SAC AND FOX TRIBE OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN IOWA

Tribal Council Meeting – November 26, 2019, 5:00 PM

Sac and Fox Tribal Chambers

1. Meeting called to order at 5:16 m.
2. Roll Call

Presiding Officer: Dawson Davenport, Chairman

Tribal Council present: Drayton Roberts, Vice-Chairman; Delonda Pushetonequa, Treasurer; Members: Clinton Bear, Zane Old Bear, Eric Kapayou

Absent: Jarvis Bear

Staff present: Bessie Scott, Executive Director; Jay Finch, Attorney General; Bill Thurman, Comptroller; Tamara Mauskemo, Tribal Council Secretary,

Beverly Roberts, Adolph Bear, Nicole Kapayou, Travis Bear, Clydene Bear, Yolanda Pushetonequa, Avis Bear,

3. Ascertainment of Quorum – A quorum was ascertained with 6 council members
4. Agenda approval

The Chairman asked for any changes or additions to the agenda. Motion made by Delonda Pushetonequa to approve the agenda as presented. Drayton Roberts seconded. Vote: 5 yes, 0 no. Motion carried.

5. Minutes –

Motion made by Drayton Roberts to approve the minutes for November 13, 2019. Clinton Bear seconded. Vote: 5 yes, 0 no. Motion carried.

6. Reports – Approved Council to Travel to 8A did not attend, too short of
7. Old Business-Legislative Updates-Tom Jochum-Tama County refuses to prosecute non-natives arrested on the settlement. Richard Vander Mey dismisses cases from the settlement and Tama County prosecutor won’t prosecute the cases. Jay Finch and Tom Jochum have been working with the Iowa attorney general will hire a prosecutor to prosecute non-natives arrested on the settlement. Vote was made to release funding to help with costs surrounding this. Pete Grady is hoping to shed light on Richard Vander Mey behavior. Work session will be set up to go over online gaming and other governmental issues.

8. New Business Community Requests

Delonda Pushetonequa motioned to go into executive session. Clinton Bear seconded. Vote: 5 yes, 0 no. Council entered executive session at 5:50 pm.

Delonda Pushetonequa motioned to come out of executive session. Drayton Roberts seconded. Vote: 5 yes, 0 no. Council exited executive session at 7:31 pm.

1. Serei Bear and Adolph Bear-Harassment Issue

Motion by Drayton for an emergency exclusion of Thomas Butler. Clinton seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 0 no 1 abstain (Delonda Pushetonequa). Motion Carried

Motion by Drayton for emergency exclusion of Aaron Dolash. Clinton seconded. Vote 5 yes, 0 no. Motion carried.

1. Kruze Everett Keahna-Audit/Enrollment Request

Motion by Delonda Pushetonequa to reinstate Kruze Everett Keahna for enrollment. Seconded. Vote: 5 yes, 0 no. Motion carried.

Department Requests

1. Housing Committee Recommendations

Motion by Drayton Roberts to approve recommended homesite of 505 Red Earth Drive to be assigned to Melanie Wabaunasee. Clinton Bear seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 0 no, 1 abstained (Delonda Pushetonequa). Motion carried.

Motion by Delonda Pushetonequa to approve recommended homesite of 307 Deerfield Crossing to Diahann Wanatee. Drayton Roberts seconded.  Vote: 5 yes, 0 no. Motion carried.

Motion by Delonda Pushetonequa to approve recommended homesite of 110 Deerfield Crossing to be assigned to Tyrell Roberts. Eric Kapayou seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 0 no. 1 abstained (Drayton Roberts). Motion carried.

Motion by Delonda Pushetonequa to approve recommended homesite of 459 Red Earth Drive to be assigned to Tiara Roberts. Clinton Bear seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 0 no. 1 abstained (Drayton Roberts). Motion carried.

Motion by Delonda Pushetonequa to approve recommended home site of 111 East Village Road to Lauryn Keahna. No Second was made.

Council asked how many children and if they are enrolled members. Jon Keen, Realty Officer informs that the applicant has two children and they are not enrolled members. Also asked was how many bedrooms the house has. Jon Keen states there are 3. Housing Committee member Yolanda Pushetonequa states all new builds will have 3 bedrooms and all new applicants will be getting three-bedroom homes. Delonda Pushetonequa reminds the Council that women are eligible for tribal housing if aged 25 or older and not cohabitating. Eric Kapayou asks how old the applicant is. Jon Keen advises over the applicant’s age. Yolanda Pushetonequa, explains how the applicant meets the minimum age requirement. Chairman asks for a Second to the motion. No Second is made and Council members shake their heads indicating ‘no.’ Delonda Pushetonequa asks, “you’re only going to let certain women have houses?” Yolanda Pushetonequa asks what the issue is and if there is resistance to this applicant. Community member, Christina Blackcloud states that she would like to know the reason (for no support for this applicant). Drayton Roberts states that the “the other rooms could be for enrolled children… all these houses should be for enrolled children first.” Delonda Pushetonequa states that this applicant is enrolled. Drayton Roberts reiterates that the applicant’s children are not enrolled. Yolanda Pushetonequa states that the children must live with their mother. Drayton Roberts states, “the way the policies are, the people getting excluded are males who don’t work or who have charges. Men could be put in these houses.” Delonda Pushetonequa states, “most of the men are already in the houses.” Drayton Roberts states, “but there could be more. There could be enrolled kids in there.” Yolanda Pushetonequa agrees and states, “when they apply and qualify, she just happens to be next in line.” Yolanda Pushetonequa reminds Council that the applicant qualifies and that all houses will be three bedrooms going forward, included single persons. Whether she has children or not, she’ll be eligible.”

Drayton Roberts seconds the motion.

Community member, Beverly Roberts states, “Say something, you wanted to be on Council, but you’re just sitting there. Who changed the law, you should go with the Constitution, it’s right there.” Zane Old Bear states, “I’m not comfortable with it. It could be enrolled children.”

Vote: 1 yes, 4 no. Motion carried.

Community member, Christina Blackcloud requests the reason why they voted that way. Yolanda Pushetonequa states, “She qualifies, why would you deny that? This is outrageous.” Clinton Bear states, “That’s how we believe, that’s what we were taught growing up.” <Inaudible> Yolanda Pushetonequa asks, “What is the teaching that would keep her from having a house?” Clinton Bear states, “Um, her kids aren’t enrolled? This is for the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa. And they are descendants.” Christina Blackcloud states, “Since 1937 it’s been Sac and Fox Tribe. Being traditional Meskwaki is different.” Clinton Bear states, “We grew up here.” “Exactly,” Christina Blackcloud said. “Melanie has children who are not enrolled, but she was assigned a house tonight,” Yolanda Pushetonequa stated. Eric Kapayou stated, “She’s almost 55, she’s an elder.”

Yolanda Pushetonequ stated that by the policy, which sets elder group at age 60, she is not elder. Eric Kapayou stated he would like to go back to the policies to what it used to be. Christina Blackcloud states, “Go back to the Constitution, revisit that.” “Yes,” stated Eric Kapayou. Yolanda Pushetonequa stated, “The Constitution states that someone’s sex shall not make them ineligible for housing. So you’re going against the Constitution which you swore to defend.” Clinton Bear states, “I’m just going by how I grew up, how I was raised by my grandparents, my parents, and that’s how I believe.”

Yolanda Pushetonequa states, “You’re going against the policy and the Constitution. How can you vote that way?” Eric Kapayou stated that he tells his daughters that. Housing Committee member, Anneka Davenport stated, “Yeah, not to be with a man, but Lauryn’s not cohabitating. She’s not with a non-enrolled man, and that’s what the policy says.” Yolanda Pushetonequa asks, “what is it that you tell your daughters and how does that impact Lauryn’s eligibility for housing?” Drayton Roberts states that the next people on the list could have the house. Realty Officer, Jon Keen, advises that the next applicant on the list qualifies for a bigger home, a four bedroom and the next applicant after that will be shown homes next week after his application is approved. Delonda Pushetonequa states that there will be more houses built next year, it’s not finite the number of homes we have.

Beverly Roberts stated, “My folks told me if you ever marry a man not from this place, you go where he is from.” Christina Blackcloud states, “What I was told was that back in the day, where he was from referred to the other side of the village.” Oliviah Walker states, “And there are even provisions in the Constitution to adopt the children of single women.” Christina Blackcloud stated, “The fact is that Lauryn qualifies for housing. We have to comply with our codes and it starts with the Council” Delonda Pushetonequa stated, “you can’t pick and choose what Codes you want to follow.” Nicole Kapayou states, “you can’t force them to.” “But that’s the rule,” Delonda Pushetonequa responded. Nicole Kapayou asks, if Lauryn was next on the list. Delonda Pushetonequa confirmed that she was and there are no elders on the list. Yolanda Pushetonequa summarized, “Her application was approved by the Council, it has been approved for awhile.” Avis Bear-Bass stated, “My application was approved since 2012 and I was never assigned a house.” Discussion took place to update the Council on the history of the current Policy revisions and that it was reviewed by the Council line by line, it took one year of work sessions, the Code was updated with it,

Yolanda Pushetonequa, “There is a misconception in the community that women under age 55 don’t qualify for housing…There is no policy that keeps a woman from having a homesite, that has never the case, in fact it was a woman’s land assignment that we are sitting on; Bonnie Buffalo gave the tribe this land assignment so we could build the tribal center. There has never been a time when a woman couldn’t have a land assignment. Only if they’re married to an outsider and in that case we wouldn’t approve their application.” Delonda Pushetonequa stated, “It just happens that women never got houses before because they were at the bottom. There are 300 houses and they’re mostly filled with men and elders. Women are a part of this community too, women are enrolled, and they have rights too.” Oliviah Walker stated that we are increasing capacity to build new homes and expand. If the value is to build separate but equal down the road, it’s a possibility, but this is where we are at right now. We’re following everything that we’re supposed to, to get to this point. Eric Kapayou stated, “we should probably look at the policies and ask the people what they want.” Chairman asked if this is what the Council wants to do.

Motion by Eric Kapayou to table Lauryn Keahna’s home site assignment and the pending housing applications. Zane Old Bear seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 1 no (Delonda Pushetonequa). Motion carried.

Motion by Delonda Pushetonequa to approve the application of Milo Buffalo III along with the assigned homesite of 294 Deerfield Crossing as the beneficiary. Drayton Roberts seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 1 no (Clinton Bear). Motion carried.

Motion by Delonda Pushetonequa to approve the application of Becky Youngbear along with the assignment of the homesite of 363 Sac and Fox Road as the beneficiary. Vote: 4 yes, 1 no (Clinton Bear). Motion carried.

1. Hemp- Facility Location

Motion by Clinton to approve hemp location 13M228. Eric Kapayou seconded. Vote: 5 yes, 0 no. Motion carried.

Council recommended Hemp department to hold contest for hemp company name.

1. Rec Center Committee-Tribal Economic Development Bond Application Motion by Delonda Pushetonequa to approve chairman to sign application. Drayton Roberts seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 1 no (Eric Kapayou). Motion

Motion by Delonda Pushetonequa to approval submittal of pre application for the clean water grant. Clinton Bear seconded. Vote 4 yes, 1 no (Eric Kapayou). Motion carried.

1. Council Travel-MJ Biz Con

Motion by Zane Old Bear to approve Dawson Davenport, Drayton Roberts, Zane Old Bear, Clinton Bear. Clinton Bear seconded. Vote: 5 yes, 0 no. Motion carried.

Roles and Responsibilities of Tribal Boar and Council Members

Motion by Clinton Bear to approve. Delonda Pushetonequa seconded. Vote: 5 yes, 0 no. Motion carried.

Next meeting-12/18/19 General Meeting-1/29/2020

9. Adjourn

Motion made by Delonda Pushetonequa to adjourn. Drayton seconded. Vote: 4 yes, 0 no (Eric left the room). Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 9:51 p.m.