1 1 2 3 4 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE 5 COMANCHE BUSINESS COMMITTEE 6 MONTHLY MEETING 7 MAY 2, 2009, 10:06 A.M. 8 COMANCHE NATION COMPLEX 9 LAWTON, OKLAHOMA 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 __________________________________________________ REPORTED BY: KELLY STOABS, CSR 23 DODSON REPORTING & ASSOCIATES 435 NORTH WALKER, SUITE 102 24 OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA 73102 (405) 235-1828 ~ (405) 235-1266 (FAX) 25 dcri@coxinet.net 2 1 A P P E A R A N C E S 2 3 COMANCHE NATION BUSINESS COMMITTEE MEMBERS: 4 Wallace Coffey, Chairman 5 Ronald RedElk, Vice-Chairman 6 Robert Tippeconnie, Secretary-Treasurer 7 Edmond Mahseet, Committeeman #1 8 Lanny Asepermy, Committeeman #2 9 Darrell Kosechequetah, Committeeman #3 10 Clyde R. Narcomey, Committeeman #4 11 LEGAL COUNSEL: 12 Kirke Kickingbird, James Burson 13 Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker 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 10:06 a.m. 5 4 Roll call. 5 5 Invocation. 6 6 Motion passed to approve the minutes 8 of April 4, 2009, April 16, 2009. 7 Motion passed to approve Resolution 21 8 Number 53-09/Modahwah Land acquisition. 9 Motion passed to approve Resolution 24 Numbers 70-09, 71-09, 72-09 and 73-09, all 10 dealing with enrollment issues. 11 Motion passed to approve Resolution 25 Number 74-09/HIP/Request extension of Contract 12 No. CTB06T80822 for Aid-to-Tribal Government Program. 13 Resolution Number 76-09/Authorize 31 14 Contract Negotiations between Southwest Oklahoma I-CARE, Inc. and the Comanche Nation. 15 Motion passed to evaluate current program and compare with proposed programs, and make a 16 recommendation to the CBC in September. 17 Tabled - Resolution Number 75/09/Garry 34 Mattson Land Acquisition. 18 Denhy Roman, Oklahoma Lifeline Link. 34 19 Allison Steinmeyer/Budget for AIHEC 44 20 Student Congress Position. 21 Bobby Tenequer/Grant Proposal. 52 22 Carl Paddyaker, Sr./Comanche Nation 69 Housing Authority. 23 Carolyn Codopony/Licensing the new 81 24 day care at Apache. 25 Motion passed to go into executive session. 86 4 1 INDEX OF PROCEEDINGS (continued) 2 PAGE 3 Executive session held from 11:44 a.m. 87 to 2:35 p.m. 4 Motion passed to approve Resolution 97 5 77-09/Child Care Licensing. 6 Allison Steinmeyer - motion passed 98 to approve $2500 from Charitable Fund. 7 Bobby Tenequer - motion passed to 102 8 approve $500 from Charitable Fund. 9 Motion passed to instruct the TA to 112 get rid of horses within 30 days. 10 Motion passed to sell the buffalo to 113 11 the original buyer, and in that sale, negotiate for meat for the Comanche 12 Homecoming, Comanche Fair and Shoshone Reunion. 13 Motion passed to recess until May 21, 2009. 115 14 Meeting recessed at 3:14 p.m. 115 15 Reporter's Certificate. 116 16 Secretary/Treasurer's Certificate. 117 17 18 19 20 * * * * * * 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 (Meeting called to order at 2 10:06 a.m.) 3 MR. COFFEY: A lot's going on, and I 4 want to welcome each and every one of you to 5 today's meeting. Mr. Secretary, would you call 6 the roll? 7 I hereby call order. 8 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Wallace Coffey? 9 MR. COFFEY: Here. 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Ronald RedElk? 11 MR. REDELK: Here. 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Robert 13 Tippeconnie? Here. 14 Edmond Mahseet? 15 MR. MAHSEET: Here. 16 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Lanny Asepermy? 17 MR. ASEPERMY: Here. 18 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Darrell 19 Kosechequetah? I might mention that Darrell is 20 not here. He's attending a men's religious 21 conference, so he won't make it. 22 Clyde Narcomey? 23 MR. NARCOMEY: Here. 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We have a quorum, 25 Mr. Chairman. 6 1 MR. COFFEY: Bonita, will you give us 2 our invocation, please? 3 MS. PADDYAKER: (Invocation.) 4 MR. COFFEY: Thank you, Bonita. 5 There's a lot of things that are happening, and 6 lot of things are going on. I have to leave at 7 approximately 11:30. I have a little niece's 8 funeral at 1:00; and I don't know if we're going 9 to have quorum, because Mr. Mahseet also has to 10 leave for his appointment. He's going to take 11 off. 12 But in the meantime, Committee, I 13 think we need to start taking an action with 14 regard to our minutes, and that we take a look and 15 seriously take an opportunity to pass these so we 16 can forward them to whatever agency actions have 17 been approved or disapproved. And particular some 18 of our programs whose resolutions we have passed. 19 So first item on business is to 20 approve the minutes of April the 4th, and I think 21 that there were other minutes other times when we 22 met that are included. 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Mr. Chairman, 24 before we do that, I'd like to amend the agenda to 25 add one resolution, and that's the Modahwah Land 7 1 Acquisition. 2 MR. COFFEY: Resolution Number 3 53-09? 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, originally, 5 way back we -- excuse me. 6 MR. COFFEY: It's on there. 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Okay, we have it 8 listed? 9 MR. COFFEY: Item number one. 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Okay. Excuse me, 11 excuse me. 12 MR. NARCOMEY: Also, Mr. Chairman, 13 I'd like to amend the agenda also. On the 14 executive session, number six, I'd like to move 15 that to new and old business. 16 MR. COFFEY: Carl. 17 MR. NARCOMEY: Thank you. 18 MR. ASEPERMY: Under new and old 19 business? 20 MR. COFFEY: And, Committee, under 21 executive session, item replacing number six, 22 Carolyn Codopony with the Early Childhood 23 Development Center in Apache. Is that correct, 24 Carolyn? Where are you? 25 MR. NARCOMEY: What number? 8 1 MR. COFFEY: In the executive 2 session. Carolyn Codopony wants to talk about the 3 early Childhood Development Center in Apache. 4 Okay. The first resolution, 5 Mr. Tippeconnie. Any other item changes, 6 Committee? 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Do you want to go 8 back to the minutes? 9 MR. COFFEY: Yes. I'll entertain a 10 motion to approve the minutes of April the 4th and 11 April the 16th. 12 While you're looking through your 13 minutes and the information, I want to say it has 14 been very rewarding to serve as the Chairman of 15 the Comanche Nation. Perhaps this may be my last 16 meeting as far as my term is concerned, but we've 17 been through a lot. 18 I've seen some wonderful 19 development. I've seen our Tribal membership that 20 has stepped up to the plate to make contributions 21 to the advancement of the Comanche Nation. I have 22 seen so many wonderful things that have caused 23 attention to our Comanche Nation in a positive 24 way. I've also witnessed the development with 25 regard to our Comanche Nation in areas of 9 1 transportation, servicing of roads for our tribal 2 membership, gravel for our people who have 3 problems with their driveways. I have seen homes 4 that have been rehabilitated. I have seen a new 5 construction of homes, because we didn't turn our 6 backs on those who have had problems when the 7 flood has come to us. 8 And, also, I'd like to say that we're 9 going to look at your road, too, and do that on an 10 emergency basis. We've already -- we've got the 11 equipment, we've got the necessary materials, so 12 that's going to be done. 13 And we're still looking for 14 trailers. We're not at the point where we've got 15 them yet, but those are -- we're trying to provide 16 accommodations for our tribal membership. And I 17 really applaud you gentlemen, because you have 18 placed a priority on our tribal membership. 19 I received a phone call from Elgin 20 Public Schools with regard to the Indian students 21 that will be taking a trip this summer. They were 22 very pleased by the contribution that the Comanche 23 Nation made, and I just want to say that as a 24 result of that, you'll be surprised that these 25 kids will come back and they will let you know. 10 1 We'll get thank you letters once it's complete. 2 So, Committee, I just want to say 3 thank you for your cooperation for us having an 4 opportunity to get business done, to look at 5 matters of the future, but also to work 6 cooperatively. And one thing I really enjoy about 7 this Committee, we may have disagreements, but 8 when we walk out the door, it's not the same. We 9 become tribal members, we become friends, we 10 become colleagues, and we become allies with 11 regard to advancement of our Tribal nation. 12 And I know there are other tribes 13 that refer to the Comanche Nation. Just the other 14 day one of our Comanche new blankets were given 15 away. And this tribe looked at that and -- "How 16 did y'all get y'all's blankets?" Well, we worked 17 with the Pendleton company. And then they said, 18 "We want one. You know, how come the Comanches 19 are always getting things first?" 20 So I sat there and smiled real big, 21 but I didn't say anything, because it was at a 22 funeral. But the whole thing is that we have made 23 many strides with regard to advancement of our 24 Comanche Nation. But it couldn't have been done 25 individually, it had to be done together. 11 1 Committee, a motion to approve 2 minutes of April the 4th and minutes of April the 3 16th. Do we have a motion to approve? 4 MR. MAHSEET: So moved, Mr. Chairman, 5 so moved. 6 MR. COFFEY: Mr. Mahseet? Motion 7 made by Committeeman Eddie Mahseet to approve the 8 minutes of April the 4th and to approve the 9 minutes of April the 16th. Do we have a second? 10 MR. ASEPERMY: Second, Mr. Chairman. 11 MR. COFFEY: Motion has been made and 12 seconded by Committeeman Mr. Lanny Asepermy. 13 Committee, any discussion? Hearing none, all 14 those in favor signify by saying "aye." 15 (Aye.) 16 MR. COFFEY: All those opposed, same 17 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Motion's 18 carried. 19 Also, I'd like to acknowledge, 20 Committee, Resolution Number 53-09, the Modahwah 21 Land Acquisition. It says for reconsideration. 22 So if you looked into your resolution -- 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It's the one I 24 handed to you. 25 MR. COFFEY: Okay. So this will be 12 1 Resolution Number 53-09. 2 MR. ASEPERMY: Robert, can you 3 refresh us on the location? 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Okay. This 5 location, again, is east of Lake Lawtonka. 6 There's no road -- it's -- if you go on the Meers- 7 Porter Hill Road towards Meers, when you come to 8 Paradise Valley, you go south on Chibitty Road, 9 you know, two miles, and it's right at that 10 location. 11 MR. COFFEY: There's no access? 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: There's no access 13 from that point west of the lake, but you can go 14 east. But you can't go west. 15 MR. COFFEY: And her property is on 16 the east or west? 17 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Her property is -- 18 when you come down Chibitty Road, it's on the 19 northeast side of that road. Almost on the 20 corner. It's not on the corner, but it lies next 21 to the corner. 22 MR. COFFEY: Attorneys, in accordance 23 to our properties with regard to Indian lands and 24 allotments, we cannot be denied access to our 25 property. Is that still something that we need to 13 1 take into consideration, or is it always there? 2 MR. BURSON: There's a rule of common 3 law. Yes, that's correct, you have access to the 4 property. 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: This has good 6 access, it's just that you can't go west. 7 MR. COFFEY: Okay. 8 MR. BURSON: Because the lake's 9 there, right? 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: No, there just 11 never was a road that was through it. 12 MR. COFFEY: And is there a pond 13 there? 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: There's not -- it's 15 all farmland. 16 MR. COFFEY: Farmland? 17 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yeah. 18 MR. COFFEY: Is it where you can see 19 Mount Scott? 20 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, you can look 21 to the -- 22 MR. COFFEY: Do you think it could be 23 suitable for homes or development? 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Oh, yes. There's 25 already, to the north of that, some private 14 1 development of some nice homes. They have it all 2 lotted to the north of that and it's being 3 developed. 4 MR. COFFEY: Mr. Owens? 5 MR. OWENS: Yes, sir. 6 MR. COFFEY: Have we surfaced that 7 road? 8 MR. OWENS: Which road? 9 MR. COFFEY: Is that the -- 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Chibitty Road? 11 MR. OWENS: Yes. We worked with the 12 county. We did a type of maintenance service to 13 it. I did a little scratch my back, scratch 14 theirs type of deal. They took care of the ditch 15 work and what have you, and the ground work, and 16 they actually laid the -- what we call a chip and 17 seal. It's not fully complete. It requires two 18 layers, but we ran out of oil and the season was 19 done, so we're waiting until probably May when it 20 gets warm and put on the second layer. We did it 21 rather cheaply. It's kind of a cheap way to take 22 care of the problem. And it should -- if it's 23 done right, it should last about to 10 to 20 24 years, so pretty good job. I look forward to 25 working like that with the county in the future. 15 1 I think that's the way to go. 2 MR. COFFEY: Can you continue to 3 monitor that and make a recommendation that this 4 is something that we want to have accomplished? 5 MR. OWENS: Sure. We've been in 6 discussion with the county about that. 7 MR. COFFEY: All right. Committee -- 8 MR. ASEPERMY: Mr. Chairman, I'd like 9 to make a comment on these land purchases. The 10 two years that I've been on this Committee, we 11 have purchased tracts of land. We're going to -- 12 is it suitable for housing? Yes. Is it suitable 13 for this? Yes. You know what? We have not 14 developed -- we have not developed and we have not 15 built one house or developed one piece of land 16 that we purchased in the two years I've been on 17 this Committee. Not one piece. 18 So when we say is it suitable for 19 housing, well, we haven't done anything. So it 20 don't make no sense to -- I know we want to have 21 land holdings, and this is probably a beautiful 22 location. Ten years from now, is it still going 23 to have it's wheat on there and still have a 24 beautiful location with houses all around it, and 25 we're still sitting here? 16 1 So that's my feeling about our land 2 purchases. We need -- until we start doing 3 something with what we have, you know. 4 MR. COFFEY: Lanny, let me make a 5 comment on that. I own a home in Lawton that my 6 mother left to me, and it's a trust allotment in 7 Lawton. And there are Indian people who have 8 similar tracts of land in the City of Lawton. And 9 one of these days, I'd like to have an opportunity 10 to will that home and that tract of land to my 11 children. 12 So when we look at properties like 13 this, we have to think about our children that are 14 yet to come. We have to think about those that 15 might get things done because we haven't. But we 16 have to look at property that will be ours forever 17 and ever and ever, not because we plan to do 18 something tomorrow, but because there's a future 19 that we want to make an opportunity for. 20 And this is not the only tract of 21 land that people are willing to sell. And I don't 22 know what their circumstances are, but I wouldn't 23 have wished nothing better than I had my original 24 allotment that my family had by Faxon, but it's in 25 my brother's hands. And I'm sure that he had no 17 1 hesitation to purchase that land from my mom in 2 order to give to his children later on down the 3 line. 4 But I have a home that was a result 5 of the money received, and there's nobody that can 6 trust -- can take that land because it's in 7 trust. And -- or my home. And over the years, 8 I've grown up in that, I have seen families grow 9 up in that, and I think we just have to look at 10 that in this long term, Lanny, you know. 11 And every tract of land -- I remember 12 Bonita's mother one time, several years back, 13 maybe five years back, she looked at each and 14 every one of us and told us "Put your college 15 degrees out here. I want to see what kind of 16 preparations you're making for our future." And 17 she said, "The main thing that we need to do for 18 our future is to buy land that belongs -- that 19 once belonged to us." She said, "They're not 20 making any new land out there, so the only thing 21 we can do is buy the land that belongs to our 22 tribal people and put it into the ownership of the 23 Comanche Nation." And I remember that to this 24 day. 25 And, sure, I do believe that this 40 18 1 acre tract is a pretty good chunk of land. And if 2 you can see Mount Scott, I think we can enhance 3 the value of it if we put one home on it. 4 I've always wanted to have a casino 5 out there in Medicine Park. It wouldn't hurt. 6 Someone said there's a bar right there on that 7 Chibitty Road as you come in from the highway 8 going to the church. To me, I'm wondering how 9 come this bar is too close to this church. It 10 shouldn't be there, but it gets business. 11 I went to a funeral service over at 12 the Comanche Mount Scott Church. And sure enough, 13 when I come back, there's a bunch of cars out 14 there. 15 MR. ASEPERMY: Yeah, I went by there 16 the other night. 17 MR. COFFEY: So you kind of know what 18 can crop up around us. And if you see -- I think 19 somewhere along the line, we can make an agreement 20 with a housing developer to build homes that we 21 can lease out. They'll never own, but that's the 22 same way sometimes we can have long-term leases. 23 Anyway, for matters of -- 24 MR. ASEPERMY: Well, having said what 25 I said, you can look at it another way, too. Who 19 1 would ever think in the middle of a wheat field 2 near Devol, Oklahoma, that there would be a casino 3 out there? Who would ever think that right off 4 Gore Boulevard, a flood zone, that we'd have 5 another casino? So maybe -- so I don't know what 6 I'm saying. I'm saying one thing and then just 7 the opposite. 8 But I wish we could make some 9 progress on development. I saw Delphine in here. 10 I don't see John David Wahnee in here, but -- I 11 don't know, if two years is a long time not to do 12 nothing with our land or if it's a short time. 13 How long did we own the land down at Red River 14 before we put a casino on it? 15 MS. NELSON: Just about six months. 16 MR. COFFEY: The truth of the matter 17 is, we didn't own it. 18 MS. NELSON: I want to say something 19 that pertains to the land, Mr. Chairman. In all 20 the working with all the tribes in Economic 21 Development, one of their primary focuses is to 22 recapture their lands. The Oneida Nation did a 23 two-year -- put it out in the paper that for the 24 next two years, they were going to -- they 25 promised their tribal members that they would 20 1 recapture at least 50 percent of their tribal 2 homeland. 3 And what they did was set about 4 re-buying those lands wherever they were that 5 belonged to the Oneida Nation. It's the same with 6 several other tribes. One of the things that they 7 felt like, all these tribes felt like, was the 8 land was a part of the Nation, and that whether it 9 was economically feasible to develop it at that 10 time or maybe sometime in the future, it needed to 11 go back to the Nation, so they set about buying 12 it. Right now the Oneida Nation owns -- has 13 bought back 30 percent of their original 14 homeland. So -- that's just with other tribes. 15 MR. ASEPERMY: Well, we'll never have 16 our 41 million acres that were ours at one time. 17 MS. NELSON: -- sometime in the 18 future because that land is in trust. It's very 19 valuable to the Nation. 20 MR. OWENS: Mr. Chairman, if I may, 21 in defense of the -- building our land base, what 22 have you, it helps in Transportation, also, with 23 the land acquisition. It helps with the 24 inventory. If we build or we have land in some 25 places, it allows us to put that road on 21 1 inventory, also. And we get dollars for that, 2 also. And we can probably do future construction 3 on these roads. That's the way we justify it. We 4 have to have Comanche land on these roads, so I 5 think that helps. 6 MR. COFFEY: Let me read this and 7 then we'll either table it or move on. 8 "Whereas, the Comanche Business 9 Committee realizes the great possibility to 10 continuously and actively pursue opportunities to 11 increase the land base of the Comanche Nation, and 12 also knows the importance of purchasing 13 individually owned trust lands in order to insure 14 that tribal land can maintain its trust status. 15 "Whereas, the Comanche Business 16 Committee authorizes the purchase for 17 consideration in the amount of BIA appraised value 18 or above from Edna Rose Wassapappy Marin, the 19 property described as follows: 20 "Allottee: Modahwah - Comanche 21 Allotment No. 2325-H. All interest in and to the 22 W/2 W/2 SE/4 of Section 33, Township 04 North, 23 Range 12 West, Indian Meridian, Comanche County, 24 Oklahoma. (Containing 40.00 acres more or less.) 25 "Be it further resolved that the 22 1 Comanche Business Committee as a whole is 2 authorized to act on behalf of Comanche Nation to 3 direct and oversee the purchase of the property 4 described above in coordination with the BIA, and 5 Edna Rose Wassapappy Marin on behalf of Comanche 6 Nation." 7 Okay. Do we have a motion to 8 approve? I believe that the budget that has been 9 approved by our Tribal Council -- and I don't know 10 what that amount is. I think it's over $3 11 million. 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, minus the 13 30. Remember to reduce it. 14 MR. COFFEY: Yeah, but if the -- if 15 the Tribal Council, by referendum vote, approves 16 the budget to purchase land, that's a pretty good 17 indication that that's what they intend for us to 18 do. 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Uh-huh. 20 MR. REDELK: Mr. Chairman, I make 21 that motion. 22 MR. COFFEY: Motion has been made by 23 Vice-Chairman Ron RedElk to approve Resolution 24 Number 53-09. Do we have a second? 25 MR. NARCOMEY: I second it. 23 1 MR. COFFEY: Motion has been made by 2 Vice-Chairman Ron RedElk to approve Resolution 3 Number 53-09. A second has been made by 4 Committeeman Clyde Narcomey. Committee, any 5 further discussion? Hearing none, all those in 6 favor signify by saying "aye." 7 (Aye.) 8 MR. COFFEY: All those opposed, same 9 sign. All those abstain, same sign. 10 MR. MAHSEET: Aye. 11 MR. ASEPERMY: Aye. 12 MR. COFFEY: Two abstentions. 13 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Two abstentions. 14 MR. COFFEY: Committee, I'm going to 15 ask for the interest of time, item numbers 2, 3, 4 16 and 5, Resolution Number 70-09, Resolution Number 17 71-09, Resolution Number 72-09, Resolution Number 18 73-09, all dealing with enrollment issues, if we 19 can make a motion to approve all these four 20 resolutions under one consent. 21 MR. ASEPERMY: Mr. Chairman, I make 22 that motion. 23 MR. MAHSEET: I second. 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Who seconded that? 25 MR. COFFEY: Eddie. Motion has been 24 1 made by Committeeman Lanny Asepermy to approve 2 Resolution Number 70-09, 71-09, 72-09 and 73-09, 3 and a second has been made by Committeeman Eddie 4 Mahseet. Committee, any discussion? Hearing 5 none, all those in favor signify by saying "aye." 6 (Aye.) 7 MR. COFFEY: All those opposed, same 8 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Motion's 9 carried. 10 Daniel C. Adams, Kristin Adams, Ryan 11 Adams, Braxten Alexander, Angel Avitia, McKenzie 12 Chasenah, Alexis Chrismon, Daniel Cox, Joseph 13 Daukei-Alvarado, Blake DeLuca-Vardell, June 14 Durrett, Zoe Factor, Azure Gallegos, Abigail 15 Huffman, Byron A. Hamman, Yvonne Herrera, Cheyenne 16 Hill, Cierra Hill, Keri Hines, Breanna 17 Howlingwater, Bruce Jocko, Rudy Johnson, Jr., 18 Katelyn Kahrahrah, Sandler King, Donna Martinez, 19 April Miller, Kadyn Moffitt, Chisney Pewewardy, 20 Stephen Printup, Isabela Ramirez, Pedro Rivera, 21 Montana Sandy, Sherry Moore, Emilee Stamper, 22 Emilee Tahkofper, Brett Tahquechi, Justin 23 Tahsequah, Tori Wilhelms, Lojettie Walser, Shayna 24 Wheeler, Jordan Williams, Kaaron Williams, Kristin 25 Williams; all new members of the Comanche Nation 25 1 Tribe. How about a round of applause for our new 2 members? 3 (Applause.) 4 MR. COFFEY: As of this day, with the 5 43 new members, we have 14,394 members. That's a 6 good base of tribal members, very good. 7 Resolution Number 74-09, "Whereas, 8 the Comanche Nation is requesting a contract 9 extension until September 30th, 2009 for Contract 10 No. CTB06T80822 for the Aid-to-Tribal Government 11 Program under Public Law 93-638, in which it 12 expired in December of 2007. 13 "Now therefore be it resolved, that 14 the Comanche Business Committee, acting for and on 15 behalf of the Comanche Nation hereby authorizes 16 this resolution for such intent." 17 Somebody talk to me about this. 18 Because if it expired in '07, how can we act on it 19 in 2009? 20 MR. NELSON: Well, Bob and I were 21 talking about different things. Is this part of 22 the reimbursement, Robert? 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes. 24 MR. NELSON: It goes hand in hand 25 what high risk status to get the drawdown. 26 1 MR. COFFEY: It is? 2 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Uh-huh. 3 MR. COFFEY: Okay. So in other 4 words, we are just now getting to the point where 5 we can make those applications for drawdown? 6 MR. NELSON: Getting there, getting 7 there, getting there, there you go. 8 MR. COFFEY: Okay. Committee, motion 9 to approve? 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I make that motion. 11 MR. NARCOMEY: I second, 12 Mr. Chairman. 13 MR. COFFEY: Motion has been made by 14 Secretary/Treasurer Robert Tippeconnie to approve 15 Resolution Number 74-09. A second has been made 16 by Committeeman Clyde Narcomey. Committee, any 17 discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor 18 signify by saying "aye." 19 (Aye.) 20 MR. COFFEY: All those opposed, same 21 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Motion's 22 carried. 23 Resolution Number 76-09. "Whereas, 24 the Comanche Business Committee recognizes the 25 need for immediate relief for enrolled members 27 1 experiencing problems of alcohol and drug abuse at 2 an alarming increase rate of 24 percent in a 3 two-year period from 2006 to 2008 for Comanche 4 adult, male/female, reported by Lawton Indian 5 Hospital, USPHS, and 6 "Whereas, the Comanche Business 7 Committee is aware of the affects of alcohol and 8 drug abuse as reported through local agencies 9 where conditions exist that impact Comanche 10 families that include domestic violence, driving 11 under the influence, (DUI), cirrhosis of the 12 liver, automobile accidents of which many result 13 in death, and 14 "Whereas, a new local organization 15 known as Southwest Oklahoma I-CARE, Inc., with a 16 non-profit and a 501(c)-3 status, whose purpose is 17 to address problems of alcohol and drug abuse, 18 desires to enter into contract with the Comanche 19 Nation to administer and manage an outpatient day 20 treatment counseling program specially designed 21 for tribal members, adult male and female. 22 "Now be it resolved that the Comanche 23 Business Committee adopt this resolution thereby 24 authorizing contract negotiations to begin between 25 Southwest Oklahoma I-CARE, Inc., and the Comanche 28 1 Nation for said purpose. 2 "Be it further resolved" -- shouldn't 3 that be -- 4 MR. ASEPERMY: Didn't we decide that 5 we would consider this? 6 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We have a standing 7 resolution saying we would consider it in Fiscal 8 Year 2010. 9 MR. ASEPERMY: Then we shouldn't act 10 on this resolution. 11 MR. TIPPECONNIE: This was one 12 brought to the -- 13 MR. ASEPERMY: General Council? 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: -- General Council 15 by Mr. Elton Yellowfish, and he didn't have the 16 time to present it to the General Council, but he 17 asked that we put it on this month's agenda, 18 hoping that we could say yes or no. 19 He would like to have some confidence 20 whether we will consider it in 2010. So to me, 21 his request has just been brought forward to us. 22 And what he would -- again, would like to know, 23 yes or no. That's what he's asking. 24 MR. ASEPERMY: Well, it's not a yes 25 or no to this, on me. 29 1 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I mean, that's what 2 he has asked of us. 3 MR. ASEPERMY: I would like to task 4 our Tribal Administrator to evaluate our current 5 substance abuse program, get further information 6 on this substance abuse program, and make a 7 recommendation to us during our September meeting. 8 MR. NELSON: My very first day in 9 office, we did meet with Mr. Yellowfish in 10 Anadarko. He has a Board, you know, they're 11 funded by nobody. And their heart is really in 12 the right place. The vice-chairman intended -- I 13 believe he sent out an invitation to other people 14 to attend. He's working out from Arizona. And I 15 believe he's had this on the cusp for about six 16 years or so, about six years. So, yes, I will get 17 that to you, you guys. 18 MR. ASEPERMY: And make a 19 recommendation on the current program versus the 20 I-CARE program. And I do have another letter. I 21 don't know if you guys got it. Did y'all get this 22 letter on -- from Shirla Caddo Strickler that is 23 basically a proposal for basically a substance 24 abuse clinic. 25 Mr. Nelson, I'll provide this over to 30 1 you and you can check this out. Provide a copy to 2 the Comanche Business Committee. Do you want to 3 hold off? 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I would suggest 5 that you make a motion to this affect that directs 6 the TA, you know, to come forward in September as 7 a motion. 8 MR. ASEPERMY: Okay. On that, if you 9 could provide the Comanche Business Committee a 10 copy in their boxes. I don't know, did y'all get 11 copies of this? It came in the mail. 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, I got a copy. 13 I think they sent it to most -- each CBC, but you 14 can make further -- 15 MR. ASEPERMY: Clyde, did you get a 16 copy of that? 17 MR. NARCOMEY: I don't think so, no. 18 MR. ASEPERMY: Ron? 19 MR. REDELK: Yes. 20 MR. ASEPERMY: Eddie? 21 MR. MAHSEET: No. 22 MR. NARCOMEY: You didn't? 23 MR. NELSON: What's your 24 recommendation now? 25 MR. COFFEY: To evaluate our current 31 1 program and compare the current program with these 2 proposed programs. 3 MR. TIPPECONNIE: And make a 4 recommendation to the CBC in September. Is that 5 your motion? 6 MR. ASEPERMY: That's the motion. 7 MR. NARCOMEY: I'll second that 8 motion. 9 MR. COFFEY: The motion has been 10 made -- 11 MR. ASEPERMY: Can we add to that 12 motion, Mr. Chairman -- 13 MR. COFFEY: Sure. 14 MR. ASEPERMY: -- that we take no 15 action on Resolution 76-09? 16 MR. COFFEY: So we table the 17 resolution? 18 MR. ASEPERMY: Basically. 19 MR. COFFEY: So the motion made by 20 Lanny Asepermy to authorize the Tribal 21 Administrator to evaluate the current substance 22 abuse program and evaluate to its effectiveness, 23 and to also compare the one that's proposed and to 24 make recommendations to the Comanche Business 25 Committee. A second has been made by Committeeman 32 1 Clyde Narcomey. 2 MR. NELSON: Excuse me, 3 Mr. Chairman. Do you want me to go ahead and 4 encompass the clinic to go along with these two, 5 also? 6 MR. ASEPERMY: It's a good idea. 7 Maybe you can do some checking on that and -- or 8 if you want to task it out, do a feasibility 9 research on that to see if this is something that 10 is going to be beneficial to the Nation. 11 MR. COFFEY: Well, somewhere along 12 the line, we're having an ongoing problem, and it 13 needs to be addressed one way or the other or 14 multiple ways. Someone came to the office the 15 other day and wanted to put up an Antabuse and 16 Methadone clinic here. 17 MR. ASEPERMY: That's the one. 18 That's it right there. 19 MR. COFFEY: An Indian person. Is 20 that it? That might be more effective than 21 anything else, I don't know. 22 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I would suggest you 23 include that in our -- if you amend your motion 24 and include that so we can look at that as well at 25 the same time? 33 1 MR. NELSON: I can see almost a 2 combination of the two, you know, with I-CARE and 3 what this one has here, but I'll surely do it, 4 whatever you guys want. 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: You want to -- do 6 you amend to include that? 7 MR. ASEPERMY: Yes. 8 MR. NARCOMEY: I agree with it, also. 9 MR. COFFEY: Motion has been changed 10 and modified to include this new proposal that's 11 been submitted, and also to evaluate the I-CARE 12 program with our current substance abuse program. 13 Committee, no further discussion? 14 All those in favor signify by saying "aye." 15 (Aye.) 16 MR. COFFEY: All those opposed, same 17 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Motion 18 carried. 19 Okay. We move forward. We're going 20 to limit our discussion to 10 minutes. 21 MR. ASEPERMY: Wallace, did we not -- 22 I was asleep. Did we do 75 on here? 23 MR. COFFEY: No, I didn't see that 24 resolution. 25 MR. ASEPERMY: Didn't see the 34 1 resolution in there. 75-09, the Mattson Land 2 Acquisition? 3 MR. NARCOMEY: The papers are not in 4 there. 5 MR. COFFEY: It's not included. 6 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Mr. Codopony was 7 trying to get that together at the last moment, 8 but if we recess, I'd like to bring it up at that 9 time. So table it to the next. 10 MR. COFFEY: Sandra Toyekoyah, Denhy 11 Roman, Oklahoma Lifeline Link? 12 MR. ROMAN: Yes, sir. 13 MR. COFFEY: Denhy, you've got the 14 floor. 15 MR. ROMAN: Yes, sir, thank you. 16 My name is Denhy Roman. I've lived 17 here in Lawton all my life. I'm not Native 18 American, but my father is retired military and 19 we've lived here since the '50s. I currently have 20 a phone company in Altus. We service about 800 21 people there, and we specialize in low income 22 people. This company's been trying to get me to 23 come to Lawton for, like, over a year, so we 24 finally opened up an office on 1303 West Gore. 25 But we provide low-cost phone 35 1 service. Pretty much anybody's eligible if they 2 get any type of food stamp, Medicaid, and if they 3 have the CDIB card. The Native Americans are the 4 only ones that are not income qualified. 5 Everybody in this room could qualify for this 6 plan. I know I have a couple in here now. 7 In the last two weeks, we've signed 8 up well over 100 Comanches of your people, and -- 9 MR. COFFEY: Yeah, I tried calling 10 you a couple of times. 11 MR. ROMAN: We have been busy. I 12 apologize. I tried to call you, too, so I'll get 13 with you later. I know you're busy, and we'll 14 keep this real short today. And I know he's asked 15 us to keep this short. I will stick around 16 afterwards to answer any questions. We can sign 17 you up today to start saving people on their phone 18 bill. 19 MR. COFFEY: Well, how does it work? 20 MR. ROMAN: This is -- apparently the 21 government did a survey several years ago, and 22 they found out that 40 percent of the people 23 living in the reservations or the surrounding 24 area -- that don't mean they were all Native 25 American -- did not have phones. And so when they 36 1 got through with this, the government came up with 2 this plan that's called the Tribal Lifeline 3 Program. Everybody pays into this. Everybody 4 look at your phone bill, and you're probably 5 paying $7, $8 a month into this fund or -- I mean 6 it's called the USAC Fund. 7 If you look on your phone bill, 8 nobody knows what all those taxes are, but there's 9 one that says USAC. And all this money is pooled 10 together to help out low-income people. Last year 11 there was 369,000 people on this plan in the whole 12 United States. Oklahoma had 160,000. I had about 13 1000. And according to the Website, the USAC 14 Website, they said the reason they were -- the 15 money was set up for 1.3 million people, so there 16 was a million people that did not get on this plan 17 because -- 18 And according to the USAC Website, 19 they claim these phone companies don't go out and 20 tell people. If Southwestern Bell is charging 60, 21 70, $80 a month for your phone, they're not going 22 to tell you about the government subsidized 23 program. 24 This is all I do, and we've worked 25 really hard, my wife and I. We opened up on the 37 1 21st of January. We've already signed up over 400 2 people. A majority of them are -- I mean, we have 3 some other tribes, but the majority of them are 4 from the Comanche. 5 Now -- and the reason why, because 6 I've really went and worked this neighborhood. 7 You know, I tried to find out where all your homes 8 are. If I see your license plate, I'm stopping in 9 talking to the people, and it really worked. We 10 found one lady that was 98 years old, and her 11 daughter asked us, she said, "Would you go talk to 12 my grandmother, because I'm worried to death about 13 her because she doesn't have a phone, and she 14 really can't afford it." 15 We're hooking people up completely 16 free, and you can get a regular land line in your 17 home. You keep your same phone number, nothing 18 changes, except you only start paying $2.50. It's 19 actually less than that. It's $1.95 plus tax. 20 City, county, state and 911 all add taxes. So 21 we're seeing people's bill from like $2.43 to 22 $2.47. It all depends where they live. 23 Now, you can add long distance on top 24 of that, and we have the best long distance in the 25 market, I'm proud to say. We have -- you get 2000 38 1 minutes, and it's only next to $13 a month. Your 2 whole phone bill is $16.50; tax, long distance, 3 caller ID, call waiting. It's really a good deal. 4 It's saved a lot of people quite a bit of money. 5 And, you know, we're proud to be able 6 to work, you know, with some of your members. And 7 like I said, the reason that we've got everyone so 8 many -- somebody asked me, "How come you you've 9 been working so much with the Comanches?" 10 I said, "Well, they've helped me 11 out." I know your office has helped pass out 12 flyers, you allowed me to come here. 13 MR. TAHMAHKERA: Mr. Chairman, I'd 14 like to add, also, this deal that he is offering 15 is just almost too good to be true. Subsequently, 16 I checked him out, and it's a legitimate deal. 17 And it's a good deal, and I think our people can 18 really benefit from that. 19 MR. ROMAN: Ben has signed up with 20 me. He's actually recommended some other people. 21 It just snowballed, I mean, just with the people 22 he recommends. I know Theodore Neido has sent me 23 tons of customers. 24 We have a referral plan, too. One 25 good thing about us -- and we're new and a lot of 39 1 people are taking advantage of it. Let's say you 2 sign up and you don't have a home phone. We don't 3 charge you a penny to sign up if you don't have a 4 phone. If you have a phone, you can keep your 5 same number, then just start paying $2.50. If you 6 want the caller ID, it's $16.50. 7 So we have a referal plan, where 8 anybody you recommend, you get $10 off your 9 bills. And we're seeing -- I know Theodore Niedo, 10 his phone bill is paid up for the next three 11 years, and he hasn't been with us less than two 12 weeks. 13 But, you know, I really do appreciate 14 y'all allowing me to come here, and I'm going to 15 keep it short. I'll stick around afterwards. I 16 know you have some business. 17 MR. COFFEY: If you want to pick up 18 some more customers, I'd stick around. Do you, by 19 chance, have any business cards? 20 MR. ROMAN: I have a bunch of flyers 21 I'm going to put out. I'll be by the backdoor and 22 make sure everybody gets one. I can sign you up 23 today. It takes no money. The only thing that 24 you would have to pay for, if you want the long 25 distance, you have to pay the long distance in 40 1 advance. It's $14.06. Or you can come by my 2 office and come in and pay, you know, later, if 3 you want to add it later. But then this is a 4 really good deal, and -- 5 But we have really worked hard for 6 your people, my wife and I have. And, I mean, 7 most days we've been out there. I think Ben's 8 seen me out there almost at dark in his 9 neighborhood working out there. And we just go 10 out there in the country finding people, and we're 11 surprised how many people do not have telephones 12 and that just can't afford it. With this, there's 13 no reason. Everybody in here qualifies. 14 And like I said, we've signed up in 15 the last two weeks over -- well over 100 people. 16 And that's mainly -- we have some in Walters, but 17 that's mainly between Indiahoma and Cache. And I 18 will be working Geronimo. I've worked Walters a 19 little bit. I'll be back out there. But I'm 20 trying to find where all your houses are. And 21 John Wahnee's been really good to me about sending 22 this out. He's the one that told me I needed to 23 go talk to the Elders and everything else. 24 MR. YEAGLEY: Is it tribal membership 25 that qualifies or where they live? 41 1 MR. ROMAN: No, it's actually where 2 they live. We can cover any area AT&T can go. We 3 really can't go to Apache or -- I think it's 4 Elgin. But, now, we also have a $3 a month 5 processing fee. I have waived that for all your 6 members. I don't charge seniors that, and anybody 7 with your Tribe, I don't charge that. And their 8 phone bill is only $2.50. And, like I say, we 9 don't charge anything to sign up if they don't 10 have a phone. 11 If you have some of your family 12 members -- we're finding a lot of the people that 13 don't have a phone and they're shut in and their 14 family members are worried about them because they 15 can't call them. Please let us know and we'll get 16 a phone hooked up in their houses free. Then it's 17 only $2.50 a month. Now, if they want the long 18 distance, again, it's extra. 19 But I know you want to keep this 20 short. I'll stick around afterwards, Chairman. 21 And does anybody else have any more questions? 22 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Again, it's not 23 income based, it's just -- 24 MR. ROMAN: Well, it is, but not for 25 the Native Americans. It is income based, but the 42 1 Native Americans are the only ones that they don't 2 have to qualify income. As long as you have your 3 card, you automatically qualify. 4 Yes, sir? 5 MR. GOODIN: What was your address 6 again in Lawton? 7 MR. ROMAN: 1303 -- and I'll make 8 sure you get a flyer. 9 MR. NELSON: Are you hiring any 10 Comanches? 11 MR. ROMAN: Right now it's just my 12 wife and I, but I sure have thought about it as we 13 have been growing. We just got started. And as 14 you work for the government, it takes about four 15 months, and I haven't hardly received any money. 16 I've been working every day since January. But as 17 soon as my money comes in -- and I've thought very 18 seriously about trying to find somebody willing to 19 work part-time with Comanches. I've really been 20 working hard with Comanche. I actually called 21 another tribe, and they were like, "Well, no we 22 don't solicit to our people." 23 MR. COFFEY: Well, maybe you ought to 24 visit them, because we can subsidize a worker 25 under our WIA program. 43 1 MR. ROMAN: Yeah, I would be more 2 than happy to. But I'm just kind of getting 3 going. But we've actually thought -- my wife and 4 I live in Altus and we drive down here. I need 5 somebody to come in and open up for me. That way 6 -- because sometimes we work until 10 o'clock. By 7 the time we get through in this area and drive 8 back to Altus, it's almost 10 o'clock. And I 9 would love to have somebody. But I'll get with 10 you on that, too. I'll get with you before we 11 leave. But I appreciate your time. 12 MS. TONIPS: What about Cyril? Is 13 Cyril not in your area? 14 MR. ROMAN: Is it AT&T, do you know? 15 MRS. GOODIN: TDS. 16 MRS. TONIPS: We're east of Apache, 17 north of Elgin. 18 MR. ROMAN: Apache and Elgin's the 19 only area, really, and Medicine Park, we can't go 20 to in this area. We can go to Schneider, Cache, 21 Indiahoma, Walters, all that area over there, but 22 it has to be AT&T. We work with AT&T. We also 23 work with Windstream, which is in Schneider, and 24 we just got in there within the last year. I wish 25 some of these other companies would let us in. 44 1 MR. ASEPERMY: Pioneer? 2 MR. ROMAN: I've been pushing our 3 company to try to get in those areas. But there's 4 no reason any of these companies are not offering 5 this plan. I think it's a shame that a little guy 6 like me with a little phone company had to come up 7 to y'all and say, "Hey, let me save your people 8 money." AT&T should have done this for your 9 people a long time ago. 10 It's government funded and -- 11 somebody should have been offering this to y'all a 12 long time ago. I can't believe I'm the first one 13 that's really come and said, "Hey, I really want 14 your business." And I do want your business, and 15 we will take care of you. I think Ben will know, 16 I'll fight and I'll wear them out on the phone 17 until your phone gets turned on. And I work 18 really hard for your people, sir. 19 MR. COFFEY: Okay. I thank you. 20 MR. ROMAN: But I'll stick around 21 afterward and pass out flyers, and be more than 22 happy to sign anyone up. 23 MR. COFFEY: We'll have a line out 24 the door here in a minute, so -- 25 Allison Steinmeyer? Allison, do you 45 1 want to meet with us in executive session? But 2 I'd like for you to share the success that you've 3 enjoyed over the past few weeks. Do you want to 4 address us? Okay, come on forward. 5 MRS. STEINMEYER: I'm Allison 6 Steinmeyer. I'm here to talk to you today a 7 little bit about the American Indian Higher 8 Education Consortium Student Congress. This 9 year -- 10 MR. COFFEY: Attention, please. 11 MRS. STEINMEYER: All right. This 12 year I was nominated president of the Student 13 Congress. And if you'll look over at the 14 PowerPoint I put together, I can show you a little 15 bit about what I'm doing this year and why I'm 16 here. 17 That's my title. I am the American 18 Indian Higher Education Consortium Congress 19 President for 2009-2010. This is my family. We 20 are Comanches. I'm a descendant of the last 21 leader of the Cohata Band Wichiti. My mother is 22 Carlotta Nowells. My grandmother is Gladys 23 Tissychy. I have two children. I'm married, and 24 currently I'm working out here in the Human 25 Resources Department. 46 1 Like I said, my name is Allison. I 2 began dancing in regalia when I was 4 years old. 3 I meet most of the standards of a non-traditional 4 tribal college student. Today those standards are 5 that the student is over 32 years of age, they 6 have multiple children, and they've been enrolled 7 in school more than once; meaning they've 8 enrolled, had to drop for some reason, and then 9 got re-enrolled in school. 10 I have been extremely blessed with a 11 very, very supportive family. Like it says up 12 there, they've supported every insane idea I've 13 had and obligation I've taken in my entire school 14 career. I began my school career at Great Plains 15 Technical Center, where I finished one of the top 16 grades in my class for drafting. It was a 17 two-year program. Then I attended Cameron twice; 18 once as an English major, and second as a Biology 19 major. 20 Today I'm a junior level student. 21 I'm working on a dual degree; one in biology, one 22 in chemistry with a minor in non-romance 23 languages. One of the languages that I've studied 24 and I've actually gotten pretty far in is 25 Comanche. I've also studied Latin, Mandarin, 47 1 Romanian, Arabic and Russian. And then I am the 2 current newly-elected president of AIHEC Student 3 Congress. 4 A little bit about AIHEC is we were 5 established in 1972 by the presidents of the six 6 leading tribal colleges at that time. Since AIHEC 7 began, we have grown to include 32 full members in 8 the United States, four associate members, and one 9 international member in Canada. 10 Being named president of the Student 11 Congress is an incredibly huge honor, and it will 12 bring a great amount of recognition to our 13 Comanche Nation College. 14 Currently we are an associate member, 15 not a full member. So me being named president is 16 something huge. In fact, an associate member has 17 never held a position like that before. 18 Some of my accomplishments in the 19 last few years is that I was elected Miss Comanche 20 Nation College of 2007 and 2008. I received the 21 President's Honor Award in 2007-2008. I've been 22 on the Dean's Honor Roll from 2006 up until this 23 year, and I think I am this semester, also. I was 24 crowned Miss AIHEC, which is also something an 25 associate member has never been able to do, for 48 1 2008-2009. Also this year I was vice-president of 2 our student government at the college. And this 3 summer I received High Honors at a research school 4 that I did at OU Health Sciences Center. 5 Some of my obligations for next year 6 include conducting phone conferences with the 7 other AIHEC officers. I have four conferences 8 where we will discuss concerns of tribal colleges 9 and their students, and I'll be coordinating 10 fund raisers and benefits throughout the year. 11 Like I said earlier, being named 12 AIHEC President is a huge honor for myself and for 13 the college. It's an opportunity for the college 14 to be recognized on a national level. Not only 15 will I have an opportunity to speak to Congress 16 throughout the year about other students and other 17 colleges, I will be able to help put policies in 18 place that will benefit our tribal colleges from 19 southwest New Mexico all the way up to the very 20 top of Alaska. That's something that I'm very, 21 very proud of, and very honored to say that I can 22 do this next year. 23 And that's my PowerPoint 24 presentation. That's a little bit about AIHEC. 25 Like I said, I have four huge 49 1 conferences coming up, and I have two occasions 2 where I will be recognized, and so that's kind of 3 why I'm here talking to the Comanche Business 4 Committee, to see if there's any help that I can 5 get with that. 6 We have been doing fund raisers. So 7 far since I got named ASC President, we made a 8 little over $223 selling popcorn at our General 9 Council meeting. And tonight at the Comanche 10 Nation College powwow, we're going to have a huge 11 concession stand set up, and big, massive tacos to 12 sell. So I definitely want to invite everybody 13 over to come dance with us. So, yeah, that's me. 14 And I also wanted to formally talk to 15 our lawyers here, and see if there was any way I 16 can come and talk to you about a donation for some 17 of the stuff that I'll have. Since I'm here and 18 since they're here, we'll make it convenient. 19 MR. COFFEY: Very good. 20 MRS. STEINMEYER: But thank you. Are 21 there any questions? 22 MR. YEAGLEY: Absolutely. 23 MRS. STEINMEYER: Excellent. 24 MR. YEAGLEY: Is there a way that the 25 people could find out where $1,800,000 is going 50 1 and you're standing up here having to ask for 2 support? 3 MRS. STEINMEYER: You know, that's a 4 very, very good question. I really wish I could 5 answer it, because I have gone to the college and 6 I have asked for assistance, and what I was told 7 was that our college would support me in any 8 fundraising that I wanted to do, but they declined 9 to make any monetary commitments at this time. 10 MR. YEAGLEY: The knowledge of the 11 people about the college, the knowledge of what 12 the people understand the college to be and what 13 it's supposed to be and what their expectations 14 are, this is -- this needs to be attended to 15 desperately, frankly, at this point. So, I mean, 16 I think this is fantastic what you have done. And 17 the contrast of what you are and what you are 18 doing and what the reputation of the college 19 actually is among the people is just insufferable 20 at this point. I wish you the best. My goodness. 21 MRS. STEINMEYER: Thank you. I 22 appreciate it. Did you gentlemen have any 23 questions? 24 MR. COFFEY: Committee, you have any 25 questions? Okay, thank you. 51 1 Allison, we'll discuss this in 2 executive session. And your phone number, is it 3 included on here? 4 MRS. STEINMEYER: No. 5 MR. COFFEY: Can you write that on 6 here? 7 MRS. STEINMEYER: I can. 8 MR. ASEPERMY: By the way, her 9 husband just got back from Iraq, and he is fixing 10 to head for Afghanistan. 11 MRS. STEINMEYER: Yep. There you 12 go. Thank you, everybody, for listening. 13 MR. COFFEY: You don't have her phone 14 number? 15 MR. TIPPECONNIE: No, I don't have 16 it. 17 MR. COFFEY: I think we ought to 18 encourage her with a good round of applause. How 19 about that? 20 (Applause.) 21 MR. NELSON: Mr. Chairman, I'd like 22 to add that Allison has come through our WIA 23 program. The Human Resources Department Director, 24 Charlie Rivera, has really gotten a great response 25 from this young lady. I mean, really helped out. 52 1 We're empowering our HR Department to become a 2 true HR Department, and Allison has really been 3 welcome over there. She's done a lot of good work 4 in just one week. 5 MR. COFFEY: Bobby Tenequer? Hi, 6 Bobby. 7 MS. TENEQUER: Hello. 8 Good afternoon. My name is Bobby 9 Tenequer. I'm here with Mr. Jon Ringlero. He's 10 the Program Director for the Delaware Nation 11 Vocational Rehabilitation Program. We currently 12 entered a contract with the Comanche Nation to 13 write the Comanche Nation Vocational 14 Rehabilitation Grant Proposal Program. And I'm 15 coming today to the Comanche Business Committee to 16 inform them about the program and let them know 17 about the progress so far. 18 MR. RINGLERO: Vocational 19 rehabilitation is a grant that's offered to the 20 Department of Education. Department of Education, 21 back in the '70s, made it possible for tribes to 22 contract for services to provide employment-type 23 services for people with disabilities. The basic 24 concept is that people with disabilities have some 25 type of barrier to their employment. If you can 53 1 work with a person and eliminate those barriers, 2 that person can become employed. And becoming 3 employed and being part of the workforce is 4 something that helps people with disabilities be 5 more included in society. So this is basically 6 what the grant is for. 7 There's 74 of these tribal programs 8 in the Nation, and there's eight of them in 9 Oklahoma. So the concept and reason that I think 10 that we've approached -- in the past approached 11 the Tribe about applying for one of these grants 12 is because the Comanche Nation has a lot of 13 resources. They have a college, as we heard from 14 the young lady from the college. They have a lot 15 of industry. A lot of these tribal programs exist 16 in rural areas. It's very difficult to find a 17 job, as some of our own, you know, people around 18 here would attest to. It's hard to find a job 19 sometimes. 20 So what we had planned to do was 21 write a grant. The notice for the grant hasn't 22 come out yet. But it -- we've been told that 23 pretty soon it will come out. It will be about a 24 60-day period whenever you can apply for the 25 grant, but we decided to try to get started on 54 1 it. 2 There's some people from Northern 3 Arizona University doing technical support who 4 are, you know, in the process of reading some of 5 the parts that are already written. But without 6 the PowerPoint, I'm not sure exactly what else 7 Mrs. Tenequer -- yeah, I guess she can just read 8 it to them if she wanted. 9 MS. TENEQUER: What I had prepared 10 was a little bit about Voc Rehab and where the 11 funding came from, and the purpose of the American 12 Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Services is to 13 provide tribal governments the financial 14 assistance for the establishment and operation as 15 a VR service program for American Indians with 16 disabilities living on or near a federal or state 17 reservation. 18 Now, the AIVR program allows tribal 19 governments to provide VR services in a culturally 20 appropriate manner, under individualized plans for 21 employment, and may include native healing 22 services. 23 The need for American Indian VR 24 services is when disability occurs, the individual 25 loses power to make decisions and life choices. 55 1 American Indians with disabilities will be 2 provided job search training, resource allocation, 3 and needed skills to navigate through the 4 employment process. This will increase employment 5 and decrease the demand for tribal and state 6 social services, providing access to economic 7 independence and encourage the consumer to 8 meaningfully participate in the tribal community. 9 In Oklahoma, Tribal VR programs do an 10 exemplary job in their provisional services; 11 however, the number and the need of American 12 Indians with disabilities exceed tribal program 13 capabilities. By the creation of the Comanche 14 Nation Vocational Rehabilitation Program, it will 15 strengthen and build the capacity of Tribal VR 16 service delivery systems. 17 Now, one of the greatest problems 18 facing State VR counselors is that they are from 19 different cultures than American Indians, and the 20 CNVRP will bridge this cultural gap by creating an 21 environment which supports the social system of 22 norms, values, customs and beliefs upheld in 23 Native cultures. 24 Now, many American Indian cultures 25 traditionally believe that healing is a process 56 1 encompassing spiritual, physical, mental and 2 emotional aspects. By the Comanche Nation 3 providing traditional healing services, an aspect 4 of Native culture will be transcended, affecting 5 employment barriers and increasing the likelihood 6 that consumers will achieve a successful 7 employment outcome for the consumer. 8 Transportation is a common issue for 9 consumers and could possibly impede many 10 processes; such as accessing essential health care 11 and social services, effective job search activity 12 and contact with employment centers, acquisition 13 of education or training resources, and employment 14 retention. Thus, consumers in rural areas will be 15 assisted with some fuel and vehicle maintenance 16 costs, and bus passes will be available to 17 consumers in urban settings. 18 Now, the eligibility criteria for 19 this program is going to be like other American 20 Indian programs. And it will be: Is the 21 applicant a member of state or a federally 22 recognized tribe? Does the applicant live on or 23 near the reservation service area? Does the 24 applicant have a mental or physical disability 25 that impedes their employment? Does the applicant 57 1 require and will they benefit from VR services 2 resulting in a successful employment outcome? 3 Now, the proposed service area will 4 consist of nine counties which are located on or 5 near the historical Kiowa, Comanche, Apache 6 reservation. These counties are: Comanche, 7 Kiowa, Caddo, Tillman, Stephens, Cotton, 8 Jefferson, Jackson and Grady. 9 Now, within VR, once you're approved 10 for services, you'll meet with a counselor, and 11 what you're going to be doing is writing an 12 individual plan for employment. It's basically a 13 written outline of the services to be provided, 14 who's going to be providing those services, and 15 what your goals are. Things like that. 16 But, of course, for individuals who 17 aren't able to work right now or who need, like, 18 rehabilitation services, assistive technology, or 19 life schools training to promote independent 20 living, we'll refer them to appropriate agencies 21 to get them some help. 22 Now, for people who are approved, 23 there's three different service options they will 24 have. And the first is immediate employment, and 25 what that will do is it will target individuals 58 1 who already have the necessary skills to be in the 2 job market or in an appropriate occupation. 3 The second type of delivery will be 4 self-employment, and this will target individuals 5 who have limited access to traditional employment, 6 need flexible work schedules, or who need a more 7 accommodating work environment due to disabling 8 conditions or other life circumstances. 9 Now, the third option is employment 10 through long-term services, and this will target 11 individuals who need specialized training and/or 12 education to obtain and maintain suitable 13 employment. 14 Now, there will be services through 15 this program that will be provided and I just 16 wanted to list some of them. The first is an 17 assessment of the interests, aptitudes, abilities, 18 and needs of each consumer; the development of 19 employment resources, referral and collaboration 20 with state, tribal and local agencies to achieve 21 economies of resources and to provide 22 comprehensive services to consumers. 23 There will be job search activities 24 including job search workshops, job clubs and 25 career counseling. There will be job readiness 59 1 training, including resume' writing, interview 2 skills, and classroom training. There will be 3 life skills for money management and occupational 4 skills training. There will be on-the-job 5 training, job shadowing, job accommodation/ 6 modification, work monitoring, public/private job 7 partnering and/or pursuit of higher education. 8 Now, under self-employment, what will 9 happen is there will be an analysis of the 10 viability of a business concept, development of a 11 business plan, training in the operations of small 12 businesses, marketing, financial assistance and 13 guidance in obtaining ample resources to implement 14 the business plan. Finally, there will be offered 15 transportation post employment and follow-up 16 services for employment retention. 17 And that's just to highlight, you 18 know, under each individual plan for employment, 19 there will be different types of services that we 20 offer. 21 Now, the program partners and 22 coordinating agencies with the potential Comanche 23 Nation Vocational Rehabilitation Program will be: 24 Four Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Service 25 offices; the Delaware, Apache, and Chickasaw 60 1 Nation Vocational Rehabilitation Programs, to 2 include the Oklahoma Tribal VR Council; the 3 Workforce Oklahoma/One-Stop Career Centers, and 4 Oklahoma Employment Security Commission; the 5 Workforce Comanche Nation, area tribal and state 6 WIA programs; the Comanche Nation Transit and 7 Lawton Area Transit Service; the Comanche Nation 8 Substance Abuse and other tribal programs; the 9 Comanche Nation College, Great Plains Technical 10 Center, Gateway Academy, Platt College and Cameron 11 University; lawton and Southwest American Indian 12 Chamber of Commerce. And within the City of 13 Lawton, there's a Great Plains Improvement 14 Foundation, United Way, the Lawton Food Bank, 15 Goodwill Industries, Salvation Army, et cetera. 16 These are just organizations that 17 we'll be partnering with for competency services 18 or to contract with to achieve some of the 19 services. But that's just basically an outline of 20 the direction that we're writing this program to 21 be. 22 MR. COFFEY: Jon, I want to welcome 23 you to the Comanche Nation, our reservation area. 24 MR. RINGLERO: Thank you, sir. 25 MR. COFFEY: And I know that you 61 1 enjoy your job. If you didn't, you wouldn't look 2 at outreach. So thank you very much. 3 MR. RINGLERO: No problem. 4 MR. COFFEY: And this is very 5 important to our membership, and I know it can be 6 beneficial. I have a little brother, his name is 7 Jeffrey Monatachi, and he is employed and he gets 8 a paycheck. And he thinks that's the best thing 9 that could ever happen to him. 10 But many times they don't know where 11 to go. I think what you would -- if there's money 12 that's available, that we can establish a program, 13 then that's where outreach comes. Because we do 14 have those that probably could qualify right now. 15 Do you have an office where these 16 young or these old or these individuals can come 17 to for services now? 18 MR. RINGLERO: Yes. 19 MR. COFFEY: Even in Comanche 20 County? 21 MR. RINGLERO: Well, Comanche County 22 is actually served by the Apaches. And I do want 23 the Tribal members to know that if somebody was 24 Comanche and they live in the service area that I 25 work for, like the Delaware Nation, like live in 62 1 Oklahoma City, then we serve all people. So, 2 yeah, it's establishing a program here would be 3 something that would, I think, probably would use 4 more of the Tribe's resources that they have 5 available and hopefully enhance the services that 6 the Comanche people already receive here. So -- 7 MR. COFFEY: Well, I don't see no 8 reason why we can't, you know, look at submitting 9 an application. And, Bobby, thank you for 10 bringing this to our attention. 11 MS. TENEQUER: And we've already 12 contracted with the Tribe. We had signed a -- I 13 have a copy of the -- 14 MR. COFFEY: Back there? 15 MR. TOM NARCOMEY: The first thing, 16 is the Tribe is blacklisted with federal funds 17 because of the 638. And I don't know whether we 18 can determine whether or not we're still eligible 19 for this Department of Education proposal. You 20 know, that's the main thing. 21 We can determine the status of our 22 638 that we're at risk, and how much money and how 23 long it will take and, you know, get the status of 24 that and see if we need to hire a professional 25 consultant to assist us in that. 63 1 Then, also, we -- I think we have 10 2 million -- I mean 5 million we owe our IRS, the 3 gaming. And I don't know if that's -- that will 4 have any affect on this. And then, also, I'd like 5 to amend -- commend them on working on this, 6 because other tribes get 10 million for their 7 federal service to tribes, and I think we can get 8 about $300,000, maybe. And, I mean, if you look 9 at the federal register, there's money for 10 Economic Development, Housing, ANA's got money for 11 different tribal projects. There's Health, 12 Department of Transportation, Education. So a lot 13 of our annual budget should be from the -- through 14 proposals. 15 So that's just something to think 16 about. And then our accounting, don't have an 17 accounting department. We contract it out, 18 somebody else does. And there -- I don't know how 19 much we pay them a year, but we need to get an 20 outside study not by them, by somebody else to see 21 -- another CPA firm to see how much money it will 22 save doing our own accounting. Because if they 23 do, they're going to say you're going to lose 24 money having somebody else do it. They're going 25 to lose a lot of money if somebody else does our 64 1 accounting. So, anyway, that's the situation of 2 the Tribe that I -- 3 MR. COFFEY: The bottom line is that 4 we have people who are eligible for these 5 services. That's the bottom line. And what he's 6 saying, I don't think would have a bearing, any 7 impact -- any negative way or not. 8 MS. TENEQUER: We did kind of like a 9 feasibility study where we had to create a need 10 for the program. And one of the start of the 11 things that I have found out was, of course, heart 12 disease is the number one killer in the U.S., and 13 Oklahoma is ranked number one for heart disease, 14 and American Indians have the highest heart 15 disease rate and highest stroke prevalence rate. 16 And Indians in Oklahoma are the ones 17 that are passing away and within, you know, all 18 these different, you know, diabetes, you know, end 19 stage kidney failure, you know, I mean, 20 disability, and so those, within itself, create a 21 bunch of disability. And so if you look at just 22 our diabetes rate and people getting older, you 23 know, the need's there. 24 MR. COFFEY: Bobby, if you can stay 25 on that, when that application comes out, can you 65 1 call that to our attention of our Tribal 2 Administrator and then we'll proceed? And if you 3 need a resolution, I think our Committee will be 4 most willing to provide that. 5 MS. TENEQUER: Yeah. That's what we 6 wanted to present. When the call comes out, the 7 grant will probably be due in June. And it's not 8 mandatory, but it will strengthen the grant for 9 us. And so, in June, we'd like to see -- and we 10 have like a draft resolution for you to look at. 11 But another thing that we had come 12 with is, you know, we both believe in the 13 program. You know, Jon does this for, you know -- 14 you know, as his career, you know, and I had 15 worked with him, you know, and Mrs. Pam Boblieu, 16 and, you know, we had all talked about this, you 17 know, pre-hand. And so we had contracted with the 18 Tribe and it's taken longer for the call of the 19 grant. 20 And, of course, Jon comes from 21 Norman. You know, today he came on his own. And 22 so initially we had signed a contract for $500 to 23 write it and we've kind of over extended 24 ourselves, and that was an over site on our part. 25 And so we're going to continue, we got a meeting 66 1 in Ada with the Oklahoma Tribal VR Counselor, and 2 we're going to get a letter from the state. And 3 so we're really coming to the Comanche Business 4 Committee to see if there's any amount financially 5 that you guys can help us with, whatever you guys 6 see fit would help us greatly. We're only 7 extending into our own resources, but it's still 8 going to get done. We believe in this and it's 9 still going to get finished. 10 MR. ASEPERMY: Are you the same Bobby 11 I talked to on the phone and e-mail? 12 MS. TENEQUER: Yes. 13 MR. ASEPERMY: We talked about VEP. 14 Is that part of this? 15 MS. TENEQUER: No, actually, the 16 Veterans Workforce Investment Program -- and I 17 kind of think, because the VA program with 18 Apache -- what I really want the Tribe to do is 19 kind of not really stay away from being a social 20 service agency, but I'd like for this program to 21 give something back to the people. We're going to 22 do like mock interviews, dress for success. We're 23 going to develop the resume', really be a resource 24 place where we let them know all these different 25 places that they can go to. 67 1 And the Veterans group that we work 2 with, they are just an awesome group, they're 3 motivated. We're getting disability people in 4 there to talk to them, we're getting 5 representatives, they're getting HUD homes. And 6 the program I'm with really pulls all those 7 resources together for them. And so that's what 8 I'd really like to see this program do, is to be a 9 resource center for the American Indians. 10 MR. ASEPERMY: The VEP program, 11 that's ongoing already? 12 MS. TENEQUER: Yes, it's ongoing 13 already. 14 MR. ASEPERMY: And I guess the 15 biggest asset to that, Wallace, and the rest of 16 the Comanche Business Committee, is sometimes our 17 veterans with disabilities do not like to discuss 18 them with non-Indians. They won't file. You can 19 -- and we have a lot of natives out here that 20 probably have disabilities from the military 21 service that are not receiving the benefits, and I 22 think this would be a -- the other part of your 23 program. 24 MS. TENEQUER: Yeah, it's for -- 25 MR. ASEPERMY: And you have a 68 1 referral system as far as families of deceased 2 veterans and families with veterans. 3 MS. TENEQUER: Yes, and I have some 4 cards if anybody would like a card. And the 5 veterans program would actually -- actually, the 6 Comanche Nation Tribe, if they were interested the 7 next year, would be able to write for the same 8 grant. But they have more of like a placement 9 and, you know, performance measures. So that 10 would be pretty extensive. But if the Tribe were 11 to look at starting their own Veterans Workforce, 12 it definitely is possible. 13 MR. ASEPERMY: And I e-mailed the 14 Comanche Business Committee and the Tribal 15 Administrator a service officer certification for 16 one of our Tribal members that would be free, pay 17 your travel, pay your lodging, get certified, and 18 we could provide those services. 19 MR. COFFEY: You might put a budget 20 like you were talking about and put it together. 21 Either give it to Mr. Tippeconnie or our Tribal 22 Administrator, because we will meet again. And if 23 there's a need, put your phone number on it and 24 we'll call you. Okay? 25 MR. TIPPECONNIE: And that 69 1 resolution, would you provide me that? 2 MS. TENEQUER: Yeah, he's brought a 3 draft today, so we'll give you a copy before we go 4 today. 5 MR. COFFEY: Somebody wants to visit 6 with you back there, but I thank you, Jon and 7 Bobby, for your presentation very much. 8 Carl Paddyaker, did you want to meet 9 and discuss in public, or did you want to meet in 10 closed doors? 11 MR. PADDYAKER: No, here. 12 MR. COFFEY: Come on up. Preferably 13 over here, if you would, so our court reporter can 14 read your lips. 15 MR. NARCOMEY: Get your good side. 16 MR. PADDYAKER: My name is Carl 17 Paddyaker. I was one of the 11 that was laid off 18 at Comanche Nation Housing, wrongfully 19 terminated. We understand that the Comanche 20 Business Committee does not have any say in the 21 Housing. We are here to give information and ask 22 for direction from for elected officials. 23 I worked at Comanche Nation Housing 24 for 11 1/2 years. I never had no write-ups, no 25 nothing. Real high evaluations until Eddie 70 1 Eschiti got in there, and it just went to the 2 bottom. He started harassing everybody, saying 3 things to them, threatening to fire them. 4 I just -- there's -- these other 5 guys, y'all come up here with me. These other 6 ones that got laid off, too. 7 I'd just like to know in what 8 direction we need to go in. Any of y'all got 9 anything to say? 10 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Things aren't 11 right there. Like I said, I realize y'all do not 12 have, you know, control over it, but something has 13 to change. I've been there for five years, never 14 had a problem, and then kept people -- they said 15 they did let me go because I wasn't qualified. 16 I've done this for five years. I've remodeled at 17 least 30 homes by myself, and then they kept 18 another person who's been there a month, two 19 months, three months -- 20 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Six months. 21 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: -- and don't 22 know anything about any of it, but yet they kept 23 him. Most likely because he makes less money. 24 MR. COFFEY: Well, let me say this: 25 I don't believe any of our members of our Business 71 1 Committee knew that this was going to transpire. 2 The way I look at some things, before you make a 3 major decision like this, you explore all options 4 that are maybe available. We weren't given a 5 chance to have any consideration. 6 Although we do not make any decisions 7 regarding day-to-day operations of the Housing 8 Authority, maybe the Administrator or the Board 9 could have come to the Comanche Business Committee 10 and said we need some help. You know, we need 11 some emergency funding. Maybe we could have sat 12 down with them and if there were -- if they had 13 such a serious situation, we should have known 14 about it. Or we should have been given the 15 opportunity to say as a committee, maybe we can 16 find some alternatives ourselves. 17 So I don't think any of us were aware 18 of this, but you brought it to our attention. And 19 how to proceed, I think, Committee, I think we 20 need to make a recommendation that the Housing 21 Authority Board of Commissioners meet with us and 22 discuss with us at some point in time, because I'm 23 informed that it's not over. 24 MR. PADDYAKER: Mr. Chairman, let me 25 make one statement. I don't want to go back. As 72 1 long as the boss that's there, I don't want to go 2 back. It's a hostile environment. It's not -- 3 and I think we all feel the same way. And the 4 main words is, if you don't like what I'm doing, 5 I'll fire you. And you hear that every day. And 6 it didn't used to be like that. I've been there 7 11 1/2 years and I enjoyed working there. 8 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: That's what 9 I'd say. I enjoy doing the work for the people, 10 you know. 11 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I'd like to 12 say, too, the majority of the people that are 13 still there don't care about our Comanche people. 14 They don't want what's best for our Comanche 15 people, whether it's the Board members down to the 16 secretary. Ed Eschiti was on the Board for two 17 years, almost two years, and he don't even know 18 our policies. 19 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And he's our 20 director. 21 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And he was 22 hired off the Board while he was an active member 23 of the Board, and it goes against our policies and 24 HUD policies. 25 MR. COFFEY: I personally think that 73 1 was a conflict of interest and that should not 2 have taken place. 3 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you. 4 MR. COFFEY: And I cannot see the 5 Board actively hiring a Board member. 6 MR. PADDYAKER: Thank you. 7 MR. COFFEY: So I don't know. I 8 don't know the policies. I haven't seen the 9 policies. But I think that there is a time frame, 10 just like our constitution, you can't be employed 11 with the Tribal government for a period of three 12 years. I think that the Housing Authority has 13 something similar to that, but I'm not sure 14 because I haven't seen the Commission's policies. 15 So that's something that we need to be aware of as 16 well. Is that a provision included in those? 17 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah, it's a 18 HUD regulation as well as our Housing policies, 19 but -- 20 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: But when a 21 policy doesn't benefit, then they write a new 22 resolution and change it. 23 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And the Board 24 and the Executive Director and most directors 25 continually do not follow our policies, 74 1 continually. 2 MR. COFFEY: Okay. Committee, when 3 we recess and come back in and reconvene, I think 4 we need to address the letter to request to the 5 Housing Commission so they can come and meet with 6 us during that time. 7 MR. ASEPERMY: I forwarded 8 information to the Comanche Business Committee, 9 and I don't mean to disagree with any of you 10 folks, and nobody likes to see a RIF. 11 Mr. Eschiti -- I will make this one 12 comment. He was not a member of Board of 13 Commissioners when he was hired. That was cleared 14 with HUD saying that was not -- 15 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: No, it wasn't. 16 MR. PADDYAKER: No, it wasn't. It 17 was not cleared with HUD. 18 MR. ASEPERMY: I've got documentation 19 that says otherwise. And if there was any way -- 20 any way possible, or if there is any way possible, 21 with the funding issue, to get you guys employed, 22 I mean -- and y'all know the whole purpose of the 23 RIF, don't you, the reduction in force? 24 MR. PADDYAKER: No. They just told 25 us one day, come sign this paper, we're out of 75 1 here. We've heard rumors, but nobody had come to 2 us and told us that there was going to be a 3 layoff. There's been rumors floating around for 4 two or three months. 5 MR. ASEPERMY: No one gave you a 6 clear explanation? 7 MR. PADDYAKER: No, not until he went 8 into Mike Burgess and Sally Hill's office and he 9 said sign this here. Bring the keys and your book 10 to your pickup into her office. That's when we 11 definitely knew we were being laid off. Before 12 that, no. 13 MR. REDELK: Mr. Chairman, since this 14 is dealing with personnel, I feel like we need to 15 discuss it -- 16 MS. ISAAC: It's not a personnel 17 reason. 18 MR. REDELK: -- in executive session. 19 MRS. HENDRIX: I have a question. 20 When did the Board of Commissioners become a 21 hiring and firing entity? Don't you have an HR 22 and Executive Director? Our Boards and 23 Commissioners aren't a hiring and firing entity, 24 so they shouldn't be involved in day-to-day? 25 MR. ASEPERMY: They're not. 76 1 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Like I said, 2 most of the Board members don't know the policies 3 or the regulations. Now, I don't know about the 4 new Board members. There's three that I don't 5 know about, and then there's another new one that 6 I didn't know she was on the Board. I know the 7 old Board, they didn't follow policies, and I mean 8 continually not follow them. 9 MRS. HENDRIX: My understanding is 10 that they hired more people after they laid you 11 off. 12 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: No, they 13 hired -- 14 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Right before 15 they -- 16 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Right before 17 they let us go, they hired a lot of new people, 18 and then they let us go. 19 MR. COFFEY: I think that this 20 Committee needs to discuss amongst ourselves how 21 we can approach this issue. But rest assured, the 22 next time we meet, we will call the Housing 23 Authority, the ones we appoint, and have them come 24 and give us an update. 25 MS. ISAAC: We need a new liaison 77 1 between the Housing and the Comanche Business 2 Committee. You need a new liaison. 3 MR. COFFEY: Okay. So -- 4 MS. ISAAC: Impartial. 5 MR. COFFEY: So I want to thank you 6 for bringing this to us here and we're going to 7 talk about this amongst ourselves. And, Carl, 8 somehow know we'll get in touch. Because I'm 9 afraid this is going to be an issue dealing with 10 administrative budget. But, still, you should 11 have been informed. 12 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Our policy 13 says we're supposed to be informed five days 14 prior, but we weren't. 15 MR. COFFEY: Committee, have you got 16 any questions? 17 MRS. HENDRIX: The law says 60 days 18 if there's going to be a layoff. 19 MR. ASEPERMY: Carl, let me get your 20 phone number. 21 MRS. HENDRIX: And those are subject 22 to be the first ones called back. 23 MR. COFFEY: We'll get in touch with 24 Bonita. Thank you. Thank you very much. 25 MR. NELSON: Mr. Chairman, if it's 78 1 all right with her, I want to approach back to 2 what was the PowerPoint that never came about, I 3 don't know. If you guys got -- 4 MR. NARCOMEY: We read it. 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: She showed it to 6 us. 7 MR. NELSON: It will be in executive 8 session, I guess. Do we need them to stick around 9 for executive session? 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: No, no. 11 MR. COFFEY: No. 12 MRS. HENDRIX: I have a question that 13 was discussed last night. The Secretary/Treasurer 14 can tell us that it was brought up about the 15 children's percentage rate at the First National 16 Bank. Do you know how that's broke up, Robert? 17 One of the gentlemen brought up about 18 it being his son was 14 and he went down to check 19 it and it was 0.0001 interest, and in two years 20 he'd grown $14. How is that set up? 21 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, it's set up, 22 the latter monies there based upon current 23 interest rates. And, of course, we're obligated 24 -- the Nation is obligated to invest those monies 25 that are held in trust for minors in low risk 79 1 accounts. We can't put them in something that is 2 risky. That's the way it's set up, it has to be 3 low risk. And so we have to be smart about how we 4 make their investment. 5 So one thing we attempt to do at the 6 moment is working with our trustee, which is City 7 National Bank, to ladder them. And what I mean is 8 that we put so many amounts in certain periods of 9 type of investment. Like in a CD, three months -- 10 three months, six months, like that. Because if 11 you all pay attention to the money markets right 12 now, interest rates are like flat. There's not 13 much of a rate unless you take on high risk kinds 14 of things. And then you're vulnerable because you 15 could lose that. As you saw in the stock market 16 or you saw in some of these failures of banks, a 17 lot of people lost tremendous investments, 18 billions and billions of dollars. 19 So the Comanche Nation does not want 20 to see that happen to any account that's held in 21 trust or in reserve for minors. So, yes, it is at 22 a very low interest rate at the moment. 23 MRS. HENDRIX: Is that for all, you 24 know, because I have grandkids on the roll. So is 25 that all from age one through 18? Is it the same 80 1 interest rate for all? 2 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yes, so we attempt, 3 again, to ladder that. So, you know, if the 4 interest -- we don't want to have long term, is 5 what I'm saying, on investment. Shorter term, so 6 if the interest rate goes up, we can move those 7 accounts into something higher interest. If you 8 put it into long term, then you're locked in for 9 that long term at, say, 1.20, 1. -- you know, 10 they're very low interest rates. So we're 11 attempting to do that. And I'd like to say our 12 trustee, our trust company, City National Bank & 13 Trust, they're very savvy about this as well. 14 So we meet, we meet with them on 15 occasion to look at these things. But right now, 16 in sadness, I hate to say that, is that the 17 interest anywhere in these low risks is very low. 18 Look at treasuries. You know, treasuries are 19 very, very low. And you like to think that the 20 U.S. could back it with a highest -- well, the 21 financial circumstances in America, I'd say world 22 wide right now, are not very good. So it's 23 unfortunate, but that's just the way it is. 24 MR. COFFEY: That's right. And we're 25 monitoring it. This is a constant thing. Long- 81 1 term benefits, you're not going to really get any 2 benefits. Because what the interest rate, I mean, 3 it's like 1 1/2 to 2 percent. So if you invest 4 money, that's what you're going to get. Unless 5 David Orme knows anything different. 6 MR. ORME: I lost all mine. 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yeah, people can 8 lose. 9 MR. ORME: That's right. It's very 10 low interest rates and there's no way around it. 11 MR. COFFEY: Donna Munchel, are you 12 hear? Deborah Abbott, are you here? Geneva 13 Taptto, Jerry Parker, George Tahdooahnippah? 14 Carolyn Codopony, you want to meet with the CBC in 15 executive session? And, Allison, maybe they'll 16 get a chance to discuss your proposal. 17 MS. CODOPONY: I don't need to go in 18 executive session. I just need to briefly address 19 you guys. 20 MR. COFFEY: Okay, you can do that. 21 MS. CODOPONY: Can I do it now? 22 MR. COFFEY: Sure. 23 MS. CODOPONY: This is for the sole 24 purpose of licensing the new day care at Apache. 25 I have a draft resolution. If you guys are 82 1 agreeable with this, then we can put it in the 2 formal format, but this is a draft resolution. 3 I'm trying to get the Apache center licensed at 4 this time. 5 MR. COFFEY: We should have had this 6 before now. 7 MS. CODOPONY: Today? I'm sorry. 8 MR. NELSON: Mr. Chairman, I did put 9 it in y'all's weekly recap, this situation here for 10 Apache. 11 MS. CODOPONY: It's just a draft 12 form. I'm willing, if we need to, to do it 13 later. But just letting you guys know that it's 14 for the sole purposing of licensing the facility 15 in Apache. There has to be an owner signature on 16 the request for the license. And the owner is 17 considered -- 18 MR. TIPPECONNIE: The business 19 committee. 20 MS. CODOPONY: Is considered the 21 chief governor, assistant chief business manager, 22 or a tribal council member. And whoever signs it, 23 the document for the license, it's on the very 24 bottom of that. I can't open the facility until I 25 get an owner's signature on the request for the 83 1 license. So that's what this is all about. 2 Every time that we have a different 3 Chairman or Tribal Administrator, then we have to 4 change it. So that's why I have a resolution. 5 MR. COFFEY: So this is draft? 6 MS. CODOPONY: This is draft. 7 MR. COFFEY: We can put it on our 8 next meeting. 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, we -- we 10 could act on it and complete it, but we -- it 11 seems like to me it's very important to have it 12 acted on fast. 13 MR. NELSON: Yes, we've got a list 14 waiting to come in. 15 MR. TIPPECONNIE: So I would suggest 16 that even though it's -- we have the, "Therefore 17 be it resolved" if that's what you're proposing, 18 we can put -- you know, we could act upon it if 19 it's that critical. And it seems critical to me. 20 MR. NELSON: That's a four-year 21 background check of everybody. And -- 22 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It required a 23 background? 24 MS. CODOPONY: The background check 25 of the new -- they have a new law that's in effect 84 1 this past year. Whoever's signature I get, 2 whether it's the Chairman's, or the Tribal 3 Administrator, or one of you guys, then I would 4 have to do a background check. I would need all 5 the information of whoever is going to sign the 6 request for the license. 7 And then that is -- once that clears 8 OSBI, I have to take it down to the Oklahoma State 9 Child Care Licensing Division, which is housed at 10 Sequoyah, the state complex. And then they do 11 further investigation on whoever signs it. Then 12 once that comes back -- 13 MR. COFFEY: That's too much 14 information for us to all have at once. I think 15 you should have visited with us at some point in 16 time. In fact, if you would, wait and we'll look 17 -- give us the processes when we go into executive 18 session, because that's an issue that our 19 administrator -- someone should have brought it to 20 our attention before now. 21 MS. CODOPONY: The only reason I'm 22 bringing it to you is because I was counting on 23 the Tribal Administrator to sign for it, but he 24 wanted it to come before you. I didn't plan on 25 having to bring it to you. 85 1 MR. COFFEY: Well, just hang out. 2 MR. NELSON: The Tribal Administrator 3 has a one-year turnover, and due to the fact of -- 4 MR. COFFEY: Well, we're going 5 through an election process right now. 6 MR. TIPPECONNIE: The Chair is 7 stepping out. 8 MR. COFFEY: It might be the best 9 thing for our TA to do that, but it would have to 10 be authorized by the Comanche Business Committee. 11 So, still, we need it to come in. 12 MR. NELSON: Let's not hold her up 13 from opening up Apache Mr. Chairman. 14 MR. COFFEY: That's not us, it's not 15 us. We knew about this -- 16 MR. NELSON: Oh, you did? 17 MR. COFFEY: -- a long time ago. 18 MR. NELSON: I've been one week on 19 the job -- 20 MR. COFFEY: Well, we also know 21 there's other obstacles with the town of Apache. 22 And -- 23 MR. NELSON: She got the fire code 24 passed, everything's ready to go -- 25 MS. CODOPONY: Everything's ready to 86 1 go except for the signature. 2 MR. COFFEY: We'll discuss that in 3 executive session. 4 MS. CODOPONY: Okay. 5 MR. COFFEY: Committee, I entertain a 6 motion to go into executive session. Yeah, Ron? 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Did you get a 8 motion? 9 MR. REDELK: I did Chairman. 10 MR. COFFEY: Did you make that 11 motion? 12 MR. ASEPERMY: So moved, 13 Mr. Chairman. 14 MR. MAHSEET: So moved, Mr. Chairman. 15 MS. NELSON: Mr. Chairman, I just 16 have one announcement. On May the 22nd, which is 17 a Friday, the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, the 18 water park will have a soft opening. It will be 19 free admission. They're going to have a run 20 through with all the people in the kitchen and the 21 water park to make sure everything is working 22 right. It will be the grand opening of the water 23 park for the '09 season. 24 MR. COFFEY: Committee, we have a 25 motion to go into executive session. All those in 87 1 favor signify by saying "aye". 2 (Aye.) 3 MR. COFFEY: All those opposed, same 4 sign. All those abstain, same sign. Motion 5 carries. 6 (Executive session held from 7 11:44 a.m. to 2:35 p.m.) 8 (Mr. Coffey excuses himself from 9 meeting.) 10 MR. MAHSEET: I make a motion since 11 Kelly's back we come out of executive session. 12 MR. NARCOMEY: Second. 13 MR. REDELK: All in favor say "haa." 14 (Haa.) 15 MS. CODOPONY: The reason -- can I 16 talk to y'all? 17 MR. REDELK: Sure. 18 MS. CODOPONY: The whole reason I'm 19 talking to y'all is I have to do this for 20 licensing purposes. And it's fill out these two 21 pages. And there has to be a signature by the 22 owner. And the Oklahoma DHS Department of 23 Licensing requires that an owner's signature be 24 placed here to obligate the businesses. And also 25 for us to have a contract with licensing to take 88 1 care of DHS subsidy families, people that are 2 relying on DHS to pay for their day care. 3 And so whoever signs this -- it can't 4 be me unless someone authorizes me to be it. But 5 I've had Mr. Coffey sign it for the Lawton day 6 care. Previously to him, Mr. Burgess has signed 7 when he was a Tribal Administrator, but when 8 Mr. Burgess had left office as a Tribal 9 Administrator, then we had to get Mr. Coffey. 10 And now Mr. Coffey's getting ready to 11 leave his office, so I have to get someone else to 12 obligate that day care as well as this new day 13 care. So I was wanting the Tribal Administrator 14 to give me the information needed in order to sign 15 it as the owner, then myself as the director, we 16 have to have an OSBI done, and we have to take 17 that OSBI to the child care licensing -- what's it 18 called? Child care licensing -- I can't think of 19 it right now. There's a certain office that does 20 all the licensing up in the city, in Oklahoma 21 City. 22 And then they take the OSBI and make 23 sure it's a clean OSBI. They're looking for 24 sexual -- anyone with, like, child abuse, anyone 25 that's put children in danger, anyone that has any 89 1 type of physical abuse charges against them, 2 sexual predator type stuff. 3 And once they see a clean OSBI on the 4 owner, then they'll go ahead and do a further 5 criminal investigation on that person to see if 6 they can bring up any record of them having 7 charges in a physical nature against another 8 person. For example, like resisting arrest, or 9 anything other than that. And if they don't pull 10 up any record, then they'll okay it. 11 MR. TIPPECONNIE: They'll pass it. 12 MS. CODOPONY: They'll pass it. 13 MR. REDELK: How long does that take? 14 MS. CODOPONY: I can get it done in 15 two days, once I get the signature. 16 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Once they get all 17 the background. 18 MS. CODOPONY: For the background 19 request, all I need is their birth date, their 20 Social Security number, any aliases they've gone 21 by, and -- that's pretty much it. 22 But for the criminal review, which is 23 a separate form than background check, it asks 24 for, -- let me see, I have it in here. It asks 25 for a home address, it also asks for the license 90 1 number, like the Oklahoma Driver's License number, 2 in addition to what I need on the criminal. So I 3 can't just take someone's name and fill out all 4 the information, I have to get it from whoever 5 we're going to use. 6 Then it comes back. They have 24 7 hours to get me the results. They send me a paper 8 that looks like this. All the child care 9 providers in the State of Oklahoma have to have 10 this done at this time. Everyone who works for us 11 has to have it done. 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: All employees. 13 MS. CODOPONY: All the employees that 14 work for us have it done. All the volunteers, 15 anyone that comes into the child care has to have 16 it done. But because the owner is signing as the 17 owner, whoever that person you guys designate to 18 be the owner -- which it could be the Chairman, it 19 could be the TA, it could be a Counsel person, a 20 Business Committee member, it could be any one of 21 those three or four things -- has to have the same 22 process, the OSBI check and the criminal review 23 thing done. 24 But I take it up to the OSBI, they 25 give me a check back in 5 minutes, it cost $15.00, 91 1 take it down to the state department, give it to 2 them and they fax me the results the next day. 3 MR. TIPPECONNIE: So that's good. 4 MR. REDELK: So we need a motion to 5 approve upon the new director or the Tribal 6 Administrator for that role? 7 MS. CODOPONY: And then we could do a 8 resolution later where you guys can maybe just 9 authorize the Tribal Administrator to be the 10 designated person when we need to be re-licensed 11 or if we ever open up a new facility. 12 MR. ASEPERMY: So you need a 13 resolution? 14 MS. CODOPONY: I don't need a 15 resolution for this. What I would like -- I mean, 16 I don't absolutely have to do it. It's just that 17 the Tribal Administrator would not give me the 18 information until I talked to you guys. So if 19 y'all could just direct him to give me the 20 information, a resolution's not necessary. 21 The reason I brought the resolution 22 is because I think it's something we're always 23 going have to a problem with when we have the 24 Chairman or the TA leave the office. So we could 25 do a resolution when we reconvene, we could do a 92 1 resolution next month. But for the purpose of 2 opening up Apache, if you guys could just instruct 3 Mr. Nelson to give me -- 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We need a motion 5 then. 6 MS. CODOPONY: -- the information I 7 need, then I could get Apache open. So what do 8 y'all think? 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I think -- 10 MR. ASEPERMY: Let's -- why don't we 11 read the whereas, the bottom whereas on this, and 12 then you can do it in a resolution form and number 13 it. 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: As a resolution -- 15 it could be done as a resolution. 16 MR. ASEPERMY: We just need a rough 17 draft of it. 18 MS. CODOPONY: I was consulting with 19 my brother, and he said that we should probably 20 put the current Tribal Administrator, so that in 21 the future, whoever is the Tribal Administrator, 22 they would just continue on and on. 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It doesn't give a 24 name, it just gives the position? 25 MS. CODOPONY: It just gives the 93 1 current Tribal Administrator to have that 2 authority to obligate the child care for 3 licensing. 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: So whoever's 5 current has to do it. 6 "Therefore, let it be resolved that 7 the Comanche Nation Business Committee authorizes 8 Comanche Nation Child Care Development Director to 9 have the authority to obligate the present child 10 care center" -- that's two -- "and any future 11 child care centers that the Comanche Nation owns 12 or will own. This designated authority -- this 13 designated authority" -- I think you meant to say 14 is to the current -- 15 MS. CODOPONY: We'll have to change 16 it on top, too. 17 MR. TIPPECONNIE: -- "you to 18 authorize the current Tribal Administrator." 19 MS. CODOPONY: Okay. "Considering 20 that the Comanche Nation Business Committee has a 21 duty, responsibility, and authority to execute 22 leases, contracts, or permits with regard to 23 property, which is owned exclusively or jointly by 24 the Comanche Nation, recognizing that the Comanche 25 Nation is the owner of two early childhood 94 1 development centers, Numunu Turetu, 216 S. Easter 2 Avenue, Lawton, Oklahoma; and the Comanche Nation 3 Child Care Center" -- this is 403 East Devons, 4 Apache, Oklahoma, "and that the Comanche Nation 5 Business Committee has the authority to designate 6 an individual to obligate business on their 7 behalf. 8 "Therefore, let it be resolved that 9 the Comanche Nation Business Committee authorizes 10 the current Tribal Administrator to have the 11 authority to obligate the present child care 12 center, and any future child care centers that the 13 Comanche Nation owns or will own. This designated 14 authority given to the current Tribal 15 Administrator will be for the sole purposes of 16 obtaining a child care license and a contract to 17 service DHS families with the Oklahoma Department 18 of Human Services Child Care Licensing Division." 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: In this respect, it 20 can be a resolution. 21 MS. CODOPONY: This has been on the 22 table with tribal child care facilities in the 23 State of Oklahoma for the past couple of years 24 that they changed the regulations regarding this 25 requirement. Because the big gripe with tribes 95 1 is, you know, our Chief or our Chairman is way too 2 busy to deal with this formality, really. Then 3 once whoever signs it as the owner, they require 4 them to go down and get with them to sign the 5 contract. And, you know, the Chief and the 6 Chairman don't have time to do minor stuff like 7 that. 8 MR. KICKINGBIRD: There are some 9 agencies and licensings who their employees have 10 declared that the owners are all the tribal 11 members. Therefore, they all have to get 12 licensed, so we get some goofy things like that. 13 MS. CODOPONY: It gets crazy. But 14 they did -- they are changing the regulations. If 15 -- because I was in a meeting all week in Oklahoma 16 City. The top guy in licensing comes walking in, 17 Mark Lewis, and I go, "Oh, great, there's Mark 18 Lewis." And I had already told my regional people 19 that I was having trouble with this because it's 20 not a standing issue. 21 And so he comes over and talks to me, 22 and I said, "I just want to know, if I take the 23 trouble to have a resolution, is licensing going 24 to accept it?" 25 He said, "I'll check into it." He 96 1 called me back and he said, "Yes, if you get your 2 -- a resolution, licensing will accept it." 3 And I said, "Okay, because I don't 4 want to go through the trouble if my licensing is 5 not going to accept the resolution." 6 So he said that they would accept it, 7 and he's like the very head of the licensing for 8 the State, and he works with tribes. 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Mr. Chairman, I 10 think we can do it as a motion or we can do it as 11 a resolution, if you allow the secretary to put 12 some other preface in it to make it as the 13 resolutions are written, but keep this wording 14 pretty much as she said, you know, recognizing 15 therefore be it resolved. 16 MR. REDELK: That sounds good. 17 MR. ASEPERMY: Okay. Would you read, 18 "Therefore be it resolved?" 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Okay. "That the 20 Comanche Nation Business Committee authorizes the 21 current Tribal Administrator to have the authority 22 to obligate the present child care center and any 23 future child care centers that the Comanche Nation 24 owns or will own. This designated authority given 25 to the current Tribal Administrator will be for 97 1 the sole purposes of obtaining a child care 2 license and a contract to serve DHS families with 3 the Oklahoma Department of Human Services Child 4 Care Licensing Division." 5 It seems like good wording. 6 MR. ASEPERMY: And that would be 7 resolution 77-09, because we tabled 75 and we 8 tabled -- oh, I'm sorry, we tabled 75 and we 9 tabled 76. Would this be Resolution 77-09? 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Let me check just a 11 minute. I wish the Chairman hadn't left, I'd get 12 him to sign something. Oops. I'll look for my 13 other sheet here. Well, let me look at that 14 again. We tabled 75-09. 15 MR. ASEPERMY: And 76. 16 MR. TIPPECONNIE: 77 was the one that 17 we gave to -- and the one that we're not going to 18 consider which was the -- let me see -- yes, 19 77-09. 20 MR. ASEPERMY: Okay. Well, I make a 21 motion that we approve Resolution 77-09 titled -- 22 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Child care 23 licensing. 24 MR. ASEPERMY: Okay. That's my 25 motion, Mr. Chairman -- 98 1 MR. NARCOMEY: I Second. 2 MR. ASEPERMY: Oh, Mr. Secretary. 3 MR. REDELK: Okay. We've got a 4 motion by Lanny and a second by Clyde. Any 5 discussion? If not, all in favor signify by 6 saying "haa." 7 (Haa.) 8 MR. ASEPERMY: Good, I like that. 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Now, say abstain in 10 Comanche. 11 MR. REDELK: By the way, this gal can 12 spell Comanche very well. 13 Okay. What's next? 14 MR. ASEPERMY: I would like to make a 15 motion on the Allison Steinmeyer presentation. 16 Her request is for $5,096.20. Mr. Secretary/ 17 Treasurer, does she meet the guidelines of the 18 Charitable Fund? 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: She meets the 20 guidelines. 21 MR. ASEPERMY: Her request is for, 22 again, $5,096.26. She is doing fund raisers and 23 other -- 24 MR. MAHSEET: Benefits. 25 MR. ASEPERMY: -- benefits. I would 99 1 like to recommend that we approve her amount in 2 half of the request in the amount of $2500 to 3 assist her with these four -- actually six 4 conferences, in the amount of $2500. 5 MR. REDELK: Okay. We have a motion 6 by Lanny to use the -- 7 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Allison Steinmeyer. 8 MR. REDELK: Do we have a second? 9 MR. MAHSEET: I second, Mr. Vice- 10 Chairman. 11 MR. REDELK: Second by Ed. Any 12 discussion? If none, then all in favor signify by 13 "haa." 14 (Haa.) 15 MR. REDELK: Any against? 16 MR. ASEPERMY: Abstain? 17 MR. REDELK: I don't know -- oh, 18 abstentions would be kehetu. 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It would have to 20 be. 21 MR. ASEPERMY: Did everyone approve 22 it or did we all vote yet? 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: There's one other. 24 We provide additional to or direct the TA for 25 Tenequer, what they came for? Do you know if they 100 1 need -- to pursue that plan -- they had 500 2 initially you saw, and they sort of expended 3 that. They don't have any more money to continue 4 working on the grant. The grant hasn't even been 5 announced, but they've been working on the grant, 6 preparing to submit it when it's open. But they 7 did ask for some additional money. 8 MR. REDELK: Some help? 9 MR. ASEPERMY: What did they ask 10 for? 11 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I think they're 12 discussing something like 500 hundred again. 13 MR. ASEPERMY: Well, they've been 14 paid twice, if you read their little deal there. 15 They have been paid $500 two times. They've been 16 paid $1,000 to this grant. 17 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yeah, that's why I 18 say $500 again is probably what they're thinking. 19 MR. MAHSEET: In their deal they had 20 Caddo County. I thought the Apaches had Caddo 21 County. 22 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I think they do. I 23 think Apaches do. 24 MR. MAHSEET: So there's no boundary 25 overlapping or anything like that? 101 1 MR. ASEPERMY: They cover nine county 2 areas. 3 MR. TIPPECONNIE: They had them 4 listed in there. 5 MR. MAHSEET: They had Caddo County 6 listed in there, I know, the morning I was there 7 in their vocational rehab. It would be a pretty 8 good idea because they work for veterans. They've 9 got a lot of veterans in their program and I know 10 we got a lot of veterans, but where are they going 11 to house it? 12 MR. ASEPERMY: They are already at 13 1103 E or something like that. She told us the 14 address. They already have an office. I don't 15 know exactly where it is. 16 MR. MAHSEET: Did we give them any 17 kind of contributions? 18 MR. ASEPERMY: I don't know what that 19 means, "any kind." 20 MR. MAHSEET: Supplies. 21 MR. TIPPECONNIE: They work out of 22 OU, you know. I think Tenequer, she works here 23 somewhat, and then they go together over there at 24 OU. 25 MR. REDELK: I thought she was at 102 1 East Central? 2 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Well, I think he's 3 at OU, and I think she works with them there at 4 OU. 5 MR. ASEPERMY: Well, apparently there 6 was a contract between Johnny and them, but I was 7 never aware of it. 8 MR. MAHSEET: I wasn't aware of it. 9 I thought she was working on her own. 10 MR. ASEPERMY: Is that contract 11 binding between the Nation and -- 12 MR. TIPPECONNIE: It's normally the 13 way do -- well, they do contracts in different 14 ways. You pay them some money to prepare the 15 grant, or they prepare it and they -- a percentage 16 of the grant. In this case, the way the TA worked 17 it out, they give them some money to prepare it. 18 They're both very sharp about it, as you probably 19 saw, they're pretty sharp about it. 20 MR. ASEPERMY: What do you recommend, 21 Robert? Make a motion, Robert. 22 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I make a motion we 23 provide $500 additional. 24 MR. ASEPERMY: Second. 25 MR. NARCOMEY: Haa. 103 1 MR. REDELK: All in favor -- any 2 discussion? All in favor, signify by "haa." 3 (Haa.) 4 MR. REDELK: Opposed? 5 Motion carries. 6 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Abstain? 7 MR. REDELK: K-E-H-E-T-U. 8 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I count you as 9 abstaining? 10 MR. ASEPERMY: No, we all yes'd. 11 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We're all yes, but 12 the Chair is always -- but not you, we're all yes. 13 MR. REDELK: Okay. Did we want to do 14 something with the meeting with the Housing 15 Commissioners? 16 MR. ASEPERMY: They're going to meet 17 -- their meeting is going to be on -- Housing will 18 be -- let's see. It will be on the 11th. They 19 are having a meeting Monday. 20 You see all these papers I have here? 21 You see everything I have written on the front? 22 It pertains -- half of these documents have to do 23 with Housing. 24 Somewhere, somebody was told -- John 25 David Wahnee was told that HUD recommended their 104 1 salaries be 40 percent of their budget thereof. 2 Their salaries were 51 percent. So in order to 3 get to the 40 percent level or close it to, they 4 have had a reduction in force, and their salaries 5 now consist of 42 percent of the HUD monies. 6 Okay. 7 Now, some interesting things were 8 brought up today. And you know what, we're not -- 9 you know, I agree with Ron. This is not a 10 Comanche Business Committee issue. And I know 11 what Wallace said, they have a Board of 12 Commissioners. And because we appointed them, 13 these people -- no matter who would have been 14 RIF'ed, it would have been a different group if it 15 was another RIF. 16 Now, I don't agree with one thing 17 they said today. I've got 11 years of service and 18 the guy they kept has one month. Well, the guy 19 with 11 years of service worked in field 20 operations. The guy with one month worked in an 21 entirely different area. And they did fill all 22 their positions before this RIF occurred. And 23 they are approved -- I got an e-mail this morning, 24 and they are approved for $2.75 million. The 25 e-mail came into HUD for the drawdown finally. 105 1 They were approved for their Indian Housing Plan 2 for '09 for 2.1 million. They took a $600,000 cut 3 because our inventory has cut down and they base 4 it on the inventory. 5 If y'all want to make it a Comanche 6 Business Committee issue and talk with our 7 Commissioners, that's up to y'all. The 8 Commissioners voted three to two to do the RIF. 9 It was John David's position to select the RIFees. 10 MR. REDELK: I think there's some 11 issues -- I don't know how many with the Board of 12 Commissioners and John David and his 13 administrative doings. I think it's as an 14 ongoing. 15 MR. MAHSEET: Kirke, I have a 16 question. Maybe you or Jim could answer it. If 17 the Tribe is not to have any say-so within HUD, 18 how is it that the Tribe is allowed to select 19 commissioners appointed to the Tribe? If they do 20 select commissioners, do they have some type of 21 umbrella? 22 MR. KICKINGBIRD: The reason Housing 23 got set up the way it did, as a separate 24 non-profit organization, was back in the late '60s 25 when the program started, they did no litigation 106 1 to settle the controversy about tribes in Oklahoma 2 having jurisdiction. 3 It was said at that time, Oklahoma 4 tribes didn't have jurisdiction, so the question 5 became how will HUD get them the money? So the 6 resolution to that was to set up all these 7 non-profit organizations, and so a number of 8 tribes in Oklahoma still have that set up. But 9 recognizing that tribes had a role in it, the 10 pattern or the template for the non-profits, have 11 the tribes selecting the Housing commissioners to 12 be the corporate board. 13 So what -- since NAHASDA has come in 14 in the last four years or so, what many tribes 15 have started to do was set up that as -- set up 16 Housing as a division of the Tribe. And, in fact, 17 the Creek run parallel. They had -- they had a 18 non-profit and a -- the tribal division, they got 19 it to be much like up here at Caddo and Kiowa, 20 just a big fight, but a big messy fight. Partly 21 because of the origins, the way they developed, 22 the Housing appropriations have become focal 23 points of political power; and, in fact, have been 24 fighting tribes in Oklahoma about coming in under 25 the tribal government umbrella. 107 1 There is -- Creeks went in and got 2 all the property -- got a state statue that would 3 transfer all the property of the non-profit to the 4 tribal department -- Housing department. 5 And -- but that's what will probably 6 happen if tribes start to pull in the Housing 7 programs under the tribal government umbrella. 8 MR. ASEPERMY: Eddie, I asked the 9 same question to John David Wahnee. He showed me 10 the regulation that concerned this. I read it, I 11 understood it, but I can't explain to y'all how it 12 works. But what you said is basically what it is 13 in a nutshell. 14 MR. MAHSEET: Thank you. 15 MR. ASEPERMY: That's why we're -- 16 that's why we don't have that -- 17 MR. REDELK: We do need to appoint or 18 reappoint Jo Vickers, you know. 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: We -- I do think we 20 should move on that, yes, and go ahead and 21 re-appoint her. 22 MR. ASEPERMY: Did we have any 23 responses to the advertisement? 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I need to check one 25 more time. Maybe we better hold up until the 108 1 21st. I need to check one more time with Human 2 Resources. 3 MR. REDELK: So she'll just continue 4 until that re-appointment? 5 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I have one thing I 6 want to bring up, is this buffalo matter. We got 7 rid of most of the buffalo. You can see a few 8 over here. The ones we kept, according to 9 Mr. Wauqua, was for homecoming, Comanche Nation 10 Fair, Shoshone Reunion to be butchered. Well, 11 when you look at them now, they're cows with 12 little ones -- at least we got three little ones 13 over there. And they're good breeding stock, 14 they're not the type that you should butcher. 15 So what I would like to suggest is, I 16 think it would be -- the one that purchased the 17 buffaloes, that he would consider this if we 18 wanted to -- that is if we sold these, let them 19 remove all these buffalo under the condition that 20 they provide us meat for these events, you know, 21 butchered meat, packaged meat that we can hand out 22 during these different events. That's one thing 23 we can do. 24 The reason I'm saying that, it's 25 costing us, you know. Who's taking care of the 109 1 buffalo? We got two people full-time taking care 2 of those little buffalo. And remember what we 3 did, we transferred all that to the corporation. 4 So the corporation is paying the bill. So when we 5 are totally out of it, we will bill them to return 6 the buffalo, subtracting the cost of the buffalo. 7 And so they'll pay back that to the tribe. 8 So we have two employees that are -- 9 and I've talked to the TA about it. You know, 10 what do they do all day long, these two 11 employees? Anyway, I just want to get your 12 feelings. Should we go this kind of route and 13 just get rid of all those buffalo and then work 14 out -- 15 MR. ASEPERMY: I thought that was a 16 decision that we made a long time ago, to get rid 17 of the buffalo. The people directed us to get rid 18 of them two years ago. 19 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yeah, but here we 20 reserved them over here for these events. 21 MR. REDELK: Well, I think that's a 22 good idea to -- 23 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Do what I said? 24 MR. REDELK: Yes. And that way we'll 25 have the meat already processed. 110 1 MR. NARCOMEY: We'll have the meat, 2 get rid of the buffalo, get rid of them two 3 employees. 4 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Yeah, they're just 5 wandering around. I don't mean to speak calloused 6 about it, but I don't know what they do. However, 7 you can reserve those. 8 MR. ASEPERMY: Can you tell us about 9 the horses? When are they going to go away? 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Now, I 11 understand -- that's the crazy thing, we've got 12 those crazy horses. The TA tells me, working with 13 law enforcement -- see, law enforcement took those 14 horses, and they're paying for them, the care of 15 them. So what they're -- the TA told me -- 16 because I keep asking, "What are you going to do 17 with these?" 18 The TA told me that they're getting 19 them adopted out, except for three. They're 20 adopting out all the horses except for three. 21 And I asked, "Why three?" 22 He said, "Well, they're good horses 23 that we need to ride in the parades and things 24 like that once in a while." 25 So that's what he told me. But as 111 1 far as I know, law enforcement told me that they 2 were holding them because they were part of the 3 case against the person who gave them to us. But 4 I don't know where that case is. And what I 5 understand is they gave us the horses, so the 6 horses belong to us. 7 MR. KICKINGBIRD: I don't think we've 8 heard about the case. 9 MR. TIPPECONNIE: That was a case in 10 Cotton County, so the county is supposed to be 11 handling it. I think they need to get rid of them 12 all. 13 MR. NARCOMEY: When are you going to 14 get rid of them? 15 MR. TIPPECONNIE: The buyer that 16 wanted them, he'll buy them quick and take them. 17 MR. ASEPERMY: I make a motion that 18 we instruct or direct the Tribal Administrator to 19 get rid of all the horses within the next 30 20 days. 21 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Do you want to add 22 something in there about the buffalo, too, to 23 accept what I suggested? 24 MR. ASEPERMY: And that we accept the 25 recommendation of Mr. Tippeconnie, which is -- 112 1 MR. TIPPECONNIE: To sell the 2 buffalo, but have in that sale a return of, you 3 know, buffalo meat, for the homecoming, the 4 Shoshone Reunion, and the Comanche Nation fair. 5 MR. ASEPERMY: That's my motion. 6 MR. NARCOMEY: Second. What about 7 the employees, now? What about them two 8 employees? 9 MR. ASEPERMY: Which two? 10 MR. NARCOMEY: Them two that's taking 11 care of the buffalo? Why do we want them on there 12 if there's no buffalos? 13 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Who's taking care 14 of the buffalos? 15 MR. ASEPERMY: Mr. Yackeschi and -- 16 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Oh, you mean the 17 two people. 18 MR. ASEPERMY: That's a Tribal 19 Administrator -- 20 MR. REDELK: Okay. We have a motion 21 by Lanny and a second by Clyde to instruct the TA 22 to get rid of the horses within 30 days. 23 MR. ASEPERMY: Yes. 24 MR. REDELK: And also to sell the 25 buffalo to the original buyer, and in that sale, 113 1 negotiate for meat for the Comanche homecoming, 2 Comanche fair, and Shoshone reunion. Any 3 discussion? If none, signify "haa" if you're for 4 it. 5 (Haa.) 6 MR. REDELK: "Kehetu" if you're 7 against it. Kehetu, abstentions? 8 We're going to have Comanche all the 9 way around. 10 Any other business? 11 MR. ASEPERMY: Yes, I do. I did 12 request an absentee ballot. This absentee ballot 13 was mailed to me. I could fill it out, mail it 14 back in, then go to Apache. Will I be allowed to 15 vote twice? 16 MR. REDELK: It depends on who you 17 vote for. 18 MR. ASEPERMY: How do they know I 19 have this? 20 MR. TIPPECONNIE: Because they have a 21 listing of those who got absentee ballots. 22 MR. ASEPERMY: How could I get an 23 absentee ballot when I didn't request it? 24 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I don't know that 25 one. 114 1 MR. MAHSEET: That one I don't 2 understand. 3 MR. ASEPERMY: So I need to vote 4 absentee ballot? And I do have a question on 5 here, Mr. Robert, why is -- it might have been 6 funeral home/burial assistance under revenue 7 allocation, and burial assistance under tax 8 commission supplement. Are those figures supposed 9 to be exactly the same, $252,000? 10 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I'll have to look 11 at that. 12 MR. ASEPERMY: Well, here it is. It 13 was kind of unusual. And I need this ballot so I 14 can -- oh, they can do a challenge on me -- 15 MR. TIPPECONNIE: They can do a 16 challenge. 17 MR. ASEPERMY: Okay. But even if 18 they allowed me to vote there, how do -- and I 19 tell them, I did it manually, I didn't fill it 20 out, how are they going to know I didn't? 21 MR. MAHSEET: They're going to catch 22 it when it comes in. 23 MR. ASEPERMY: But I can tell them 24 that I didn't mail it in. 25 MR. MAHSEET: See that bar code on 115 1 there? They're going to bar code that, they're 2 going to scan it. When they scan it, it should 3 come up that you were mailed one. So that would 4 be easier that they would count that one as one 5 vote. 6 MR. REDELK: We're going to recess 7 until -- 8 MR. MAHSEET: 21st. 9 MR. REDELK: -- the 21st at 9:00 a.m. 10 MR. NARCOMEY: At the business -- 11 MR. REDELK: Well, what turned out to 12 be -- was going to be a short day, wasn't so 13 short; is that right? 14 MR. TIPPECONNIE: I make a motion to 15 recess. 16 MR. NARCOMEY: Second. 17 (Meeting recessed at 3:14 p.m.) 18 19 * * * * * * 20 21 22 23 24 25 116 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 ) 5 COUNTY OF OKLAHOMA ) 6 7 I, Kelly Stoabs, Certified Shorthand 8 Reporter for the State of Oklahoma, certify that 9 the above and foregoing meeting transcribed by me 10 is a true and correct transcript of the meeting; 11 that the meeting was held on May 2, 2009, in the 12 State of Oklahoma; that I am not an attorney for 13 nor a relative of any said parties, or otherwise 14 interested in the event of said action. 15 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set 16 my hand and seal of office on this the 22nd day of 17 May, 2009. 18 19 20 __________________________ Kelly Stoabs 21 Certified Shorthand Reporter for the State of Oklahoma 22 23 24 25 117 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 10:06 a.m. on May 2, 2009, 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