Minutes: February 6, 2019

SAC AND FOX TRIBE OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN IOWA

Tribal Council Meeting – February 6, 2019, 5:00 PM

Sac and Fox Tribal Chambers

  1. Meeting called to order at 5:09 m.
  2. Roll Call

Presiding Officer:  Anthony Waseskuk, Chairman

Tribal Council present:  Adrian Pushetonequa, Vice-Chairman; Delonda Pushetonequa, Treasurer; Jarvis Bear; Harvey Davenport, Jr.

Absent: Apollo Davenport, Troy Wanatee

Staff present:  Bessie Scott, Executive Director; Yolanda Pushetonequa, Tribal Council Non-Voting Secretary and Executive Assistant; Tamara Mauskemo, Administrative Assistant; Chris Spencer, Grants Contractor.

Visitors: Alex Brewington

  1. Ascertainment of Quorum – A quorum was ascertained with 5 council members present.
  2. Agenda approval

The Chairman asked for any changes or additions to the agenda. Motion made by Delonda Pushetonequa to approve the agenda as presented. Adrian Pushetonequa seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 0 no. Motion carried.

  1. Minutes – January 23, 2019

Motion by Delonda Pushetonequa to approve the minutes from January 23, 2019. Jarvis Bear seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 0 no. Motion carried.

  1. Reports – Delonda Pushetonequa reports that John Mooers of Blue Stone contacted her to ask if the Tribe would be requesting any assistance from Blue Stone for Hemp issues. Delonda advised him that the council has not met since the last meeting. Bessie can call John tomorrow. Jarvis Bear reports that he has heard an issue that arose regarding the payout of tribal contributions to the Geography Club. Adrian Pushetonequa reports that the Enrollment Committee is planning a meeting of their own plus a TC work session is on their calendar for February 13.
  2. New Business

a. Liquor License Hearing – Iowa Beverage Distributors

Alex Brewington with Iowa Beverage Systems is present to request the renewal of their liquor license. They distribute many product lines and have served as a distributor since the beginning of alcohol sales, previously under the name Fleck Sales Co. however they were recently purchased by Iowa Beverage Systems October 2018 and now operating under that name.

Motion by Jarvis Bear to approve the liquor license for Iowa Beverage Distributors. Adrian Pushetonequa seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 0 no. Motion carried.

b. Executive – Resolution Authorizing Submission of Application to DOJ Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) Grant.

Chris Spencer presents the request for approval to apply for Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation Grant to provide funding toward two sub-areas: Area 1 and Area 3. The grant is pursued yearly and in the past covered the Conservation Officer for MNR, temp housing for violence victims, and a Madac employee. Under this year’s application, one area would provide funding toward the COPS program toward hardware and software of a dispatch service. It wouldn’t cover staffing of a dispatch center. Chris notes that that if fees could be collected through services, the fees would cover all future costs of the dispatch service. Another section of the grant would cover costs for the Court. Another section of the grant would go toward a Meskwaki Wellness Curriculum to be used with the youth. This curriculum is already start on by the Youth Program. There is no cost share with CTAS. The application is due February 27th.

Motion by Jarvis Bear to table the approval of CTAS until further discussion with MNPD. Delonda Pushetonequa seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 0 no. Motion carried.

c. Retirement Plan Changes

i. Resolution Amending the Sac and Fox Tribe Governmental Retirement Plan (457(B)Plan).

ii. Resolution Amending the Sac & Fox Casino Retirement Plan

Azadeh Tavakoli, Human Resources Director, presents for approval two resolutions that would amend the retirement plans to include language about vesting, to fulfill the change in the overall plan. In the beginning we went to a 457B plan because we were trying to separate the two original 401k plans between the tribal workers and the casino. The for profit plan and the governmental workers plan should have been separated but they weren’t so they used this method to separate them out. However, the 457 plan has been discovered not to be allowable for tribal governments, though it was suggested this way by SNB. Many tribes are in this similar situation, and we need this language in order to switch back to the 401k.

Motion by Jarvis Bear to approve Resolution 5-2019 Amending the Sac and Fox Tribal Government Retirement Plan (457(B)Plan) and Resolution 6-2019 Amending the Sac & Fox Casino Retirement Plan. Delonda Pushetonequa seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 0 no. Motion carried.

a. Preliminary Review of Emergency Public Safety Overtime Policy

Azadeh Tavakoli presents a draft of a proposed policy that would address Over-Time for essential staff who must work additional or non-business hours to get feedback from Council as this is under development. This comes up to do various questions and issues have arisen regarding Overtime, Comp-Time, flexing, and admin leave and what is best way to handle this for essential staff. No action is needed today. Azadeh will work on this with Fiscal and Executive and try to have info at the next TC meeting.

b. Set the Date for the Tribal Audit

Discussion about when the audit should be set. Chairman notes that he would suggest that additional times be available prior to the week of powwow to let local members complete their audit sooner.

Motion by Delonda Pushetonequa to set the date of the Tribal Audit for August 5-10, 2019. Adrian Pushetonequa seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 0 no. Motion carried.

  1. Adjourn

Motion made by Delonda Pushetonequa to adjourn. Adrian Pushetonequa seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 0 no. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 6:21 p.m.