The council changed the Education Committee Chair position.
Tribal Councilwoman Roxanne Gourneau was made the Chairman of the Education Committee after voicing her concern over how the committee was selected. The Vice Chairman of the committee is Bryce Kirk.
Gourneau said the Tribal Executive Board erred when they selected committee chair and vice chair positions and left her out of the process.
During the first full board meeting of the new TEB, the council made selections for committees, boards of directors, tribal housing liaisons, and other local, state, and national tribal organizations. It was on this day that councilwoman Gourneau was not ceremonially sworn into office like the rest of the council due to a request for a recount. She is the twelfth highest vote-getter on the ballot, but because the election was close in a few races the TEB decided to wait until the count was over and finalized.
However, at the same time there were pressing business matters the Tribes needed to have some of these boards and seats filled.
At the time, councilman Kirk was selected for the Education Committee Chairman position, and Gourneau was put in as Vice Chairman. She was also appointed to several boards including the Circle of Nations School Board, the Flandreau School Board, and the Fort Peck Community College Board of Directors.
Gourneau said this is improperly done because the finalization of the TEB was not officially done and the results were signed by the Tribal Election Commission on November 1, 2023.
Leaving her out of the selection process could be viewed as an attempt to keep her excluded from the council, she said.
Councilman Kirk, who previously held the position, said he learned a lot and did lots of work with the numerous education programs including going directly to the schools. He said he feels passionate about this, but he was not going to be upset if they appointed Gourneau to the position of Education Chairman.
Tribal In-House Attorney Cher Stewart told the TEB this was a gray area and to address this problem it should be done with remedial action through the Tribal Council.
The following are highlights from the November 13, 2023 full board meeting.
Report
Chairman Justin Gray Hawk opened the meeting with a report to the council of the past two weeks since the previous meeting, as required by the Tribal Constitution.
The Bureau of Land Management will be meeting on land stewardship, and he is still working with issues regarding the Health Promotion Disease Prevention program.
Councilwoman Stacey Summers asked why there was no report from the Tribal Police. It was suggested to move the Tribal Police to Tuesday morning.
Kirk said this was the reason for having Law and Justice meet on Friday. Tribal Police are different from Tribal Courts and Corrections, and the nature of their work demands they have their own day to inform tribal leadership of their activities.
IHS
Fort Peck Indian Health Service Unit Director Marjorie Spotted Bird made her first presentation to the new TEB.
There is a new Public Health Nursing program scheduled to start at the facility.
Work is being done to keep track of all documented sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) in people who have tested positive. This includes syphilis, hepatitis, chlamydia, and others.
A new vaccine for the constantly mutating COVID-19 virus has been made available at the service units. Health care officials ran 174 COVID-19 tests, and 36 of them came back positive. IHS has provided masks, hand sanitizer, and are taking preventative efforts to reduce new infections.
After Spotted Birds presentation, councilwoman Gourneau said the IHS needs to keep focus on mental health and how it works with regular body health.
Kiosk
The council authorized moving the tribal access program kiosk terminal into the former Bureau of Indian Affairs storage room located on BIA Social Services.
Tribal Picks
The Tribal Council voted to accept the committee chairman and vice chairman for each committee.
Secretary Accountant
Tribal Operations Director Megan Gourneau was selected unanimously for the Secretary Accountant.
Head Start
Fort Peck Tribal Head Start was approved to submit a continuation application to serve 212 preschool students that meet the criteria for participation for the total amount of $2,113,348.
Tribal Credit
Faith O’Conner was picked for a new member on the Tribal Credit Committee.
Tribal ID
A new design for the Fort Peck tribal identification card was approved.
Tribal Information Technology Director Melvin Scott submitted the design
Sprole
Agri-Industries was approved for the project of installing a new water pipeline for agriculture by Sprole.
The construction bid is $1,484,647 from Agri-Industries was accepted. Before they were done with the motion, the council encouraged representatives from Agri-Industries to do an especially good job on the project.
In related news, the TEB was approved and authorized the Chairman/Vice Chairman to sign a five year masters agreement between the Fort Peck Tribes, the Fort Peck Water Users Association, and WWC Engineering services for the Fort Peck Irrigation Project.
Land
Brian Jones, and Marquita Colgan were approved for enrolled member renewal home site.
Kummerfeldt Farms LLC – Kurt Kummerfeldt was approved for a non-enrolled member lease renewal.
Fort Peck Housing Authority canceled a home site lease, and another cancellation came from Tefre Farm and Ranch Inc., Eugene Tefre. It was voluntarily canceled.
PJM Farms, Patrick Murray, was approved for a non enrolled member new lease.
Kelly S Toavs was approved for a non-enrolled member new lease.
Human Resources
The Council approved and will advertise the position of Human Resource Specialist.
