Stop blaming a wayward tribal chairman and get the job done

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe is not taking care of business.

 

The tribal council is the governing body which is responsible for ensuring that tribal operations are being conducted properly.

 

Yet, how can business be conducted when meeting after meeting is either being cancelled or fails to reach or maintain a quorum?

 

Word is that many tribal programs are scrambling to hand carry petition resolutions around to gather tribal council representative signatures in order for business to carry on.

 

Petition resolutions are an extremely poor way to run a tribe.

 

The tribal chairman has cancelled numerous meetings for a variety of reasons. Of course, it is within his authority to cancel as many meetings as he pleases.

 

Still, when tribal programs and day-to-day operations begin to suffer because the governing body is not tending to business — we would do well to demand our tribal council representatives to get their collective you-know-what in gear.

 

Tribal officials belong in the council chambers tending to the business we elected them to take care of for the people.

 

Consequently, tribal members should know that all your elected representatives still get paid whether meetings are cancelled or not. The lack of a quorum to conduct business does not affect their paycheck. There is no such thing as leave without pay for your elected officials.

 

Furthermore, I fail to see why the tribal vice-chairman is not being allowed to preside over meetings when the tribal chairman is off on one of his many business trips. Tribal interests are supposedly being represented when the wayward chairman drives off the Rez or boards an airplane for DC.

 

There are no benefits which I can see offsetting all this money being spent on travel by those people whom we elected to office.  

 

Another question which many of us have asked is this — where are the tribal council representatives during all of these cancellations? Many of us listen to them complain about how many meetings are called off. We hear them bemoan about how they cannot get anything done.

 

A lot is being blamed on the wayward tribal chairman.

 

Yet, being the elected representatives that they are, it seems as though they could get past the blame game. The tribal chairman is only one person.

 

Would the governing body please take the initiative to voluntarily gather at the tribal council chambers to request a meeting be conducted by the vice-chairman?

 

Please stop making excuses.

 

Please stop blaming one another for cancellations.

 

The tribal membership needs business to be taken care of. Now. Today. You can consider this a directive to have as much meetings as it takes to finish up all of the tribal business which has been neglected for so very long.

 

Real leaders will stop blaming a wayward tribal chairman.

 

Real leaders won’t give excuses.

 

Real leaders won’t offer a myriad of complaints justifying how their hands are tied.

 

Real leaders will step up and get the job done.

 

Now.