Tribal leaders were unable to stay focused during a two day full board meeting.

Starting Monday, August 26, 2024, the regular full board meeting hosted visitors from the State of Montana Fish and Game Department.

The visitors took up a large part of the morning, and provided the Tribal Executive Board with a catered lunch before offering them rides in the state helicopter. Tribal leaders and other employees were taken four at a time to the Poplar Airport and the flown to the Tribal Buffalo Ranch 17 miles north of Poplar. It was then the TEB decided to postpone the meeting until the next day so it adjourned at lunch that day.

Then the next day, the council was interrupted again by another visitor. The Tribal Employment Rights Office Director Barry Bighorn brought in Don Wetzel, Tribal Liason with the Montana Department of Labor and Industry to inform the council about what they have to offer.

He suggested the Tribes consider establishing a trade school for students who don’t want to attend college. (FACT: Fort Peck Community College teaches all of the trades he was referring to including carpentry, electrical, etc.)

The following are highlights from the two day meeting.

IHBG

The council voted to have Fort Peck Housing Authority to prepare and submit to the US Department of Housing And Urban Development a fiscal year 2024 IHBC Competitive Program grant application on behalf of the Tribes.

The wording of the first resolution was throwing off the council, mainly the phrase granting FPHA the “sole authority to prepare and submit.”

Councilman Bryce Kirk suggested the council take out the part with the wording “sole authority” because the last time it was used before and that particular phrase resulted in the Fort Peck being rejected for the grant.

Before taking the phrase out, Councilman Terry Rattling Thunder said every time the FPHA comes into meet with the council they are required to seek approval from the TEB. Tribal entities, no matter how much they grow, must ultimately find the approval from the tribal government. One time Fort Peck Community College was rejected from receiving Administration for Native American grants because they lacked a resolution of approval from the TEB.

Councilwoman Roxanne Gourneau said they require a resolution because the Tribes Planning Department was supposed to get these grants. The Tribes didn’t want to be competing with themselves for the grants, she said.

They need more staff here to work on these and to follow the policies that are in place. They are putting these in there then bypassing their policies and coming into the Council Chambers.

In one of these projects they are seeking to fund, there was a problem with an environmental assessment, Gourneau said. There is no depository for these kind of documents, and that particular project needed it right away. Fortunately, one of the employees knew where to find this document. Regardless of who is in the office, there needs to be a depository for the documents scattered around the Tribal offices.

The council approved the resolution 11-0, one absent.

Bills

Legal bills for the Tribes attorney’s in Washington DC were paid.

The council approved of paying the Sonosky & Chambers firm $27,545.64 for general legal counsel, Indian Child Welfare Act work, and work obtaining 638 contracts for Optometry and Audiology.

Prosecutor

Adrienne Weinberger was appointed as the lead Tribal Prosecutor Specialist.

Before the vote was taken, councilman Kirk said there are many complaints from the public about the number of people being released from jail because of deals the prosecutors are working with defendants.

Land

Tribal Head Start was approved for a lease in the Wolf Point area.

A land sale application from Kurtis Brown declaring interest and requesting appraisals was granted.

A fee-to-trust application for the undivided fee interest in the Michael D. Hope purchase for land on Roosevelt County was approved.

A fee-to-trust application for Richard K. Johnson’s land was approved for ultimate purchase of said land for the Tribes. This was also applied in separate motions for land for the Dewey C. Forsness Revocable Living Trust purchase; and another was approved for Martin J. Toavs and Sue E. Toaves purchase.

A fee-to-trust application was submitted for YDOC Land & Livestock purchase on behalf of the Tribes.

A fee-to-trust application was approved for the Wilbur Reid Box Elder purchase south of Poplar.

TSHIP

Tribal leaders approved the FY2025 budget and scope of work and approves the renewal of the Fort Peck Tribal Sponsorship Health Insurance Program contract with Indian Health Services as mature contract with an indefinite term of years and the Tribal Chairman/Vice Chairman being authorized to execute such documents as are required to negotiate the FY 2025 annual funding agreement and Scope of Work and to renew the TSHIP contract as mature effective FY 2025.

Tribal Health

Credit cards with a spending limit of $2,000 through Independence Bank were approved for the Tribal Health employees.

Dogs

The council authorized a memorandum of agreement between Fort Peck Housing Authority and the Tribal Health Animal Control services.

FPHA is supposed to have their own dog catcher to serve the Indian housing areas. Currently, there are only two animal control type units operating on the reservation: one of them being with Roosevelt County and the other being with the Tribes.

Call contract

The council approved a contract between the Fort Peck Tribes Call and Treatment Center and Rebecca Shriver in the amount of $30,000.

Dedication

The new building for the Tribal Diabetes Program is being named in memory of Mary Fullerton and Ron Adams.”

Recognition

The naming of the building located at 6021 George Washington Street in Poplar has been changed to formally recognize it as Catka Wiyan (Karen First Walk-Lizotte).

Water Resources

The council approved the Fort Peck Tribes Water Resources Office to submit the application request in the amount of $75,000 and authorized the Chairman to sign off on the work.

A related motion authorizes the Chairman to sign an addendum for a federal water management grant and scope of work for $25,000.

Granite Peak

Granite Peak Environmental LLC was approved for a three year contract with the Tribes to complete Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments for fee-to-trust land conveyances that the Chairman is authorized to sign on behalf of the Fort Peck Tribes.

ICWA

The Indian Child Welfare Act programs for the Fort Peck Tribes was approved for an additional $95,733 for the ICWA program, with a detailed breakdown of expenses such as salaries, office supplies, vehicle maintenance, and capitalized equipment. There is also mention of a part time position and grant for the mentioned amount.