Trust Board Information
Wanishi Wuli Kishku Nipan – Thanks For This Good Summer Day:
You will remember from April, 2013 DIN that Delaware Trust Board has tirelessly worked for the past many months on revisions to our Trust Document and Master Trust Plan. The final draft of the purposed changes is addressed in this edition of Delaware Indian News. Trust Board Vice Chair Verna Crawford and Trust Members Bonnie Jo Griffith and John Sumpter have all submitted articles in this DIN regarding this purposed change. The Trust Board invites all members to review this purposed document and plan, and submit your suggestions or desired changes to it. We want all the suggestions we can get as the new Trust Document and Plan will have to be approved by referendum vote of our adult voting membership in November.
Town Hall meetings will be held in July seeking input from tribal members on the new document and plan. These are to be held at Chelsea on July 13th, Nowata on July 20th and Bartlesville on July 27th. Food and drinks will be provided at each meeting and door prizes will be drawn. Please plan to attend one or more of these Town Meetings and let your voice be heard. If you cannot attend any of these Town Meetings let us hear your thoughts and concerns about the new Document and Plan by email, letters or phone.
My personal thoughts on this Trust Document and Plan change are as follows: I and all other current Trust Board Members acknowledge and believe that our Constitution and Tribal Council are the Delaware Tribe’s governing document and governing body since 1982. If we did not believe that why would we have continued to make Constitutional Amendments and elect a Tribal Council particularly in the years 1991-96 and unfortunately again between 2004-09? Or why would Council and Trust Board Members take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the Delaware Tribe of Indians? The Trust Board knows that it has the very limited authority to act only as “Trustees” in the expenditure of our “Trust Funds.” The Trust Board also knows that our “Adult Voting Membership is the Supreme Authority” in the Delaware Tribe, that the Adult Voting Membership voted to continue our funds in trust in 2011, and that town meetings in 2012 expressed our peoples wish to continue “electing” Trust Board members.
Now, none of the facts stated in the above paragraph should be taken to mean there is no room for change in the Trust Document and Plan. The Tribal Council would gain 15% of the annual Trust interest instead of the 10% the original document provided. In addition, the Trust would pay for its own annual audit, saving tribal administration another $5,000-7,000. Holding Trust elections on even years, same as Council elections, will save $7,000-12,000 every two years. In addition the new plan would increase Community Service, Cultural Preservation, Elder and Veteran Committee funding by 5% each. I see all of these changes as positive. Please respond by letting us know how you see them.
Thanks for your attention and response to the purposed document-plan.
Chet Brooks
Trust Board Chairman
achilenape@yahoo.com
918-397-1161
D5 Creation