Message from the Tribal Chair -- Oct. 1, 2012

Dear Tribal members:

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the membership for their support over the years in electing me to Tribal Council and the current Tribal Council for electing me as your new chairman.

On Sept. 12, in addition to my election as chair, Tribal Council voted Jack Giffen Jr. as your new vice chair and Toby McClary as your new secretary.

I have held an officer position for several of the 16 years of my service on Tribal Council and I am looking forward to this opportunity to represent you and the Tribe as your chair.

I think it is important to note that I do not see this change in leadership as a reflection on our former Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy. We have worked side by side for several years, but this is an opportunity I have wanted to pursue as a Tribal Council member. We, as a Tribe, should be proud that we have more than one Tribal Council member who is fit to represent the Tribe and Tribal people.

With this change in leadership, you may be asking yourself, "Is anything going to change?" I am only one of nine Tribal Council members, and realize that any ideas I have for change must be supported by at least four other Tribal Council members. With that said, I will be presenting ideas for change that I think will benefit the membership and the Tribe.

The first of those changes will be in regards to scheduling. It is my goal to have a quorum of Tribal Council members available five days a week. It is my recommendation to make changes to our policies that would allow for meetings to be scheduled five days a week. To meet this goal, it will be necessary to look at the scope of Tribal Council travel and revisit our travel needs. I personally have ideas about what I believe is necessary travel and I will be asking the opinion of the other Tribal Council members as well and hope that we can come to an arrangement that will allow for a quorum to be available five days a week.

I am a firm believer in having your house in order before you go out. I would like to see our Tribal Council as a whole prioritize attendance at Tribal Council and General Council meetings and at local Tribal events.

It is my belief that if we strive for a quorum five days a week and prioritize Tribal meetings and events, we will be prioritizing Tribal business and Tribal members, and that is how I believe it should be.

I believe the membership is ripe for change and I hope that in the months to come you will hear ideas from other Tribal Council members as well.

Thank you again for your support. I look forward to the challenges of this new role and am proud to be on the journey with all of you who have supported me throughout the years.

I also plan on submitting updates on Tribal Council business and Tribal progress every two months to Smoke Signals to help keep the Tribal membership informed about and involved in their Tribe.

Tribal Chairman Reyn Leno