Proposed Trust Document Revisions
Current events and the age of the present Delaware Trust Document has made it essential for revisions to bring the document up to date. The Trust Board has drafted a proposed revised document (see later in this issue) and is presenting it to all Delaware tribal members for comments. Once the comment period ends the document will be changed and put out for a vote.
This article contains historic information and an explanation regarding the changes proposed. The final draft will be on the ballot in November for ratification by tribal members. The comment period will end August 1, 2013 to allow time for final revisions. The document that will be on the ballot will be printed in the October DIN. All tribal members should carefully read this article and the proposed revised Trust Document.
The Trust Board has received some input from the Tribal Council, staff members and other Tribal members. Now we need more. In this edition of the DIN the Board is presenting a first draft of the proposed document to all tribal members for comments and recommendations. Address your comments to the Delaware Trust Board at 170 NE Barbara, Bartlesville, OK 74006, send an email to us at trustrevisions@delawaretribe.org, or come to one of the planned Town Hall meetings.
Three Town Hall meetings will be held in July. The first will be on July 13 at the Lewis B. Ketchum Sports Complex, 119 N. Ash, Chelsea, OK. The second will be July 20 at the Nowata City County Library (west room), 224 S Pine St., Nowata, OK. The third will be on July 27 at the Delaware Community Center, 5100 Tuxedo Blvd., Bartlesville, OK.
The meeting in Bartlesville will be online live. Comments and questions may be sent by email to trustrevisions@delawaretribe.org, and emails sent during the Bartlesville meeting will be addressed at that time.
All Town Hall meetings will start at 11 a.m. Stew, frybread and dessert will be served. Door prizes will be awarded at the end of the meeting. The main prize will be a $50 gas card, one at each meeting. There will be other door prizes as well.
History of the Proposed Changes
Recently proposals have been discussed to reduce the Trust Board to a five-member oversight committee, appointed by the Chief. Two Town Hall meetings were held in September 2012 regarding this idea. Those attending agreed that the Trust Document needed to be revised but the general consensus was to continue to elect the Trust Board members. The Trust Board took those concerns to heart and have developed a proposed revised document. We are presenting this document to the Delaware people for comments, suggestions and directions. Following the July 2013 Town Hall meetings, the Trust Board will consider comments received at the meetings and by mail or email, and make changes.
The following provides some background to help Tribal members in their consideration of this document.
In the 19th century, the Delaware people were moved from their reservation in Kansas to reside in the territory of the Cherokee Nation in accordance with Article II of the Delaware Agreement, dated April 8, 1867. The Delaware Tribe paid a sum of money to the Cherokee Nation in order to preserve their Delaware identity. There was also a payment for land for the people to own. The Delaware Tribe has continued to maintain a governing Council from then to the present.
Congressional Act 83 Stat. 447, 453, of December 26, 1969 appropriated the judgment funds in Dockets 72 and 298 for the Delaware Tribe of Indians. The Delaware people voted to retain 10% of the total funds to be held for tribal operations. It become expedient and necessary for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to release the 10% Judgment Funds provided for in the Act of Congress dated October 3, 1972, Public Law 92-456, 86 Stat. 762, 25 USC § 1294 (b). Tribal members voted to reserve 10% of the judgment funds and the rest was paid out per capita.
The Delaware Tribe maintained a government-to-government relationship with the United States until May 25, 1979, when the Tribal Council received a letter from the BIA removing the Delaware Tribe from the list of federally recognized tribes. The Delaware Tribe attempted from 1979 to 1989 to get the BIA and Congress to have that decision overturned.
Chief Lewis B. Ketchum met with Cherokee Chief Wilma Mankiller in 1990, and it was agreed that the Delaware Tribe was entitled to the 10% reserved for tribal operations from the judgment funds awarded by Congress in 1972. Both the Secretary of the Interior and the Cherokee Nation agreed not to interfere with the administration or use of these funds once an entity was established to administer the funds. The Delaware Tribe, working under a grant from Administration for Native Americans, developed the Trust Document. The document provided the powers to receive, invest and administer the judgment funds but would not have any governmental powers. It did not in any way indicate that the Delaware Tribe was federally recognized.
The Delaware people, in an election conducted by the Secretary of the Interior, ratified the Trust Document on September 21, 1990. The first Trust Board was seated in early 1991. Their first task was to develop a Master Plan to administer the funds for the benefit of the tribe. (The current Trust Document and Master Plan are on the Tribe’s website at www.delawaretribe.org.) The Master Plan was approved in the summer of 1991 and the Trust Board received the first funds on October 1, 1991.
In the eyes of the Delaware people the Constitution and Tribal Council continued to be our governing body and document. In 1996 Assistant Secretary of the Interior Ada Deer rescinded the action of the 1979 letter, putting the Delaware Tribe back on the list of federally recognized tribes. The Cherokee Nation quickly filed a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior and Assistant Secretary Deer. The Tulsa District Court ruled in favor of the DOI and the Delaware Tribe in 2002. The case then went to the 10th Circuit Court in Denver, and in November 2004 the earlier ruling was overturned. The Tribe was again removed from the list of federally recognized tribes.
The Tribe applied for recognition under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1934 (OIWA). Before the BIA would approve the OIWA application, a Memorandum of Agreement with the Cherokee Nation was required. The two tribes worked out an agreement basically requiring the Delaware Tribe to get approval from the Cherokee Nation before applying for grants, to not apply for any grants that the Cherokee Nation received funds for, to agree not to put land in Trust, and to forego developing gaming within the Cherokee Nation. Most monies received by the Delaware Tribe would go through the Cherokee Nation, though any Delaware tribal activities outside Cherokee jurisdiction would not come under the MOA.
The BIA conducted a Secretarial Election in July 2009 to ratify the Delaware Constitution, and by August the Delaware Tribe was back on the list of federally recognized tribes. The Delaware Tribe has moved forward rapidly since that time.
Now that the Delaware Tribe has a direct relationship with the Federal Government, the Trust Document needs to be updated and clarified.
In 1990 the Delaware Tribe needed a way to fund its daily operations; that is not the situation today. In light of that the Trust Document needs to be revised. The Trust Board has been operating under two documents, the Trust Document and Master Plan, which has caused confusion. The proposed revised document will combine them into one.
The proposed revisions clearly recognize the Chief and Delaware Tribal Council as the governing body. The Delaware Constitution is the governing document. The only authority the Trust Board has is to administer and protect the Trust Funds and any other funds assigned by the Delaware people and/or the Delaware Tribal Council. It is my wish that the Trust Board and Tribal Council may work together for the benefit of our people.
The Delaware people adopted the Trust Board and Trust Document to administer and protect the judgment funds, set up programs with the funds to assist Delaware people, to promote Delaware culture, and more. The Supreme Authority of the Delaware Tribe of Indians is vested in the tribal members. The Chief and Tribal Council is the governing body elected by the people. The Trust Board elected by the Delaware people is tasked with administering the judgment funds.
How the Trust Board fits in the Tribe’s organizational chart is a little vague. Should the Trust Board be under the direct supervision of the Tribal Council, or on an even plane with the Council? Should the Trust Board send reports to the Tribal Council? Should the Council be able to overrule Trust Board decisions regarding the funds or programs? This decision rests with the Delaware people.
So here is a summary of the changes to the Trust Document that we propose.
Proposed Trust Document Revisions
ARTICLE I – AUTHORITY
The Trust Board’s duty is to administer judgment funds, existing or future, donations, grants, fundraisers etc. as directed by the Delaware people. The Trust programs operate on the annual interest earned by investments. Each year 10% of the interest is returned to the principal.
The Trust Board and Trust programs will make an annual report to General Council instead of conducting a separate meeting than Tribal Council.
Each Trust program will submit an annual budget to the Treasurer, then with assistance from Accounting, will prepare an overall budget. In the current Trust Document, the people must vote on the annual budget. Any budget presented for a vote in November cannot be actual, it must be estimated.
Currently the budget is estimated based on the first six months of investment earnings and doubled to get the budget total. In the proposed document (Article I F number 10 B), the budget will be presented to the Delaware people on the website and in the DIN as soon as all financial reports have been received and the budget prepared. This should be completed by February or March.
The Trust Board’s fiscal year is January 1 to December 31, presenting the budget in January will give an accurate financial picture.
ARTICLE III – PROGRAM PLAN
This is where the provisions of the Master Plan have been inserted. Most of this article mirrors the current master plan.
ARTICLE III – E – PROGRAM PLAN DISTRIBUTION
There are changes in this section. In the original plan the committees of Economic Development and Land Management have been replaced with Elders and Veterans Committees. Both of these committees will receive 5% of the annual interest. The funds left in Economic Development will be divided among the remaining committees. Land Management is largely a tribal function. Oversight of the cemeteries will transfer to Cultural Preservation. Community Services will increase to 30%, Education to 25%, Tribal Operations 15%, and Reinvestment 10%. Tribal Operation funds will go to the Accounting department to pay for Board expenses such as staff support, accounting support and other routine expenses. All funds allotted to Reinvestment are kept in the principal to grow the funds.
ARTICLE III – F – PROGRAM PARAMETERS
This section explains each program.
ARTICLE IV – ELECTION OF TRUST BOARD
The article remains essentially the same except for E, changing the election to even years to coincide with the Tribal Council Election. This is an effort to save Trust Board money. The Trust Board will pay half instead of all the election expenses.
ARTICLE V – REMOVAL FROM OFFICE
This article adds definition to the allowed reasons for an excused absence.
The remainder of the document remains nearly the same as the current document.
At the March 4, 2013 Trust Board meeting Joe Brooks moved to change the Trust Board’s fiscal year (October 1 to September 30) to a calendar year (January 1 to December 31). The motion was approved. This action was taken to eliminate a potential problem arising when the Trust Board changed from a calendar to a fiscal year in 2012. Accounting informed the Board that the changes needed in accounting procedures would require rewriting their software and the cost would be up to $1,600. The Board decided this expense would not be necessary.
The Trust Board has decided not to put Trust Board candidates on the November 2013 ballot. The only item will be the revised Trust Document. Joe Brooks presented a motion at the June 3, 2013 Trust Board meeting to extend the terms of the Trust Board members by one year to accommodate changing the election year from odd to even. Board members who would be up for election in 2015 will not have to run until 2016. The motion was approved with one no vote.
There are other issues that have not yet been resolved.
1. Should the Trust Board be elected by the people or appointed by the Chief and Tribal Council?
2. Should Tribal Council members serve on the Trust Board also?
3. Should there be a provision in the Trust Document and or the Constitution allowing or prohibiting someone from serving on both bodies?
4. Should the Tribe hire an outside vote-counting company using machines to count the votes? Or should the Tribal Election Board handle all aspects of an election, including counting the votes by hand?
5. Should tribal members be required to request absentee ballots? Or should every voter receive a ballot in the mail?
These are just a few questions to consider. There are likely to be more as you read the document.
I urge all tribal members to carefully consider all the proposed changes and please, let us know what you believe is best for the Delaware Tribe. Send your comments to trustrevisions@delawaretribe.org. If you have questions before submitting your comments, you may reach me at 918-521-2770 or vcrawford@delawaretribe.org.
Wanishi
D5 Creation