Within hours of being sworn into office, the new Tribal Executive Board met for the first time officially.
At the afternoon full board meeting, 11 of 12 board members were at the meeting (TEB member Roxanne Gourneau was not sworn in pending a recount) to decide on the who would sit on committees and the different boards that require TEB representation.
The first change was moving the Law and Justice Committee meeting to every Monday morning. Chairman Justin Gray Hawk said this is being done to get weekly updates on police and corrections issues.
There were two council members in mind when the committee was mentioned, including incumbent Councilman Lawrence Hamilton and councilwoman Stacey Summers.
After a secret ballot vote, Hamilton was reappointed at the Law and Justice Committee Chair.
The Constitutional Reform meeting was moved to Thursday.
Councilwoman Rita Weeks asked about the Law and Justice committee meeting, mainly if Monday morning would be long enough for the committee. Often, these issues can take hours to discuss.
Chairman Gray Hawk said when he first got onto the Tribal Council the committee could take care of all the problems in a morning meeting.
After the vote was taken, Gray Hawk said he wants to sit down with all of the program directors so they know where and when to report to the TEB. There are many programs that do lots of things for tribal members, but they have not reported to the TEB.
“We all need to work together,” he said.
Councilwoman Gourneau called Gray Hawk and asked him to reserve a spot for her on any education related committees and boards. New councilman Benny Johnson Jr. of Brockton made a motion to name Gourneau as the Education Committee chair. Kirk was selected as committee vice chair.
For the Economic Development Committee, Rattling Thunder was appointed chair, and Johnson vice.
For Land, Councilman Dana Buckles was selected as chair, and Jestin Dupree was selected as vice chair.
Health and Human Services retained councilwoman Summers as chair and Buckles as vice chair.
Councilwoman Weeks was appointed chair of Constitutional Reform, and Gourneau is the vice.
Dupree was selected chair of Veterans Elders Youth and Media, followed by Summers for vice chair.
In education matters, councilwomen Summers and Gourneau were selected as TEB representatives on the Fort Peck Community College Board of Directors.
The Fort Peck Housing Authority Board of Directors TEB liaisons selected are councilmen Dupree and Buckles.
Before any other business, Tribal Operations Director Megan Gourneau said she needed a new secretary accountant appointed by the council to complete vital work. The TEB voted to keep Gourneau as the Secretary Accountant.
Jonson was appointed to the Great Northern Development Program board, and to the Montana State Economic Development Board.
Chapman, Summers, and Hamilton were put on the West Electronics board.
