Voices of the Elders planning meeting, July 15 at Cohen Home in Pine Ridge

PINE RIDGE – The opening prayer of the planning meeting of the Voices of the Elders was given by Jackie Siers, the Representative for the Wakpamni District, asking for the good of the meeting and the prayers of the people to be answered. Roger Iron Cloud gave words of encouragement stating that in this age of uncertainty we need to be strong for the unborn yet to come. Our thoughts and prayers together form one unified request as everyone has their individual part to play in this massive effort.

Richard Broken Nose and Linda Bull Bear are distributing posters for the Voices of the Elders meetings. People confirmed the problems with the radio station in Gordon, NE. There are also issues in arranging for meals to be served at the monthly meetings.

Committee member’s state that there has not been a housing board meeting for the housing office in quite a while which they say is frustrating and undermines the well-being of all nine districts. They claim the governing body cannot get a quorum due to lack of attendance. Back in March of 2024 Health and Human Services was not getting answers to their questions and the department was being mismanaged. Their director and comptroller were let go. Funds came in during COVID quarantines so people were hired and the department chose to keep these employees after the period of quarantines was over, exacerbating the existing tribal government.

Committee members called for the creation of a five member housing board to be formed immediately and draw up a resolution putting new staff in place. A ten year strategic financial plan needs to be put in place they state, covering security, carpentry and engineering with the housing board focusing on real issues. They believe there is a history of people on this board doing nothing and that must change.

The committee claims that the Oglala Sioux Tribe Housing Program received $7 million dollars from the Department of the Treasury during this time and that it was put into the general fund and spent on more than 20 new trucks, paying bills, traveling and other expenses. “People were giving themselves bonuses and raises. Everyone had a vehicle except the janitor and the telephone operator,” they said.

They also claim HUD told the Oglala Sioux Tribe that they were top heavy in terms of employees and that they were ruining tribal housing and that HUD asked for their funds to be returned. The Oglala Sioux Tribe took out a loan in order to repay the funds to HUD.

The possibility of going into receivership was discussed.

The committee members discussed instituting a constitutional reform and gathering enough signatures for it to pass. The question of the Oglala Sioux Tribe going into receivership was discussed as a means of reorganizing the structure of tribal government on Pine Ridge. The comment was made that every department violates their By-Laws and that the leadership was out of control. It was pointed out that the Black Feet Tribe in Montana changed their entire governmental structure and had some tribal council members removed.  The Voices of the Elders members are squarely in favor of reducing the number of tribal council members from 21 to 9.  This reduction would provide the residents of the nine districts additional funds for each district for important repairs and expenses for their communities.

Candidates for the position of Chief of Police were discussed and the committee agreed that representative from Voices of the Elders needed to be present at the interviews the following day.

On Saturday, July 20^th at the meeting of Voices of the Elders held in the Red Shirt District, the Tribal Council Financial Accountability Resolution was voted on and passed.  The resolution requests all 21 tribal council members and the executive board to submit documentation of the number of tribal council meetings they have attended for their two-year term period from 2022 to 2024 and submit expenditures of general assistance for the same period of time.  This resolution will encourage transparency and accountability for all council members.  The deadline to submit expenditures is October 4^th, 2024.  This date is one month prior to this year’s election.

On August 14^th, 2024 an open meeting of the Voices of the Elders will be held at the Prairie Wind Casino from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Lunch will be served.  The committee is asking for everyone who has already attended one of the district meetings plus those interested in learning about the committee but have not attended a meeting as of yet to join them on Wednesday, August 14^th.  This is a critical gathering of Elders who want to see a real and lasting change occur in the lives of the residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Voices of the Elders Committee has their own radio show on KILI Radio Monday mornings at 8 a.m.  Please make it a point to tune and to be brought up to speed on the pressing issues being discussed at these meetings.  Lasting change can only come with active resident participation.

Voices of the Elders can be reached at WTOmniciye@gmail.com

 

(Contact Mia Feroleto at mia.feroleto@gmail.com)

 

 

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