Red Lake Tribal Secretary Vacancy Community Meeting held in Redby - P4

REDBY, MN - The first of five community meetings was held in Redby on Monday. June 26, 2017 at the Redby Community Center.

Sponsored by the Red Lake Tribal Council, these five meetings were scheduled to give the public an opportunity to provide guidance for the Council in making the decision on filling the vacant Tribal Secretary position. This elected officer position became vacant when Tribal Secretary Donald Cook passed away at Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, ND in May of this year. His term would have expired in 2018.

In ARTICLE X REFERENDUM AND RECALL, Sec. 3.

Amended Tribal Election, May 19, 2004: The Tribal Council may appoint a replacement to fill any vacancy of a district representative or officer, caused by removal, death, or resignation, provided the term of the replacement shall not exceed beyond the next regular election regardless of the length of the unexpired term.

Article X, Section 4, Added Tribal Election, May 19, 2004: The Tribal Council by an affirmative vote of the majority may hold a special election to fill any vacancy of a district representative or officer, caused by removal, death, or resignation for the unexpired term.

At the Regular Tribal Council Meeting of June 2017, an attempt to fill the vacant Secretary position was voted on by the Council, without obtaining a majority. It was then decided to take the matter before the people to either hold a special election or appoint someone to fill that unexpired term.

A questionaire was handed out to those in attendance at the meeting. It asked if you were in favor of an election; it asked if you thought elections were expensive; it stated that the next Tribal Election was May 18, 2018 and wanted to know if the council should just wait until that time to fill the position; it asked if appointing someone would be favorable to the membership; it asked if you had a name that you thought might be willing to be appointed; and it asked who was the best suited to be appointed, a Chief, the second highest voted candidate in the last Secretary election, or a respected community member.

Several people at the meeting expressed their views.

Another meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 27th, 6 PM at the Ponemah Boys & Girls Club; the third on Wednesday at the Red Lake Humanities Building for the Red Lake and Little Rock Districts; the fourth on Thursday, June 29th at the Minneapolis American Indian Center; and the fifth at the Ordean Building in Duluth.