I 3 don't want to ask. It's been reviewed by counsel 4 and counsel says it's all okay. So approved by 5 the attached contract with Chris Ramsey as a 6 design consultant. That's what it is, design 7 consultant, for the facility. 8 MR. BURGESS: So you want to say 9 design consultant? 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes. 11 MR. HENSON: He's also the 12 construction -- 13 MR. BURGESS: He'll be a contract 14 officer for us. 15 MR. BURSON: No, that contract 16 doesn't provided for him to be a general 17 contractor. It provides for him to perform 18 contract administration services. 19 MR. JERGENSEN: Oversee the 20 inspections on the tribe's behalf of the 21 construction process itself as it progresses. 22 MR. RAMSEY: I say that I offer those 23 services, but at this point I think -- and even at 24 that meeting there was a mention of going to 25 Comanche Construction, put it out for bids. 57 1 MR. BURGESS: We have to put it out 2 for bids. We'll be the company rep on the 3 facilities being constructed. 4 MR. RAMSEY: The contract that was 5 proposed just has me being the architect. 6 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Let me read it 7 again. Now therefore be it resolved, that the CBC 8 hereby approves the attached contracts with Chris 9 Ramsey as a design consultant for the facility. 10 MR. BURGESS: Okay. Now, Clyde, did 11 you make that motion? 12 MR. NARCOMEY: Yes. I'll go ahead 13 and go with these changes. 14 MR. BURGESS: Mr. Henson will take 15 the second on that. And then we talked with 16 Mr. Ramsey this past week and we had some members 17 of the coordinating committee were there with us 18 to go over the contract, and we got it back from 19 the attorneys here in time for the meeting. 20 So we'll call for the question 21 here. All those in favor signify by saying 22 "aye". 23 (Aye.) 24 MR. BURGESS: All those opposed, same 25 sign. All those abstain, same sign. 58 1 MR. WHITEWOLF: What's the cost of 2 the project? 3 MR. BURGESS: We're estimating 1.8 4 million at this time. 5 MR. WHITEWOLF: How many square 6 feet? 7 MR. BURGESS: I don't know that. 8 MR. RAMSEY: 20,000. 9 MR. BURGESS: It's designed using 30 10 acres that perhaps in the future we can add other 11 units in a modular system, four units at a time, 12 be they one or two bedroom units. Motion has 13 passed. 14 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Mr. Chairman, 15 while you're talking about the elderly, the center 16 or whatever it is, I'd like to say something about 17 the elderly. 18 MR. BURGESS: In regards to the 19 building here? 20 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: No, no, no. 21 MR. BURGESS: What? 22 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: About the CHR 23 program. One of our members -- well, one of our 24 members called a CHR to take them to the hospital 25 in Oklahoma City. They told them they couldn't 59 1 help them because they had a meeting, she had a 2 meeting Friday. 3 MR. BURGESS: The TA had a meeting. 4 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: So I contacted 5 him and he told them -- he directed them to take 6 this person to Oklahoma City. Then they called 7 this individual and said you're going to have to 8 pay the toll gate. Now, if our director of our 9 CHR program can't run that program right, why 10 don't y'all get rid of her. And if your CHRs 11 don't want to work, why don't you contract it out 12 to outside people that want people that want to 13 work? These people don't want to work. If it 14 wasn't for Mr. Orme, yeah, he wouldn't -- this 15 person wouldn't have got service. They don't 16 listen to y'all. They could care less. I bet you 17 could count on your hand on your fingers how many 18 times that these damn CHRs went and gave, checked 19 somebody's blood pressure. But it appears to me 20 that y'all don't care either. You say our elders, 21 we have to take care of our elders. Bull. Y'all 22 don't care about the elders. Y'all don't care 23 about nobody but yourselves. Y'all need to do 24 your job for our people. That's what you're in 25 here for. 60 1 MR. BURGESS: Thank you. That's why 2 when I talked to Mr. Owens that morning, he told 3 me he took care of it. 4 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, he took 5 care of it. I thanked him for what he did. 6 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: That's the 7 delegation of authority. 8 MR. BURGESS: That's his 9 responsibility. 10 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: We don't micromanage 11 these operations. 12 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: He shouldn't 13 have to do that. They should know their jobs. 14 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Mr. Owens, you want 15 to address -- 16 MR. BURGESS: I don't know what your 17 point is other than to tell us there was a 18 problem, the problem was taken care of, and you're 19 getting on our case that we don't care about the 20 Elders, which is totally wrong. 21 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: What I'm 22 saying is when they're called, they should know 23 what their job should be. And Mr. Owens shouldn't 24 have to intervene and say -- 25 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Yes, he does. 61 1 MR. BURGESS: That is his job as the 2 TA. What everybody wants him to do is to handle 3 all the daily affairs, and he handled it. It was 4 my job to connect with him, and he told me it was 5 taken care of. Now, I didn't appreciate either 6 that they were asking that elder for money because 7 they have vehicles that have those turnpike passes 8 that they could have used. Now, that's not our 9 fault up here that that bill was or was not paid. 10 Mr. Owens takes care of that, that's what you all 11 want in a TA, and he's doing it. 12 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: My point is 13 the director can't handle the job. 14 MR. BURGESS: Then talk to Mr. Owens, 15 and Mr. Owens and you and the director go talk. 16 Because you don't allow us to hire anybody, you 17 don't allow us to fire anybody. Yes, sir, 18 Mr. Tahhahwah. 19 MR. TAHHAHWAH: Mr. Chairman, I 20 wanted to make a comment here on this project. 21 I'm glad you are going to use Mr. Tahkopfer here 22 to research the water and the quality of the 23 water. I'm just hoping that when y'all come to 24 hiring the contracts to build a building, that 25 y'all look strongly and consider our Native 62 1 American contract workers for building this 2 project. I know in the past, when some of these 3 buildings out here got built, a lot of them were 4 built by utaiboos, and a lot of our Indian 5 contract workers didn't get jobs out here. So I 6 hope when you go to putting these contracts out, 7 that y'all consider our Native American contract 8 workers to do work on this project. 9 MR. BURGESS: Ed, thank you. As 10 you're aware of, we have the TERO ordinance, and 11 as this body has pushed forward with the TERO, we 12 have a person handling that TERO function. 13 Mr. Ramsey has agreed to go by all of our 14 ordinances, go by TERO, and ensure that there is a 15 fair bid process for everybody on that and to 16 follow our procurement policies all the way 17 through, which have to coincide with FAR, and then 18 he's also aware of our TERO ordinance to see that 19 he can hire as many Native Americans as will be 20 there to show up for work and do the job. So he's 21 agreed to all of that. And all contracts since 22 we've been coming into business here, other than 23 the gaming one that was in place before I entered 24 office, we tried to enforce the TERO program with 25 them where we can, how we can, and as long as 63 1 possible. We've even recouped some money that 2 hadn't been captured in the last five years off of 3 the TERO program because we're pursuing it hotly. 4 So your concern is there, and we are the same 5 way. Thank you. 6 MR. NELSON: Mr. Chairman, I got a 7 question for the secretary. 8 MR. BURGESS: Is it concerning this 9 project? We've got a long agenda here. 10 MR. NELSON: Yes. 11 MR. BURGESS: What's your question. 12 MR. NELSON: Robert, the last 13 contract we had with Mr. Ramsey, has that been 14 rescinded or done? Is it done? 15 MR. BURGESS: Did we ever have a 16 contract with you? 17 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: There was a 18 contract with the elders council. 19 MR. NELSON: Has that been 20 rescinded? 21 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes, sir. 22 MR. NELSON: The last time there was 23 a KCA project there was Native Son. You remember 24 that. 25 MR. BURGESS: What's your reference 64 1 to Native Son? 2 MR. NELSON: KCA, what you guys are 3 including on that, you better do your homework. 4 You better do your homework, because when Native 5 Son sat dormant there for 12 years there was an 6 issue. There was an issue about a place being 7 built on KCA land. 8 MR. BURGESS: That was a KCA property 9 at that time. This is a Comanche program. We're 10 leasing the land from KCA at no cost, so it's a 11 Comanche project. So we'll conclude it and get 12 started with it. Thank you. 13 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I sure hope 14 you do your history. 15 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Mr. Chairman, 16 this business or whoever does the construction, 17 are they subject to all three tribes' TERO? 18 MR. BURGESS: No, to ours. We're 19 leasing the land, therefore, our ordinances apply. 20 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Is there Indian 21 preference involved? 22 MR. BURGESS: That's what I just 23 said, yes. 24 MR. HENSON: They have preference in 25 our procurement procedures and also with TERO, so 65 1 all those have to be followed. 2 MR. BURGESS: All right. Resolution 3 36-11. This is approving the Tribal Court Civil 4 Jurisdiction Ordinance as of 2011. 5 "Whereas, the CBC is the duly elected 6 official body authorized to promulgate and enforce 7 ordinances and codes, to protect the peace, 8 health, safety and general welfare of the nation 9 and its people within Comanche Nation jurisdiction 10 pursuant to Article 6, Section 7(j) of the 11 constitution; and 12 "Whereas, the Comanche Business 13 Committee finds that it is in the best interest of 14 the nation to clarify the jurisdiction of the 15 Court of Indian Offenses for the Comanche Nation, 16 which is also known as the CFR Court; and 17 "Whereas, the CBC intends that 18 nothing in this resolution shall be deemed a 19 waiver of the Comanche Nation's sovereign immunity 20 pursuit; and 21 "Whereas, the CBC intends that 22 nothing in this resolution shall be deemed to 23 supercede or conflict with the provisions of 25 24 CFR, Subsection 11.118. 25 "Now, therefore be it resolved that 66 1 the CBC approves and enacts the tribal court's 2 civil jurisdiction ordinance of 2011 as set forth 3 below to clarify the jurisdiction of the Court of 4 Indian Offenses for the Comanche Nation. 5 "Be it further resolved that nothing 6 in this resolution or in the Tribal Court Civil 7 Jurisdiction Ordinance of 2011 shall be construed 8 or interpreted as a waiver of the sovereign 9 immunity of the Comanche Nation or any of its 10 boards, commissions, agencies, corporations, 11 enterprises or similar entities." 12 Gentlemen, would y'all review this, 13 please, if you have some questions? I need a 14 glass of water. 15 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It's very important 16 to read that section on the next page under 1A, B, 17 C, subset I or 1 and 2. 18 MR. BURGESS: Jim, did y'all submit 19 this? Do you have a copy? There seems to be some 20 numbering here. 21 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Remember, we have 22 some numbering that we have to correct. 23 MR. BURGESS: That's this one. 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We were rushing 25 that, so don't get misled by numbers. We were 67 1 going to correct the numbers. 2 MR. BURGESS: That's the number. 3 MR. HENSON: 36-11. 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Just forget that, 5 it should be 36. 6 MR. NORMAN: The purpose of this 7 amendment is to correct or detect a case in 8 federal district court in which a judge determined 9 that a tribe is not an Indian for purposes of the 10 CFR Court, and therefore, cannot ask that court to 11 enforce its laws against a non-Indian gaming 12 vendor, or a non-Indian oil and gas company or any 13 other entity that is doing business with the 14 nation. So initial steps were taken, NCAI 15 resolution was passed urging the Department of the 16 Interior to defend the jurisdiction of CFR Courts 17 for those purposes so that tribes can enforce the 18 laws against non-Indians businesses. 19 Department of Interior has not 20 proceeded down that path, and we understand that 21 because of budget concerns and some other 22 political concerns, there is not a desire at this 23 time by the Department to defend the CFR Courts. 24 But an alternative means by which to address and 25 correct that decision is for the nation to adopt 68 1 its own jurisdictional statute, which the CFR 2 Court regulations allow. And so the purpose of 3 this is to place the language within the nation's 4 code, which would allow you to enforce your laws 5 against those departments who breach a contract 6 with you, or who refuses to adhere to your tribal 7 codes and that sort of thing. 8 MR. HENSON: I'll make a motion to 9 approve. 10 MR BURGESS: I have a motion to 11 approve by Mr. Henson. 12 MR. NARCOMEY: So we'll have our own 13 tribal court, is that what this is -- 14 MR. BURGESS: No, no, it's CFR. 15 MR. TIPPECONNIE: If the nation is in 16 the court, the nation, you know, the federal 17 action was action was that it can't be -- it has 18 to be Indians to Indians, right? It can't be a 19 nation to whomever. So what we're doing here is 20 we're allowing now the nation being acknowledged 21 as Indian, right, so we can act in that case. 22 See, before you say it's only Indian to Indian, 23 not a tribe to that part. So now we're saying the 24 tribe can't act as Indians with that clause, 25 right? 69 1 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Did he say 2 anything about that case that -- 3 MR. NORMAN: It was the Panther 4 Partners case. It was actually a Kiowa case where 5 the Kiowa tribe brought on an action against a 6 gaming developer in order to clarify that they 7 wanted to terminate the contract. They brought 8 that actually in the CFR Court, and the gaming 9 vendor then removed that to federal, and the 10 federal court determination was that tribe is not 11 an Indian for purposes of CFR Court jurisdiction. 12 And so the federal court then took over the case 13 and the tribe was not allowed to go to its own 14 court. 15 So this would correct that. This 16 will allow you, for instance, where an oil and gas 17 company is refusing to pay your oil and gas 18 severance taxes, you can take that action to that 19 court and enforce your rights then. 20 MR. BURGESS: Is this going to be a 21 positive for us with that company? What was it 22 called, CDST Games? They're still trying to 23 pursue that, right? 24 MR. NORMAN: Now, the CFR Court has 25 concluded that they have jurisdiction over that 70 1 case. The federal court also was playing a role 2 here, and so this would assist with respect to 3 that case as well. 4 MR. BURGESS: So that any previous 5 ruling by a CFR Court in that case is standing and 6 the district court is not going to overrule CFR -- 7 MR. NORMAN: Well, it gives us the 8 opportunity to make that happen. Now, this is 9 similar to the other laws that have been proposed 10 that you passed on earlier in that you passed a 11 law that gets submitted to the region, and they 12 approve it, and then it becomes enforceable at 13 that time. 14 MR. BURGESS: Okay, all right. So we 15 have a motion here. 16 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Second, 17 Mr. Chairman. 18 MR. BURGESS: Are you seconding, 19 Darrell? 20 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Yes. 21 MR. BURGESS: Oh, okay. All right. 22 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: I have a question. 23 The civil codes, they're the federal set of codes 24 in CFR Court? There's a whole list of them? 25 MR. NORMAN: There are federal 71 1 rules that govern the CFR Court that are published 2 in the CFR Court. 3 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: So we don't need to 4 create the civil -- 5 MR. NORMAN: No, it's the same 6 situation as the other before. There are some 7 gaps in here a federal district court has said, 8 has interpreted those a certain way. But the 9 tribe has the authority to enact its own law and 10 have that take the place of that interpretation. 11 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: But currently right 12 now the tribe has no civil codes, correct, other 13 than that? 14 MR. BURGESS: Well, we go by the CFR 15 Court. 16 MR. TIPPECONNIE: You go by 25 CFR. 17 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: But we could create 18 our own civil codes. 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: When we have a 20 court, expectedly if we have a court. 21 MR. BURGESS: You didn't get to vote 22 on that, Mark. I called for the vote. 23 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Oh, I approve. 24 MR. BURGESS: Mr. Nelson, could you 25 wait? We're conducting business here. 72 1 MR. NELSON: No need to be rude, sir. 2 MR. BURGESS: Well, then interrupting 3 us is rude. 4 MR. NELSON: You don't need to be 5 rude. 6 MR. BURGESS: "Whereas, the CBC is a 7 duly elected official body authorized to 8 promulgate and enforce ordinances and codes to 9 protect the peace, health, safety, and welfare of 10 the nation and its people within Comanche Nation 11 jurisdiction pursuant to Article VI, Section 7(j) 12 of the constitution; and 13 "Whereas, the CBC finds that it is in 14 the best interest of the nation to provide for the 15 reimbursement of litigation costs when the nation 16 must sue and prevails in the collection of 17 Comanche Nation taxes. 18 "Now, therefore be it resolved that 19 the CBC approves and adopts an amendment to 20 Section 214 of the Comanche Nation Revenue and 21 Taxation Act of 1995 to make minor technical edits 22 and to add a provision for the recoup of 23 litigation costs when the nation prevails in 24 litigation to collect taxes." 25 Gentlemen? 73 1 MR. HENSON: I'll make a motion to 2 approve. 3 MR. BURGESS: You'll make a motion to 4 approve? 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I'll second it. 6 MR. BURGESS: Motion by Mr. Henson 7 and second by Mr. Tippeconnie to approve this 8 change in the tax code. All those in favor 9 signify by saying "aye". 10 (Aye.) 11 MR. BURGESS: All those opposed, same 12 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Was that 13 six? 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes. 15 MR. REDELK: Was that 37-11? 16 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes. Yeah, your 17 agenda should show the correct numbers, too. 38 18 is Part 10. So it shows 39, but it's -- 19 MR. BURGESS: It's 38? This is a 20 Resolution of the Business Committee Amending the 21 Comanche Nation General Revenue and Taxation Act 22 of 1995 by enacting additional provisions to Part 23 Ten Unemployment Tax. 24 MR. HENSON: I make a motion to 25 approve. 74 1 MR. BURGESS: Let me read it. 2 "Whereas, the Comanche Nation is a 3 federally recognized Indian tribe with a 4 constitution approved by the Secretary of Interior 5 on January 9, 1967 to safeguard tribal rights, 6 powers, and privileges, to improve the economic, 7 moral, educational, and health status of its 8 members; and 9 "Whereas, the Federal Unemployment 10 Tax Act, 26 U.S.C., Section 3300, requires the 11 Agency's commission, boards, and enterprises of 12 the Comanche Nation to either pay FUTA taxes to 13 the United States, or to participate in the 14 unemployment insurance system of the State of 15 Oklahoma; and 16 "Whereas, the CBC, having deemed it 17 prudent for the nation's agencies, commissions, 18 boards, and enterprises to continue participation 19 in the unemployment insurance system in the State 20 of Oklahoma on a reimbursement basis pursuant to 21 Resolution Number 19-11, now deems it necessary to 22 add provisions to Part 10 of the Comanche Nation 23 Revenue and Taxation Act of 1995 to clarify 24 administration of its provisions; and 25 "Whereas, the CBC, pursuant to 75 1 Article VI, Section 7(j) of the Comanche 2 Constitution, deems it prudent to promulgate new 3 provisions to Part 10 of the Comanche Nation 4 General Revenue and Taxation Act of 1995 for the 5 health, safety, and welfare of the nation. 6 "Now therefore be it resolved that 7 the attached Part 10 of the General Revenue and 8 Taxation Act of 1995 is here adopted and 9 promulgated as the law governing the Comanche 10 Nation, including its agencies, commissions, 11 boards, and enterprises and shall be effective 12 immediately upon adoption." 13 MR. HENSON: I make a motion to 14 approve. 15 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Mr. Chairman, I 16 second the motion. 17 MR. BURGESS: Mr. Henson has made the 18 motion, Mr. Wauahdooah has made the second. All 19 those in favor say "aye". 20 (Aye.) 21 MR. BURGESS: All those opposed say 22 "nay". 23 MR. REDELK: Nay. 24 MR. NARCOMEY: Mr. Chairman, on the 25 Resolution 40-11, there's some handouts on the 76 1 table if anybody would like to look at them. 2 MR. BURGESS: Correction on that, 3 Clyde. Mr. Tippeconnie said it was 39. 4 MR. NARCOMEY: 39? It's not 40-11? 5 There's still some handouts. 6 MR. BURGESS: The title of this is a 7 Resolution of CBC Barring the Appointment and/or 8 Employment of Individuals Whose Actions Result in 9 Costly Lawsuits Against the Nation. 10 "Whereas, the CBC, by the powers 11 vested from tribal council, is concerned about 12 safeguarding and protecting all resources, 13 financial and fiscal, which it is directed to do 14 by the constitution of Comanche Nation; and 15 "Whereas, the CBC has the authority 16 under Article VI, Section J of the constitution to 17 promulgate and enforce ordinances and codes 18 governing law and order for the peace, health, 19 safety and general welfare on land determined to 20 be in the Comanche jurisdiction; and 21 "Whereas, misconduct and/or self- 22 serving actions by tribal members or tribal 23 officials or tribal employees have serious 24 financial consequences for the Comanche Nation 25 which work to undermine the general welfare. 77 1 "therefore, be it resolved that for 2 purposes of this resolution the following 3 definition shall apply." 4 MR. NORMAN: Mr. Chairman, I hate to 5 interrupt, but what you have before you is a draft 6 that has several options for the business 7 committee to consider in terms of the breadth and 8 scope of this that probably needs to go through 9 and we can discuss what those are, and then they 10 can very quickly be revised in that fashion and 11 will be ready for you. 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: So we can take it 13 just into discussion? 14 MR. NELSON: Yes. 15 MR. TIPPECONNIE: That's what I say. 16 MR. NORMAN: So William, you're 17 saying that you want to take it into discussion? 18 What are you saying? 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: He wants to take it 20 to executive session to discuss it. 21 MR. BURGESS: So do you want to make 22 that motion? 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes. 24 MR. BURGESS: All right. 25 Mr. Tippeconnie is making a motion to move this to 78 1 executive session. 2 MR. HENSON: I'll second. 3 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Especially since he 4 said it's a draft and there are different options. 5 MR. NARCOMEY: Mr. Chairman, I want 6 to go ahead and second that, but I would like to 7 put it as Number 1 on the executive session. 8 MR. BURGESS: Mr. Henson seconded, 9 but we can do that. 10 MR. NARCOMEY: This should go in 11 effect today because the general council is coming 12 April 16th. 13 MR. BURGESS: Okay. 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: So in executive 15 session, that's the number one item? 16 MR. NARCOMEY: Yes. 17 MR. BURGESS: Motion's been made and 18 seconded by Mr. Henson. All those in favor 19 signify by saying "aye". 20 (Aye.) 21 MR. BURGESS: All those opposed, same 22 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Move to 23 executive session, item Number 1. 24 (Short break.) 25 MR. BURGESS: We'll come back to 79 1 order, ladies and gentlemen. We're going to the 2 floor over to Mr. Narcomey, Thomas Narcomey. He's 3 on the agenda under new and old business. 4 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: Okay. I'd like to 5 make a comment about the water well. Well, the 6 KCA can contract for a water well for the water 7 park, or maybe the Comanches, they have the 8 lease. Maybe a filtering, rain filtering system. 9 MR. BURGESS: It would be better for 10 us to do the water well because we're leasing that 11 acreage. 12 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: The water park 13 would have no water bill, and then the EDA can 14 fund that project. But, you know, we have no 15 proposal writers to do that proposal. Karl 16 Tahkopfer said that the golf driving range, the 17 ground is hard so that needs water. So, you know, 18 that's a real good project to pursue. And then 19 KCA may qualify for CDBG funded. You know, at 20 least 2 million can maybe double that capacity of 21 a nursing home. But, I don't know, maybe the 22 Comanches could do a proposal for CDBG on that. 23 Well, anyway, again, we have no 24 proposal writers. And another thing is KCA might 25 qualify for HUD 202, Section 202, housing for the 80 1 elderly. Maybe we can get another lease and may 2 still qualify, the Comanches. But, again, the KCA 3 or the Comanches have no planning department. And 4 I'm pretty sure that Section 202 will work. 5 Lawton has one. Lawton got funded about two years 6 ago, and I think it's about 1.7 million. I think 7 there are about 15 units. 8 Well, I'm not ready, but I was going 9 to do a cemetery resolution. This is for the 10 Otipoby Cemetery. I think they started -- they 11 had a committee in '68 or '70 to authorize them 12 through -- CBC authorized them to act on behalf of 13 the tribe to administer the cemetery, give them 14 reserved places, and do cemetery work up there, 15 have the Memorial Day -- but anyway, since '68 or 16 so, why then I think that MOU, memorandum of 17 understanding, was in '93, and I think five years 18 it expired. It named some individuals to be on 19 the cemetery committee in the MOU, so it -- the 20 whole thing's expired. So now it's kind of like a 21 string flying around. You know, you need to tie 22 it down and make another resolution to authorize 23 the committee to act on behalf of the cemetery 24 now. That way they can reserve plots, or act or 25 deal with the Army concerning the cemetery, 81 1 whatever they have to do. But we need that 2 resolution. 3 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Isn't there -- Tom, 4 isn't there a committee? 5 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: Yeah, there's a 6 committee. They're already elected and they're 7 working. But like I said, they're like a string 8 flying around. They need to tie it down. 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: With the board? 10 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: Yeah. I had 11 another one about taxes, but I'm not prepared for 12 that one neither, tribal taxes. I'll try to get 13 it next month. 14 Then I just want to bring up another 15 one about -- well, I don't know what you do about 16 this one, but I've been working some figures here 17 on illegal enrollment. Let me see about that 18 illegal enrollment. Illegal enrollment, I got 19 this on the exit letter from Asepermy, you know, 20 the previous per caps. I think it was 1,035 in 21 2005, 1,020 in 2006, 1,412 in 2007. I got these 22 figures from Donna Wahnee on the reconvened 23 meeting in May 2010, last year. On here, she had 24 98. There was 11 that was illegally enrolled, 25 '99, 11; 2000, 8; 2001, 6; 2002, 6; '3, 21; '04, 82 1 1; '05, 7; '06, 8; '07, 3. But like 2003, we had 2 21 illegal enrollments. 3 And then over here, I added these 4 three per cap years, 2005, '06, '07, it came out 5 to 3,468, so I multiplied, you know, the number of 6 people here times how many per caps they received, 7 so they received 273 and it might be 291, because 8 '67 and '97, well, I think there was 5. I got to 9 get with Donna on that one. It looks like close 10 to 300,000 in per caps that we -- well, I don't 11 guess we'll ever see that again, that were 12 illegally enrolled, that were dually enrolled, and 13 they were enrolled with other tribes, too. Plus 14 social service. So we lost over half a million, 15 I'd say, on those illegal enrollments. 16 So you can look at the years here and 17 see, you know, who was in office and who was our 18 enrollment officer to determine who done this. 19 But what I'm saying is that that's a lot of 20 fraud. If you want to -- yeah, that's a good 21 report at 2010. You know, she said some people 22 told her that, you know, they never did think they 23 would get found out, but they did. But I would 24 think that there's some more people illegally 25 enrolled. You know, we should do a more thorough 83 1 audit. You know, check it again. Because then, 2 again, the main thing is that we need our 3 enrollment laws to, you know, say that, you know, 4 for falsified document or something you go to jail 5 or pay a fine, something like that. And then you 6 pay back the per cap if you got an illegal per 7 cap. So anyway, that's just what I wanted to 8 bring up about the illegal enrollment. An article 9 needs to be printed in the paper with this pretty 10 much detailed out. That way the people, absentee 11 voters will know about, you know, what went on in 12 those years. But that's a good source of 13 information, the absentee voters, because they're 14 the ones that control our annual referendum vote, 15 so they should be aware of what's going an. 16 MR. BURGESS: All right. Thank you, 17 Thomas. 18 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: And then there's 19 another one about the economic development. It 20 was supposed to have been in the newspaper, but 21 maybe I'll get it in the next newspaper where they 22 claim 160 jobs last year and 119 were businesses 23 that the economic department didn't create that 24 they were claiming they created. So after they 25 created 33 jobs, two sign companies, two from the 84 1 golf driving range, four from the Quick Stop, 25 2 from the Nations of Fun. So they created 33 jobs, 3 and they were trying to claim eight jobs on their 4 economic staff that they've created, but that was 5 created by the annual budget, not them. So 6 anyway, I wanted this to be put in the newspaper 7 so that the absentee voters would know what our 8 economic department's actually done. That way 9 they know for sure. 10 MR. BURGESS: Since we have no 11 censorship of the press here, you're free to talk 12 to J.J. 13 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: But anyway, that's 14 good information. Everybody should know -- I 15 don't know how a lot of these businesses are 16 doing, like Nations of Fun. It looks like they're 17 seasonal. 18 MR. BURGESS: Well, Thomas, you're 19 welcome to go over there and get their monthly 20 report. That's open to you because of the 21 constitution. 22 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: Well, they need to 23 report at the annual -- everybody should see it. 24 MR. BURGESS: They will be reporting. 25 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: The annual 85 1 meeting, the profit and loss of the four 2 businesses they've created. 3 MR. BURGESS: Okay. May I say 4 something if you're complete? 5 Just to let the people know that I 6 didn't get a chance to say it earlier when Clyde 7 and I were having discussion. The Economic 8 Enterprises in their meeting of I want to say 10 9 days ago, 10 working days back, has an estimated 10 net income of $9 million over the next three 11 years. On an annual basis, they'll receive $1 12 million from the purchase of Todd Construction. 13 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: That's the 8(a.) 14 MR. BURGESS: That's the 8(a). I'm 15 talking about Economic Enterprises, the 16 corporation, because we have talked about it a 17 little earlier before you came, Brother. So 18 Economic Enterprises over the next three years 19 will earn $9 million. 20 Currently on an annual basis, they're 21 earning $1 million from the purchase of Todd 22 Construction. Todd Construction has about five 23 other jobs around the country, and that will 24 garner income from those contracts, as well. So 25 they're looking at $9 million income from over the 86 1 next three years from a lot of construction, and 2 they're bidding on another 20 or $30 million 3 contracts, one in Florida, possibly one in Texas, 4 and another one back in North Carolina or Georgia 5 somewhere. I just wanted to give that as an 6 update. That will be some income from Comanche 7 Nation Enterprises, the 8(a) company. 8 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: The 8(a), okay. 9 Yeah, they need to do that ANA proposal where they 10 do 100 percent construction company. They could 11 get about half a million to start it to develop 12 it, and then they could -- to me, they would have 13 more credibility if they have an actual 14 construction company. 15 MR. BURGESS: Well, their board is 16 pretty progressive and they're playing in a bigger 17 arena than construction. General construction is 18 what they go after, because they get supervisors 19 to order and then they get the subcontractors to 20 come in. 21 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: There's a guy, an 22 individual, who's got oil companies, and his is 23 all on paper. He does pretty good. He was trying 24 to get the tribe to do it, Pawnee, but they 25 wouldn't do it. But that's a good idea. Maybe 87 1 they can get into that -- like jet fuel and stuff 2 like that, you know. 3 MR. BURGESS: Yes, Clyde? 4 MR. NARCOMEY: Mr. Chairman, you talk 5 about the Comanche Nation Enterprises. Yes, they 6 do have 8(a) status, but that don't mean a damn 7 thing. When you go out to put in for these 8 government jobs at Fort Sill, Tinker, wherever you 9 put in for them at, and you got 8(a) status, that 10 only qualifies you to put in for the job. They 11 don't mean you're going to get it. That don't 12 mean you're going to -- it means you qualify, but 13 that contract job you may not get it. That's what 14 the 8(a) status is. 15 You know, that's just like us being 16 on the Comanche roll. You're going to get a per 17 cap. There ain't no guarantee we're going to get 18 so much money, but there's more guarantee that 19 we're going to get less. 8(a) status, that don't 20 mean nothing. That just gives you -- just like 21 having your driver's license, you've got your 22 license to drive. The 8(a) status, that don't 23 mean you're going to get the contract. 24 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Mr. Narcomey, I beg 25 to disagree with you tremendously. President 88 1 Obama, although I didn't vote for him, has 2 promised to work with Native Americans to get 3 federal monies for SBA, 8(a) funds and so forth, 4 so we need to pursue this as much as possible. 5 There are other nonstates and private minority 6 status programs -- 7 MR. NARCOMEY: Go ahead and vote for 8 him. I ain't. 9 MR. BURGESS: We're going to 10 recognize Mr. RedElk here. You're on the agenda. 11 MR. REDELK: I want to make a comment 12 about Comanche Nation Enterprise. April Fool's 13 Day I received an e-mail from David Orme, and 14 maybe some of you received that same e-mail. He 15 resigned his position. I know that he was not 16 reappointed, and I talked to him and I encouraged 17 him not to resign, but I think he's going to 18 continue in that. He said personal and other 19 things. 20 The success of Comanche Nation 21 Enterprise was due largely to his efforts. And 22 you can quiz the members of that board and I bet 23 without a doubt that they will recognize his 24 contribution to Comanche Nation Enterprises. 25 Like was mentioned before, this 89 1 program will be going off of budget in 2012, and 2 they began half a year into 2008. So to me they 3 have really done well. They have spent their 4 money well. It takes time to make money, it takes 5 money to make money, and I want to go on record 6 and say that we owe a big thank you and gratitude 7 to David Orme if he is going on his way. But I 8 hate to see it. 9 MR. BURGESS: All right. Thank you. 10 Thomas. We need to move on. 11 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: Also, that guy 12 that -- that executive director also resigned, 13 too. I can't think of his name. 14 MR. BURGESS: And he did a lot of 15 work for Enterprises. 16 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: We're losing 17 everybody there. 18 MR. BURGESS: Mr. Evans was very 19 bright, very good at what he did, and it only took 20 some time for another company to buy him out, take 21 him off. More than what we could have paid. 22 Because look at it now, our people are concerned 23 about how much the janitor makes. Mr. RedElk, 24 you're on the agenda. 25 MR. REDELK: First of all, I want to 90 1 thank you two ladies. It is really nice sitting 2 up here next to the table. I didn't know how to 3 work this chair and they told me how. They said 4 it looked like I was sitting in a hole, and it 5 felt like that. 6 Shortly after the CBC decided to 7 honor the recall, and that was March the 7th, I 8 went to the agency superintendent to ask them what 9 would be their position in this recall process. 10 They stated simply that they would follow the 11 constitution. Basically that's all that I needed 12 to hear, that they would adhere to our rule of 13 law. 14 Now, during the course of a 15 conversation with the agency superintendent, there 16 were several things that were brought up. One of 17 them was the Revenue Allocation Plan. They stated 18 that they never did receive that Revenue 19 Allocation Plan. I was taken back. I couldn't 20 believe that they hadn't received it. So I called 21 Robert Tippeconnie and he couldn't believe it. 22 Then he had a thought, maybe it was turned in to 23 the regional office, and that's where it was. It 24 was in the regional office. The Revenue 25 Allocation Plan was submitted to Terry Bruner and 91 1 he forwarded it to the central office. 2 I had no knowledge of it, and I asked 3 Robert if he had knowledge of its submittal and 4 whether he'd seen it or not. He said he didn't. 5 Now, Clyde, I'm going to read something from the 6 minutes of August that you brought up during that 7 session. 8 MR. NARCOMEY: It seems like three 9 months ago, April, that the people voted to up the 10 per cap by so much percent. Have we ever sent any 11 letters or anything up to the BIA to acknowledge 12 we voted on it? Mr. Burgess: No. Remember, we 13 got that budget. Everybody got a copy of that 14 budget changes, adjustments. Mr. Narcomey: So 15 it's still out? Mr. Burgess: Yeah, we can leave 16 it as is and send it to them. Everything was 17 reduced. I wanted to see if you all wanted to 18 agree with that and send it forward, because once 19 we present it, we'll be asking -- we'll be going 20 to ask some questions already. I will talk with 21 the superintendent. 22 I looked at minutes since I've been 23 on in July, and that's basically all the 24 information that I could find about Revenue 25 Allocation Plan that we had talked about. Now, 92 1 Robert has already acknowledged that he didn't see 2 that plan. Clyde, did you see that plan, that 3 sheet that I passed? Did you see that submitted 4 as a Revenue Allocation Plan? 5 MR. NARCOMEY: Is it the three -- 6 MR. REDELK: Just that front sheet. 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Is this your 8 handout? 9 MR. REDELK: Yes. Darrell, did you 10 see that Revenue Allocation Plan, the front sheet? 11 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: You're saying 12 this is the plan that was submitted? 13 MR. REDELK: That is the plan. 14 Bunky, have you seen that? 15 MR. HENSON: I seen the budget for 16 the Revenue Allocation Plan, which had per capita 17 distribution 60 percent. It was turned over to 18 the Bureau. 19 MR. REDELK: Okay. Mark, you and I 20 are newbies, so we didn't see it. 21 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: I'm not exactly sure 22 what you're talking about, though. 23 MR. REDELK: Revenue Allocation Plan, 24 60/40. 25 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Oh, I probably 93 1 haven't seen it. 2 MR. BURGESS: Terry Bruner has it. 3 MR. REDELK: This cover sheet here, 4 or the plan, was what was submitted along with 5 2005 Revenue Allocation Plan. I ran out of money 6 copying these, so I couldn't copy that entire 2005 7 Revenue Allocation Plan. Now, I got this from 8 Terry Bruner, and he said that the chairman 9 submitted it. Now, I -- my problem is, we, the 10 business committee, does that, and we did not by 11 their own admission. This is the first time 12 they've seen it. 13 Now, the second page is the 14 information that was sent back to us on March the 15 10th. And if you look at that first date, January 16 the 4th, 2011, that's when it was submitted to the 17 nation. I mean, to the federal government. How 18 long did we know that this -- we were going to 19 have to do this? I'd say in April. So how many 20 months is that? Yes, we are -- all of us are 21 complicit in not carrying through with the Revenue 22 Allocation Plan that the tribal council directed 23 us to do. 24 MR. WHITEWOLF: That's nine, 10 25 months. 94 1 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Mr. RedElk, 2 are you a committee member? 3 MR. REDELK: Yes, sir. 4 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, why 5 didn't you push that thing through? You're just 6 like one of these guys here. 7 MR. REDELK: I acknowledge that fact. 8 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Instead of 9 trying to shift the blame over to somebody else, 10 it seemed like you had the bridle but you couldn't 11 find the horse. 12 MR. HENSON: Don't you guys remember 13 we had a meeting -- 14 MR. REDELK: Thank you. I do admit 15 that I -- 16 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, it lies 17 on you. It doesn't lie on anybody else. 18 MR. REDELK: No, we're a group of 19 seven. Now, if they agree that they saw this, 20 then I'm at fault. And if they have not seen 21 that, then we are all at fault. 22 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Exactly, 23 exactly. That's the point I'm trying to make. 24 You're all at fault or you're one at fault. It's 25 not just -- you can't just sit there and point out 95 1 one person as being the fault behind it. The 2 chairman has a job to do just like everybody else. 3 MR. REDELK: I agree with that. 4 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And it can't 5 be that he's going to have to carry the blame for 6 all of you. I mean, you're going to be a member 7 just like he is. 8 MR. REDELK: I agree with you. 9 MR. HENSON: Let me say something. 10 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: If you didn't 11 push it through, you said -- if Bunky didn't push 12 it through -- 13 MR. HENSON: Let me say something to 14 clear this up. This is not anything to be 15 discussing anymore. What happened was we had a 16 meeting, we went through the budget, we prepared a 17 budget. I know the CBC, we had a meeting on that, 18 and we all agreed that we were going to submit 19 that. I haven't seen what was submitted, but I 20 know that what we agreed on was the 60 percent and 21 it was set. So everything behind that doesn't 22 make any difference. What happens is that the BIA 23 has got it, and the BIA sent it to the regional 24 office. It was lost for a while because we 25 couldn't track it down. 96 1 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, because 2 of this thing right here, you've got a lot of 3 people that have filed a petition against the 4 chairman because he didn't follow the rules `and 5 get -- and didn't push through the per capita 6 payment just like he was supposed to. We didn't 7 get what we were supposed to last time. That's 8 all rubbish. I don't care how much we should have 9 got. That's beside the point. What we didn't get 10 was a result of this paper not being pushed 11 through, or is this a new development? 12 MR. HENSON: Like I said, the CBC had 13 a meeting on it and we discussed the budget and 14 what was supposed to be submitted, and that was 15 submitted. 16 MR. WHITEWOLF: But Bunky, you were 17 supposed to -- 18 MR. HENSON: I didn't see what was 19 submitted, but I understand what we discussed was 20 submitted. 21 MR. WHITEWOLF: Bunky, you were 22 supposed to submit a new plan, not just a 23 resolution like you did the first -- 24 MR. HENSON: No, no, no, we didn't 25 submit just a resolution. We submitted the 97 1 budget -- 2 MR. WHITEWOLF: Did you submit a BRAC 3 plan? 4 MR. HENSON: It's the same thing to 5 me. 6 MR. WHITEWOLF: It's not the same 7 thing. It's got -- 8 MR. HENSON: If you take a look at 9 this, this breaks down the budget on the BRAC 10 plan, and it says 60 percent per capita. 11 MR. WHITEWOLF: They're saying that 12 Items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 hasn't been 13 submitted. You haven't submitted a plan. Y'all 14 submitted an old plan. 15 MR. HENSON: No, it doesn't say that, 16 Roderick. What it says is, before they can -- 17 before they can look at it, we need to submit this 18 additional information. That's what it says. 19 MR. WHITEWOLF: You were supposed to 20 submit a new plan, Bunky. 21 MR. HENSON: Well, I'm not going to 22 argue with you. 23 MR. WHITEWOLF: They're not going to 24 do it for you. That's why they got this 25 information here. 98 1 MR. REDELK: Bunky -- 2 MS. GALLEGOS: Mr. Vice-Chairman, I 3 have a question. The second page that's dated 4 March 10th, it says here that on January 4th, the 5 Southern Plains Regional Office, which is the 6 office in Anadarko, right? Was submitted this 7 Revenue Allocation Plan to D.C. So when was -- so 8 that means that plan to the agency was delivered 9 before that. See, so -- Ron, when you said it 10 didn't sound like the tribe sent it on January 11 4th, and it wasn't. It was the regional office 12 that sent it to D.C. on January 4th. Therefore, 13 the Revenue Allocation Plan coming from the tribe 14 to the agency had to be before that. 15 MR. REDELK: The agency 16 superintendent never did see this. 17 MRS. GALLEGOS: Well, then who 18 transmitted it from the regional office? 19 MR. REDELK: Terry Bruner. 20 MR. HENSON: That's internal. What 21 this says -- let me clear this up. It says on 22 January 4th, 2011, the Southern Plains Regional 23 office transmitted an amendment to the Comanche 24 Nation Revenue Allocation Plan to this office for 25 review and approval. So it says we transmitted an 99 1 amendment to that office, and that's all we were 2 supposed to do at the time. It was transmitted to 3 the BIA. 4 MR. WHITEWOLF: You're supposed to 5 have a plan. 6 MS. SCHONCHIN: I just have a 7 question. For Numbers 1 through 8, what wasn't 8 turned in, is there a reason why it wasn't turned 9 in? Did they not give you guidelines as to what 10 to turn in with this? 11 MR. WHITEWOLF: Yeah, they have a 12 plan. 13 MS. SCHONCHIN: And how come it 14 wasn't turned in if you had a guideline? 15 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Mr. Secretary- 16 Treasurer, can you answer that question for her? 17 MR. TIPPECONNIE: What I understand, 18 going back, and the CBC can correct me. What I 19 understand, you know, we kept urging ourselves to 20 get on with this, because we were directed. So we 21 did sit down at one point, just as the vice- 22 chairman says. We did sit down and look at some 23 budget figures. Okay? We did do that, right? 24 Okay. We did look at that. Then there was a 25 transmittal prepared by the chairman that went to, 100 1 not the superintendent I found out, because I 2 asked, too. He took it to the regional director 3 instead of the superintendent. 4 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: What month was that? 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It wasn't January. 6 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Was it October, 7 November? 8 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It had to have 9 been. It went in before -- I am going to have 10 him -- he took it up there. I'm going to see what 11 he says about when he took it up, but he took it 12 up much before this. It was I think about the 13 beginning of the fiscal year or a little before 14 the ending of the last fiscal year. It was in 15 that time. And we had worked on -- we had looked 16 at the budget as a body, but what was transmitted 17 we didn't see. So he put it together. He 18 finalized it and put it under a cover, under a 19 letter, and took it to the regional director. 20 Okay. 21 Now, this response coming back to us 22 that is March 10th, this is coming from the 23 Department of the Interior responding back to the 24 nation saying we want a little more information. 25 Okay? What happens, if you read the first 101 1 paragraph, we have an existing Revenue Allocation 2 Plan, so we don't say cancel our Revenue 3 Allocation Plan, we say we want to amend that. We 4 want to see 60 percent per cap and 40 other. So 5 that's what was transmitted. So they did receive 6 that, my understanding, because I've asked them 7 questions of the chairman. I want to know. We 8 all want to know. 9 MR. REDELK: You did an amended RAP 10 then? 11 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, there was an 12 amended RAP plan sent, delivered by the chairman 13 to the regional director. Then it was sent to 14 Washington on January 4, you know, the Southern 15 Plains sent it, the regional director. 16 MR. WHITEWOLF: How many pages was 17 it? 18 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Again, I don't 19 know. 20 MR. WHITEWOLF: Because the first one 21 was like about eight pages. 22 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I'm sure it had a 23 -- I can't speak for that, because again, I admit 24 I did not see that transmittal. I'm not trying to 25 make a big issue out of it, but I don't think any 102 1 of us saw that transmittal. 2 MR. WHITEWOLF: Well, we are because 3 we gave a directive to the business committee to 4 do a job. 5 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Mr. Vice-Chairman, 6 I've got a question. 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, let me put it 8 this way: He presented it, so I think some of our 9 assumption was, and that's bad to have an 10 assumption because we should look at it, but that 11 it was complete. This letter coming back is 12 raising some questions. It raises questions 13 because they remind us if you go to the 25 CFR, 14 that's the federal code regulation, or you go to 15 the law, which is the gaming law they're citing 16 here, we have to meet certain circumstances. 17 Like we can't put all money out to 18 individuals in a per cap. You can't do that. You 19 have to give something to your tribal government, 20 you have to give something to economic 21 development, you have to do something for 22 community services, if the nation has those kinds 23 of needs. 24 So what they're asking for is, the 25 way I read this, and I talked to the chairman, and 103 1 what they're asking for is there's a budget. But 2 they need a little more information to say that, 3 okay, we have so-so program, but we have all these 4 people that are not being served. We need to know 5 a little more information of your population, are 6 they being served? I'm just giving you an 7 example. So that's what I read here. So the 8 information they want is if you give 60 percent, 9 will the tribal members suffer if they have social 10 service needs, will they suffer if they have -- 11 MR. WHITEWOLF: Yobble dobble. 12 Yesterday I picked up a paper at the elderly 13 center and it said -- addressed from the chairman. 14 It said that that Revenue Allocation Plan, that 15 request of 60 percent was turned down. Now, this 16 letter says it's still alive because you've got 17 the -- but he came out and said that it was turned 18 down, that he got a letter. Now, who's right? 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, I can't speak 20 for it, but what we have to look at is this 21 letter. See, they're asking questions. 22 MR. WHITEWOLF: Well, we're getting 23 misinformation. 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: What I would say -- 25 this is the last I've seen, March 10th. It raises 104 1 questions. It doesn't say that it was 2 disapproved. 3 MR. WHITEWOLF: That's what this 4 letter says, they want more information. They 5 want the RAP plan is what they want. 6 MR. TIPPECONNIE: See, this is what 7 we must address. 8 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: It does raise red 9 flags if they're -- Jolene's question wasn't 10 really answered, Mr. Secretary-Treasurer. She's 11 asking was there guidelines for us responding back 12 initially. There were no guidelines. 13 MR. TIPPECONNIE: There are 14 guidelines. The CFR, you have to comply to the 15 CFR, and you have to comply to the law of the 16 IGRA, you know, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. 17 You have to respond to those. Those are the 18 guidelines. 19 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: So we didn't accept 20 the fault then because -- 21 MR. TIPPECONNIE: These are 22 additional. Well, again, I can't speak for what 23 the chairman submitted, but we were speaking to 24 the guidelines. 25 MS. GOODIN: Bob, did you keep a copy 105 1 of what you say you worked on with the chairman 2 and submitted? 3 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I believe he has 4 that document there. Now, I might say this, I'll 5 tell you this, too. You've seen, because it's a 6 requirement of the Secretary, a requirement of the 7 CBC, to give you the 2012 budget. We've done 8 that. We also prepared a budget with the 60 9 percent. We presented that budget. We worked 10 together on that budget, so we have that budget in 11 hand if that happens. That will be a big 12 adjustment, but we do have that budget prepared. 13 I worked hard to see that we had both budgets. We 14 did not present that budget, because this is not 15 approved. We're still living under an existing 16 Revenue Allocation Plan. 17 MR. WHITEWOLF: Where'd the chairman 18 go? 19 MR. GOODIN: The chairman has got the 20 answers. We can talk, we can argue, we can 21 discuss, but we're not going to really solve 22 anything because the chairman has the answers, and 23 when his seat gets too hot, he goes to cool off. 24 That's it. 25 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: If you guys 106 1 all worked on that budget, why didn't y'all stick 2 with it and find out what he said? That would be 3 working together. I mean, you said y'all worked 4 on it, but you don't know what he submitted. 5 MR. HENSON: This document shows we 6 worked together. 7 MR. WHITEWOLF: That shows you didn't 8 do any work. 9 MR. HENSON: This document shows that 10 that amendment was sent to the Bureau. There's 11 nothing wrong with what -- 12 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Y'all worked 13 on it but y'all didn't see what was sent. 14 MR. HENSON: There's nothing wrong 15 with what was sent. It was an amendment to the 16 Revenue Allocation Plan. The BIA says we can't 17 make a determination on it because we need this 18 other information. Updated information is what 19 they're asking for. So that's what this letter 20 says. There's nothing more about it, there's 21 nothing less. It's just asking for more 22 information. 23 MR. WHITEWOLF: Is this the only 24 three sheets you got from Terry Bruner? 25 MR. REDELK: Along with those three 107 1 sheets, I got about 10 or 12 of the 2005 Revenue 2 Allocation Plan. That's what he said was 3 submitted. 4 MR. WHITEWOLF: You didn't get a new 5 one? 6 MR. REDELK: That's all he gave me. 7 MR. WHITEWOLF: They didn't comp the 8 62 percent. You didn't get anything. 9 MR. REDELK: That's what he said was 10 submitted, so I took him for his word. 11 MR. HENSON: Let me ask a point 12 here. What is the point of this discussion? What 13 is it that y'all want to know? What is it that 14 you want to know? 15 MR. REDELK: I want to know why it 16 was submitted without our knowledge. 17 MR. HENSON: We had a meeting on 18 that. 19 MR. REDELK: Mark and I weren't 20 involved in it. 21 MR. HENSON: We approved the budgets 22 then. Maybe it was done before you guys came on, 23 I don't know. I don't know. I just know that we 24 did have a meeting on that and we approved that 25 budget of 60 percent. That's what was submitted 108 1 to them, to amend the RAP. 2 MR. BURGESS: This is the letter I 3 submitted to -- my first discussion was with the 4 superintendent, yes, because I was directed to 5 talk to her first. My discussions begin with her 6 in late May, had a meeting with her sometime in 7 mid June. The discussion centered on how this is 8 to be presented to you, what do you want. I said 9 we can present you percentages. We don't know our 10 exact fiscal year budget, what it will be at the 11 end of the year. I can present percentages to 12 you. 13 Her statement to me was, well, you 14 can talk about it and you can present percentages, 15 but I think that it would be better for you if you 16 met with Mr. Deerinwater. However, he's not in. 17 So I can tell you that you need to do a line item 18 budget or show us how you do your budget at your 19 annual meeting, because that's how it's approved. 20 She said but after you talk with him, just follow 21 his guidance. 22 So the next meeting I had with 23 Mr. Deerinwater was perhaps in late June over the 24 telephone. He, too, said it's better to have a 25 solid budget, dollar numbers, not just percentages 109 1 on what we think our budget is going to be, 2 because our budget has been falling since 2008. 3 And for them to make a proper judgment to say that 4 we could afford to give a 60 percent per cap, they 5 wanted us to show them solid numbers, what we're 6 actually making, what the actual revenue is, not 7 percentages based on what we think the pie in the 8 sky is. 9 So when I met with him sometime in 10 July or August again, do you have a budget? I 11 said, well, we're not at our fiscal year yet, but 12 we think it's going to be this, X, Y, and Z. He 13 said are you sure? I said, no, we don't. It 14 seems we keep falling because people aren't 15 playing at the casino. That's the only income we 16 have. He said, well, when is your fiscal year? 17 Aren't you in September? And I said yes, we are. 18 We won't have our fiscal year-end until September 19 30th, we won't have our final numbers until 20 October 15th or 20th. He said when you get your 21 final numbers, you make up your budget and you 22 bring it to me. 23 This is the budget that we all talked 24 about. Now, yes, you weren't here. This is the 25 budget we presented at a 60 percent per cap. This 110 1 is what we presented to him. We had some line 2 items blank because what are we going to do with 3 those monies, where are we going to get those 4 funds. They wanted to see what we were going to 5 have in dollars, not just percentages. They 6 wanted to see how it was going to affect our 7 operations. And this letter that you got, which 8 was all you said was in the file -- 9 MR. REDELK: No, that's all he gave 10 me. 11 MR. BURGESS: It came back from 12 Washington, D.C. asking us to provide him the 13 answer to eight questions. Did you tell him what 14 the eight questions are? 15 MR. REDELK: They've read it. 16 MR. BURGESS: Thank you. One of 17 those questions is what do your economic 18 enterprises return to the tribe. 19 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Nothing. 20 MR. BURGESS: Thank you. It's almost 21 the end of the deal, because they want to see what 22 else we're going to be bringing in that can 23 replace the other 20 percent that goes to per 24 cap. And this is not us saying we have 25 sovereignty over this. Our agreement with IGRA 111 1 law that we would do this, and it's been 2 submitted. And it went to both, Mr. Deerinwater's 3 office, Terry Bruner got it, and then it went to 4 Mrs. Tracie Stephens. I had to take three copies 5 up to them. So whatever file they gave you, I 6 don't know why they didn't give this to you. You 7 could have asked me, I would have given it to you. 8 MR. REDELK: I will ask them. 9 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: His seat 10 didn't get that hot that he ran out, he went and 11 got the information to give you. So I think you 12 should apologize. 13 MR. BURGESS: Calm down. 14 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: We can't help 15 it if you're not here at the CBC meeting. You 16 need to be here at all the CBC meetings. 17 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: There was a 18 letter that it was rejected. Do you have a copy 19 of it? 20 MR. BURGESS: He passed it out to 21 you. 22 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It's not rejected, 23 it's asking questions. 24 MR. BURGESS: It's asking us to 25 answer eight questions. 112 1 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: The new 2 information, have we sent that in yet? 3 MR. BURGESS: No, we haven't. The 4 simple answer is we have no income from any 5 enterprises to supplement the 20 percent -- 6 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: So we're not 7 going to send it in? 8 MR. BURGESS: No, we're going to work 9 on that. Can you give us time? I'm dealing with 10 the recall, which you actually want me out. This 11 gentleman since day one or day two of the meeting 12 has been calling for my recall since he got here 13 and made a statement to everybody he's a team 14 player. 15 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Out of the 16 eight questions, what were you able to answer, if 17 I may ask? 18 MR. BURGESS: I can tell them we 19 don't have enough money coming in to replace the 20 20 percent to go to per cap. 21 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: That's not my 22 question. 23 MR. BURGESS: You said what can I 24 answer. I answered. 25 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And I asked 113 1 you out of the eight questions, what did you 2 answer? 3 MR. BURGESS: I haven't answered all 4 of them yet because it takes all of us to sit down 5 and talk about it. It ain't just me. I can 6 answer them, but we just got the letter, what, 7 March 10th? 8 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Let me ask you 9 a question. Why is it just you that makes the 10 calls on a lot of other stuff then? 11 MR. BURGESS: I think your question 12 is out of order because a lot of people ask me to 13 make the call and then I talk to people here to 14 try to make a call. And I am the chairman on a 15 daily basis, I am the chief executive. I can't 16 handle some things without their approval, even 17 though one or two think not. 18 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Okay. Let me 19 ask you this question, if you want to get like 20 this with me -- 21 MR. BURGESS: You started it. 22 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I am a young 23 tribal member and I am going to stand up for my 24 people. It is no longer going to be this way. 25 The people run this tribe, not you. It is not 114 1 called the Lords of the Plains for nothing. 2 MR. BURGESS: You're going off base, 3 young man. 4 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: My 5 understanding of this is that it is not a 6 completely dead issue. 7 MR. BURGESS: It is not a dead issue. 8 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: At this time, 9 it fails to justify giving a 60 percent per cap. 10 So we're maintaining a 40 percent. And when we 11 can justify by answering the eight questions, they 12 will consider letting it go up to 60 percent. We 13 got 40 percent based on the enrolled members that 14 we have and the money that we made. 15 MR. BURGESS: Your per cap is going 16 down, as I've explained it from day one. This 17 month we brought in how many people? 19. In the 18 first quarter of this year we brought in about 120 19 people in four months. And then also they want to 20 know the age ranges. We're increasing numbers 21 every month. So your per cap is going to go down 22 because you only get 40 percent of the total to 23 per cap. And then how many of us are reaching 62 24 by December 31st of this year? That number is 25 increasing. That takes $1,000 off the top, and 115 1 then the rest of us get per cap. That number's 2 gone up by another 100 or $150,000 at the end of 3 this year, not just last year. 4 When we first started per cap, it was 5 only about $800,000 and that keeps increasing. So 6 all of these increase in numbers, increase in 7 elders takes more money out and you have less in 8 the pie. It has nothing to do with how gaming is 9 being managed. We're up 20 percent at gaming. 10 It's coming up and coming up because people are 11 playing. And the word is, they like the 12 atmosphere, they like the food. They had to do 13 these innovations to create more people's attitude 14 about we like this casino. We're not shoulder to 15 shoulder, bump to bump here, as some of the other 16 casinos you go to. There's room to talk, room to 17 move, a lot of drinks, a lot of food. People like 18 the changes. Some people may not, but the 19 majority of non-Indians like it because they get a 20 better reward out of it. 21 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: You always 22 bring it up, the enrollment. How come you 23 couldn't answer the first question, how many 24 Comanches are there? 25 MR. BURGESS: I just told you earlier 116 1 in this meeting. Approximately 15,050. 2 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: How come you 3 couldn't put that on that 40/25/25 you submitted? 4 MR. BURGESS: James, that's the 5 letter that came back to us. We haven't responded 6 to the letter yet. 7 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: I think the 8 guidelines were not very clear about that, James. 9 I will tell you this, the eight questions that 10 they respond back, it's a red flag to the Comanche 11 Nation that we ain't going to approve this, 12 because your economic development is not up to 13 snuff, your enrollment is increasing radically. 14 You only got a one horse saloon right now, that 15 casino, and you better rethink about your future. 16 That is what the federal government is saying, 17 rethink your future. 18 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Why didn't -- 19 MR. BURGESS: It was not asked, it 20 was not required, James. Now keep off of that. 21 It's not required at the time this letter went 22 in. These are the questions that came back after 23 we sent it in, James. Can you understand that? 24 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah, I can 25 understand you telling them there's $15,000. 117 1 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Ladies and 2 gentlemen, let me -- we are going to address these 3 eight questions now and in the future, but what 4 has happened has happened. 5 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Now? We did 6 this in May. 7 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Mr. Chairman, 8 you know, Mr. RedElk was a principal, he was an 9 educator, and one of the things that an educator 10 and a principal does is find out from both sides. 11 You always listen to both sides of the story. You 12 went to Anadarko and got all this information, but 13 did you ask the chairman, and did you ask your 14 fellow committeemen, not in public, but in 15 private? No, you're just a sneak. You should 16 have done better. You are an educated man, you 17 could have done better. You could have gotten 18 both sides of the story. You chose not to do 19 that, so please don't say you're a team player. 20 Please don't say that you're working for the 21 Comanche Tribe. You're working for your own self- 22 interest. 23 MR. REDELK: I did talk to some of 24 the CBC. 25 MR. BURGESS: No, we're moving on. 118 1 We have somebody else on the agenda. Does it 2 pertain to the agenda? Roderick, I'll give you 3 the question. 4 MR. WHITEWOLF: Why did you put in 5 the paper that the Revenue Allocation Plan was 6 denied? In the paper yesterday I read at the 7 senior citizens, you said that it was denied. 8 MR. BURGESS: Basically it is denied 9 until we can answer those eight questions. 10 MR. WHITEWOLF: It's still alive. 11 MR. BURGESS: Okay. Well, there's a 12 play on words here. It's not approved until we 13 answer the eight questions and prove we can get 14 it. 15 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: It's barely alive. 16 MR. WHITEWOLF: -- by accident or 17 whatever you call it, because that's 18 misinformation. 19 MR. BURGESS: Moving on. 20 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Okay. Sir, do 21 I have a right to say something? 22 MR. BURGESS: Does it pertain to the 23 subject? 24 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I just have a 25 comment on the team player. Then I'll step out 119 1 and I won't -- my name is Eric Komantcia, sir. 2 Whenever we had the ice storm, okay, you say that 3 you're a team player. 4 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Sir, is this about 5 the -- 6 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Just a simple 7 fact and then I'm out of here. Okay? Just one 8 simple fact. 9 This man approaches me in my office 10 and closed my door and asked me to assist with the 11 Comanche -- through out of my Comanche Nation 12 gaming money, with paying the people for the ice 13 storm for in the amount, I believe, was $225,000. 14 You approached me by yourself, sir, and nobody 15 else. Nobody else on your CBC board probably even 16 knows about this, and nobody probably heard of it 17 until now. But you wanted to use my -- you wanted 18 me to use my Comanche Nation gaming money to pay 19 these taiboos to clean up after our Native people. 20 MR. BURGESS: That's bullshit. 21 You're lying. 22 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: We can't 23 believe that because you're in a room by 24 yourself. How do you want us to believe that? 25 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Point of order. 120 1 MR. HENSON: Okay. Let's go. 2 MR. BURGESS: Thank you, Eric. We 3 appreciate your statement, even though it was a 4 lie. We've moving on to the next item on the 5 agenda. 6 William Nelson, are you in here? 7 Next item, Homecoming. 8 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: We were 9 looking to see if we could get some funding for 10 the upcoming homecoming. Mr. Chairman and 11 committee, we're here to see if we can get some 12 funds for the upcoming homecoming powwow at 13 Walters. I gave you all a sheet, things we're 14 hoping to do if we can get the funds and 15 fundraising doing on our own. It takes quite a 16 bit, and I'm sure some of you guys in here have 17 put on a powwow before. It takes a lot of 18 expense. And what we gave y'all is pretty much 19 what we'd like to try to do. It's not saying we 20 would, but I think it comes up to how much, 21 Leonard, 20,000? 22 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Are you asking for 23 the whole 20? 24 MR. TAHHAHWAH: We'll ask for all of 25 it if you'll give it to us, but we'll take 121 1 whatever we can get. 2 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: This is just 3 what we brought up here. Each one of y'all have 4 what we will pay out to our head staff, the amount 5 for what we have also for coordinators for 6 concessions, help us out. On Page Number 3, I 7 have an itemized just an expense, but this is 8 just, again, a hope we would have 250 campers, or 9 we've been averaging 100, 150 campers, and the 10 rations we can -- since we've been on the 11 committee about four years and I've been on it for 12 six in the past, and we try to give out $12 13 vouchers. You know, we try to get as much as we 14 can. We're hoping on 250, but this is just a 15 figure, 250 an estimate at $20 vouchers for each 16 tent. And Port-a-Potties, you can see what we 17 have down. That's about what they're running. 18 They've come up since the last year we checked on 19 them. We worked with the committee a little bit 20 and they asked questions, and they've gone up. 21 That's just what we have here. We're not asking 22 for the full 20, but last year when we was down 23 there, we had to -- we paid out around $19,000 to 24 put it on. That's for the contest, all 25 categories, that 321, and it's all documented. 122 1 We got help before from the casinos. 2 I know it's all changed how they do that, but they 3 got 10,000, 11,000, I know, the one year I was in 4 there. We had to have all the receipts brought 5 back to the tribe to show where the money went, 6 all the contest money of who won, kind of before 7 pay out. Once they got it, they opened the 8 envelope, cash money, counted it in front of us, 9 and then we made them sign their name what they 10 got before they got their money. Last year we was 11 in there and we had to up our prize money from 12 321. We got to put $100 extra to all categories, 13 and we put $100 on each drum. Plus the City of 14 Walters supports it. We've been in there, like I 15 said, we donated $1,000 to the City of Walters 16 after we got out. Also the new incoming 17 committee, we've given them $500 cash when we 18 stepped down, plus Pendletons when we was in 19 there. 20 But it's a lot of work. The times 21 we've gone in, been voted in, we've got like $40 22 to start out with. But, you know, this is what we 23 done, and the City of Walters helps out a whole 24 lot with it. You just have to work with the 25 City. They put in a lot of electrical, a lot of 123 1 spaces out there, upgraded the transformers. They 2 put in new water lines to keep the big campers 3 from, you know, blowing them. The City has helped 4 us out a lot. But, Committee, this is what we're 5 asking. We're not asking for the full 20, we're 6 just asking this is just something we put 7 together, what we'd like to do, what we'd like to 8 have, what money we'll raise. And during the 9 three days, if anybody else usually comes up and 10 sponsors a contest, there is some people that's 11 going to sponsor a special contest, which we 12 appreciate that. What we'll make on the three 13 days it takes roughly 20,000 to put it on. 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: What do you have 15 now? Do you have anything? 16 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes, we have 17 approximately 3,000. 18 MR. TIPPECONNIE: 3,000? 19 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And as far as 20 having the benefits, when you have all gourd 21 dances, it's kind of hard. It takes a lot. By 22 the time you feed, get a family, which that's 23 good, which is fine, some do it. A gourd dance 24 doesn't draw a whole lot, but you have contests 25 and you're out the contest unless you get somebody 124 1 to do it. And the way the economy is, I 2 understand it's hard. We're just asking for some 3 help, whatever you can give us. We're asking for 4 15,000, but we'll take whatever. 5 MR. TAHHAHWAH: It's been a tradition 6 that's been going on a long time, over 50 years. 7 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Are you guys 8 going to give rations out over there? 9 MR. TAHHAHWAH: We're going to give 10 vouchers. 11 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Hopefully like 12 the last four years, we give out $12 vouchers. I 13 think we had like 150 cash is what we had. 14 MR. TAHHAHWAH: I'd appreciate all 15 the help that you can give us in support of this. 16 Like I say, it reaches out to a lot of people. A 17 lot of our people in Comanche Country that use 18 this weekend to come home to visit one another. 19 It's very important. Whether we have prize money 20 or a powwow or not, we'll always have a 21 homecoming. 22 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It's almost as 23 big as Comanche Fair. 24 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Can I ask a 25 question? How many benefits have y'all had? 125 1 MR. TAHHAHWAH: We've had four 2 benefits and raised approximately $3,000. 3 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: By the time 4 you pay for everything, y'all know, y'all are 5 powwow people, you know. You might make 250. 6 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Everybody has 7 to raise their own money. 8 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: That's right. 9 You might make 250. You might not make none. 10 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It should only 11 be fair to match what you make, what you raise. 12 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: That's fine. 13 It don't matter to me. The year we was in, we 14 raised over 10,000, and that's when the casino, 15 they said go ask the casinos. Well, we did, and 16 that's the year they said they'd help and they've 17 given them like 10,000. That's the only time we 18 got any help. The rest of the time when I've been 19 in there, he's been in there, we raised it on our 20 own. 21 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I understand 22 last year they got $7,000. 23 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I don't know 24 what they got. I haven't been on the committee. 25 It's been four years since I was on the 126 1 committee. We took $2,000 out of our own pocket 2 because we said we'd pay 321, all categories. We 3 were 4,000 short. I brought 2,000 out of my 4 pocket and he brought 2,000, and that's just -- we 5 give because we said we'd pay. And I know we're 6 not northern, but we pay at all the northern, 7 traditional, jingles. We had one jingle. I 8 couldn't go up to her and say, well, you're only 9 one, no. We paid, she took it. We did not go say 10 we're going to combine. We never did combine. 11 Even though there was only two dancers, we went 12 ahead and paid it. 13 MR. TAHHAHWAH: I'm not here to 14 argue. I'm just here to present this to y'all. 15 We didn't go in executive session. This is not my 16 powwow, it's y'all's powwow. If you want to help, 17 that's fine. If you don't, that's fine. If you 18 want to come, that's good, I hope you do. It's a 19 traditional thing we do every year. I've been 20 camping out there going on 12 years now. I know 21 there's people that's been down there a lot longer 22 than I have. It's good to see people coming in 23 harmony instead of complaining or griping or all 24 that good stuff. But it's y'all's powwow. We're 25 here to see if y'all can give us a little help. 127 1 MR. HENSON: Thank you very much. 2 The next one on the agenda, Number 5, Grandparents 3 Raising Grandchildren. Not here? Okay. The next 4 one, Bill Neely. 5 MR. NEELY: I think I need that 6 microphone lowered. This is about the fourth time 7 you've seen me in the last 13 years. I'm not 8 Comanche, obviously, but I've been to Comanche 9 Homecoming many times, and I really like it. I 10 like your culture, your language. I'm trying to 11 make a movie with you in it about you, and I am 12 approaching the business committee asking for a 13 half million dollars in development monies. Now, 14 that sounds like a lot of money, but it's going to 15 create interest in the movie. I've already talked 16 to some bankers in town, and they're willing to 17 jump in if the Comanches will start, you know, get 18 everything started. 19 I want to tell you that we will have 20 a casting director, the company is going to be 21 located in Lawton. There will be an office here. 22 You can go and talk to the casting director about 23 being in the movie. We want lots of Comanches in 24 the movie as actors. We're going to need 25 drummers, singers, dancers. We're going to need 128 1 people making costumes, we're going to need people 2 making teepees. But, in other words, this would 3 be your movie and this would involve you. The 4 screenplay has four authors. I wrote the first 5 draft, a friend of mine wrote the second one, a 6 professor of screen writing at the University of 7 Oklahoma wrote the third draft, and right now, 8 Sunrise Tippeconnie, professor of screen writing 9 and cinematography at OU, is writing the final 10 draft. 11 So this will be the only movie that I 12 know of about American Indians with the final 13 draft of the screenplay written by a member of 14 that tribal group. So, you know, it's of, by, and 15 for the Comanches. Of course, I'm not a Comanche, 16 but I've been writing about you for many, many 17 years of my life, and I'm very interested. I'm 18 hoping that the business committee is supported by 19 the people, because I know they try to reflect 20 what you want. 21 And your discussions, by the way, do 22 not disturb me. I think that -- I've been around 23 Comanche people for many years. It's just a part 24 of the deal. Okay? And I wish that we could be 25 more honest in the non-Indian community. Do y'all 129 1 have any questions for me? 2 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Can I be in 3 the movie? 4 MS. GOODIN: What exactly is this 5 movie about? 6 MR. NEELY: It's about the Comanche 7 Indians and it focuses on Chief Quanah Parker. 8 MRS. GOODIN: Because that's what I 9 know you have written about in the past. Now, how 10 long have you been working on trying to get 11 someone to back your movie? 12 MR. NEELY: Since 1988. 13 MR. GOODIN: Okay. A few years back, 14 I know that you approached several people, both 15 Comanches and non-Indians, to put in money for 16 this thing. Where is that money? Do you still 17 have it and what has become of it? 18 MR. NEELY: That is between me and 19 the investors. That's a private matter, but right 20 now that company is defunct. Okay? It no longer 21 exists. 22 Now, for those of you who do not like 23 Chief Quanah Parker, I'm aware of the divisions in 24 that regard. Mr. Tippeconnie is writing the 25 screenplay and he is presenting your anti-Quanah 130 1 emotions and thoughts. So this is not going to be 2 the white man looking at Chief Quanah Parker. 3 This is going to be one of your own, and he is 4 doing the final draft of the screenplay. 5 Now, it's nothing usual for film 6 projects to have stops and starts and stops. This 7 is nothing unusual. In fact, it's very typical 8 for Hollywood. We're not in Hollywood. Our 9 office is going to here, and we're going to have a 10 production office in Lawton. We have a CPA in 11 Lawton, we have an entertainment attorney, and 12 everything's going to be aboveboard, open, and, 13 you know, it's going to be out in the open. We'd 14 like -- I'd like for the money to be getting back 15 to you quickly in production, because as soon as 16 we get enough money in, we're going to start 17 hiring people to make the costumes, the teepees, 18 and do all those things. 19 Now, also, I've heard you talk about 20 Comanche contractors and business people. They 21 will be given priority for who we deal with on 22 this project. Yes, Kenneth? 23 MR. GOODIN: I heard you say that you 24 were going to be needing dancers, singers, and 25 costume makers. Could you define the costume? 131 1 MR. NEELY: Well, the costume, I'm 2 talking about what the Indian actors are going to 3 be wearing in the movie. 4 MR. GOODIN: Okay, that's fine. But 5 I don't believe the Comanches regard that as a 6 costume. That's for like a -- 7 MR. NEELY: I'm sure the Comanches 8 wouldn't, and I think in the movie business it's 9 just a term that is used. So what clothing they 10 would wear. 11 MS. IMAHOOLA: Mr. Chairman, may I 12 make a comment, please? 13 MR. BURGESS: Sure. 14 MR. IMAHOOLA: Mr. Neely, my name is 15 Tina Imahoola. I'm a direct descendant of Quanah 16 Parker and I want to make a comment to you, and I 17 want the CBC to be aware of this. 18 Thank you for your interest in what 19 you want to do. Thank you that the movie that you 20 would like to make is about Quanah Parker. We do 21 have many chiefs in the Comanche tribe. It is a 22 benefit of us that the name Quanah Parker does 23 draw a lot of interest in the white world, the 24 non-Indian world. But as a direct descendant of 25 Quanah Parker, I would like to say this to our CBC 132 1 and to our people, and to you, Mr. Neely: 2 Thank you for your interest, but 3 $500,000 is not in our budget right now to make a 4 movie. We have plenty of movies out there and 5 right now we have people that need roofs, we have 6 children that have needs, we have elders that need 7 medication. We do not have $500,000 to make 8 another movie. Thank you. 9 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah, we're 10 shopping on restaurants and over at the casino. 11 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I'd like to 12 make one comment. The family does not back you. 13 MR. NEELY: It's a rather large 14 family, and so I think some do. Thank you very 15 much. I know the family pretty well. Thank you. 16 MR. HENSON: Is that all you had? 17 MR. NARCOMEY: Mr. Chairman, it's 18 been brought to my attention that several or one 19 of our tribal members from Cache has something to 20 tell us concerning mistreatment of a tribal member 21 by one of her directors. Can she have a few 22 minutes? 23 MR. BURGESS: We put Mrs. Tsatoke as 24 Number 7 here, and then we'll go to her. 25 Clorandia? 133 1 MS. TSATOKE: Yes, I was looking at 2 the paper and I was wanting to know why and wanted 3 to find out why you have -- I'm the Comanche 4 director, Clorandia Tsatoke, and we have Comanche 5 Junior Princess at $3,000 on your line item to be 6 voted on, and you had a Comanche tribal princess 7 $3,000, and down below that you have Expo Fair 8 director. 9 MR. BURGESS: Okay. 10 MS. TSATOKE: Does that just mean the 11 Expo Fair director, or does it mean -- 12 MR. BURGESS: It should not be. 13 MS. TSATOKE: It needs to be for -- 14 MR. BURGESS: Yes. 15 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We're making that 16 correction. 17 MR. BURGESS: We'll have some other 18 corrections to make to these items as new 19 information comes in. 20 MS. SCHONCHIN: We can still put it 21 in the May paper, all of those corrections? 22 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, we're trying 23 to get it all together. 24 MR. BURGESS: Ruth? 25 MS. PACHEKA: Good afternoon. My 134 1 name is Ruth Pacheka. I'm a tribal member. My 2 grandmother was Maddische, my mom and dad was Max 3 and Lucy Pacheka. 4 I come here because I've come up 5 against a thing that has really hurt me. I've 6 been here probably about five or six months, was 7 staying here and there, and had to ask the tribe 8 to help me. But when I go to Social Services, 9 I've been declined to put an application in. 10 Well, I've been staying here and there since I've 11 been here, probably about six, seven months, and 12 my finances is really depleted now, my monthly 13 income, because gas is high, to eat is high. 14 Well, I was staying with my brother, but 15 unfortunately, we all have family problems, and he 16 kicked me out. 17 So now at this time I'm presently 18 living with Samuel Cable, who is a tribal member. 19 He's on dialysis, he's both leg amputee, he's got 20 a good outlook on life. He had called the tribal 21 caregiver program, Arlene Kemp's program, and 22 asked for assistance to get somebody to come in 23 and help him. Well, I'm temporarily there, 24 because I need a place of my own. Unfortunately, 25 things haven't been falling in place for me to get 135 1 my own place because of my finances. It takes gas 2 and sometimes I was sleeping in the car. But I 3 made it, and Sammy opened his house up for me and 4 said go ahead, come in and stay with me. 5 Well, he called Arlene Kemp to ask 6 for assistance on her program. And she -- now, 7 this is what he told me. He said I'll write it 8 down and sign a piece of paper saying that she 9 said this to me. She made the comment to him that 10 I was staying there, that he didn't need no help. 11 But I'm temporary there. See? Okay. She even 12 made another comment, which really hurt my 13 feelings, because this is my own people that work 14 for me. I'm part of the tribal membership. She 15 made a comment that there's worse people off than 16 you, Sammy. We got to help them first. So I 17 called Clyde Narcomey and told him, and said 18 Brother, if it takes me to move out and live in my 19 car, I'll do it so that my brother can get 20 somebody to come in and help clean his house and 21 take care of him. 22 So I'm standing here letting y'all 23 know what my situation is. When I was in Pawnee, 24 and that's where I lived six years, my kinfolks 25 needed me, Sammy and my brother Clarence. His 136 1 legs were black. Not eating right, not being 2 taken care of. Praise the Lord that his house is 3 fixed now, but I'm without a place to live. I've 4 asked a few of these gentlemen to help me, but I 5 haven't had no help. So now I come to you to see 6 if we could get somebody to come in and take care 7 of Sammy, because I don't know where I'm going. I 8 don't know if I'm going to stay around here. I 9 wanted to stay here, but things are not falling in 10 place for my finances. 11 When I was in Pawnee, I had a job, I 12 had my own business, I made meat pies. I'd make 13 $100 a day, I could make 200, but being here now I 14 can't make no money. I live in Indiahoma. Y'all 15 are scattered out. The Pawnees are one location, 16 they're all in one place, so I could go one place 17 and not have to use a lot of gas money. And I 18 didn't hurt for nothing. I always had money in my 19 pocket. Not a lot, but I had some change in my 20 pocket. Get a piece of pop, a candy bar, take my 21 friend out to eat, elders. 22 My profession in Pawnee, Oklahoma, I 23 took care of terminally ill. I've had three 24 patients here that I took care of that were 25 terminally ill. That's my profession. I'm 137 1 private sector. I don't work with no company. 2 Now I stand here not being able to support 3 myself. Praise the Lord, he's blessed me with a 4 good ride. Praise the Lord, he's blessed me with 5 a good mechanic here in Lawton that's helping me 6 because he knows my situation. He's willing to 7 help me. It's a non-Indian. And that's sad. 8 That's sad I can't come to my own people and say, 9 hey, I need some help. And it makes me feel good 10 that I know somebody out there is willing to help 11 me, keep my transportation on the road. 12 Right now, the CHRs are taking Sammy 13 to his dialysis, but this is Saturday and this is 14 his day. We had to hustle around to get money for 15 him so we can bring him because the cost of gas is 16 high. Now, I just wanted the business committee 17 to see what I'm up against with this program so 18 that he could get help. 19 I'm not concerned about myself 20 because I'm still able to get up and do things on 21 my own. I've got arthritis, I'm disabled, I've 22 got an artificial hip and knee and screws in my 23 ankles. But praise the Lord, I'm able to get up 24 and do what I'm doing right now, stand in front of 25 you without a cane because he's the one taking 138 1 care of me. I can't depend on this, but I pray 2 about things. And I believe that's what we need 3 to do is pray about this situation we're having 4 now, this budget, all these things, the situation 5 I'm in. There's not just me, there are others out 6 there in our community that are hurting, that need 7 help. This program is set up to take care of us. 8 I've looked back as a child and see 9 (spoken in Comanche) with the business committee, 10 going with them seeing what was going on. I want 11 to talk Comanche, but I know half of you guys 12 can't even understand it. I'm fluent, I'm very 13 fluent. I tried talking to some of these guys and 14 they can't even understand it. I can express 15 myself better in Comanche than I can in white man 16 words, but now I have to talk white man to y'all, 17 and it's a shame that our language is falling. 18 But my outlook on my language, what I was raised 19 in, is my identity. Once we lose that, we don't 20 have an identity. We're just going to be like 21 (spoken in Comanche). A lot of you know what I'm 22 talking about, and it hurts me. We were all 23 raised in church. Whether it was powwow or 24 church, white man church, we were all raised in 25 church, and we need to get back to that value and 139 1 all of this bickering will stop. Things that I'm 2 going through I wouldn't be going through it. So 3 I just want to remind y'all, remind y'all, we're 4 going to all make mistakes. We'll never be 5 perfect. But at least we know that we're going to 6 be walking with the Lord. He knows our heart. 7 He's looking at all of us right now making 8 judgment on it saying, hey, how come you're not 9 considerate and kind to one another? 10 I appreciate your time, but this is 11 from my heart. Now, if I have to go back to 12 Pawnee, I don't know how I'm going, but I'm going, 13 because I can't survive in my own country. A lot 14 of my friends ask me how come you don't come home, 15 why don't you come home and help? Because I can't 16 survive down here. There's too much meanness and 17 arguments. There's no love and encouragement from 18 one another. That's our elders. That's what I 19 was raised from. Maddische Estates right here was 20 named after my grandmother. People have 21 approached me and asked me, well, what did your 22 grandma do for the tribe. I said you know what, 23 the only reason they named that after her was 24 because she was the eldest of the Comanche Nation 25 during the time when they needed to name that 140 1 housing. June Sovo was the one that brought it up 2 and I appreciate that. I appreciate y'all's 3 time. I thank you very much. I'll just leave it 4 in y'all's hands. Thanks, Clyde. 5 MR. BURGESS: Well, ladies and 6 gentlemen, we come to that time where we are going 7 to go into our executive session for charitable 8 contributions. 9 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I'd like to 10 say something, if I might. 11 MR. BURGESS: Sure. Go ahead. 12 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: What I'd like 13 to know is, I'd like to have the committee give me 14 a definition on the nepotism rules that you've 15 developed that's in your constitution. I believe 16 it's 15. I'd like for the CBC to give me an 17 interpretation of that rule, Article 15. That may 18 be a subsection of one, but it's an article. I'd 19 like an interpretation of that rule, since I've 20 read the constitution, and I don't see anyplace in 21 there where there's a grandfather clause in 22 there. And if you don't see a grandfather clause, 23 it seems like there wouldn't be one. There's a 24 lot of -- as far as I'm concerned, there's some 25 nepotism going on within our nation. And it 141 1 hasn't been a rule. It's a general rule, it's a 2 law. 3 MR. BURGESS: They said in the past 4 the CBC made an interpretation of this somewhere 5 in the past? 6 MR. TIPPECONNIE: There's a 7 resolution for those outside tribal government, 8 the government itself. 9 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: You're talking 10 about to include bylaws and whoever? 11 MR. TIPPECONNIE: This is the 12 resolution we passed, Mike, if you want to read 13 it. 14 MRS. GALLEGOS: It doesn't matter. 15 The resolution doesn't supercede the constitution. 16 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: If it's a 17 signed copy, then it would have a variance on the 18 question I have. 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: The resolution, I 20 feel, fits the constitution. Because the way the 21 wording is, the one he's citing, it says the 22 governmental system. So this is the government 23 over here. Then we have -- as we've talked 24 earlier, we have a corporation, we have other 25 things. Those are separate from the government, 142 1 but they're matters of the nation. So this, the 2 way this is written is within the government. So 3 that's the way our resolution was speaking, you 4 know, those in the government. 5 MR. BURGESS: Let me read it. 6 "Whereas, the Comanche Constitution 7 Article VI, Section 7(j), authorizes the CBC to 8 promulgate and enforce laws to promote the health, 9 safety, and welfare of Comanche members; and 10 "Whereas, as a part of its 11 responsibility to enforce the laws of the nation 12 and to uphold the Comanche constitution, CBC deems 13 it advisable to clarify to reach the scope of 14 Article 15, nepotism, on the Comanche Constitution 15 for enforcement purposes; and 16 "Whereas, Article 15 states a 17 relative of the Comanche Tribal Business Committee 18 to include wife, husband, mother, father, son, 19 daughter, sister, brother, shall not be employed 20 within the Comanche tribal governmental system; 21 and 22 "Whereas, the prohibition in Article 23 15 expressly applies to employees within the 24 governmental system; and 25 "Whereas, the tribal administrator, 143 1 pursuant to Article 5, Section 9 of the 2 constitution is under the direct supervision of 3 the business committee and manages all programs 4 and employees of the nation's governmental system; 5 and 6 "Whereas, enterprises, commissions, 7 and boards established or operated with separate 8 directors, commissioners, managers, and employees 9 governed under distinct policies and procedures 10 from those employed within the nation's 11 governmental system are not under the direct 12 supervision of the business committee or managed 13 by the tribal administrator. 14 "Therefore, be it resolved that under 15 careful consideration, the CBC hereby declares 16 that Article 15 of the constitution, nepotism, 17 applies only to those programs and employees under 18 the supervision of the tribal administrator and no 19 other enterprises, commissions or boards of the 20 nation." 21 Another infraction somebody 22 identified. 23 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: So what this 24 has changed, it's changed for Willie Owens that he 25 is in charge of the -- that he says who can be 144 1 hired, who can be fired because of nepotism. So 2 what you're telling me there, it rules out or does 3 it specify the CBC members still are guarded by 4 this law here, that they -- I mean, not guarded 5 by, but that the nepotism still applies to them, 6 as well as their relatives, that they can't work. 7 Say for instance, if Robert has a brother working 8 for the tribe and he's on the CBC board, 9 somebody's going to have to go, him or his 10 brother. Who does that apply to? 11 MR. NORMAN: If the brother is 12 employed here at the complex within the 13 governmental system, then there will have to be a 14 determination made which one of those will go, 15 either the CBC member will resign or the employee 16 would not be able to remain employed. 17 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: That's the 18 question I was getting at. What I want to point 19 out here is that Mr. RedElk down here, he's got a 20 brother that works over in the gaming, he works 21 for gaming, and he's on the CBC board. 22 MR. NORMAN: That's different -- 23 that's not part of the governmental system under 24 the authority of the tribal administrator. 25 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: But still, 145 1 what about the -- what about the beginning of the 2 constitution where it says that no -- any of the 3 members up here, their relatives can't work in 4 that environment? 5 MR. NORMAN: Well, that's the 6 provision of the nepotism clause. Over a number 7 of years, the different business committee members 8 and employers have wrestled with -- I think there 9 were three or four primary interpretations of this 10 provision, and at different times different 11 individuals had different interpretations and 12 applied them differently. And so this particular 13 business committee had passed this resolution, 14 took into consideration all of the different ways 15 to read that language, and said this is how we 16 shall interpret it moving forward. So that is the 17 current interpretation under the law of the 18 nepotism provision in the constitution. 19 MR. BURGESS: Sandra? She had her 20 hand up back there. 21 MRS. GALLEGOS: Well, as a tribal 22 member I have a copy of the constitution, and this 23 is the constitution that I got from Betty 24 Tippeconnie in '05. She signed off as to what 25 they have there. And this is what I use, this is 146 1 my bible. I don't care if CBC passes a 2 resolution. 3 This is still the law. If you want 4 to change this, then you have to make a 5 constitutional amendment. 6 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Exactly right. 7 MRS. GALLEGOS: And so what happens 8 is, you're telling me because somebody didn't like 9 this, they wrote a resolution that's clarifying 10 this? So what if they don't like another 11 resolution? Do we write -- I mean, another 12 article in here? So you're going to be writing 13 interpretations of the whole constitution? 14 MR. NORMAN: All of the laws that the 15 nation has that are not in the constitution flow 16 from some authority within that constitution. And 17 there are questions that come about the language 18 within the constitution, and the business 19 committee wrestles with it, the tribal 20 administrator wrestles with it. And there's a 21 principle under Indian law that says that the 22 elected officials take the first shot at 23 interpreting provisions of the constitution where 24 there is a misunderstanding or where there's an 25 ambiguity. 147 1 MRS. GALLEGOS: So what part of this 2 is ambiguous? 3 MR. NORMAN: The question they were 4 wrestling with at the time was what does Comanche 5 tribal governmental system mean and how far does 6 that -- 7 MRS. GALLEGOS: It's pretty clear to 8 me. 9 MR. NORMAN: It wasn't clear to those 10 individuals. 11 MRS. GALLEGOS: Because what happens 12 is, these CBC members, although they may not have 13 day-to-day operations at the casinos, they appoint 14 people to the gaming board. Right? You guys 15 approve people who go on the gaming board -- 16 MR. BURGESS: Yep. 17 MRS. GALLEGOS: -- who do handle the 18 day-to-day operations? You appoint people to the 19 gaming commission, right, who oversee things at 20 the casinos, right? 21 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: This article 22 here, it doesn't look like it's changed that much 23 to me. This states right here, relative of a 24 member of the Comanche tribe business 25 administration to include his wife, husband, 148 1 mother, father, son, daughter, sister, brother 2 shall not be employed with the Comanche tribal 3 government system. 4 MRS. GALLEGOS: And that was within 5 our tribal government system. 6 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: This is the 7 new one. 8 MR. NORMAN: Within the business 9 committee, and it was the will of the business 10 committee at the time not to prevent -- not to 11 construe this language in such a way that would 12 prevent lots of members as more and more 13 employment opportunities exist outside of the 14 nation's gaming. 15 MRS. GALLEGOS: No, I know what it 16 was. It was one of your shuffle and dance 17 routines again. The CBC at the time did something 18 and you guys had to do your shuffle and dance 19 again, like you had to come up with your agreement 20 to separate. 21 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah, the 22 Comanches have never changed this. 23 MRS. GALLEGOS: You always have to do 24 that when ver the previous CBC members did 25 something that was against the constitution. You 149 1 guys did a song and dance to make it, and that's 2 exactly what that resolution is. 3 MR. NORMAN: If you're saying that 4 this was the will of the business committee at the 5 time, I agree with you, it was. 6 MS. IMAHOOLA: I want to weigh in on 7 this issue. I find myself in a quandry. You 8 know, I came to the CBC just last month I think it 9 was, and I heard from each and every one of you 10 about obeying the constitution and about being 11 right. I asked for you to render an opinion, and 12 you said that you couldn't do that. Only general 13 council could change that, because it belonged to 14 general council. So standing here listening to 15 this, and you know what, I may not know a lot of 16 Comanche, but I do want to say this. Eshop. 17 That's what y'all are. 18 But y'all said you wanted to be 19 honest and you wanted to be good and you wanted to 20 obey the constitution, and you wanted to give that 21 decision to the people and all those things. 22 Well, here you are, it's in the constitution. It 23 wasn't amended by the general council, it was 24 amended by the CBC board, but it's in our 25 constitution. And he's not the only one. You got 150 1 a brother that works for Enterprise, so you're in 2 that seat with him. 3 MR. REDELK: May I say something? 4 Back in 2008 when I became a CBC member as the 5 vice-chair, it was either the first or second 6 meeting that I sat on that Clyde and Bookworm 7 brought this forward. There was a vote by the 8 CBC, and the vote was close and I think the 9 chairman -- I think it was tied. The chairman 10 broke the tie to say that the wording of tribal 11 employees meant that they were -- the employee was 12 a member of our tribal government programs and not 13 the Enterprises. 14 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, it says 15 the Comanche tribal government system. The entire 16 system, not just a job. 17 MR. BURGESS: Mrs. Asenap over here 18 has been waiting for her turn to make a 19 statement. 20 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I just want to 21 say listen to this, Mr. RedElk. The constitution 22 was written years ago and it said government 23 system. Okay. The government system works for 24 the Comanche people, but the casino is an 25 enterprise and it's a money-making project. So if 151 1 we're going to make money, we are going to have to 2 hire people who are qualified to do this. So your 3 brother is qualified to be an employee of the 4 casino because it's not the government system. It 5 is an enterprise and it's open to everybody. The 6 casinos are open to everybody, red, white, blue, 7 and purple. The tribal complex here and the 8 services here are for enrolled Comanches. 9 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: So this means 10 that we just change the constitution. 11 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: So that's a 12 money-making project. 13 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: But you have 14 to listen to me because I have the floor. 15 MR. BURGESS: you've got other people 16 raising their hand and you're not able to see 17 them, but Jarvis, do you have another -- do you 18 want to go further? 19 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, the only 20 other issue that I want to bring up before I go 21 sit down is that if you can change the 22 constitution without going through the traditional 23 constitutional changes, then we might as well just 24 go through these constitutions right here and 25 start changing laws that we don't even like. I 152 1 mean, that's just that simple. That's what he's 2 saying that y'all done. 3 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Again, the 4 constitution was written years ago. It doesn't 5 apply to -- there's some things that they didn't 6 think about, but we've all been talking about, 7 that we need to change our constitution to update 8 it and to make it modern and to fit our needs 9 today. So, you know, the casino wasn't even 10 conceived back then. So, Mr. RedElk, I want you 11 to know that I was fair and honest and I think 12 your brother deserves to have a livelihood and 13 work, because that's what the constitution says. 14 Not the government system, but an enterprise. And 15 we know that the enterprise is making money, and 16 the Comanche tribe needs enterprise to have 17 government. 18 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: The interpretation 19 of the tribal government system, well, anyway, you 20 know, that includes businesses. At the annual 21 meeting, we could have a resolution to interpret 22 it, whether it includes business. Or go further, 23 have a vote on it to put it on a referendum vote 24 to say whether it includes business. 25 MR. BURGESS: I'm going to ask you to 153 1 hold that thought, cut you off nicely. Hold on. 2 MRS. GALLEGOS: One thing that I want 3 to say, Erlene, my friend, that precedent has been 4 set in 2001 when Ed Tahhahwah became a member of 5 the CBC. Not only his wife, but his two daughters 6 worked at the casino. His wife worked at the 7 bingo hall, his daughters worked at the casino. 8 They were terminated from their job. 9 MR. BURGESS: When that motion was 10 made, it was Mr. Tahhahwah and myself who voted no 11 against those terminations. Because we felt that 12 those were separate enterprises and they were not 13 part of the governmental system. But we didn't 14 have such a resolution at that time, so that 15 chairman and his body at that time voted to 16 terminate those two people. Now, for your 17 information, Thomas, we're going to move on here. 18 MRS. GALLEGOS: The precedent has 19 been set. 20 MR. BURGESS: We had a strategic 21 planning session about three weeks ago. We 22 brought a company in to work with us to do a 23 strategic planning process. We wanted to look at 24 the Comanche Nation's overall structure, what's 25 the strengths of it, what's the weaknesses of it 154 1 to help us get an idea of where we're going to go 2 in the future. There were two topics that were 3 brought up. The one group was the CBC with a lot 4 of the people from these enterprises and the 5 organizations that are supposed to be out separate 6 from tribal government seeing things, hearing 7 things, learning things that would help us go into 8 the future. The first thing that came up in that 9 meeting, which was a surprise, and then again, we 10 knew it from this side of the table here, the 11 constitution has to be adjusted. The constitution 12 came up in everybody's general opinion as the one 13 item that has to be created more flexibly but yet 14 still adheres to everything we want in. So we 15 have to look at how we're going to amend the 16 constitution to create some better avenues of 17 managing our tribal government and doing things 18 out there with enterprises, businesses. 19 The second group that we had a 20 meeting with with the same body, they went with 21 all the managers and some of their staff. That 22 was a group of about 40 people. The majority of 23 employees from the complex here, some came from 24 the college, the museum, some came from economic 25 development, and they all came together. The 155 1 first thing they focused on and they said was the 2 lack of communications. Well, they came from 3 several viewpoints, as employees from managers 4 down, as an organization on this side stretching 5 across to the organization on this side and how 6 better to communicate with. And then we're the 7 favorite ones, we get to be the pumpkins all the 8 time. 9 Everybody says it's our fault, but 10 our question to them, when I asked the staff 11 members here a while back, I got lambasted just 12 for talking to the staff. I asked her a question 13 how many come to a CBC meeting. I think there was 14 less than a dozen that raised their hand. And 15 those that attended only came because their 16 program had some responsibility for a resolution 17 or a report. So they don't get to hear all the 18 free-for-all that we get to hear that we do 19 monthly. They don't hear from you all other than 20 the impression or the idea you heard. And so when 21 we have staff meetings with them, I try to attend 22 several, but that was micromanagement. 23 So anyway, attending these staff 24 meetings and giving them information from this 25 side of the table, there was a lot of, I'm going 156 1 to use the word misconstrued dialogue. We can't 2 have that. We can't have somebody interpreting 3 somebody else's words when it's coming from the 4 top down. Or we can't have -- a gentleman accused 5 me of going behind closed doors and having him 6 hire people. I know that's against the damn law 7 and I wouldn't do that because I want my people to 8 be hired. That's why we contracted that company, 9 and that's why we instituted TERO. They hired 40 10 Indians, 12 going on and left the company to go 11 work elsewhere for them. Those people had 12 temporary jobs, six or eight weeks. I never asked 13 that man about that. 14 So anyway, that kind of information 15 is bad, but because it's a personality conflict 16 that goes on and somebody wants to believe it 17 wasn't in this room, wasn't in the meeting. So 18 how do you combat that? How do you get good, 19 better communications out there when you do an 20 article or you do an internal dialogue? It's 21 important. All corporations have their internal 22 media to tell people what this office is doing or 23 that office is doing. 24 My example to you, when Vincent stood 25 up and talked about the CHRs and the problem they 157 1 had, my concern was the TA took care of it. But 2 he came in here because we, the CBC, are supposed 3 to have daily supervision over every program 4 manager. That's why you hired the TA. That's why 5 you wanted him to do that, and then he has to take 6 care of it with all of his directors. 7 I got a call the other day, 8 miscommunications again. A person looking for 9 help from social services was never told that they 10 might be eligible at the diabetes program to go 11 over there and check it out. The CHRs could help 12 you with this or that, and then go to the 13 prescription assistance program. They can help 14 you with some of these items, this or that. 15 Again, I say it's poor communications when our 16 people are not customer oriented. Our staff who 17 work here should be able to tell this person we 18 can do this, that office can do that, and 19 together, we can achieve to service your needs. 20 That's what needs to go on, but do I get to say 21 that? It gets interpreted again. The chairman is 22 directing us, the chairman is micromanaging us. 23 When I'm asking for team work, I'm asking for 24 every program to work together and to communicate 25 better between one another so we won't have these 158 1 complaints come to us and we have to track it down 2 and see what happened. 3 I listened to an elder yesterday mad 4 at me because she didn't talk to me two weeks ago 5 when she called because I was off at a meeting 6 representing the nation. When I listened to her 7 and heard the problem about her nephew, I said 8 tell him to come back, I'll be here after 9 Tuesday. Tell him to come back and I'll bring the 10 TA and the directors in and tell them this is what 11 you should be saying. This is how you need to be 12 working together. Someone's going to leave here 13 and say I said all these bad things about the 14 staff. The staff brought up the fact of 15 communications, lack of it, and it begins at the 16 bottom, works its way up. We need to have that 17 and our staff need to do that and be willing to go 18 the extra mile. Not just I can't do that, I don't 19 know that. Offer it. That's what we need. 20 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Where on the agenda 21 are we? 22 MR. BURGESS: On my speech. 23 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Again, my name 24 is Lester Poahway or Jarvis Poahway, by the way. 25 Again, I present this constitution to you that it 159 1 really got me kind of one-sided, because it says 2 right here it's dated January the 9th, 1967, 3 ratified November the 19th, 1966, by a vote of 492 4 for and 483 against. And then on the very bottom 5 of this thing, it says updated February the 23rd, 6 2002. Now, either we have to learn to live by 7 this constitution until y'all make the adequate 8 changes that needs to be made, or, you know, I 9 don't know what's going to become of this piece of 10 paper. 11 MR. BURGESS: Darrell, was that 12 resolution made in '08? 13 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: 10-08. 14 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Jarvis, let me say 15 this. There are differences of opinion on gray 16 areas of this constitution. Jarvis, have I got 17 your attention? 18 MR. POAHWAY: I only listen to black 19 and white, and that's what I've got right here. 20 I'm not contradicting anything you're saying or 21 anything like that, but this is black and white 22 and this is what it says. It's verbatim. 23 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: But look around you. 24 The people have a difference of opinion, even in 25 the audience here. 160 1 MR. POAHWAY: I'm close and I'm 2 done. 3 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: You've reached gray 4 areas, and they need to be redefined or defined at 5 some point. 6 MRS. GALLEGOS: Just one last 7 statement. So if we're going to redefine the 8 constitution, how are we, the general council, 9 tribal members, to know about it? How am I 10 supposed to know that you guys wrote a resolution 11 that overrides what the constitution says, Bob? 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, we should be 13 communicating. Every time we have a resolution, 14 which I'm happy we have a Website, but of course 15 not everybody reads the Website. 16 MRS. GALLEGOS: I don't have a 17 computer. 18 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Like the comment, 19 we have to do better on communications, I agree 20 with that. 21 MRS. GALLEGOS: So when you write a 22 resolution to override the constitution, maybe you 23 should put it in the newspaper. 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We should be 25 communicating all resolutions, you know, whatever 161 1 they are. So that if a person feels some way, 2 they can bring it to our attention. 3 MRS. GALLEGOS: I still think it's 4 wrong that a resolution can override the 5 constitution. 6 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: How old is that 7 resolution? It was broadcasted back then. 8 MS. IMAHOOLA: But it has not been 9 changed by the general council. 10 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: Again, there are 11 differences of opinion, even among the grassroots 12 people, difference of opinion. We couldn't go 13 legally and do what you want us to do, Sister. 14 MRS. GALLEGOS: All I'm saying is how 15 are the previous administration that did this, how 16 was it going to be relayed to the rest of us? 17 MR. WAUAHDOOAH: It was broadcasted 18 back then in that resolution. You asked, how do 19 we keep up with legislation? It must have been 20 announced by -- 21 MRS. GALLEGOS: Does the Bureau have 22 a copy of it? 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, we always have 24 to submit to the Bureau. Since I've been here, we 25 send them. 162 1 MR. BURGESS: All right. Clyde, how 2 was that vote taken? 3 MR. NARCOMEY: On which? 4 MR. BURGESS: That's Resolution 5 108-08. 6 MR. NARCOMEY: CBC voted on it and it 7 was a roll call vote. 8 MR. BURGESS: Were you on the body at 9 that time, Bob? 10 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: They had a vote 11 before, from what Ron was saying about that issue, 12 and then this resolution came later because it was 13 brought up again later because it was concerning 14 my brother. This vote went down 5, 0, 2, with Ron 15 and I abstaining and five approving. 16 MR. BURGESS: The chairman didn't 17 vote? He didn't need to? 18 So previous meetings when it was 19 shouted down that I couldn't even vote on a motion 20 was wrong? Was that wrong? 21 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We weren't shouting 22 you down. 23 MR. BURGESS: Shall we make a 24 resolution chairmen have an option? 25 MS. IMAHOOLA: I want to understand 163 1 this. I am understanding that that -- and you can 2 help me interpret this over there. That CBC 3 resolution supercedes the constitution. 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: No. 5 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: That CBC 6 resolution now is in place and our constitution, 7 where it states all that is no longer any good 8 because the CBC changed it. 9 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: It gives 10 definition to the constitution. 11 MR. BURGESS: It's like our 12 ordinance. 13 MS. IMAHOOLA: I hate to tell you 14 this, but it's in black and white. Anybody with a 15 third grade education can read it. 16 MR. POAHWAY: If we took it to court 17 right now, we would win, because it has never been 18 changed. 19 MS. IMAHOOLA: This is our court. 20 That's the judges over there. 21 MR. WHITEWOLF: You know how to solve 22 this problem? Have a general council resolution 23 that says that -- a resolution saying that the 24 general council has to validate all ordinances. 25 MR. BURGESS: All ordinances? 164 1 MR. WHITEWOLF: If you want to solve 2 it. Do you want to solve it? 3 MRS. GALLEGOS: Either that or we can 4 vacate that Resolution 108. And with respect to 5 what you said, that was very good. You're a very 6 open-minded lady. But I do want to point out, I 7 want to make this, and it's published in our 8 paper. Gaming dollars contribute to our 9 governmental system. So you want to talk about 10 gray areas and definitions and interpretations, 11 gaming dollars contribute to our government. They 12 help to provide an employee within our government, 13 so it is still part of our government. Because 14 without those gaming dollars, we don't have many 15 of these programs. So it's still tied into our 16 governmental system. That's my interpretation. 17 MR. BURGESS: Thank you. Duly 18 noted. Executive session, moving to executive 19 session at 1:54 p.m. 20 (Open session concluded at 1:54 p.m.) 21 22 23 * * * * * * 24 25 165 1 R E P O R T E R 'S C E R T I F I C A T E 2 3 STATE OF OKLAHOMA ) ) 4 COUNTY OF OKLAHOMA ) 5 I, Kelly Stoabs, Certified Shorthand 6 Reporter for the State of Oklahoma, certify that 7 the above and foregoing meeting transcribed by me 8 is a true and correct transcript of the meeting; 9 that the meeting was held on April 2, 2011, in the 10 State of Oklahoma; that I am not an attorney for 11 nor a relative of any said parties, or otherwise 12 interested in the event of said action. 13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set 14 my hand and seal of office on this the 5th day of 15 May, 2011. 16 17 18 __________________________ 19 Kelly Stoabs Certified Shorthand Reporter 20 for the State of Oklahoma 21 22 23 24 25 166 1 S E C R E T A R Y ' S C E R T I F I C A T E 2 3 I, Robert Tippeconnie, Secretary- 4 Treasurer of Comanche Nation Business Committee, 5 certify that the above is a true and correct 6 transcript of a meeting of CBC Members held at 7 10:15 a.m. on April 2, 2011, and that the meeting 8 was duly called and held in all respects in 9 accordance with the charters and bylaws of the 10 Comanche Nation and that a quorum was present. 11 I further certify that the votes and 12 resolutions of the CBC Members of Comanche Nation 13 at the meeting are operative and in full force and 14 effect and have not been annulled or modified by 15 any vote or resolution passed or adopted by the 16 CBC since that meeting. 17 18 19 Signed:_________________________ Date:____________ Robert Tippeconnie 20 Secretary-Treasurer 21 22 23 24 25