FROM THE SAULT TRIBE GUIDE....A WORD FROM OUR REPRESENTATIVE

Posted by Director DJ Malloy in the Sault Tribe Guide.

OK ST Members... I have read all of your posts. I took the weekend to try to put everything in perspective. Your hopes and fears are valid and well founded and I believe I know where you all want this to go. However... unless someone can pull a rabbit out of their hat... there is NOT going to be an election. I am prohibited from even proposing it as it has been tabled until after the General Election courtesy of Director Pat Rickley. Because it is tabled, it is an active resolution an is subject to referendum; but to date I haven't seen a petition to do so.

The bottom line is this... without an election we are left with the Constitutional obligation to appoint. The Constitution says the board shall appoint to fill the vacant seat. There has been talk of several people being nominated but there has been nothing presented in writing as to whom is on the list for tomorrow nights meeting. Joe Eitrem has indeed been talked about for over a month, as has Lana. And until there is someone seated, Lana is the sitting acting chair.

Here is a synopsis of the process so far. Constitutional language says: "The Board shall appoint." Tribal Code says: "The board shall hold a Special Advisory to assist in appointing a person to fill a vacancy. This election shall be non-binding." Election Code then prohibits any election activity within 6 months of a Notice of Election. That cycle begins on the last Friday in January. Therefore, when McCoy resigned, he did so at a time that prohibited any Special Advisory Election. Contrived or happenstance... that's the facts. Then.. Cathy A and myself brought forward a resolution to amend the code and several board members supported to allow for an election. IT failed on the first presentation on a 5 to 5 vote. Lana Causley voted to break the tie. She voted against amending the code to allow an election. After the second presentation of this resolution, Director Rickley tabled it "until after the next General Election" rendering it useless. There is an absence of a petition to referendum the tabled resolution that would allow the people to decide whether or not an election would be held. In short... the resolution is dead and this means there will be no election!

Here is what I believe... I believe there are board members who think/surmise/know that Aaron Payment would have won a Special Advisory Election. They don't want Aaron on the board. So they voted against it. The argument was made that Aaron had the next highest votes in the last chair election... that didn't work either. Now we have a chair who has assumed the duties via a resolution to allow business to go on until such time the seat is filled. and ... here we are. If we don't appoint, we are violating the Constitution and Lana will continue to serve out the term until someone is seated. This is why I asked the question... Who do you want? Who can garner the 7 votes needed to assume the chairmanship? Who is the least caustic? Who will be the least obstructive to the change we want to see?

I honestly don't know what is going to transpire tomorrow night. But I know this... we can not go on the way we are. There is no forward movement and we are spending too much time on politics and not enough time on moving the tribe ahead and addressing the needs of the members. Elders need more services, we are top heavy with management, the money is flying out the window in lawsuit judgements, and we still have done NOTHING, in the past year that I've been here, to meet the needs of our people! Land Claim money was spent on property for a transportation garage, (they are to pay rent to the fund... but it's still a misuse of the funds). I could go on and on. We NEED to change the way we are focusing on who is in charge and start paying attention to the tribe we are supposed to be serving! No one is being served by this type of leadership because there is no movement forward. It's no different than stagnant waters; and without a fresh stream to aerate the pool... we stink!

Respectfully submitted, DJ

Find the Sault Tribe Guide on Facebook

MOTION TO APPOINT TABLED

At a regular meeting of the Sault Tribe Board of Directors held at Kewadin Casinos in Sault Ste. Marie, a motion was made by Tom Miller to appoint Joe Eitrem to step in as Chairman of the Sault Tribe.

For whatever Deb Pine's reason to make the motion to table it, the remaining directors agreed. Joan Carr Anderson, Unit 5 director,was absent from the meeting and would have left that Unit short a vote. All in all, it was a good decision to table, but on the other hand it is not good for the tribe's stability to continue this for much longer.

A rumor has been circulating that there will be a motion to appoint DJ Hoffman to fill Joe Eitrem's empty director's chair if Eitrem is appointed to fill the chairman's seat for the next year. Tribal members have mixed feelings because of Hoffman's record while on the board. He did, after all, go out of his way to protect and support Fred Paquin, the former police chief who is now serving time in federal prison for a number of crimes including embezzlement of tribal funds.

He was also a walking nightmare for many tribal employees who were threatened with the loss of their jobs should they not please the former director and he threatened tribal members with lawsuits who spoke out in disagreement against his actions.

But what was also interesting is that he seemed to have fallen out of favor with Bouschor and his close supporters.  It would be interesting to know the reason behind that but it is not likely we will ever know....unless DJ Hoffman himself chooses to tell us. Either way, Hoffman might have a chance to make amends with tribal members and employees if he is appointed, doesn't allow the position to go to his head and does the right thing this time around.

Maybe the next scheduled meeting will start the tribe on another path....hopefully a better one that will allow some positive actions to take place for a change.

MUSIC SPEAKS FOR KIDS

Time	Friday, August 19 at 5:00pm - August 21 at 7:00pm
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SAULT TRIBE ASSETS FROZEN IN ERROR

According to a Facebook posting in the Sault Tribe Guide by Director DJ Malloy, "The Sault Tribe lost a lawsuit stemming from a dispute over the Bates Garage in Detroit (it was to be the parking garage for Greektown). The lawsuit stemmed from an employee signing an agreement on behalf of the tribe, for "132 Associates, LLC" a limited liability corporation in which we are the sole owners). In signing the agreement, the employee also signed a waiver of sovereign immunity and it has caused a great loss in legal fees and now a loss of 2.5 million dollars. Yesterday, the owner of Bates garage presented the court order to banks in Northern Michigan and in doing so froze our assets in haste and without our prior knowledge. This resulted in a couple of checks presented to one of these banks, to be declared "non-sufficient". Our legal department immediately contacted all the parties and worked out the particulars and identified for them that the money had indeed been set aside and there was no need to freeze the tribe"s assets in every bank we do business with. This resolved the situation and the checks were honored immediately following them contacting the bank. " 

Director Malloy also stated that, "I always think that what you fail to tell people can better be made up via speculation and rumor... I would rather tell you what I have been told than have someone else make up a better story and then have to "react" to it. 

In a later response to tribal member questions and concerns Director Malloy said, "The lawsuit stemmed from us not utilizing the garage in the way we had intended. And apparently there was a clause that allowed for the owner to recoup over 2 million dollars if we did not make the planned improvements to the garage. In the course of several signings of this contract, a waiver of sovereign immunity was missed and signature attached to the document creating a liability for our tribe. The tribe has argued that the employee had no authority to sign the document (via resolution or motion) and furthermore, the tribe was immune from suit. We lost on both counts. This is an old situation and I may not have all the fact straight but I am giving you all what I understand to be the case."

For those of you who might be wondering who the tribal employee is that signed the agreement it was Vic Matson, Sault Tribe's CFO. Where else, other than the Sault Tribe, can an employee cost the members so much money resulting in a loss to member benefits and still have a job?! 

Lynne Weaver

STAY THE COURSE

Originally posted in the Sault Tribe Guide

By Tom Biron

Every new effort provides results. The representatives on the board who are actually fighting for us cannot act unless we make it clear what we want them to act on. The corrupt group will act if we dont tell them not to, so we must continue the process until we get it right. 

I think we need to say what it is that we are seeing - straight out - and what it is, is the corrupt group are not good politicians. They are good corruptors so they will take what we offer and corrupt it the best they can. Is that what will bring them and us success? No. But it provides evidence of their incompetence to lead and we can use that as we build our base of support for the board members who are fighting for our rights. We have to stay the course. Not too much longer folks.

The Sault Tribe Guide is a Facebook group started by Nathan Wright. Join us in some productive discussions. Open a Facebook account, if you don't already have one, and look for us..."Sault Tribe Guide"

Lynne Weaver

6 ON TRIBAL BOARD MAKE A MOCKERY OUT OF MEMBERS RIGHTS

A motion was made at the Sault Tribe meeting to TABLE a Special Election until AFTER the General Election.

Yes, you read that right....NO decision on a Special Election until AFTER the General Election. Bernard Bouschor took the night off from this meeting. My guess is that he didn't want his Yes vote to table the special election on record.

This is the list of TRAITORS who voted to TABLE the decision to hold a Special Election:
CATHERINE HOLLOWELL
DEB PINE
PAT RICKLEY
KEITH MASSAWAY
JOE EITREM

And voting to break the tie to table the decision to take the tribal chair decision away from you so she could hold onto that seat was LANA CAUSLEY....a clear conflict of interest. If anyone thinks the group above didn't hold an illegal meeting to discuss tabling the election before hand, it's time to wake up.

The five directors who voted NOT to table a special election to determine who will replace Quitter McCoy were:
CATHY ABRAMSON
DJ MALLOY
TOM MILLER
DENISE CHASE
JOAN CARR ANDERSON

An added note: In a recent telephone conversation (if you can call Hollowell's shrieking a conversation), Cathy Hollowell said she could care less if she's reelected. She made it clear that her agenda was not her constituents but instead she supported Bernard Bouschor, Deb Pine, and Lana Causley.

Prior to the election, both Pat Rickley and Catherine Hollowell misled many of those who voted for them or who spoke favorably to others about them. They lied to you - fooled you and now they laugh in your face. They both play a large part in the mockery that was once known as the members right to vote and I will repeat what many say now..."What was their price?"

One more added note: Aaron Payment had several questions related to the hiring of the new general counsel, who isn't a tribal member. He wanted to know the procedure that was used to eliminate other candidates. Clueless Causley did everything she could to stop him from asking by falsely claiming that Payment's questions couldn't be answered because it would violate personnel confidentiality policies. They were general questions and general questions can be answered without violating polices. If Causley doesn't understand simple personnel policies than what the hell is she doing running the tribe?

SAULT TRIBE MEETING AGENDA FOR TUESDAY, 6-6-2011

Note the sections marked with **'s. I hope to see a lot of support for the members, by the members. If you don't have much time, try tp stay long enough for the "Amending Ch. 10 -Special Advisory Election".
For those who are employed by the tribe...note that there are proposed changes to employment policies.

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - The Sault Tribe Board of Directors will hold a regular meeting Tuesday, June 7, beginning at 6 p.m., at the Kewadin Casino and Convention Center in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. The meeting will
be preceded by Matters from the Membership at 5 p.m.

Resolutions under consideration are:
Child Care Development Fund,
OVCFY 2011 SANE-SART Program,
US Homeland Security THSGP,
Adoption of National Incident Management System,
Approving Lease JKL School,
National Congress of American Indians,

**Amending Ch.10 - Elections -Special Advisory Election,**

Amending Ch. 20 - Waishkey Bay Closure,

**Amending Attendance Policy,**
**Enactment of Hiring Process No Show Policy,**
**Amending Appeal Policies and Process,**
 
**Amending Bereavement Policy to Funeral Policy;**

Budget modifications for:
Remote Community Alert System, Legal Special Projects, Legal Tribal Attorney; and budget modifications for Health Center Maintenance Improvements/Cap Outlays, Radiology, Optical/St. Ignace Clinic, Medical Nursing, Traditional Medicine, and Laboratory and Education - Self Sufficiency.

Under New Business, the board will consider committee resignations and appointments.