1 1 2 3 4 5 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE 6 COMANCHE BUSINESS COMMITTEE 7 MONTHLY MEETING 8 JUNE 4, 2011, 10:10 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, INC. 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 Edward Eschiti, Vice-Chairman Robert Tippeconnie, Secretary-Treasurer 5 Ronald Red Elk, Committeeman #1 Yonevea Terry, Committeeman #2 6 Darrell Kosechequetah, Committeeman #3 Robert Komacheet, Jr., Committeeman #4 7 8 LEGAL COUNSEL: 9 William Norman, James Burson Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker 10 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 10:10 a.m. 6 4 Invocation. 7 5 Motion passed to approve the minutes 7 of March 5th, 2011. 6 Motion passed to approve the minutes 8 7 of April 2, 2011. 8 Motion passed to approve Resolution 9 Number 40-11, Enrollment. 9 Motion passed to approve Resolution 9 10 Number 41-11, Enrollment. 11 Motion passed to approve Resolution 9 Number 41-11, Enrollment,. 12 Motion passed to approve Resolution 11 13 42-11, Enrollment. 14 Motion passed to approve Resolution 12 Number 43-11, Enrollment. 15 Motion passed to approve Resolution 13 16 Number 44-11, Enrollment. 17 Motion passed to approve Resolution 14 Number 45-11, Enrollment. 18 Motion passed to approve Resolution 15 19 Number 46-11, Multi-Year Contract with HIP. 20 Motion passed to approve Resolution 16 21 Number 47-11, Transportation Improvement Plan 22 Motion passed to approve Resolution 17 23 Number 48-11, CN Criminial Offenses Code Prohibiting Sale of Synthetic 24 Stimulants. 25 4 1 INDEX OF PROCEEDINGS 2 PAGE 3 Motion passed to approve Resolution 18 Number 49-11, Awarding FY '11 Audit 4 to Bledsoe & Associates. 5 Motion passed to approve Resolution 21 Number 50-11, the Indian Affairs 6 Records Management. 7 Motion passed to table Resolution 35 Number 51-11, BIA OK Area Education 8 Office. 9 Motion passed to approve Resolution 45 Number 52-11, BIA Execution of 10 Leases. 11 Motion passed to approve Resolution 55 Number 53-11, Unemployment Tax. 12 Motion passed to approve Resolution 58 13 54-11, Comanche Nation Hazardous Mitigation Plan. 14 Discussion of Pay Advances. 62 15 Motion passed to approve Resolution 66 16 Number 55-11, CN College. 17 Motion passed to approve Resolution 72 Number 56-11, ICDBG Grant FY 2011. 18 Motion passed to approve Resolution 73 19 Number 57-11, grant application for United States Department of Health & 20 Human Services Administration on Children, Youth and Families. 21 Motion passed to table Resolution 75 22 Number 58-11, Appointment of CN Gaming Commissioners. 23 Motion passed to approve Resolution 76 24 Number 59-11, Appointment of Gaming Advisory Sbcommittee Members. 25 5 1 INDEX OF PROCEEDINGS 2 PAGE 3 Motion passed to approve Resolution 77 Number 60-11, Appointing 4 Commissioners to the Comanche Tax Commission. 5 Motion passed to approve Resolution 78 6 Number 61-11, Changing Authorization Signatories on Trust Accounts. 7 Motion passed to approve Resolution 79 8 Number 62-11, Changing Authorization Signatories on Financial Accounts. 9 Motion passed to approve Resolution 81 10 Number 63-11, Appointing Member to the KCA Intertribal Landuse 11 Committee. 12 Motion passed to approve Resolution 82 Number 64-11, Appointing Members to 13 Numunu Pahmu, LLC. 14 Presentation by Eleanor McDaniel 104 15 Executive session commenced at 1:11 118 p.m. 16 Reporter's Certificate. 119 17 Secretary's Certificate. 120 18 19 20 * * * * * * 21 22 23 24 25 6 1 (Meeting called to order at 2 10:10 a.m.) 3 MR. ESCHITI: Getting ready to call 4 this meeting to order at 10:10. Mr. Tippeconnie, 5 will you do the roll call? 6 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Edward Eschiti? 8 MR. ESCHITI: Here. 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Richard Henson? 10 MR. HENSON: Here. 11 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Robert Tippeconnie, 12 here. Ronald RedElk? 13 MR. REDELK: Here. 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yonevea Terry? 15 MS. TERRY: Here. 16 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Darrell 17 Kosechequetah? 18 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Here. 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Robert Komacheet? 20 MR. KOMACHEET: Here. 21 MR. TIPPECONNIE: All present, 22 Mr. Vice-Chairman. 23 MR. ESCHITI: Mr. Tippeconnie, would 24 you give our prayer? 25 MR. TIPPECONNIE: (Invocation.) 7 1 MR. ESCHITI: Approve the minutes? 2 MRS. GOODIN: Excuse me. 3 Mr. Eschiti, do you not have agendas for the 4 audience? 5 MR. ESCHITI: I thought she brought 6 them in. 7 MS. SCHONCHIN: On the minutes, 8 what's the date for the minutes? Was it for April 9 or -- 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: March 5. 11 MS. SCHONCHIN: March 5? 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes. Oh, you've 13 got April? Excuse me. We have March 5 and then 14 we have April 2nd. 15 MS. SCHONCHIN: April 2nd? Okay. 16 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes. 17 MR. ESCHITI: We have two meetings to 18 approve, March 5th and April 2nd. Have we got a 19 motion to approve the minutes of March the 5th, 20 2011? 21 MS. TERRY: Second. 22 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Did you get a 23 motion? 24 MS. TERRY: I'll make the motion. 25 MR. ESCHITI: Ms. Terry. Do I have a 8 1 second? 2 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: I'll second, 3 Chairman. 4 MR. ESCHITI: Second. 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Now call for the 6 question, for the vote. 7 MR. ESCHITI: All those in favor 8 signify by saying "aye". 9 (Aye.) 10 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 11 sign. All those abstain, same sign. 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Carried. 13 MR. ESCHITI: It carried. 14 Do I have a motion to approve the 15 minutes of April 2, 2011? 16 MR. REDELK: So moved. 17 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Second. 18 MR. ESCHITI: All those in favor 19 signify by saying "aye". 20 (Aye.) 21 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 22 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Motion 23 carried. 24 Before we get started here with the 25 resolutions we have, I just want to thank everyone 9 1 for being here today. It's just an honor to be 2 sitting up here with these men and lady. Just an 3 honor to be here. So I just thank you for that 4 opportunity to represent y'all. 5 So we'll go ahead and start with 6 Resolution Number 40-11, Enrollment. It says here 7 as the documentary evidence on file with the 8 Comanche Nation Enrollment Office and information 9 furnished by the applicants named on list Number 10 864 do not descend from Comanche allottees as 11 provided by Article III, Section 1B of the 12 Comanche Constitution. 13 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I make a motion to 14 approve. 15 MR. REDELK: Second. 16 MR. ESCHITI: Second by Mr. RedElk. 17 All those in favor signify by saying "aye". 18 (Aye.) 19 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 20 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 21 Number 40-11 is carried. 22 Resolution Number 41-11: Documentary 23 evidence on file with the Comanche Nation 24 Enrollment Office and information furnished by 25 each applicant named on the List 865 does not pose 10 1 the required 1/8th degree of Comanche blood as 2 provided by Article III, Section 9C of the 3 Comanche Constitution. 4 Do I have a motion? 5 MS. TERRY: I make a motion. 6 MR. ESCHITI: Motion by Ms. Terry. 7 Second? 8 MR. REDELK: So moved. 9 MR. ESCHITI: Second by Mr. RedElk. 10 All those in favor signify by saying "aye". 11 (Aye.) 12 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 13 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 14 41-11 carries. 15 Can y'all hear me all right? 16 Okay. Resolution 42-11, therefore it 17 is resolved that the Comanche Nation accepts the 18 verification of eligibility for the applicants 19 shown on List 866 by the Comanche Nation 20 Enrollment Office. 21 MS. TERRY: I make a motion to 22 accept. 23 MR. ESCHITI: Do I have a second? 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I second. 25 MR. ESCHITI: Mr. Tippeconnie, 11 1 second. All those in favor signify by saying 2 "aye". 3 (Aye.) 4 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 5 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 6 42-11 carries. 7 MRS. GALLEGOS: Did you say that 8 motion was to accept new enrollees? Historically, 9 they've read the names so that they're on record. 10 MR. ESCHITI: Read their names. 11 MRS. GALLEGOS: The names of those 12 that are newly enrolled. 13 MR. ESCHITI: Would you do that? 14 Because I don't want to mess them up. I will. 15 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Tiana Alcantar, 16 Tynidra Alcantar, Tyrika Alcantar, Isabelle 17 Beavers, Charlize Bowers, Austin Brown, Sophia 18 Brown, Evelyn Carter, Kollinz Daniel, Maddie 19 Factor, Natalie Ghaderi, Reed Goodin, Sydney 20 Goodin, Ella Griner, Sandra Guaman, Nevaeh 21 Kosechata, Jessie Massey, Basset, Braden Mathison, 22 Ayanna Nitki, Alexander Niyan, Calvin Oswald, 23 Paige Oswald, Breanna Portillo, Christian RedElk, 24 Violet Saupitty, Deonna Stevens, Zaniya Terry, Ivy 25 Tabbytosavit. 12 1 MR. ESCHITI: Resolution Number 2 43-11. This is documentary evidence on file at 3 the Comanche Nation Enrollment Office and the 4 information furnished by the applicants verify 5 that the applicants named on List Number 867 do 6 not descend from Comanche allottees as provided in 7 Article III, Section 1B of the Comanche 8 Constitution. 9 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Motion to 10 approve, Chairman. 11 MS. TERRY: Second. 12 MR. ESCHITI: Ms. Terry seconds. 13 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Call for the vote. 14 MR. ESCHITI: Talk about nervous 15 today. It's kind of like being on the first blind 16 date. You don't know what to expect. Bear with 17 me. 18 MR. TIPPECONNIE: You're okay. Go 19 ahead. All those in favor signify by saying 20 "aye". 21 (Aye.) 22 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 23 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 24 Number 43-11 carries. 25 Resolution Number 44-11. The 13 1 documentary evidence on file with the Comanche 2 Nation Enrollment Office and other tribal records 3 verify that each applicant named on the List 868 4 is an enrolled member of another Indian tribe 5 because he or she does not meet provisions of 6 Article III, Section 3B of the Comanche Nation 7 Constitution and bylaws. The person is at the 8 time of the adoption of the constitution an 9 enrolled member of other tribes or has in the past 10 received, accepted, or if a minor whose parents or 11 legal guardian has received or accepted said minor 12 material or monetary benefits as a member of 13 another tribe. 14 Therefore be it resolved that each 15 applicant named on attachment List Number 868 is 16 determined to be ineligible for membership with 17 the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma. 18 Do I have a motion? 19 MR. REDELK: I move that we approve. 20 MR. ESCHITI: Mr. RedElk. Second? 21 MR. KOMACHEET: I second. 22 MR. ESCHITI: All those in favor 23 signify by saying "aye". 24 (Aye.) 25 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 14 1 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Motion 2 carried. 3 Resolution Number 45-11. The list 4 includes the names of applicants who have been 5 verified as eligible to Article III, Section 1C, 6 membership of the Constitution of the Comanche 7 Nation, which states all descendants of allottees 8 eligible for membership under this provision of 9 Section 1 of this article having 1/8th or more 10 degree of Comanche Indian blood. 11 It says therefore be it resolved that 12 the CBC accepts the verification of eligibility 13 for the applicants shown on List 869 by the 14 Comanche Nation Enrollment Office. 15 Do I have a motion? 16 MS. TERRY: I make a motion to 17 accept. 18 MR. ESCHITI: Ms. Terry makes the 19 motion. 20 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: I second it. 21 MR. ESCHITI: Darrell seconds it. 22 All those in favor signify by saying "aye". 23 (Aye.) 24 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 25 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 15 1 45-11 carries. 2 MS. TERRY: Are you going to read 3 it? 4 MR. ESCHITI: I don't know. Are you 5 going to read them? 6 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, I'll read the 7 list. 8 Charles P. Bradbury, Catherine J. 9 Campbell, Tina J. Cozad, Jakob Felan, Donnie L. 10 Hill, Jr., Davian S. Hoagland, Christina M. 11 Koehler, Alora Lorentino, Robert Lorentino, Jack 12 Montgomery, Jr., Joshua Plata, Ricardo Saens, 13 Lilly Swasho, Ti Swasho, Christian Tiddark, Owen 14 Troger, Riley Weryavah, Isabella Wiegand, Serrena 15 Willingham. Those are the new members. 16 MR. ESCHITI: Thank you, 17 Mr. Tippeconnie. 18 Resolution Number 46-11. The 19 Comanche Tribe desires to enter a multiple-year 20 contract for the Comanche Nation Home Improvement 21 Program and the Department of the Interior, Bureau 22 of Indian Affairs. 23 Do I have a motion to accept? 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I make the motion 25 to accept. 16 1 MR. ESCHITI: Mr. Tippeconnie makes 2 the motion. Second? 3 MS. TERRY: I second it. 4 MR. ESCHITI: Ms. Terry seconds. All 5 those in favor signify by saying "aye". 6 (Aye.) 7 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 8 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 9 Number 46-11 carried. 10 Resolution Number 47-11, Comanche 11 Nation desires to add eight routes to the 2011 12 transportation improvement plan. 13 Do I hear a motion to accept? 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I make a motion to 15 approve. 16 MR. ESCHITI: Mr. Tippeconnie. 17 Second? 18 MS. TERRY: I second. 19 MR. ESCHITI: Ms. Terry seconds. All 20 those in favor signify by saying "aye". 21 (Aye.) 22 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 23 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 24 Number 47-11 passes. 25 Resolution Number 48-11, a resolution 17 1 of the CBC approving an amendment to the Comanche 2 Nation Criminal Offenses Code to prohibit the sale 3 of synthetic stimulants. 4 Now therefore be it resolved that the 5 CBC approved and adopted an amendment to the 6 Comanche Nation Dangerous Drug Act which shall 7 prohibit possession, use of, manufacturing, 8 marketing, and promotion of sales within the 9 jurisdiction of the Comanche Nation of any 10 substance containing -- I can't pronounce that 11 long word, but it's MDPC or 4MMC, which they are 12 synthetic stimulants. 13 Do I have a motion to accept? 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I make a motion to 15 approve. 16 MR. ESCHITI: Mr. Tippeconnie. 17 Second? 18 MS. TERRY: Second it. 19 MR. ESCHITI: Ms. Terry seconds it. 20 All those in favor signify by saying "aye". 21 (Aye.) 22 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 23 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 24 Number 48-11 carries. 25 Resolution Number 49-11, the CBC 18 1 recognizes that the audit report for Fiscal Year 2 2010 was completed and published at least 60 days 3 prior to the annual meeting as mandated by the 4 constitution for the first time in many years. 5 Therefore be it resolved that the CBC 6 hereby awards the Fiscal Year 2011 audit services 7 to Bledsoe & Associates. Do I have a motion to 8 accept? 9 MS. TERRY: I make a motion we 10 accept. 11 MR. ESCHITI: Ms. Terry makes the 12 motion. Do I have a second? 13 MR. KOMACHEET: Second. 14 MR. ESCHITI: Mr. Komahcheet 15 seconds. All those in favor signify by saying 16 "aye". 17 (Aye.) 18 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 19 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 20 number 49-11 carries. 21 MRS. GALLEGOS: I have a question. 22 MR. ESCHITI: Yes, ma'am? 23 MRS. GALLEGOS: Was this audit 24 service, this audit, was it put out for bid? How 25 were these individuals obtained? 19 1 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes. We put it out 2 for bid last year, and because this bidder showed 3 a record of performance, they're the first one 4 that did it in quick time, got it done in time, we 5 had it in hand in January, and they did it at a 6 very nominal cost, which is the same cost they're 7 bidding. It's a low cost. They beat all the 8 other applicants by a considerable amount. 9 MRS. GALLEGOS: Have we had them 10 before? Have we used them before? 11 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, this was the 12 one we had that was just written. They just 13 completed the 2010. September of last year was 14 the end of the fiscal year, and they went to work 15 on it right away. Then we had that done by 16 January, which was excellent to have a fiscal year 17 complete and then have an audit done in that quick 18 time. And then as you note, it was stated in the 19 resolution we have a responsibility to present 20 that before, you know -- publish it before tribal 21 council. 22 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: So had that 23 always been a problem, then, to get an audit done? 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Pardon? 25 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Was it a 20 1 problem to get an audit done in that timely 2 manner? 3 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We've had a history 4 of being behind. You know, we were -- when I came 5 into office, as an example, we were about four 6 audits behind. So we moved audits in very quick 7 time, you know, back to back to back. When you do 8 that, we find a lot of the same discrepancies. We 9 had a number of things that weren't right, so it 10 was back to back. As we were getting them back to 11 back, bringing it up to this point in time to get 12 it on time, you know, we were making corrections. 13 We were correcting the deficiencies as we'd gone 14 along. 15 So we're getting to the place now 16 that these things are aware in the tribal 17 government, we're aware of the problems, and then 18 we're getting on top of them. So this audit is -- 19 this audit was, I would say, the better audit that 20 we've ever had. Now, we still have some things 21 we're working on and we'll get those all in order. 22 MRS. GALLEGOS: What grade did we 23 receive from that audit? 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Unqualified. You 25 know, they'll qualify and say, you know, you're 21 1 disqualified, but we're qualified. So it's not 2 like an A, B, C, D, E rating. 3 MRS. GALLEGOS: I understand. 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes. 5 MR. ESCHITI: Okay. Resolution 6 Number 50-11, the Indian Affairs Records 7 Management will be the primary policy and 8 procedures manual that will provide guidance to 9 the transfer and storage of the Comanche Nation 10 Indian fiduciary trust records until the policies 11 and procedures are established. The following 12 will be acknowledged and applied to the tribal 13 records. The final and approved policy and 14 procedures will supercede this document and a copy 15 will be delivered to the appointed tribal records 16 officer. 17 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Mr. Chairman, let 18 me give you a little explanation to everyone here 19 about this. The Office of the Special Trustee has 20 a responsibility, you know, to see that accounting 21 is in order. That was relative to the Cobell kind 22 of matter, if you're familiar with that Cobell 23 challenge at the Department of the Interior, the 24 recordkeeping, historical accounting. So the 25 Office of Special Trustee was established to 22 1 assist in getting the accounting in order so that 2 all monetary assets of Indian nations and 3 individual allottees were accountable. So that's 4 been underway. 5 Another function of them was to also 6 help get the records in order, physical records 7 like these. So what we're doing here in this 8 resolution is to undertake an agreement with the 9 Office of the Special Trustee to come in, give us 10 technical assistance on how we should be handling 11 our records, putting them in order, boxing them. 12 Then once we get them boxed, we'll send them to 13 the record center in Missouri and they're stored 14 there for us. We can have quick access of the 15 records. We can ask them for a certain record, 16 because they're all going to be filed by order and 17 we'll have that all documented on a computer 18 file. So we can pull up, if we need a record, and 19 ask for the specific record. And as we 20 understand, they'll get it to us within 24 hours. 21 That's another thing that we've 22 discovered when we've gone through all this record 23 of audits and such, that our records were poorly 24 kept. That records were stored here and there, 25 and that in some cases there are no real good file 23 1 systems. So this is another thing we're really 2 trying to get on top of. We're trying to get all 3 our records in order. And if you recall this last 4 year, we passed a resolution on retention of 5 records, how long you keep certain records. Now, 6 there's certain records you have to keep forever 7 in place like deeds or copies of deeds, abstracts, 8 appraisals, some things like that. 9 But, anyway, this is to allow the 10 Office of Special Trustee to come, give us 11 technical assistance. It's free to us, so there's 12 no charge to us on any of this. So we're going to 13 try to get it all in order. 14 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: How long will 15 that take? 16 MRS. GOODIN: Bob, will these records 17 be in hard copy like here, or are they going to be 18 transferred to something like microfiche that 19 takes up so much less room? 20 MR. TIPPECONNIE: At the moment, the 21 way they're going to do it is they're going to 22 store it in the hard copy. At the same time, some 23 cases, some of these like resolutions that are 24 very important to us, we're digitizing them here 25 ourselves. We can put them on the disk or keep 24 1 them in file and make disks. So there's certain 2 things that we are digitizing as well. 3 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes. Let me 4 give you an example about the BIA Trust. I was up 5 there a few months ago checking on some property 6 and lease monies coming in. I talked to three 7 people. They said, okay, you got a $106 check 8 coming. Fine. And my sisters got a $25 check 9 coming. So I said okay. Where's it coming from? 10 Because I knew there wasn't anything coming in. 11 He looked it up. It was on the property that our 12 dead sister's owned since about the turn of the 13 century and they still have it on record as our 14 names on it. They still sent me a check after I 15 told them that, and they turn around, they want 16 their money back. Now that's with BIA. That's a 17 good example why you keep track of your own 18 problems up there. There is no sense in that. 19 I've had a few instances with the 20 BIA, too. Like I got a big check one time and it 21 was in my sister's name on the majority of the 22 property, yet it was just the opposite because of 23 the Bureau. I went to cash the check and turned 24 it back in and they had to reissue it. So you 25 need to keep tabs on those things. 25 1 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I can't answer 2 these things because the chairman just asked me a 3 question, is this with the Bureau. What we're 4 doing here on our records is with ourselves, the 5 Office of the Special Trustee. When the Cobell 6 case arose, you know, they established the Office 7 of the Special Trustee, and it's separated. It's 8 at the Interior level. They're the ones that keep 9 track of IMM accounts. If you have individual 10 allotment accounts and all those kinds of things, 11 they keep accounting of issuing the checks and 12 such. They issue those, not the BIA. 13 Now, the BIA, as I understand, 14 inputs, but what we're passing here is not 15 anything to do with them. These are the records 16 that are the tribe's records. So we're trying to 17 get the tribe's records all filed, organized, and 18 stored so that any time we need to recover 19 something, we can retrieve it or it's available to 20 us. 21 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: What's the 22 latest on the Cobell payment? Have you heard 23 anything lately? 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Excuse me, I can 25 answer just a few questions. The Cobell 26 1 settlement has to go before a judge. That judge, 2 I believe, is scheduled for the 21st or so of 3 June. The judge will hear the positions that the 4 people have somewhat agreed to in the settlement. 5 There are certain points of the settlement, like 6 individuals based on the historical record of 7 payment on their lands. Remember Cobell, the 8 whole case of Cobell is individual allottees, not 9 tribes. So it doesn't cover tribal lands, it 10 covers individual allottees. 11 So it looks at the history of 12 payments made to you, and then they'll make some 13 accounting to say how much you're entitled to. 14 There's a couple of classes which some people may 15 be entitled to. I don't want to go into all the 16 specifics, but in some cases it seems that most 17 individual persons within the time frame of this 18 suit will be entitled to something like $1,000. 19 Then there's additional circumstances 20 that some individuals, they may get another 800 21 more. But, again, it may vary, because there may 22 be some occasions where the allottee has 23 significant resources, like big timber, like some 24 of the individuals in the Northwest, large timber, 25 which has significant value. So they may get a 27 1 greater value when they look at the return that 2 was going through these periods that they're 3 looking at. There are some cases where 4 individuals may get a considerable amount of 5 money. But it seems most persons may get 6 something like 1,000, maybe 1,800 at the max for 7 most people. 8 But, anyway, it's not settled yet 9 until a judge meets in June and makes the 10 settlement and agrees to all the settlement with 11 the parties. 12 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, how 13 close are we to, say, for instance, public 14 scrutiny of all the records that you've compiled, 15 that we can go in and look at some of these 16 records to examine some of the older budgets that 17 help prepare the newer budgets? Are you capable 18 of doing that now? You say the BIA is taking care 19 of all of that. 20 MR. TIPPECONNIE: The BIA takes care 21 of individual allottee records. Yes, the Office 22 of the Special Trustee looks at tribal records, 23 you know, assets of our land as tribes. But the 24 records that we have in the tribe, as I said 25 before, we find out they're just not in good 28 1 shape. They weren't really taken care of well. 2 Now, I'd like to think in the last 3 five, six years, you know, the record is fair and 4 that we can retrieve in some order. But when we 5 go way back, we're going have to get all these 6 back in order. So that's why we're taking this 7 time. We're going to bring people down from the 8 Office of Special Trustee who know how to do 9 this. They're going to spend time with our 10 directors and with our staff. We're going to get 11 it organized and filed and then shipped off. So, 12 yes, I think it's really going to take us a while 13 to put it all in order. 14 MR. TAHKOPFER: Do they have the 15 manpower to do all this? It's a pretty big job. 16 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It's a big job. 17 They're going to give us some technical assistance 18 with some persons, but it's going to be we who 19 have to do it. As an example, if you come into a 20 director with Social Services, their records I 21 think are fairly good. So it shouldn't be a tough 22 thing. They'll just say this is the best way to 23 file them, put them in order if we're to retrieve 24 them. So it's going to be the staff in place that 25 work on them. Yes, it's going to take a lot of 29 1 our time and we might not be able to do it right 2 away, but we're going to get underway with it. 3 MR. TAHKOPFER: That's going to help 4 a lot of tribal members, because if you will check 5 in historical accounting, if you had your father 6 or your family prior to 1985, you may be entitled 7 to file on that so you get that portion also. 8 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, when you talk 9 about financial records relative to allotments, 10 that's -- 11 MR. TAHKOPFER: I mean, if they just 12 had an allotment at that time prior to 1985. If 13 they had allotments that were passed on to you or 14 whomever, they can still collect on that. 15 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, again, I say 16 that's -- 17 MR. TAHKOPFER: They've got to file. 18 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I say we may have 19 some files like that, but, again, that's in the 20 hands of the Office of Special Trustee and Bureau 21 of Indian Affairs when it comes to individual 22 allotments. They are responsible. The fiduciary 23 responsibility lies with the federal government, 24 Department of Interior. 25 MR. TAHKOPFER: That would be 30 1 important for the tribe. 2 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It would be very 3 important, I agree. 4 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, at one 5 time we had a post in the paper about the tribe 6 wanting to get a real estate management team 7 going. What happened to that? It fell through or 8 something, because I applied for that. 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We're still looking 10 at -- you know, when you talk about realty, that's 11 handling the lands and the access of lands, the 12 purchase of lands, the use of lands, all that, 13 recordkeeping of lands, the leases of lands. 14 We're attempting to look at that. I'm suggesting 15 to the CBC that we proceed with the reorganization 16 that we all agreed to. So when we get into the 17 reorganization, we hope that we can make a 18 placement of that activity within a land and 19 resource kind of department. So I think that's 20 pending yet. 21 MR. WHITEWOLF: The land that was 22 bought and all the land that we leased, where does 23 that lease money go to? 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: All the lease money 25 now on lands goes into a separate account. It 31 1 goes into a land lease fund. We deposit those 2 monies into that fund and that fund can be used as 3 the CBC at some point decides. But, tentatively, 4 some of the actions, the use of it, if there's 5 some pending need or there's some kind of need 6 upon that piece of property, or a property that 7 the tribe owns, we will discuss that and then say, 8 yes, we can expend some of that money from that 9 account for that type of action. 10 MR. WHITEWOLF: Shouldn't that go 11 into the tribal coffer where the general council 12 sees that it's used for whatever purpose they 13 want? 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: That's a good 15 point, Roderick. We may have to bring that 16 forward in that respect. Because at the moment 17 now, we're taking that and placing it into an 18 account. So it's standing in an account, and at 19 some point we'll have to look at all of that and 20 see. As you say, that may be the appropriate 21 action, too. 22 MS. ISAACS: The records that you're 23 talking about for what you're going to do with 24 whoever is going to come and help you with the 25 back records. So if our tribe has been bad about 32 1 keeping records, not even given to the Bureau, 2 you're going to find that out in all you're 3 putting it together, right? And you're going to 4 -- you're going to see what a mess our house was 5 in in the past, right? And they're going to see 6 our mess. So we're opening up to them to see what 7 bad housekeepers we are, and we need to really 8 improve. 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes. You know, 10 we're growing. You know, the government's 11 growing. I would like to say the government is 12 getting better and better about its business. 13 Yes, we might find things we don't like. It's 14 sad, but we're going to -- it's time to get it in 15 order. 16 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: It's the same 17 assessment with the accounting center. The firm 18 that did the audit, you know, they came in at a 19 reasonable price, they did a good job, and we got 20 it turned in on time and turned around. But 21 that's because things are so much more efficient 22 now. You know, you come in to clean a dirty house 23 and it's going to cost a lot more. If you have a 24 clean house, they will charge less or get charged 25 less. So we're caught up on that. The same thing 33 1 with the recordkeeping. Hopefully we'll move in 2 that same direction, getting it on track. That 3 way everything's current and clean. 4 MR. ESCHITI: It's also once you get 5 this set up is where they -- if you need a file or 6 you were looking for one, they can give you that 7 within a 24-hour notice, correct? 8 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes. 9 MR. ESCHITI: Once they get this file 10 system in place, it's really going to help the 11 Comanche tribe. 12 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: But we do keep 13 all the records that we have, you know, that we 14 pass monthly. Everything's available to us on our 15 computers. Some of us have laptops that we keep 16 records on and pull them up. We're getting more 17 efficient. We're getting more tech savvy, I 18 guess. 19 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Can we as 20 individuals look at what you're keeping account 21 of, your records? 22 MR. ESCHITI: Yes. 23 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Everything's 24 public. 25 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Like the 34 1 Bureau messing up on our property which wasn't 2 even ours at that time. It might be happening 3 again someplace. 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: That would be at 5 the Bureau. You'd have to go on those records. 6 And, again, that's part of that Cobell, you know, 7 historical accounting and looking at the records 8 and all that. 9 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah. Because 10 I inherited my mother's property when she passed 11 away. She's had leases on those things. Getting 12 more than $1000, too. 13 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: That's the 14 reason we need the real estate management within 15 our own tribe. They can answer the questions 16 pertaining to questions like that. 17 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, at some point. 18 MR. ESCHITI: Okay. Do we have a 19 motion? 20 MS. TERRY: I make a motion to 21 accept. 22 MR. ESCHITI: Ms. Terry accepts. Do 23 I have a second? 24 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Second. 25 MR. ESCHITI: Darrell seconded. All 35 1 those in favor signify by saying "aye". 2 (Aye.) 3 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 4 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 5 Number 50-11 carries. 6 Resolution Number 51-11. 7 MR. WHITEWOLF: Could you read that? 8 MR. ESCHITI: It's a resolution, 9 Bureau of Indian Affairs, Oklahoma Area Education 10 Office. The Comanche Nation is a federally 11 recognized Indian tribe possessing powers of self- 12 government; and 13 Whereas, the CBC is the duly elected 14 official body designated to conduct business for 15 and on behalf of the Comanche Nation. 16 Whereas, the BIA, Oklahoma Area 17 Education Office is providing the Comanche Nation 18 the opportunity by contracting with their office 19 to operate and monitor the Johnson O'Malley 20 Education Programs within the jurisdictional 21 service area of the Comanche Nation. 22 Whereas, the Comanche Nation has 23 determined it will operate these programs with 24 funds provided to do formal funding by the BIE 25 Oklahoma Area Education Office. The CBC has 36 1 agreed to contract the JOM programs at the 2 following schools: Cyril, Seaman, Fletcher, 3 Elgin, Cache, Geronimo and the Walters public 4 schools. Tribal chairman or his designee being 5 the official representative of the Comanche 6 Nation, and thereby is authorized to approve the 7 contracts and compliance to any amendments of 8 such. 9 Do I hear a motion to accept? 10 MRS. GALLEGOS: Can you explain that 11 in a little more detail, what it refers to, JOM? 12 MR. ESCHITI: Yes. If they have got 13 a grant for 45,000, it is supposed to be split up 14 between these five schools. I guess JOM is just 15 pretty much out anymore. I think they kind of get 16 us, if I'm understanding this right, to help 17 correlate, coordinate between the schools with the 18 monies. 19 MRS. GALLEGOS: What was the name of 20 those five schools again? 21 MR. ESCHITI: It would be Cyril, 22 Cement, Fletcher, Elgin, Cache, Geronimo and 23 Walters schools. 24 MRS. GALLEGOS: Because what I was 25 wanting to know is why Apache isn't included in 37 1 that. We also are in the process -- we have a 2 discussion going on with the Apache school board 3 because they're not wanting us to have a JOM 4 program. Exactly what they've done is they've 5 taken it over, taken the Indian person that was 6 working there, took her, placed her somewhere 7 else, and they are taking over that JOM program 8 and not having meetings and all that according to 9 what the guidelines of that program are. So 10 that's one of my concerns. If they're doing it, 11 they're trying to implement, keep it going, then 12 that's what we're trying to do in Apache, so why 13 can't Apache be included in that? 14 MR. REDELK: It looks like it's by 15 county. All the schools mentioned are in Comanche 16 County and Cotton County, and Apache is in Caddo 17 County. 18 MS. TERRY: Cyril and Cement are both 19 Caddo. 20 MRS. GALLEGOS: I think Cement is 21 Caddo. 22 MR. TIPPECONNIE: May I make a 23 comment? 24 MRS. GOODIN: Can anybody tell me how 25 this came about? Because I'm hearing some 38 1 discussion out in the communities that they are 2 not for this, for the tribe taking over the JOM 3 programs. When did this come about? 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Let me attempt, as 5 most -- what I know about it. As I understand, 6 you know, we have -- they call it BIE, Bureau of 7 Indian Education. There is an office of that is 8 in the State in Oklahoma City. So the BIE is 9 having difficulty, you know, coordinating the JOM 10 programs across the state, and certainly down here 11 as they've expressed to us. 12 Now, I wasn't in initial discussions 13 with it. It was brought forward to others in our 14 nation, our former chair and others. And in that 15 discussion they were conveying these kind of 16 points. It would be nice if the tribe could be 17 the coordinator, you know, just coordinate the 18 activity of JOM. If you understand the JOM, it 19 has volunteer committees of parents, you know, 20 volunteering to do work within the school systems, 21 the respective schools, for the benefit of 22 students. And the monies that they give out, this 23 $45,000 was something like some additional supply 24 or some material thing that a student may need in 25 the school year. It's something like our student 39 1 services does in a way. You know, that we have 2 already in the tribe. 3 So that money cannot be used for 4 salary. It has to be used for some benefit to an 5 individual student. There's some 90 and some 6 students, as we know it, in the schools that they 7 list here. So those students would have a little 8 bit, if you can imagine, not much out of 45,000. 9 So what's happening, JOM nationally is having 10 difficulty getting funded, like so many federal 11 things anymore. So they're looking at options to 12 say, in this case, as I understand it, Comanche 13 Tribe, can you help us out on this? It appeared 14 to me, you know, the expression was on behalf of 15 the chairman to say, yes, we'd be interested in 16 looking at this. 17 Now, I might say at this moment we 18 might want to table this for a moment, because, 19 you know, when you coordinate you have to have 20 some coordinator. You know, someone has to be in 21 place to coordinate. Okay? If you look at 22 budgets, we don't, per se, have budgets for a 23 coordinator of JOM. So I just want to suggest to 24 us at this moment that we table this until we see 25 if there's some place we can coordinate this with 40 1 the existing education staff, as an example. And 2 we have not had -- this body has not had a chance 3 to visit with the education department. I just 4 suggest at this moment we table it. 5 But I know there was one meeting, 6 Barbara, that was undertaken, and they visited 7 with some person that wanted to be a 8 representative in the respective schools. And as 9 I understand it, they got some persons that said 10 they're willing to do that, and that there was a 11 basic overall body established, some kind of 12 officer body. I'm not into that for sure, but I 13 understand they had that meeting and did something 14 like that. 15 MRS. GALLEGOS: Last week. 16 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, last week. So 17 I think at this moment it's smart for us to table 18 it until we get some more information from our own 19 education department and see if we can be the 20 coordinator of that. 21 MR. WHITEWOLF: I think that would be 22 prudent, because you might require some fiscal 23 responsibility. 24 MS. ISAAC: So the money, that 25 $45,000, is already established so it can't go 41 1 up? If we are going to be accepting this, can we 2 ask for more so Apache can be included without -- 3 I mean, we have over 50 percent kids in our 4 student body, and we have no JOM there. I think 5 we have seven, counting County Line, but no JOM. 6 I don't know why, but would -- if we lost JOM -- I 7 mean, the Oklahoma -- is it Oklahoma Commission on 8 Indian Affairs that's been dropped from Oklahoma, 9 right? 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: The Oklahoma 11 Commission on Indian Affairs is a state 12 commission. It's not anything to do with the BIE. 13 MS. ISAAC: So they wouldn't look at 14 us and say we're losing -- they're not using this 15 trying to get us, just phasing us out some more? 16 Who is going to be our liaison, do you know, 17 between all the tribes and the state? 18 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, let me speak 19 to this point a little bit. Excuse me. 20 MR. ESCHITI: That's fine. 21 MR. TIPPECONNIE: But, you know, when 22 governor-elect, when it was Governor-Elect Fallon, 23 the tribe met with her, and we had some different 24 thoughts that we expressed to her. One of them 25 was, which the nation has passed a resolution on, 42 1 is that the governor establish a cabinet Secretary 2 of Indian Affairs. So the Cabinet Secretary would 3 be someone with more authority. The commission 4 doesn't really have authority. They don't do too 5 much. If you followed the Oklahoma papers and the 6 state actions and their government, which happened 7 recently, they want to do away with the Commission 8 of Indian Affairs. They don't want to budget it. 9 At the same time, two representatives 10 in the House, Oklahoma House, said they would like 11 to see a cabinet secretary established at the 12 government level. Well, when I saw that in the 13 paper, I have to say this, I quickly called those 14 two individuals, those two representatives, and 15 applauded them, thanked them, because they said 16 keep on that, keep pushing that. 17 Then I reminded them that the 18 Comanche Nation had a resolution passed that the 19 National Congress of American Indians supported us 20 and they passed a resolution. Then we attempted 21 to get the 39 tribes of Oklahoma to pass 22 resolutions to send to the governor to get the 23 cabinet secretary established. So I think 24 Governor Fallon is still looking at that. Of 25 course, the state legislature has, you know, 43 1 closed, but I think she -- I hope, with all the 2 press now that tribes may give that it be elevated 3 to a cabinet. 4 MS. ISAAC: But it's already closed. 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It's closed. But 6 we can't give up on the fact now. See, the 7 commission is the question. 8 MS. ISAAC: Who are the two people? 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I'll have to go 10 back and look at those names. I think one of them 11 was -- I'll have to go back and get those two 12 names. 13 I have to say as soon as I saw that, 14 I got on the phone, I talked to them personally 15 and I thanked them. They were still in session, 16 so I was urging them to push that point further in 17 the session, but it didn't go. Because the 18 majority of them -- I think they're looking at how 19 you save money and all that kind of thing. 20 MS. ISAAC: Yes, but the State of 21 Oklahoma is noted for its Indian nations and our 22 leaders have let this lapse to this point. If 23 this cabinet is going to be more to us than a 24 commission, that's good. Get the word out there. 25 You know, I read on the Internet where everybody's 44 1 just wondering what the Indians in Oklahoma, how 2 did they let this happen? 3 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We can't speak 4 except for the Comanche Nation, or act as the 5 Comanche Nation. But we did pass our resolution, 6 we sent it to everybody when she was elected, 7 governor elect. Sent it to the other tribes and 8 said please, we encourage you to do likewise and 9 send this resolution to the governor. She was 10 receiving them, she's aware of them. I'd like to 11 think, yes, maybe at the moment we haven't gotten 12 where we want to get as Indian nations, but I'd 13 like to think in the future, you know, because 14 it's on the board now, we've got two 15 representatives we're going to push to say let's 16 keep moving this and get established that 17 cabinet. I think other tribes now are wanting to 18 join in and press on that. 19 Because at the last moment, it's 20 unfortunate. We all hear some of this too late, 21 that they're trying to do away with the commission 22 and then these other things. But we were way 23 ahead. We had that resolution passed last year. 24 We had the National Congress of American Indians 25 pass it. Almost half of the tribes in the nation 45 1 are supporting us. There's only one cabinet 2 secretary in any state, and that's in the 3 Dakotas. So we would be -- well, New Mexico has 4 one and the Dakotas. So we'd be the third one, 5 believe it or not, in the whole nation if we got 6 that. 7 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Chairman, we 8 discussed this yesterday briefly. We never really 9 came to a conclusion. I believe when we left, we 10 were awaiting word back from the TA as to a 11 possible solution with this JOM deal. I want to 12 make a motion that we table it. 13 Also, Mr. Komacheet brought up a 14 point that we inquire about Apache and why it's 15 not included. 16 MR. ESCHITI: Second? 17 MS. TERRY: I second it. 18 MR. ESCHITI: Ms. Terry seconds it. 19 All those in favor signify by saying "aye". 20 (Aye.) 21 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 22 sign. All those abstain, same sign. We'll table 23 this. 24 Resolution Number 52-11. The 25 Comanche Constitution established the CBC as the 46 1 duly elected official body designated to conduct 2 business for and on behalf of the Comanche 3 Nation. 4 Whereas, the Comanche Nation 5 fractionated that land through probate under the 6 American Indian Probate Reform Act. 7 Therefore be it resolved that the CBC 8 hereby allows the BIA to execute leases for 9 farming and grazing, and/or oil and gas properties 10 if tribal ownership is less than 5 percent. 11 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Explain that one, 12 too. 13 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Let me explain a 14 little bit of this one, too. Probate, the way 15 probates are conducted, there was a reform act 16 established on how probates were to be handled. 17 As most of the -- many tribal members know now, 18 the BIA used to help you make out a will and 19 things like that. But now they can't do that 20 because they don't employ attorneys, per se. And 21 really, attorneys should be involved with wills. 22 So those are done in a different fashion. 23 But in a probate, then, in the matter 24 of probate, when a person has an estate and the 25 BIA or the hearing officer from the court must 47 1 hear the probate, it's because there are trust 2 lands, or lands that are in trust. So they look 3 at that trust and they have to safeguard the 4 trust. So in the trust, if a person doesn't have 5 a will, and it's a Comanche person with no will 6 and there's a 5 percent percentage -- it's 7 fractionated. Say there's many owners on the 8 land, which is occurring more and more, and then 9 there's a piece that is 5 percent, under this 10 reform act the tribe can gain that 5 percent. 11 Now, it can also occur in the probate 12 hearing if there's no will. If tribal members 13 come forward and they say they want to purchase 14 that 5 percent and such, you know, there's that 15 door for them to do that as well. In fact, tribal 16 members in the probate hearing can do some 17 interesting things like that. They can -- maybe 18 one wants to buy out the other fractionated or 19 small owners. 20 So there's another condition in the 21 probate act which allows tribes, if individual 22 potential heirs, even where the heirs are 23 designated by will are willing to sell, the tribe 24 can meet with those individuals and agree to a 25 negotiated sale, and it can be conducted in that 48 1 probate hearing and that judge can entertain 2 that. It can expedite the transfer of lands from 3 individual's trusts to the tribe. But it's all 4 based upon negotiated sale undertaking where it's 5 based on an appraisal. So the appraisal must be 6 conducted, and then, of course, the tribe cannot 7 purchase anything less than what the appraisal 8 is. So there is that feature. 9 But getting around to what this 10 resolution is, it's the 5 percent. So the tribe 11 has a number of those right now. They have a 12 number of 5 percent ownerships. Some of them are 13 very small in size. Just a minute, I'll get to 14 you. Very small in size. What happens, then, 15 when that allotment comes up for an oil and gas 16 lease or for a grazing lease, all the owners must 17 sign and say, yes, we agree to this oil and gas 18 lease or we agree to this grazing. Well, anyway, 19 this land use lease. When it comes to 5 percent, 20 then, sometimes for some reason they're slow about 21 getting it to the tribe and say, look, you're also 22 an owner, you own 5 percent, so you need to sign 23 off. 24 Well, what we're finding is that that 25 has slowed down the process for those who are the 49 1 bigger landowners there. They want to get their 2 money. So this resolution says to the Bureau of 3 Indian Affairs, when it comes to these leasings of 4 lands that we only have 5 percent, which may be 5 .02 acre or something like that, that they can 6 proceed with that lease. Now, they will notify 7 us, but we're saying they can proceed with that 8 lease and they don't have to come to us directly. 9 That's what this resolution says. 10 Yes? 11 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Who would be 12 the individual to come see up here about the tribe 13 purchasing fractions of their property? For 14 example, my aunt passed away here a few years ago, 15 and I just take care of the lease. Now, when she 16 passed away, she didn't have a will, and that 17 added 60 some names to that lease. I don't even 18 know half of them now or where they live. So how 19 would those individuals, who would they come up 20 here and see about seeing if y'all would buy it? 21 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, what you have 22 to do, all those multiple parties have to go to 23 the BIA, get an application for a sale. They call 24 it negotiated sale. And then what you have to 25 find is a buyer. Like if you come to the tribe 50 1 and you say the tribe has an interest, you know, 2 the tribe has to pass a resolution saying we're 3 interested. But first of all, those individuals 4 have to come to some place to say that they're 5 willing to sell, or they're willing, you know, to 6 sell. They can sell it to one of the other 7 persons, but you still have to go through that 8 process. You still have to get the application to 9 do that to the Bureau, not to the tribe. 10 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Making .94 11 cents a year on it. It ain't worth the trouble. 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I might say another 13 feature of the Cobell settlement, which I didn't 14 mention, was there are a lot of fractionated lands 15 like that. Some have a 100 owners, and some of 16 them are 20 acres with 100 people on it. So in 17 the settlement, it's pending, there's money set 18 aside for consolidating, purchasing these 19 fractionated lands. So they can be purchased 20 under that settlement. How they're going to go 21 about it, I understand, the Interior is still 22 working on the process, but there's going to be -- 23 there's money set aside to buy those fractionated 24 lands. 25 When they're bought, they're given to 51 1 the nation, the tribe with whom their members 2 receives that and the individuals get paid. 3 MR. REDELK: They can use the 4 settlement money to buy land from the tribes? 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: There's a part of 6 the Cobell settlement which is for consolidation 7 of fractionated lands, yes. There's a percentage 8 of dollar put in there. Do you recall the 9 dollar? It's a big amount of money that's put in 10 there to buy fractionated lands. Because they're 11 becoming harder and harder for -- just as it was 12 said here, you know, for an individual -- you get 13 .94 cents, and it's hard to manage it when you 14 have multiple owners, too. So they're saying one 15 way to consider it, it could be purchased and then 16 it goes to the tribe. 17 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Didn't the 18 tribe at one time have a consuming factor behind 19 that? That once the fraction got down to a 20 certain fraction, that the tribe was supposed to 21 be able to take that property back. I mean, for 22 the Comanche Tribe. 23 MR. WHITEWOLF: They did away with 24 it. 25 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, they did away 52 1 with that. But now under this reform act, probate 2 reform act, if there's no will and there's that 5 3 percent, it can go to the tribe. But at the same 4 time, again, remember those people that say they 5 should be given that land because their interest 6 or their descendants or family or whatever, they 7 can ask to acquire that 5 percent. 8 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, I know 9 the BIA rules have changed considerably. You 10 don't need all the family's signatures. But 11 that's only dealing within the family itself. If 12 the family wants to give another family their 13 property, you no longer have to get a signature to 14 verify. You just simply sign a gift deed over to 15 the person who wants it. I've done that. I just 16 got through doing my parcel that my mother left. 17 MS. ISAAC: So this wouldn't -- I 18 wouldn't be in danger of losing my land if I did 19 not have a will, because I've got three kids and 20 it would go to them, the oldest, right? Because 21 that's what I thought that -- that BIA man came 22 down here a few years ago and did a workshop. I 23 thought that's what he said. It goes to the 24 oldest child if I fail to get a will, right? 25 MR. TIPPECONNIE: And we can provide 53 1 that to you, you know, all the particulars of this 2 act, which says if there's no will how it goes in 3 a family, you know, kind of thing. Yes, it's 4 spelled out, and that's why they gave you that 5 information. 6 What I would say, though -- excuse me 7 for carrying on too much. What I would say to all 8 the persons here, if you have trust lands, make 9 out a will. The Oklahoma City University can 10 sponsor free will clinics, and they do across the 11 state. They try to announce them. It's the law 12 school that does that. Then they have these, you 13 know, interns or they have these lawyers and 14 others that are students of law. They come and 15 they conduct these will clinics and then they'll 16 do your will for you. I encourage you to do it. 17 No matter your age, do a will. 18 MS. ISAAC: We've been trying to do 19 it but something happens every time I get an 20 appointment. 21 For instance, if I have 20 acres, I 22 have three kids, the land is not leased, I have a 23 home on it. If I passed, it would not go anyplace 24 except to my oldest child, right? That's what I'm 25 afraid -- that's what I keep thinking might 54 1 happen. I don't understand exactly the -- 2 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: There is a 3 rule in there that guards against that, and also 4 guards against the ownership of that land going to 5 nontribal members. It's on the same ticket. So 6 it does say if there's not a will, the oldest 7 child will receive that property. 8 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We need to carry on 9 here, I know. But at some point we can probably 10 provide more information on this act. But this 11 resolution is just to try to expedite things and 12 make it so that the tribe doesn't have a whole lot 13 of parties that have big ownerships in lands. 14 MR. ESCHITI: Do I have a motion to 15 accept? 16 MS. TERRY: I make a motion we 17 accept. 18 MR. ESCHITI: Ms. Terry. Second? 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I'll second. 20 MR. ESCHITI: Mr. Tippeconnie 21 seconded. All those in favor signify by saying 22 "aye". 23 (Aye.) 24 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 25 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 55 1 52-11 is carried. 2 Resolution Number 53-11. This is a 3 resolution of the CBC, Part 10 of the Comanche 4 Nation General Revenue and Tax Act of 1995, 5 unemployment tax. The Comanche Nation is a 6 federally recognized Indian tribe with a 7 constitution approved by the Secretary of the 8 Interior on January 9, 1967, to safeguard tribal 9 rights, powers, and privileges to improve the 10 economic, moral, education and health status of 11 its members. The CBC, having deemed it prudent 12 for the nation's agencies, commissions, boards, 13 and enterprises to continue participation in the 14 unemployment insurance system of the State of 15 Oklahoma on a rated basis, deems it necessary to 16 repeal Part 10 of the Unemployment Tax Act of the 17 Comanche Nation General Revenue and Tax Act of 18 1995, pursuant to Article IV, Section 7(j) of the 19 Comanche Nation Constitution. 20 Now therefore be it resolved that 21 Part 10 of the General Revenue and Tax Act of 1995 22 is hereby repealed and of no further effect. 23 Do I have a motion to accept? 24 MRS. GOODIN: Can I ask a question? 25 Exactly what was repealed? 56 1 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Let me explain a 2 little, again, of what this is. The nation was 3 looking at a party that could come in and help us 4 make savings, as they would suggest to us, on 5 unemployment taxes. The rate of the state tax has 6 risen. It doesn't sit at a certain level. It 7 rose considerably this year. It jumps for a lot 8 of reasons, based upon criteria, like your 9 history, et cetera. So ours jumped up from a 1.2 10 or 3 up to about a 4 almost. That's a big jump. 11 Okay? 12 This group came and suggested to us 13 they would help us make savings on that jump. 14 They could challenge the State under federal 15 statutory, as they said, reasons, labor laws, to 16 say that the State should reduce that. Well, that 17 was an initial action, so given that thought, 18 there was to be a pot of money that all 19 departments and all the entities of the tribe 20 would put what they normally pay to unemployment 21 tax, because we all pay it, that tax would go into 22 that pot. And then that pot, once we got a 23 building to pay unemployment, it would come out of 24 that pot. So that was the action that was 25 adjusted in the tax code to do that. 57 1 Okay. We're not going to do that. 2 We're not going to establish that pot, which would 3 be in the tax commission. We're not going to do 4 that. We're going to stay with the way we do 5 business. That is, we collect the tax, and then 6 as it says, you know, each of them will 7 participate with the State, and then as that 8 invoice comes to us, because they send us an 9 invoice from the State Unemployment Security 10 Commission asking for this payment. So when that 11 payment comes, we make the payment. So we're 12 going back to that. 13 So what we tried to revise and make 14 that pot, to make that pool and everybody pay 15 there, we're doing away with that. So we're 16 repealing that. That's what we're repealing. We 17 are going back to the way we always did business. 18 MR. REDELK: Mr. Chairman, I want to 19 move on this. 20 MR. ESCHITI: I have a motion to 21 move. Do I have a second? 22 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Second. 23 MR. ESCHITI: Darrell seconds. All 24 those in favor signify by saying "aye". 25 (Aye.) 58 1 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 2 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 3 Number 53-11 carries. 4 Resolution 54-11, adoption of the 5 Comanche Nation Hazardous Mitigation Plan. It 6 says here therefore be it resolved by the CBC -- 7 MR. WHITEWOLF: What does that 8 entail? 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Could I make a 10 comment? 11 MR. ESCHITI: Go ahead. 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: As y'all know, the 13 tribe has been in high risk. The high risk is 14 because we went with compliance with following our 15 638 contracts. That's occurred from years way 16 back so we've had the pickup, because the years 17 way back were in bad shape. They review us and 18 then they said, okay, looks okay. You've got to 19 get in shape. Part of the getting out of high 20 risk is being in compliance, following your 21 contracts, living to your contracts. That's part 22 of it and we're doing very well on this. The 23 other part of it is we have to do new policies and 24 procedures. So the nation has done policies and 25 procedures about everything now. Like I 59 1 mentioned, record retention. There's policies and 2 procedures, procurement. All the policies and 3 procedures have been updated except for one that's 4 standing. And the one that's standing is how we 5 do, how we safeguard our computer documentation. 6 You know, we document, we digitize everything into 7 a server. And that server has to have another 8 location where you can -- we call it redundancy, 9 where you can have the same records in place in 10 case something happened that destroyed this 11 facility with our records here so we had to come 12 up with a plan. It's really, in this case, should 13 be a disaster recovery plan for the Comanche 14 Nation Information Technology Department. So that 15 should really be -- our resolution should state 16 that we are passing a policy and a plan as to how 17 we're going to handle or records in case there's a 18 disaster, a tornado, a fire, whatever. So that 19 was a requirement that we had to meet in this high 20 risk. That was the last one that we're really 21 getting done. So we're on top of all our policies 22 and procedures. 23 There's only other two items standing 24 in high risk, and we're working on those. We 25 should be able to remove those. There were a 60 1 number of things in high risk. Now we're down to 2 there. These will take away two, so the two we're 3 acting on now, so we should get those done 4 shortly, too. So I think it's done on the part of 5 many, many people in the tribe. 6 So this is what this is. We're going 7 to safeguard our records, we're going to have a 8 separate location for our records from this site 9 in case some disaster occurs. Here, we use the 10 word redundancy, because everything that's here is 11 there. So this resolution, I would suggest we 12 amended it to say it's an adoption of the disaster 13 recovery plan for the Comanche Nation Tribe 14 Information Technology Department. 15 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: 16 Mr. Tippeconnie, are we going to say somebody to 17 do this for us, have it backed up some way, or is 18 this going to be done by the tribal employees 19 themselves? 20 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We're trying to see 21 right now in our budgets, because there is 22 availability in the budget to do that in the IT 23 department. So we're looking at where that is. 24 We have some options. So they're trying to size 25 up which is the best option, most cost effective. 61 1 So the CBC is going to be the one to finalize this 2 plan approving the plan to do it, and then we'll 3 act on it. They will decide as a whole, you know, 4 how we put that into place and what the cost is. 5 MRS. GOODIN: Mr. Tippeconnie, does 6 this have anything to do with Rim Rock? 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Rim Rock was 8 employed to help us in IT work. They had a 9 contract with the tribe to do things. That 10 contract has expired. So when we look at this and 11 we look at this location, we are -- I can't speak 12 for all the CBC, but I've advised the CBC not to 13 do it with Rim Rock. That contract is closed, 14 expired. So when we look at it, just as I 15 mentioned here, we want to be cost effective, we 16 want to look at it smartly. So at this point, I'm 17 not suggesting that Rim Rock be any 18 consideration. That's just my recommendation to 19 the CBC. 20 MRS. GOODIN: Would you repeat the 21 name that you would rather this resolution go 22 under rather than what it is? 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It would be the 24 same number, but it would be called the Disaster 25 Recovery Plan of the Comanche Nation Information 62 1 Technology Department. So it's a plan, you know, 2 in case there's a disaster, what we're going to do 3 with IT. 4 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Motion to 5 approve, Chairman, with modifications of the title 6 and the body. 7 MR. ESCHITI: I have a motion. 8 Second? 9 MS. TERRY: Second. 10 MR. ESCHITI: Ms. Terry seconds. All 11 those in favor signify by saying "aye". 12 (Aye.) 13 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 14 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 15 Number 54-11 carries. 16 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: How come we 17 can't get no more pay advance? Why is that? Like 18 on our check, pay advance on our checks, how come 19 we can't get no more? 20 MR. ESCHITI: Pay advance? 21 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes. Y'all 22 capped that out. How come we can't get that? 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Are you talking 24 about salary advance? 25 MR. URBACH: Yes. 63 1 The TA usually handles that, because 2 all the directors and employees are under the 3 tribal administrator. I can't speak for the tax, 4 but I know that there have been emergency 5 circumstances in employee situations where he has 6 given, even more recently, tribal advances. 7 That's all I know. I can't speak about it. I 8 think she's trying to say it should be, if there's 9 a real dire need situation. 10 MRS. GALLEGOS: So there wasn't a 11 resolution passed by the CBC regarding that? 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Not to my 13 knowledge. Again, that's something that fits 14 under the operations of the tribal government and 15 it fits with the TA. 16 MS. ISAAC: I was thinking it was 17 something to do with weather. How come you 18 couldn't have used what you just -- 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: That's what I said, 20 we have to amend and modify. That's the wrong one 21 in there. We're going to modify that. It's going 22 to be the one which is for the disaster IT plan. 23 Make that correction in there. It will be the 24 same number, but the whole thing will be modified 25 and be corrected. 64 1 MS. SAPCUTT: My name is Yonevea 2 Sapcutt. I am an employee with the Comanche 3 Nation. I have been here for 15 years. One of 4 the things about one of the other employees was 5 asking his question is better communication with 6 however it's going to go, because we do have 7 deficiency in our communication with the e-mail. 8 But something to be explained for the employees in 9 that manner to say just exactly what you said by 10 the tax, that under dire circumstances will we 11 allow salary advance. Because the way that we're 12 paid, we have worked a week before, and that 13 money, we have the hours in. And if there's an 14 emergency and if that's specific as to what 15 they're saying and this how you'll get an advance, 16 only in emergency, specifically spell that out for 17 the employees. Because someone just to walk by 18 and say there's no salary advance anymore, that's 19 okay, too, but it's not right. You have many, 20 many employees who have benefited from it some way 21 or another, and it just needs to be explained to 22 them so we would have to, or the individual would 23 have to come before the CBC or at a meeting and 24 say what it is, why, or we don't have the internal 25 structure to get that to us. Our director will 65 1 say in our monthly Monday morning meetings to say, 2 okay, this is what the TA, this is a new thing 3 that came across the e-mail. Here, we have it. 4 So they will know as we know it as from the 5 director, from the employee, this is what's going 6 to be happening from now on. 7 So it's just a very simple situation, 8 but sometimes when we were allowed to do 9 something, like a travel advance, then all of a 10 sudden in passing work, you guys aren't getting 11 any travel advances. And that's okay. Some of us 12 use it, some of us don't. Some of us is working 13 for it. Some don't even care about it. But the 14 point of it is, the communication that has been 15 established for us through our e-mail per 16 officers, per our director, that should just be 17 explained, and that way we wouldn't have to even 18 wonder or worry or even ask. 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I'll mention that 20 to the tribal administrator. I know he has weekly 21 meetings now with the directors. I'll just 22 mention it to him, because you're correct. The 23 employee should know. I'm not trying to take on 24 his job, I'm just speaking as I understand some 25 things. So -- but I'll mention that. 66 1 MR. REDELK: Mr. Chairman? 2 MR. WHITEWOLF: Either by him or by 3 y'all. 4 MR. REDELK: Mr. Chairman? I'd like 5 to make a comment here. We've got a lot on our 6 plate and we're entertaining things that's not on 7 the agenda. I strongly urge us to stick to the 8 agenda. Not that their comments are unimportant, 9 but we need to take care of this business in a 10 timely manner. I don't know what time it is, but, 11 please, let's stick with the agenda. 12 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: You can't very 13 well do that, because once you're conducting 14 business, things are said throughout the 15 conduction of this business that will strike a 16 cord with somebody in here, and they'll want to 17 ask, have that question answered. Which you're 18 part of this CBC, too, whether you realize it or 19 not. 20 MR. ESCHITI: Let's go on here. I've 21 got Resolution Number 55-11, a resolution of CBC 22 regarding the ownership of the Comanche Nation 23 College. 24 The Comanche Nation College receives 25 the annual funds from the Comanche Nation as 67 1 approved by the Comanche Nation Tribal Council, 2 and additional Comanche Nation Capital Improvement 3 Program has provided Comanche Nation College 4 repairs and infrastructural improvements from 2005 5 to 2010 fiscal year. Capital improvement funds 6 are external approve and appropriated Comanche 7 Nation College budget and provided as the funds 8 are available. 9 Now therefore be it resolved that the 10 CBC hereby approves this resolution and provides 11 the Comanche Nation College with a location for 12 educational purposes and budget approved by the 13 tribal council and with capital improvement funds 14 as available for major repairs and infrastructural 15 improvements. 16 Do I have a motion? 17 MR. REDELK: Are you talking about 18 the past or are you talking about the future? Are 19 you talking about the budget, 2011 budget, or what 20 budget are you talking about? 21 MR. ESCHITI: Correct me, 22 Mr. Tippeconnie. Again, I know you know a lot 23 about the budget. This is some of the things that 24 they lack having to be accredited, is my 25 information. They need this so they can further 68 1 their process of being accredited. 2 MR. WHITEWOLF: Is this new money or 3 is this something that accumulates? 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, this 5 resolution speaks to the fact that the tribe 6 provided funding approved by the tribal 7 administrator from 2005 through 2010. It speaks 8 to that. It also speaks that the funds are 9 available in the future, yes. That's dependent on 10 if they're available. The college needs this 11 because it's a component, a requirement in their 12 accreditation request, what they have to show. 13 What they have to show to the college, the ones 14 reviewing their accreditation package, which 15 they've had volumes which has been presented. 16 It's to show until they become a college and until 17 they become a fully-accredited college, they 18 cannot -- they're not requiring students to pay 19 tuition and stuff. So at some point in time when 20 the college is on your way, it begins to get on 21 its own feet with endowments, with tuition, with 22 all kinds of costs, operational costs, trying to 23 be brought about by that college. And as you 24 know, all colleges, universities also depend upon 25 tax revenues. You know, none of our university 69 1 systems in Oklahoma exist alone. They have to 2 have some appropriation from other funds. What 3 this is speaking to is to give those who are 4 reviewing the accreditation of the college an 5 understanding that there are some funds that have 6 been provided given the fact that they're not 7 generating all those funds on their own at this 8 point in time. So they have to have some 9 declaration on record which says there has been 10 money available to them. So that's what this is 11 saying. 12 MRS. GALLEGOS: Your Comanche Capital 13 Improvement, that needs to state also that they 14 have the ability to approve their property? 15 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes. It says if 16 there's availability of capital improvement funds 17 from the nation or from the tribal council funding 18 or both, that it's dependant on availability, but 19 it could be possible that they get that, too. 20 MRS. GOODIN: So this does not have 21 anything to do with the actual physical ownership 22 of the college? 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It says that the 24 ownership is Comanche Nation, but from the 25 information that they can operate and operate an 70 1 educational institution on those properties -- 2 excuse me, Mr. RedElk. I'll make one comment 3 about this, if you don't mind. 4 MR. REDELK: Well, this is concerning 5 our agenda line items. 6 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I want to make this 7 comment on our college. This is an aside a 8 little. That's why I want to say we have 9 requested fee lands which are private title lands 10 into trust, fee into trust. Well, I got 11 information back from the BIA this week that they 12 are going to advertise now for 30 days that this 13 college will be moving from fee to trust. So we 14 made a great milestone in that action. I think 15 that's commendable. If no one really protests to 16 it, it will get shortly into trust. That's been 17 quite a job to get into this place. We have about 18 nine other properties that we're looking at to 19 moving from fee to trust. So once we get them 20 into trust, they become totally tribal ownership. 21 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Now, we don't 22 anticipate any opposition whenever we go to put a 23 commercial property, or property that could be 24 used commercially into trust. There may be some 25 opposition from the cities or others but surely 71 1 not an educational institution. So don't foresee 2 anything happening, but we don't know. 3 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We don't know. But 4 it's going to go out and you may see it in the 5 paper and see that. That's up to the parties 6 outside. Probably the City of Lawton or such that 7 may want to say something. We hope to, because 8 they know that it's an educational institution. 9 MS. ISAAC: I don't think the City of 10 Lawton really cares what the Comanche -- I wish 11 they would support the Comanche Nation more. And 12 if they do support us, I wish y'all would let us 13 know in a lot of areas. Because I don't see them 14 supporting the Comanche people. I hope they do. 15 MR. ESCHITI: Do I have a motion to 16 accept? 17 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: So moved. 18 MR. ESCHITI: Second? 19 MR. REDELK: Second. 20 MR. ESCHITI: Mr. RedElk seconds. 21 All in favor, say "aye." 22 (Aye.) 23 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 24 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 25 Number 55-11 passes. 72 1 Resolution Number 56-11, a resolution 2 of the CBC ICDBG Grant FY 2011. The CBC of the 3 Comanche Nation recognizes that the Comanche 4 Nation Housing Authority has administrative 5 capabilities to prepare, submit, administrate, and 6 manage Indian Community Block Development Block 7 Grant for the Fiscal Year 2011. 8 Now therefore be it resolved that the 9 CBC hereby delegates the Comanche Nation Housing 10 Authority the authority to prepare and submit on 11 behalf of the Comanche Nation the Indian Community 12 Development application for Fiscal Year 2011. 13 Do I have a motion to accept? 14 MS. TERRY: I make a motion to 15 accept. 16 MR. ESCHITI: Ms. Terry makes the 17 motion. Second? 18 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I second. 19 MR. ESCHITI: Mr. Tippeconnie 20 seconds. All those in favor signify by saying 21 "aye". 22 (Aye.) 23 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 24 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 25 Number 56-11 carries. 73 1 I had a question on the previous 2 one. Mr. Tippeconnie, you mentioned there were 3 nine other properties. Can you tell me if our 4 community center in Apache was one of those nine? 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, it's one of 6 those. 7 MRS. GALLEGOS: It's only been 15 8 years. 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It's been a while, 10 yes. 11 MR. ESCHITI: Resolution Number 12 57-11, a grant application for United States 13 Department of Health and Human Services 14 Administration on Children, Youth and Families. 15 Whereas, the United States Department 16 of Human Services Administration on Children, 17 Youth and Family has funds available in the amount 18 of $138,963 per each month prior for five years to 19 accomplish this purpose. 20 Whereas, the tribal chairman, or its 21 assignee, as the official of the Comanche Nation 22 is authorized to negotiate and approve contract 23 and any limit to such. 24 Now therefore be it resolved that the 25 CBC does hereby approve and submit the grant 74 1 application to the United States Department of 2 Health and Human Services Administration on 3 Children, Youth and Family. 4 May it be further resolved that the 5 CBC act for and on behalf of the Comanche Nation 6 does hereby authorize this resolution for such 7 intent. 8 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I make a motion to 9 approve. 10 MR. ESCHITI: Second? 11 MR. REDELK: I'll second. 12 MR. ESCHITI: All those in favor 13 signify by saying "aye". 14 (Aye.) 15 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 16 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 17 Number 57-11 carries. 18 MRS. GALLEGOS: I have a question. 19 What is the grant amount on that? 20 MR. ESCHITI: It's $138,963. 21 MRS. GALLEGOS: 139,000? 22 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: For each 12-month 23 period for five years. 24 MRS. GALLEGOS: What department 25 within our system will be using that money? 75 1 MS. TERRY: Child welfare. 2 MRS. GALLEGOS: ICW? 3 MR. ESCHITI: Yes. 4 MS. ISAAC: So that's not Arlene 5 Hemp's program? 6 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes. 7 MR. ESCHITI: Resolution Number 8 58-11. 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I recommend we 10 table this one. The resolution is to designate or 11 appoint a commissioner of the Comanche Nation 12 Gaming Commission, and I really think the CBC 13 needs to see the applicants. 14 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: The new 15 committeemen have not had a chance to review the 16 applications yet. I'll second that. 17 MR. ESCHITI: Second by Darrell. All 18 those in favor signify by saying "aye". 19 (Aye.) 20 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 21 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 22 Number 58 -- 23 MRS. GALLEGOS: I have another 24 question. How many applicants do you have for 25 those, for that position? 76 1 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We don't know. 2 That's why they need to review all these. 3 MRS. GALLEGOS: You haven't reviewed 4 them up to date? 5 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: I believe it's 6 between five or six. 7 MR. ESCHITI: Resolution Number 8 59-11, resolution of the business committee 9 appointing members to the gaming advisory 10 subcommittee. 11 Therefore be it resolved that the CBC 12 hereby removes Mr. Michael Burgess, Mr. Richard 13 Henson, and Mr. Mark Wauahdooah, and Mr. Clyde 14 Narcomey from the gaming advisory subcommittee 15 effective immediately, that the CBC approves 16 effective immediately the following newly elected 17 committeepersons to the gaming advisory 18 subcommittee: Ed Eschiti, Robert Komahcheet, 19 Yonevea Terry. 20 Do I hear a motion? 21 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Motion to 22 approve, Chairman. 23 MR. ESCHITI: Do I hear a second? 24 MR. REDELK: Second. 25 MR. ESCHITI: Mr. RedElk seconded 77 1 it. All those in favor signify by saying "aye". 2 (Aye.) 3 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 4 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 5 Number 59-11 carried. 6 Resolution Number 60-11, resolution 7 for the CBC appointing commissioners to the 8 Comanche Tax Commission. This is the CBC deems it 9 advisable to appoint recently elected vice- 10 chairman to serve as a commissioner on the tax 11 commission to replace Mr. Richard Henson, and 12 appoint recently elected Committeeman Number 4, 13 Robert Komacheet to serve as commissioner on the 14 tax commission to replace Mr. Clyde Narcomey, and 15 to appoint recently-elected Committeeman Number 2, 16 Yonevea Terry, to serve as commissioner on the tax 17 commission in place of Mr. Mark Wauahdooah. 18 Therefore be it resolved that Mark 19 Wauahdooah, Clyde Narcomey, and Richard Henson be 20 removed as tax commissioners and appoint 21 Committeeman Number 2, Yonevea Terry; Committeeman 22 Number 4, Robert Komacheet; Vice-Chairman, Ed 23 Eschiti, to serve as commissioners on the Comanche 24 Nation Tax Commission effective immediately. Do I 25 have a motion to accept? 78 1 MR. REDELK: So moved. 2 MR. ESCHITI: Mr. RedElk. Second? 3 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Second. 4 MR. ESCHITI: All those in favor 5 signify by saying "aye". 6 (Aye.) 7 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 8 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 9 Number 60-11 carries. 10 Resolution Number 61-11 is a 11 resolution of the CBC to change authorization 12 signatories on the financial trust accounts held 13 by the United States. 14 Therefore be it resolved that the CBC 15 hereby repeals any signatory and business 16 authorizations for the Comanche accounts held in 17 trust by the United States through the office of 18 the Special Trustees of American Indians, 19 including any account known as the 20 Percent Fund 20 Account. Authorize the following: Approve, 21 direct, and make requests indicated by the charts 22 below with the office of Special Trustees for 23 American Indians and any financial accounts held 24 by such office of the United States, including any 25 accounts known as 20 Percent Fund Account, holding 79 1 fund for the benefit of the Comanche Nation as 2 follows: 3 Do I have a motion to approve? 4 MS. TERRY: I make a motion to 5 approve. 6 MR. ESCHITI: Second? 7 MR. REDELK: I second. 8 MR. ESCHITI: All those in favor 9 signify by saying "aye". 10 (Aye.) 11 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 12 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 13 Number 61-11 carries. 14 Resolution Number 62-11, resolution 15 of the CBC to change the authorization requiring 16 signatories on financial accounts. 17 This is now therefore be it resolved 18 that the CBC authorizes the following persons 19 named in Table A to have access stated in Table A 20 for accounts identified in Table B, which are 21 holding funds in the name of the Comanche Nation. 22 MR. WHITEWOLF: Shouldn't you wait 23 until the completion of the election? I think you 24 ought to wait until the completion of the election 25 to talk about things like that. You still got the 80 1 secretary/treasurer that's going to be up and 2 voted on and the chairman. Y'all are talking 3 about all these signatures. 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I understand, you 5 know, Mr. Whitewolf, your comment, and we did 6 discuss that. Because I think it's smart 7 sometimes to just do what you're saying. But the 8 other part is that it's smart to get some of these 9 names of the present, because business has to go 10 on, and there may be a need that there's a 11 connection relative to some account. As example, 12 IBC, about our account, operating accounts. You 13 know, they are the ones that we pay a lot of the 14 things that are ongoing at the tribe at the 15 moment. They pay salaries, they pay drawndowns to 16 different entities; like the museum, et cetera. 17 So those things have to be executed and the bank 18 has to see in place that these names are there. 19 You can't just stop the business. I would agree 20 with the point that if something changes in the 21 election then there's a modification of this 22 amendment, to make those corrections or those 23 additions, such as a chairperson. But it's just 24 what I'm saying, to go on with business. 25 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Motion to 81 1 approve. 2 MR. ESCHITI: Second it? 3 MR. REDELK: Yes. 4 MR. ESCHITI: Mr. RedElk seconds it. 5 All those in favor signify by saying "aye". 6 (Aye.) 7 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 8 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 9 Number 62-11 carried. 10 Resolution Number 63-11, resolution 11 of the CBC appointing a member to the Kiowa, 12 Comanche, Apache Intertribal Landuse Committee. 13 Now therefore be it resolved that the 14 CBC hereby appoints Edward Eschiti and Yonevea 15 Terry to the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache Intertribal 16 Landuse Committee. Do I have a motion to approve? 17 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I make the motion. 18 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Second. 19 MR. ESCHITI: All those in favor 20 signify by saying "aye". 21 (Aye.) 22 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 23 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 24 Number 63-11 carried. 25 Resolution Number 64-11, resolution 82 1 of the CBC appointing members to the Numunu Pahmu, 2 LLC. 3 Whereas, Mr. Michael Burgess and 4 Mr. Richard Henson are no longer a member of the 5 CBC. 6 Now therefore be it resolved that the 7 CBC hereby appoints Edward Eschiti to the Numunu 8 Pahmu, LLC. 9 Motion to accept? 10 MS. TERRY: I make a motion. 11 MR. ESCHITI: Ms. Terry. Second? 12 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Second. 13 MR. REDELK: I'd like to ask a 14 question before we vote. The original 15 appointments were temporary, were they not? 16 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: They were for the 17 transitional phase, which we're getting through 18 that. We talked about this yesterday. We're 19 looking as a business committee hopefully to do 20 some reorganization, not only on the tribal 21 government side, but also maybe in our economic 22 development venues across the board. Then 23 realigning that, restructuring that, it's possible 24 that we move from a committeeman-seated board of 25 managers to maybe one that does not have 83 1 committeemen seated on it. Advertised, of course, 2 hopefully to get high qualified, business 3 qualified individuals serving on this board. Yes, 4 we discussed that and that's where it's headed. 5 But hopefully we have other things to discuss 6 across the board to establish that, also. Is that 7 what you were looking for, Ron? 8 MR. REDELK: Yes. I just wondered 9 when we were going to advertise for appointments 10 to this board. 11 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Well, one of the 12 reasons we -- this appointment's been made, but 13 there's another position being opened. What we 14 discussed is going ahead to nut that out to a 15 member at large, advertising for the position, but 16 we needed to conduct business now. And two makes 17 a quorum, so we said, well, let's put Mr. Eschiti 18 in there for now, along with myself, so that 19 signatures can be made and business can go on. 20 MR. REDELK: I can understand that. 21 MR. BURSON: You're going to need to 22 clarify who Mr. Eschiti is replacing on your 23 board. You've got two possibilities, either 24 Mr. Burgess or Mr. Henson. You need to identify 25 which one he's replacing, because your charter or 84 1 your corporation documents state that managers 2 serve until replaced, even though they're not 3 otherwise eligible. So we need you to just 4 identify who you're replacing. 5 MR. WHITEWOLF: What kind of 6 organization is this? What is this? 7 MRS. GOODIN: Mr. Kosechequetah, did 8 I understand you to say that this is going under 9 economic development as a for-profit business? 10 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: No, I didn't say 11 that. What I'm saying is we are looking at the 12 restructuring possibility of all of our economic 13 enterprises. Right now it's kind of fracuated. 14 We have the economic development, which the CEO is 15 Delphine Nelson. We have our federal charter 16 group over here who owns a construction company, 17 and now we have an LLC sitting out here which is 18 our four smoke shop operations that the tribe 19 owns. Not the personally-held smoke shops by 20 individuals, but the four that we own as a 21 nation. And the LLC sits out here. Somehow we 22 need to consolidate in order to get a better 23 structure overall for better oversight and 24 qualified people. That's what I was talking 25 about. 85 1 MS. GOODIN: What kind of document 2 did you say you're operating under, the particular 3 one? 4 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: The particular 5 smoke shop operation, LLC, registered with our tax 6 commission under our LLC code. 7 MRS. GOODIN: What guidelines are you 8 following? You've got bylaws, charter, what? 9 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: LLC has bylaws as 10 the charter document. 11 MRS. GOODIN: How would one get a 12 copy of these? 13 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: I can send you 14 one. 15 MRS. GOODIN: Okay. I'd appreciate 16 that. 17 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Are these the 18 current smoke shops that we have that sit beside 19 the casinos? Are those the smoke shops you're 20 talking about? 21 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Yes. 22 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It sounds like 23 we have two sets of smoke shops. I just want to 24 clarify. 25 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Let me clarify 86 1 that, because a lot of people think that way. 2 Under our tax code, there's an individual that can 3 have smoke shops on their tribal trust property. 4 It just falls underneath the jurisdiction of the 5 Comanche Nation because it's Comanche allotted 6 lands. They hold licenses with and pay taxes into 7 our tax commission. We do the same thing but we 8 own all the ones out there. We only own the four 9 referred to that are attached to our casinos. 10 MR. WHITEWOLF: Come out of that, out 11 of the of money? 12 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: For us? 13 MR. WHITEWOLF: I'm talking about 14 whoever works there. 15 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Yeah, the 16 employees get paid. They don't work for free. 17 Now, we don't get paid. We're not paid a stipend, 18 if that's what you're referring to. 19 MRS. GALLEGOS: Who gets paid? 20 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: The CEO, they 21 have a manager at the location, supervisor, full- 22 time employees and part-time employees. 23 MR. WHITEWOLF: What's the manager's 24 salary? 25 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: I don't have 87 1 those salaries in front of me. 2 MS. ISAAC: Do they get paid by the 3 tribe, economic development, or who? 4 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: They get paid by 5 the LLC by the profits coming from the smoke 6 shops. And let me tell you -- 7 MRS. GALLEGOS: By the profit they 8 generate? 9 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Right, by the 10 profit they generate. And there's a profit after 11 the expenses are taken out of the expenses. The 12 salaries are part of the expenses. But it's been 13 profitable from day one. Of course, it came out 14 of the casino operations where they were casinos 15 employees, casino smoke shop employees. Now 16 they're just smoke shop employees. We separated 17 that several months ago as a business committee. 18 Now, one of the reasons we did that was because we 19 have opportunity in the smoke shops, we have 20 opportunity to expand. We saw in gaming the focus 21 is gaming. Rightfully so. It should be. But 22 there was opportunity in our smoke shop 23 operations. We're a very large operation, one of 24 the largest in the state, providing tobacco. So 25 we looked at that for an opportunity to expand, to 88 1 capture more markets within this market, and 2 possibly other markets, also expand our individual 3 lines, not just carry cigarettes and tobacco. But 4 there are other things than cigarettes we are 5 entering into. 6 MRS. GALLEGOS: When that move was 7 done about that separating the tobacco shops from 8 the casino, that took away from some of the 9 casinos profits, correct? 10 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Yes. 11 MRS. GALLEGOS: Of that, in turn, is 12 one of the reasons why our per cap was a little 13 bit less. 14 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: No, because it 15 didn't come out before that. 16 MRS. GALLEGOS: When did you separate 17 them? When did they start separating the money? 18 Do you recall? 19 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: It was after the 20 per cap. It didn't affect the per cap. 21 MRS. GALLEGOS: But it will in the 22 future? 23 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: It's possible, 24 but from the way gaming is, you won't even see a 25 difference with the smoke shops taken out because 89 1 they're doing that much better. 2 MRS. GOODIN: How much was taken out 3 for the smoke shop? How much money was taken out 4 of gaming to set up the smoke shop? 5 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: They were already 6 set up, so basically it was just separated. 7 MRS. GOODIN: So there was money that 8 changed? 9 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: In the form of 10 assets and building and structure. I don't know 11 what you're referring to. I mean, the money -- 12 they're making money constantly for selling 13 cigarettes and stuff. Was there a lump sum set 14 over here to sustain them, no. If that's what 15 you're asking, no, that didn't take place. 16 MRS. GOODIN: There was no lump sum 17 to buy products? 18 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: There was product 19 on hand, so that's money in a form. It it's not 20 cash, but that's asset, inventory. 21 MS. MCDANIEL: So since our smoke 22 shops are making so much money, will we see a 23 smoke shop contribution on our annual budget? 24 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Yes. We're 25 looking first-year profits contributed back to the 90 1 tribe. Now, some of it's got to be retained to go 2 back into capital improvement. The whole idea is 3 to expand, create more jobs, to capture more 4 market, to have more income for the tribe, and 5 also more tax monies, because we tax ourselves. 6 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Who does that 7 come under? Does that come under economic 8 development or under the board. 9 MS. ISAAC: Raymond or Delphine? 10 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Who controls 11 that? 12 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: You've got two 13 questions. It's an LLC. It's right here by 14 itself. That's why I was talking about the 15 restructuring of the economic development 16 enterprises. We have economic development as we 17 know it with Delphine Nelson, we have a charter 18 group over here that has the construction company, 19 and we have an LLC over here now. So we need to 20 figure out as a business committee what's the best 21 way to move forward in our future in terms of 22 economic enterprises. 23 MS. MCDANIEL: Is there a ceiling on 24 what you can spend out of the gross profit for 25 like putting back into it? 91 1 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: It's based on 2 percentages. We're trying to set -- there's 3 industry percentages that you set aside out of 4 your profit in order to just keep up with your 5 business. Like the casino, I thought, is 7 6 percent, which goes back to keeping the thing 7 nice, keeping it painted all up and this other 8 stuff. There's another percentage you can tack 9 onto that. If you're looking at a business that 10 has the opportunity to expand, you'd use a 11 percentage for that. Those are yet to be -- we've 12 got some numbers running, but the same percentage 13 is over here that's going to be going directly 14 back into the tribe. Some people say don't, you 15 know, put it all into expansion. But I think we 16 come to the consensus that we're going to put 17 money back in the tribe from day one. Just go 18 ahead and start doing that, set the pace there. 19 And as this grows, that contribution grows also. 20 Who's ultimately over it, Delphine, the tax 21 commission, Raymond? 22 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Mr. Eschiti, 23 myself, and then one other member, the board of 24 managers will be added to that. 25 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Do you receive 92 1 a stipend? 2 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: No, sir, I 3 don't. I spend a lot of time on it, though. But 4 those three, and then there's the CEO, who is 5 Mr. Jarrett Jackson. 6 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Is he 7 Comanche? 8 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Yes, sir, he is. 9 And a lot of his upper management is Comanche, 10 also. He makes every effort to hire Comanches and 11 retain Comanches. 12 MS. MCDANIEL: If y'all can do that 13 with the smoke shops, why don't you do that with 14 gaming instead of paying big commission and a 15 board? 16 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: I don't 17 understand your question. I'm sorry. 18 MS. MCDANIEL: If you can create an 19 LLC for the smoke shops, why can't you do that and 20 you guys oversee it? Why can't you do that with 21 gaming? 22 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: For us to oversee 23 it? I believe it's not legal for the business 24 committee to oversee it. 25 MS. MCDANIEL: Well, we used to do 93 1 it. That's how it was done. 2 MRS. GALLEGOS: The RAP changed all 3 that. 4 MR. WILLIAMS: Two things: You 5 created RAP. Your gaming board now essentially 6 serves the same function as the management board 7 of the LLC, they're just not organized under your 8 LLC code. But NIGC essentially advised the 9 business committee several years ago that if the 10 business committee did not get out of the business 11 of managing the gaming contractually and give it 12 to someone else, that the facilities were going to 13 be shut down because of the problems they were 14 seeing with the management of the facilities at 15 the time. So that pressure from the federal 16 government brought about a new gaming ordinance 17 that was passed by the business committee that 18 created the gaming board and a separate gaming 19 commission. But it was the threat that the 20 facilities would be shut down that caused the new 21 creation of those entities. 22 MR. REDELK: Mr. Chairman, I move to 23 approve this. 24 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Why can't you 25 do economic development the same way? I mean, are 94 1 they showing any profit? Have they shown any 2 profit? 3 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: They have 4 profit. Month to month it varies. On a whole, I 5 don't think so. That's the point I was making 6 from the beginning. 7 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: If they're not 8 making a profit, do away with them. 9 MR. ESCHITI: One of the attorneys 10 said who would I be replacing. Would that be 11 Bunky? 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I want to ask this 13 question of Darrell. You're sitting there now and 14 you say in your bylaws you only need two to have a 15 quorum? 16 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Right. It's a 17 three-member. 18 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It seems to me it 19 could be this is okay, because it removes two. 20 MR. BURSON: But it doesn't remove 21 any. 22 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We need to word it 23 that they're replaced. But it seems we could do 24 that, because then we don't have to come back and 25 amend it again. The charter under which that 95 1 board sits and under which you have the right to 2 appoint as business committeemen says that any 3 managers that are appointed stay as managers until 4 replaced, whether or not they're qualified. Now, 5 the business committee, the terms for business 6 committee members to serve on that board are 7 supposed to run concurrent with the term business 8 committee person. Now that you have two members 9 that are not there because they're not serving -- 10 they're not eligible to serve as managers doesn't 11 mean that they're not managers until you replace 12 them. So you have to identify who you're 13 replacing and you have to remove them. You have 14 to say Eschiti is replacing so and so. That still 15 leaves you three. The other person still serves 16 until they're no longer needed. So you either 17 need to remove them both. Just stating that 18 they're not CBC members is not clear enough to 19 remove them. 20 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: But there's 21 nothing that says you can't remove them both. 22 MR. BURSON: You can remove them 23 both. 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Because if we're 25 going to go out and advertise, then you'll have to 96 1 amend it again. 2 MR. BURSON: That's all I'm asking 3 for is clarification of what you're acting on, is 4 it remove all or two or replacement of one. 5 That's fine. It doesn't state that in the 6 resolution clear enough. 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We're going to 8 state the removal of both things, and then to be 9 replaced by you. That's the wording. The two are 10 to be removed, right? 11 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Yes. 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We're removing 13 those two names and replacing Mr. Eschiti on the 14 board. 15 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: I think Ron made 16 the motion. Would that be the case? 17 MR. REDELK: Yes. 18 MR. ESCHITI: It was already moved 19 on. I'm sorry. 20 MR. TIPPECONNIE: You accepted the 21 modifications, Ms. Terry? 22 MS. TERRY: Yes. 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Call for the vote. 24 MR. ESCHITI: All those in favor 25 signify by saying "aye". 97 1 (Aye.) 2 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 3 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Resolution 4 Number 64-11 carries. 5 We're going to take a break at this 6 time. 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We can finish the 8 motion. 9 MRS. GOODIN: When is this midyear 10 tribal supposed to take place, the date? 11 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It begins on the 12 11th of June and goes to the 16th of June. 13 MRS. GALLEGOS: When do we vote? 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: The voting is on 15 the 11th. At the present time, I don't mean to be 16 so personal about it, but currently I'm vice- 17 president of the American Congress of Indians, so 18 it's very important they attend these meetings, 19 because we act as a body for the interest of the 20 membership tribe, which are almost half of the 21 tribes in the United States and Alaska at the 22 moment. This is a midyear. It comes up in 23 Portland this year in the fall. They'll likely 24 have a great number of tribes added onto the body, 25 because it's also election year in NCAI. So the 98 1 election will occur in the fall of this year. 2 Just want to say the American Congress does a lot 3 of good for the interest of American Indian 4 Nations. They work very hard on matters of the 5 budget, they work very hard on matters that are 6 rights, and just multiple things. It's a good 7 body. They're always recognized by the House 8 Committee on Indian Affairs by the House Senate 9 Committee. So many times when there are bills 10 pending or actions pending that are for the good 11 of Indian affairs, of course they ask tribal 12 leaders, but they always generally ask the 13 National Congress as well. So it has a very vital 14 function for Indian Country at large, and of 15 course I feel it benefits certainly tribes in 16 Oklahoma and Comanche Nation. 17 MR. ESCHITI: Do I have a motion to 18 approve? 19 MS. TERRY: I make a motion we 20 approve. 21 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: 22 Mr. Tippeconnie, the Elder Council has three 23 people going, but we never get any feedback from 24 when they go, not even a piece of paper of what 25 happened. Like you said, this was a very 99 1 important meeting. When I used to work for the 2 government, I'd go all the time. But anymore, we 3 have no feedback whatsoever. They go, they enjoy 4 themselves, but nothing when they come back. 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I know, because we 6 see those requests. I know the Elder Council 7 sends representatives, because there is a 8 component of the agenda which speaks to matters of 9 the elders. As I asked the question when it came 10 forward, did your council vote on this and did 11 they approve? Again, I don't know, but I always 12 ask that question because I feel the council has 13 that role to do that, and they also have a role 14 for the feedback, you know, information when they 15 came back. So I would encourage the council to 16 act on this and ask. 17 And that's the same with me. I have 18 to be responsible to bring back information, but I 19 feel the Elder Council should do that. 20 MRS. GALLEGOS: Well, as a matter of 21 backup when you do your payment request, why don't 22 you have a copy of their motion from their 23 council? 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: That's a good idea. 25 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: But it's 100 1 always so hush-hush and we don't know about when 2 they come back. And they didn't tell us nothing. 3 There's a lot of things that could be discussed up 4 there. 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: There's very 6 important agenda items. I know. I asked them. I 7 may forward, as you're mentioning there, and ask 8 for that motion. Because I do ask that question. 9 And I'm not trying to be hardnosed about it. But 10 I always want to say did your council, the Elders, 11 vote on this and allow you to go. Because 12 sometimes they send three. And it's not my 13 position. It's your council deciding that. When 14 budgets are cut, maybe 1, maybe 2. You know, you 15 may want to use your budget for other things. 16 Again, that brings the counci's discussion. 17 MR. ESCHITI: We had a motion by 18 Ms. Terry. Second? 19 MR. KOMACHEET: Second. 20 MR. ESCHITI: Second by Mr. Robert 21 Komahcheet. All those in favor signify by saying 22 "aye". 23 (Aye.) 24 MR. ESCHITI: All those opposed, same 25 sign. All those abstain, same sign. It carries. 101 1 MRS. GALLEGOS: Mr. Tippeconnie, how 2 long is your term? 3 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Three years. 4 MRS. GALLEGOS: So are we in the 5 first team? 6 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Excuse me, in the 7 NCAI? 8 MRS. GALLEGOS: yes. 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It can be endless. 10 They can reappoint. You could be re-elected. It 11 goes by election. We do have elections for vice- 12 president, we do have elections for the president 13 of the Congress, secretary-treasurer of the 14 National Congress. It comes up in vote. And then 15 yes -- so a person can be renominated there's not 16 a term limit, per se. 17 MRS. GALLEGOS: I'm not asking about 18 term limits. How long is the current them that 19 you're serving? When does it expire? 20 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, it's up to 21 the body when we meet. Sometimes the area vice- 22 presidents are re-elected. Like coming up in 23 Portland this year. 24 MRS. GALLEGOS: What position do you 25 hold within NCAI? 102 1 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I'm area vice- 2 president. 3 MRS. GALLEGOS: And you were elected 4 when? 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Two years ago. 6 MRS. GALLEGOS: And so your term 7 expires when? 8 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, it could 9 expire this year when they have elections. 10 MRS. GALLEGOS: If you're not 11 reappointed? 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: If I'm not 13 re-elected. 14 MRS. GALLEGOS: So your election is 15 every year? 16 MR. TIPPECONNIE: No. 17 MRS. GALLEGOS: Every two years? 18 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Not every year, 19 no. 20 MRS. GALLEGOS: And I'm just playing 21 the devil's advocate here. What happens in the 22 scenario we get a new secretary-treasurer and 23 you're still the vice-chairman of that 24 organization? 25 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, if there's 103 1 new -- the vice-presidents or any officers in the 2 National Congress of American Indians, the 3 president all down to vice-presidents, they must 4 be a tribal elected official. So if a person is 5 not elected, then they're not -- they have to step 6 off from that position, whatever it may be. 7 MS. ISAAC: So if they approved you 8 going in October, is that when you're going to 9 go? 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I'm going to go 11 June 11th. We have to go early, because we have a 12 board meeting right away, Sunday morning, early. 13 We have to depart on the 11th. The board meets 14 before the general conference or convention. 15 There's numerous topics that are very important to 16 Indian Country, many things right now on the 17 agenda. Of course, a lot of them are budgetary 18 because of the upcoming budget dilemma in the 19 federal government. 20 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I have a 21 question for you. Have you ever prepared a report 22 once you came back? And wouldn't that satisfy 23 what they were talking about, that they were not 24 informative about a lot of the things going on up 25 there? 104 1 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, I have 2 prepared reports, but she was speaking about the 3 Elder Council. The Elder Council sends 4 representatives and they should report back to the 5 Elders Council. That's what she was talking 6 about. 7 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I see. 8 MR. ESCHITI: Let's go ahead and take 9 that break. 10 (Break held). 11 MR. ESCHITI: Let's go ahead and get 12 started back again. Going into new and old 13 business. At this time we have Mrs. Eleanor 14 McDaniel. Eleanor, I'm going to hold you to 10 15 minutes on this. Okay? 16 MS. MCDANIEL: I'll just run through 17 this letter real quick I have for you. 18 I come before you as the elected body 19 to -- you're here to run the business of the 20 tribe, so I come before you to request that 21 corrective action be taken for those actions taken 22 against me to discredit me. So on April 2011, at 23 the general council, I was nominated for the 24 position of Comanche Nation Chairman. I completed 25 the request for a background check, just like I 105 1 did when I ran for Comanche Nation Vice-Chairman. 2 In 2009, the CBC determined that I was a qualified 3 candidate to run for the office of vice-chair, and 4 nothing has changed in my background since 2009. 5 The election board assumed authority 6 under an election ordinance that was never 7 adopted. I have minutes, copies of minutes that 8 prove that that election ordinances -- Bob 9 Tippeconnie announced that you lost a quorum, so 10 the discussion -- you continued with the 11 discussion, but you didn't have a quorum to adopt 12 that election ordinances. That was dated April -- 13 I forget what the date was on it, but it was 14 April. 15 Under this bogus election ordinance, 16 the election board illegally disqualified me as a 17 candidate for the office of chairman. The 18 election board used a one-page statement written 19 and signed by the assistant chief of law 20 enforcement, Ron Niedo, which stated I was charged 21 with a bogus check in Comanche Nation County 22 District Court 13 years ago. He did not include 23 that those charges were dismissed. I went to Ron 24 Niedo's office and asked for my background check 25 and he would not give it to me. He told me to see 106 1 the election board. 2 I went to the election board and Nick 3 Plata refused to provide me with my background 4 check. Ron Niedo did not provide the election 5 board with my actual background information and 6 they disqualified me using only the statement by 7 Ron Niedo. So I went to see Judge Harris at the 8 Comanche County District Court and he provided me 9 with a copy of my actual background check. He 10 stated that there was nothing there. 11 The charges were dismissed. And when 12 charges are dismissed, it is like they never 13 happened. But Nick Plata imposed his own personal 14 and malicious interpretation from the inconclusive 15 statement provided by Ron Niedo. And attached you 16 will find a statement by Ron Niedo and also a 17 letter of protest and request. And on the 18 request, I'll provide the background check that 19 Judge Harris provided to me. 20 The election board does not possess 21 authority to qualify or disqualify any candidate. 22 Under Article XI, Section 7B, the Comanche Nation 23 Constitution provides the CBC with the primary 24 duty and responsibility to determine 25 qualifications of candidates nominated for office 107 1 and not the election board. 2 Further, the statement by Ron Niedo 3 included my Social Security number and my driver's 4 license number. This information was privileged 5 information given to Gwen Kerchee Poahway as the 6 election board clerk. Gwen gave my personal 7 information to her husband, Jarvis Poahway, and he 8 put it on the internet. Gwen Poahway is not an 9 election board member, but her signature -- and 10 this is all in the newspaper. We got this -- this 11 was put out. Her name is all over these election 12 results. According to the Comanche Election 13 Ordinances that was approved February 25th, 2005, 14 at the CBC meeting, it states that the tribal -- 15 that tribal employees shall not be eligible to 16 serve on the election board for this reason. 17 The election board, under the 18 supervision of Nick Plata, failed to exercise a 19 credible election. So this law actually is in 20 effect, not this new ordinance. The election 21 board, under the supervision of Nick Plata, 22 removed several other candidates. No information 23 was provided on the Comanche website or Comanche 24 newsletter prior to the general council that 25 explained the need for candidates to fill out a 108 1 background check request, nor did they mention any 2 deadline. I was sitting up front and I personally 3 heard Nick Plata yelling that candidates need to 4 fill out a background request form, and that was 5 during general council. But no one heard him 6 because that meeting was so loud. I knew about 7 the background check because I served on the 8 election board and also ran previously for 9 office. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have known 10 about the request for background check. 11 Also, an affidavit was submitted by 12 Carlotta Nowell stating that she had firsthand 13 knowledge that Mr. Darrell Kosechequetah missed 14 the deadline of 5:00 p.m., Monday, April 18th, 15 2011. Carlotta Nowell arrived at the election 16 board office around 4:30 and was in and near the 17 office until 5:15 and did not see Darrell 18 Kosechequetah come in. If other candidates missed 19 the deadline and were removed off the ballot, then 20 Darrell Kosechequetah should have been removed as 21 well. If he had done this via the Internet or any 22 other way, the other candidates were also told 23 that they had to come in in person. This is 24 another reason that the election board, under the 25 supervision of Nick Plata, failed to properly 109 1 execute a credible election. All candidates not 2 properly certified deserve due process. 3 The election board committed a breach 4 of trust during the April 16th, 2011, general 5 council meeting. Nick Plata was designated as 6 then acting election board chairman. He 7 supervised the overall election of the tribal 8 attorneys. Nick Plata counted the votes that put 9 Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker in legal 10 representation for the tribe. John Plata is the 11 son of Nick Plata, and John serves as attorney for 12 Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker. Nick Plata 13 supervising the voting process and counting the 14 votes for his son's law firm was unethical and a 15 direct conflict of interest. The tribal attorney 16 administered under the direct supervision of Nick 17 Plata must be null and void. 18 The general council meeting was not 19 properly executed, and the tribal council members 20 were not allowed to open and free participation in 21 that general council meeting. The proposed annual 22 budget was not open for discussion. Bunky Henson 23 turned the microphone off on tribal members and 24 did not allow them the right to openly address the 25 business at hand. Bunky Henson ordered law 110 1 enforcement to remove tribal members from the 2 meeting. Tribal council, as the supreme governing 3 body, was denied the right to conduct business. 4 During April 2011, during the general council 5 meeting, Bunky Henson, Bob Tippeconnie and Darrell 6 Kosechequetah failed to adhere to the will of the 7 people. The malicious act of these men require 8 corrective action. Under the Comanche Nation 9 Constitution, Article V, Section 3, the tribal 10 chairman shall be required to call a special 11 council meeting so requested in writing by as many 12 as three members of the business committee. A 13 special tribal council meeting must be requested 14 for the proper election of the tribal attorney and 15 to allow the tribal council with a quorum present 16 to vote on the budget. The election board failed 17 to provide a credible election for the attorneys, 18 and the tribal council was not allowed to properly 19 address the budget. 20 On election day, I went to the 21 Comanche polling site, and this basically -- I'm 22 talking about when I got pushed around and they 23 tried to forcibly take my ballot. I went in, I 24 signed in, I got my ballot, I sat down. I looked 25 at the ballot. I saw too many discrepancies on 111 1 there. I folded the ballot, I picked up my purse, 2 and I had two election board poll workers follow 3 me out. And Edna Pacheka caught me in my car and 4 tried to reach over the passenger seat and get 5 that ballot. I had to push her off of me, pry her 6 hands off the steering wheel. And Ron Niedo was 7 right there, the law enforcement officer, saw the 8 whole thing and did not do nothing. Edna claimed 9 I hit her. I did not hit her. That's a lie. 10 That's something she's going to have to deal with 11 with her and her god. Supposed to be a 12 Christian. Edna, I told her several times to get 13 off of me. So I had finally get her off of me and 14 I left. 15 Then I went home and I look at this 16 ballot, and there were tons of discrepancies. 17 There was no yes or no vote for the 20 percent KCA 18 operating budget. All the numbers in 15 places 19 were changed. I know that the CBC did not act 20 together in this. It was done solely by Bob 21 Tippeconnie. This is what the election board told 22 me, that the numbers on the budget that was put 23 out 45 days from the election general council were 24 totally different than what was on the ballot 25 during the general election. Well, the whole 112 1 thing stinks. The 2011 budget was supposed to be 2 disseminated in accordance with Comanche Nation 3 Constitution, but it wasn't. Those numbers were 4 changed. What was on the ballot is not what was 5 provided to Comanche people and was not in 6 accordance with the Comanche Constitution. The 7 CBC lied to the Comanche people, so that the whole 8 election needs to be thrown out. 9 On May 24th, 2011, Comanche Nation 10 Law Enforcement Officer Navarro was banging on my 11 front door. I answered the door and he said, "Are 12 you Eleanor McDaniel?" 13 I said yes, and he stated he had a 14 citation for me. I had to appear before CFR court 15 on May 31st. The citation was for unlawful 16 balloting as per election ordinances dated -- the 17 bogus election ordinances dated April 13th, and 18 that I could be fined $1,000 or incarcerated in 19 Comanche Tribal Detention Facility for one year. 20 The Comanche Nation has no detention facility. 21 How bogus is that. Law enforcement sent Officer 22 Navarro to harass me and tried to impose a law 23 that was never adopted. This election ordinance 24 that they tried to impose on me has 910 sections 25 in it and includes 10 offenses that impose $1,000 113 1 fines and incarceration for one year. 2 The election ordinance was created by 3 Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker and four members of 4 an election ordinances revision committee. The 5 committee included Regina Brannock, Bobby Nauni, 6 Christi Decora, Dana Attocknie. I'm sure the 7 attorneys and the committee were well 8 compensated. The old ordinance may have needed a 9 few changes, but 10 sections with $1,000 fines and 10 incarceration is extreme overkill and beyond. 11 The old ordinance has a $1,000 12 protest fee. And you know this for a fact, 13 Mr. Komahcheet. The old ordinance has a $1,000 14 protest fee that needs to be removed. Why should 15 the -- we impose a fee when a candidate is only 16 seeking due process and fair treatment? Under the 17 supervision of Charles wells as chairman and 18 Yonevea Terry, reporter of the election board, 19 there are no minutes for any meetings conducted by 20 the election board. 21 The election board, as an elected 22 body, has brought disrepute on the entire election 23 process in the Comanche Nation. I have currently 24 filed a petition with the CFR Court for an 25 injunction to overturn the recent general election 114 1 and to place my name back on the ballot for 2 chairman, because I was wrongfully disqualified 3 and removed off the ballot. The defendants are 4 Bob Tippeconnie, Bunky Henson, Nick Plata, Ron 5 Niedo. They have conspired to discredit me. 6 Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker will be representing 7 the defendants. The use of gaming dollars to pay 8 attorneys to act against tribal members in civil 9 matters must not be permitted. The use of tribal 10 attorneys in CBC and tribal meetings is a waste of 11 gaming dollars and needs to be stopped. 12 I request corrective action in that 13 I'm allowed to run for office in any future 14 elections. I'm asking that a special general 15 council be requested by as many as three CBC 16 members to recall Bob Tippeconnie as 17 secretary/treasurer. I'm a requesting the removal 18 of Darrell Kosechequetah as CBC member for failure 19 to meet deadline and deem that that seat be filled 20 by opponent Vernon Tejano, Jr. 21 I hereby request a special council 22 meeting to vote on the annual budget and to 23 include on that agenda a vote to rescind Tribal 24 Council Resolution 53-05 that provides for the 25 election of the election board members. It is not 115 1 a true representation of the tribe and makes no 2 sense when candidates for 12 election board member 3 seats are placed on the general election ballot 4 and some are elected by one or two votes. These 5 results are not exaggerated. And I want to submit 6 that for record. Thank you. 7 MR. ESCHITI: Thank you for your 8 time. Next one up is Mr. Thomas Narcomey. 9 MR. GRIFFEN: I don't know if he's 10 here. 11 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: If I may, I'd 12 like to make a -- I realize it's not or court of 13 law. I'd like to make a statement in reference to 14 what she just said about me and my wife, which is 15 false. My wife is not a criminal. She don't do 16 stuff like that. She doesn't abuse her privileges 17 working as the election board. She stated that my 18 wife gave me Social Security numbers. She's full 19 of -- I don't know what. I better not say that. 20 I did write on the Internet, question her 21 character, absolutely. And I wrote about Ron 22 RedElk, questioned his character, and several 23 other people. That's just a conversation piece on 24 the Internet called the Numunuu something. Some 25 kind of political group. All we do is discuss 116 1 things. 2 MR. ESCHITI: Jarvis, I mean, that's 3 fine. And we even want to comment on no more. 4 Mr. Narcomey is not here. 5 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I understand 6 that. I apologize. 7 MR. ESCHITI: I want to go ahead and 8 take this into executive session. 9 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Can I give a 10 response real quick? Because this concerns -- 11 it's nothing legal -- well -- 12 MS. ISAAC: Because all of us, we 13 need to listen to what's happening. 14 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: You have Carlotta 15 gave an affidavit. Do you have that? 16 MS. MCDANIEL: She presented it to 17 the election board. 18 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Okay. 19 MS. MCDANIEL: So you can get with 20 them. 21 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: That's your 22 proof, though, in your accusation of me not being 23 there on time? That's your proof? 24 MS. MCDANIEL: Isn't that what I said 25 in my letter? 117 1 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: And she's not 2 here either. Carlotta's here. 3 MRS. GALLEGOS: What difference does 4 it make? 5 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: That's your 6 proof? Just because she didn't see me means I 7 didn't make it on time? That's ridiculous. I was 8 there, 9 minutes till. I filled out the 9 information and I was out of there within four or 10 five minutes. There's my proof. 11 MS. KERCHEE: He come to me. 12 MS. MCDANIEL: She lied, too. 13 MS. KERCHEE: And by my watch, it 14 said 4:59, and I got onto this young man. I said 15 you barely made it on time. Did I not tell you 16 that? 17 MR. KOSECHEQUETAH: Yes. I was there 18 on time. 19 MR. PEKAH: You said 7:00. My watch 20 and the watch across the hall, we always 21 synchronize. We don't pay attention to that 22 scanner, because that scanner is off. I look at 23 the clock in the front lobby, I synchronize with 24 Christina across the hallway. So my watch -- I 25 mean -- but, still, I got onto this young man at 118 1 4:59, and you're standing there and you're telling 2 me that I'm a liar? You better be careful, 3 Eleanor. I'll slam you. 4 MS. MCDANIEL: What are you going to 5 do to me? 6 MR. ESCHITI: We're going to go ahead 7 now at this time and go into executive session. 8 (Executive session concluded at 9 1:11 p.m.) 10 11 12 * * * * * * 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 119 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 June 4, 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 office on this the 5th day of 15 July, 2011. 16 17 18 __________________________ 19 Kelly Stoabs Certified Shorthand Reporter 20 for the State of Oklahoma 21 22 23 24 25 120 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 10:10 a.m. on June 4, 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