Hereditary Chief Sumner appointed Tribal Secretary by Red Lake Tribal Council

RED LAKE, MN - At the Regular Tribal Council Meeting of July 11, 2017, the Red Lake Tribal Council appointed Hereditary Chief Darwin Sumner as Tribal Secretary until a successor is elected in 2018.

This elected tribal officer position became vacant when Tribal Secretary Donald Cook Sr. passed away at Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, ND in May of this year. His term would have expired in 2018.

Community meetings were held in all four reservation districts in June 2017, along with Minneapolis and Duluth Urban Offices, with the intent of giving the public an opportunity to provide guidance for the Council in making the decision of filling the vacancy or leaving it vacant, and how it was to be accomplished.

Of the Red Lake Constitution, in ARTICLE X REFERENDUM AND RECALL, Sec. 3, it reads:

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.

Sumner will hold the position until the results of the May 2018 Tribal Elections are certified by the Red Lake Election Board, which might be in May or August of 2018.

It was Cook's second term as Red Lake Tribal Secretary before his passing.