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S
ota
I
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Y
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Y
api - www.earthskyweb.com/sota.htm - Anpetu Iyamni, Oct. 3, 2018
Page 9
business over here … well we’re
taking a chance on an outside
business too, so why not take a
chance on our own people? Because
we deserve that right as Tribal
members, to look out for one
another.”
“So I do believe that creating
another construction management
is not only going to benefit the
Tribe … (but) our projects will
be overseen by our own Tribal
members, and it’ll also create jobs
for our membership.”
Martha: “This is another
question for the Vice-Chairman
candidates. Reviewing and
evaluating financial projections and
reports are part of the duties of the
position you are running for. Please
briefly summarize your education
and experience in understanding
these reports.”
Danielle: “I have an accounting
background, kind of … one of my
fortes.”
“I’ve worked for the Tribe
for 11 years doing nothing but
financials.”
“I worked very closely with our
finance office, our CFO.”
“I’ve helped them with reports
to North Dakota for our Section
7 money, reconciling ... I’ve also
helped other departments with their
budgets.”
“I believe that all our
departments all have accountability
with the check accounts.”
“And worked very closely with
getting to know the accounting
manual.”
“I know when we very first,
a few years back, brought up the
OMB Circular.”
“We’ve always had the OMB
Circular, it’s just that they made a
couple of changes.”
“I do have an Associates Degree
in General Studies, Associates
Degree in Business Administration,
and in ten weeks I’ll be graduating
with my Bachelors Degree in
Business Management with an
emphasis in Marketing. As I’m
going to school online right now….”
“I do feel that I do have a lot of
knowledge and ability, and I know
a lot of people who have worked for
the Tribe know that I’m capable.”
“When it comes to numbers,
it’s a whole different game plan for
me.”
“It comes easy for me, and so
I just wanted to let you guys know
that I do know our accounting
manual.”
“I
also did taxes for small
contractors when they were working
for the Tribe, doing projects
here. I’ve helped out numerous
contractors with their taxes, and
individuals with their taxes also.”
Floyd: “One of my first
supervisory jobs was as a bartender
down in Dakota Sioux back in the
day.”
“And my boss at the time
wasn’t very good at numbers so she
always gave me the budgets to work
with … do the end of the month
inventory, that type of stuff.”
“The next jobs after that, I’ve
always had to work with some sort
of budgets.”
“Being ... food and beverage
director at the Magic.”
“Being general manager at a
manufacturing plant.”
“Being the Housing Authority
director, and now in the Vice-
Chairman’s office.”
“So, working the budgets, I
have no problem.”
“The Tribe … has a great
Finance staff. They’re very
knowledgeable.”
“There’s a lot of people that
have a lot of knowledge, and it
makes my job a lot easier to do
when you have people who know
what they’re doing, so you don’t
have to go back and fix mistakes
….”
“We’ve got a great Finance staff
to help me out with some of the
decision-making stuff.”
Martha: “This next one, I’m
not really sure it’s a question but it’s
an observation and I’d like to have
people give their opinion on it.”
“Tribal employees get off a
lot of days for certain funerals,
activities, etc. In the business world,
you get annual leave for personal
things like that, or grievance leave.
This person has commented that
we waste a lot of money with paid
leave. This is for any of you.”
Michael: “This is an interesting
question. But I’ve dealt with it
before on several terms.”
“We have grown so big as a
Tribal organization that when you
give off an hour of administrative
leave … probably a calculation as
to what that cost is to government.
And I think, in retrospect, it would
be nice if the current administration
would have Payroll do a study on
the actual cost for the past year on
administrative leave.”
“I think you’ll find out that
that cost is probably very exorbitant,
and you’re going to have to weigh
that against the merits of the reasons
you let employees off.”
“I know there are objections
to homecomings, for example, and
shutting down government.”
“That, in my day, wasn’t
allowed.”
“… I’m not criticizing, but
I would tighten up the policy on
administrative leave.”
“And if I’m not mistaken, the
Tribe’s personnel policies, approved
by Tribal Council, define what
administrative leave is and what it
can be used for. And I think that’s
where we need to tighten up the
policy. I would, but that’s just me.”
Dave: “There are some
unwritten rules that we’ve inherited
as Tribal leadership.”
“Just stating the facts.”
“I can say that just recently,
Executive Committee made
a decision to allow our Tribal
members that ... like I said, it was
an unwritten rule and it’s before
our administrations, going back
… we didn’t give off for Wilmot
homecoming, and we about got
clobbered up there.”
“But I did anyway.”
“But we let some of the people
that their granddaughter, grandson
and other family members that
wanted to be treated equally ... and
we did at Tiospa Zina and (those)
with kids in the Sisseton Public
Schools … and give them that
avenue of leave off.”
“But I told the Vice-Chairman
if I could that we weren’t going
to shut down the whole Tribe for
Wilmot.”
“And, you know, we’re damned
if we do and damned if we don’t.”
“I can say that we didn’t just
give off an admin day because of
homecoming at every school, so I’m
very proud of that.”
“I feel we did tighten the belt
up a little bit.”
“Snow storms, that’s another
one we get clobbered with. You
know, the casino workers still have
to work, the Western still has to
work, Tribal police still have to
work.”
“And yet Tribal administration
buildings get shut down.”
“And those are things that
do need to be fixed, so I wouldn’t
disagree with that.”
“How do we fix it?”
“Like Mike said, we got to
tighten up the belt.”
“It’s hard to recondition your
Tribal workforce when they’re so
conditioned to being given days
off like that, so it’s a very tough
challenge.”
“We didn’t have an employee
appreciation day this year and that’s
because of funding, but we did give
them a day off for that employee
appreciation.”
Ella, “I know that there’s a lot
of complaints. I came to the Tribe
… however many miles and they’re
shut down. So when you don’t ...
and, mind you, I worked at the
Tribe, so I benefited from the days
off.”
“But when we’re
talking about
dollars and cents, you know what,
we’re around $40,000 a day for the
Tribe to be shut down?”
“That’s a lot of money.”
“And with respect to our past
leadership and when they pass the
Tribe shuts down.”
“I just think that the personnel
policies need to be revisited to
ascertain what is our priority for
shutting down the Tribe. Is it life or
death for you to travel on the roads
during a snowstorm? Those types of
things.”
“And providing administrative
leave to close relatives if they were a
previous Council member, I think
that should be looked at.”
“I went to Caroline Renville’s
funeral and there were a handful of
Tribal employees there.”
“… It’s disappointing.”
“I know at other tribes, they
have them do a sign-in sheet, as
crazy as that sounds, but they have
them do a sign-in sheet if they’re
going to take the day off to attend a
funeral.”
“I think it’s just having
equality, because there is no equality
between our Tribal employees and
our gaming facilities. They are
required to be there rain or shine.”
Floyd: “I spent nine and a half
years working for the casino.”
“I spent seven and a half years
working for Dakota Western.”
“So I’ve seen it from both
sides.”
“Back in ‘98, the storms were
in ‘97/’98. The Dakota Sioux
Casino was shut down, I do believe,
for 21 days one month.”
“I was running the Parimutuel
(betting) department at the time, so
my department never shut down.”
“… My employees still had to
go to work, including me.”
“So I see it from both sides.”
“Is it disrespectful to shut
down for somebody’s funeral,
former Council?”
“... The Chairman said there’s
an unwritten rule, we inherited it,
we follow it.”
“I’m not going to be that
person that’s going to say no.”
“All the previous funerals we
shut down for, and now want to be
disrespectful to this person or even
their family? No, I won’t do that.”
“But should we tighten up our
belt a little bit more when it comes
to snow days? We’re in a tough
spot. I have ... I keep saying ‘I.’ The
Finance department, they come to
work even if there are snow days.
Not all of them, but a lot of them
come to work because they know
they don’t want to fall behind in
their jobs.”
“Payroll department, they still
come to work because if they don’t
come to work, nobody gets paid.”
“… A lot of times it is unfair,
it’s unfortunate, but where do you
draw the line?”
“We drew the line at when the
schools shut down, we shut down.”
“It’s worse up in the hills
sometimes than it is below the hills.
Some people may find that there’s
a little bit of snow, but you get up
in the hills a little bit and there’s an
accident. A lot of ice on the roads,
lots of snow on the roads, and you
can’t see.”
“We are in a tough spot, as
Executives.”
“But I stand behind our
decision that the three Executives
make and we all support each other
when it comes to those types of
decisions. They are tough decisions,
especially when like I said, I’ve been
on the other side of it for 15 years
in the gaming and manufacturing
sides. So, tough spot.”
Danielle: “That is a tough
question, just because due to ...
You don’t want to lack respect for
anybody with a funeral leave, like
the funerals ... any of the previous
Council reps or Executives. Also, I
do believe that we need to revisit the
personnel policies and procedures,
or policies. And maybe even like the
snow days, re-evaluate that, whether
or not ... if you’re able to make it.”
“At least … we can have a
skeleton staff working for the Tribe
during those bad storms.”
“Like you said, it’s a tough
decision to make, just because it has
been in effect for so many years now
and so many different terms with
different Executives and Councils or
administrations.”
“So I believe that that does
need to be revisited and it would be
... but we do need to think about,
like Ella had said, people coming
in from other places, traveling
numerous miles and hours, and
they’re still getting here to come to
our administration building.”
“I think that if you’re able
to make it during a snow storm,
then it should be based upon our
responsibility to make sure that
we’re they’re at the office.”
Eddie draws some laughter,
saying “The Chairman and Vice-
Chairman, they make me sign that
memo.”
“No, I’m joking.”
“I understand … we’re in a
tough situation … are we being
disrespectful with the funeral?”
“But I try to look at it on the
other side where I think we can try
to work on something (for) people
that are working at the casino.”
“If the Tribe is shut down,
maybe giving them an incentive or
something, because without them,
we don’t have all of this. They’re the
ones that are bringing the money to
the Tribe.”
“That’s how I’d like to look at
it going forward, is maybe if they
make it to work, giving them a little
something because the Tribe got
shut down.”
“Because their lives are at risk
too if they have to go to work, and
that’s one of the things I see.”
“Bad weather, you don’t want
to put anybody at risk … or be
disrespectful at a funeral.”
“But that’s something I’d like
to look into and bring in to Council
… maybe some type of incentive
that you can give to the people that
do have to work during the extreme
times.”
Myrna: “I have to address
this from a personal point of view.
Because I work with people and I
do transports sometimes to other
reservations, to treatment centers in
Sioux Falls or wherever.”
“And like Ella said, the
personnel policies do have to
be revisited because we’re not
compensated for working over …
there’s many times that I have to
work overtime, transport and get
back late.”
“We don’t get compensated
for that and it’s because they took
the comp time accrual out of the
personnel policies from what I
understand.”
“As far as the leadership, I
think just taking the bull by the
horns and getting tough on the
policy ... because there’s identified
holidays and things that you get
administrative leave for, and there’s
holiday leave. And the funeral leave,
it’s out of respect that they give
the administrative leave for former
Councilmen and Councilwomen,
and that’s a good thing.”
“Only, there’s a lot of people
that don’t go, that’s the problem.”
“So I think just going back to
the policy and enforcing the policy
with the identified holidays and
things that you actually can get days
off for, would probably have to be
something that they need to do.”
“And like I say, just revisiting
that policy and addressing those
different issues, because we are such
a huge operation now, and we are a
government.”
“And the only time the federal
government shuts down is during
the continuing resolution threat.
But yeah, I think we’re too huge to
shut down randomly.”
Lisa: “Paid leave … I have
been at Magic 2001 to now, and I’ve
traveled those roads through storms
all the time.”
“And like most of the
candidates up here acknowledge
that Dakota or DNGE employees
are required to be there, whether it’s
storming or not.”
“So this issue hits our table
quite a bit, and our policies are a
little bit more stringent than the
Tribe’s.”
“But we still take a huge hit in
costs when it comes to admin leave.”
“And some of the things we
had to look at when it comes to this
is, we had to readjust our admin
hours versus bereavement leave.”
“So you’re given admin leave
for a reason, so we’re asking our staff
to begin to use your admin leave for
times like those.”
“And it’s tough; it’s tough
decisions that we have to make, but
it does effect the bottom line.”
“And we are a little bit ...
we’re a lot different than the Tribal
programs here because we’re a 24-
hour, seven days a week business.”
“… We have to make sure that
we’re paying attention to this issue
and we’re trying to be fair at the
same time.”
“Some of the things that we do
internally is when we know a storm’s
coming, our department identifies
those who can be there and who can
wait out the storm.”
“Done it many a times and so
that becomes an internal process
that we do as a team.”
“And so these are some of the
experiences that I’m aware of and
that I can bring to the table when it
comes to this issue.”
“We got to think out of the
box.”
“I agree with everybody up
here who talked about … revise the
policy.”
“We always should be revisiting
our policies at least … annually,
and making sure we’re making
adjustments as we evolve.”
“We are a government … we
are growing. And so when we lapse,
the whole Tribe outfit does have a
huge impact on us. So we do need
to think outside the box and we
need to ask from our employees
too, ‘What are you willing to give to
help us be successful in this move?’
Because really we need to do it
together.”
“So this is something that
we can do and talk about with
our departments and see what
recommendations they would have.”
Martha: “Just for your
information, I was on Council in
‘93 and ‘4, so when I die, I want
you guys to be off all week.”
Martha: “Okay. We got like
18 more questions and we want
everybody’s question to be …
answered. So guys … you’re going to
have to talk a little bit faster, okay?”
Martha: “Since North Dakota
is a state that provides medical
marijuana to its people, and this
year recreational marijuana is on
the ballot in South Dakota, would
you support a cannabis business in
North Dakota?”
Floyd: “Medical marijuana. I’m
100% in on medical marijuana.”
“If we can get it taxed, if we
can grow our own, why not.”
“If we can’t get the tax out of
it, I don’t know if I’m necessarily in
favor of it.”
“I look at the economic dollars
for the medical marijuana, same
way as ... recreational marijuana. If
we can grow it and we can make a
dollar off it, I’m all in on it. I really
am.”
“It’s money that’s come in, it’s a
whole new resource that we’ve never
had before in the past.”
“Obviously, Colorado is doing
very well with it.”
“So I’d be all in, but if we don’t
get the tax from it, the Tribe don’t
get the tax from it, then I wouldn’t
be for it. That’s my opinion.”
Ella: “I’ll try to be short and
sweet.”
“I was involved in the research
that we did to establish the hemp
project. And so actually the hemp
project … is our foot in the door for
… cannabis.”
“Right now, hemp, we wanted
to use it for manufacturing and
I’ve had a number of people ask
me, ‘What is your view on medical
marijuana?’ And I know that we do
have Tribal members that do receive
prescriptions from North Dakota.”
“My sister was trying to get
one, Ellen Robertson, before she
passed away from cancer.”
“And I think about that …
these people have terminal illness.”
“You have terminal illness, and
it’s not about recreation.”
“And so I think if we’re looking
at alternative medical sources the
same as we would our traditional
medicines, I think that we’re starting
the research in doing that, and I
think that there is potential for the
Tribe to move in that direction.”
Eddie: “Medicinal? I would be
in favor.”
“I’m in agreement with the
Vice-Chairman. As long as there’s
a dollar that’s coming in, because
there’s a lot of that money that
could come back to which would
help with the Tribal Secretary’s
office programs, which is, you know,
the meth epidemic, the opioid
epidemic.”
“I see that as something that’s
sort of a catch 22, where one thing
and trying to fix another and people
see it as the same thing.”
“But that’s where I stand on it,
as long as the dollar’s going to help
prevent whatever epidemics we have
that we need the help with, I’m in
agreement with it.”
Lisa: “The question is
recreational marijuana, medical
marijuana,”
“I would be in support of
medical marijuana. To regulate this
product, it’s costly. Some of the
training that I’ve gone to as far as
compliance and how recreational
marijuana is being presented for
casinos, I would have to say I would
be against.”
“I will agree that a dollar, if it
makes a dollar, it’s good for us.
“I feel like recreational
marijuana is going to open the
door to bring in different types of
activities that I think we right now
are trying to combat and get out of
our communities.”
“So there’s a difference here
between medical marijuana and
recreational marijuana. I’m not in
favor of recreational marijuana.”
Danielle: “I’m going to have
to agree with that whole statement
there. I do agree with the medical
marijuana, because medical
marijuana, you can bring in a lot
of money, a lot of revenue, because
you can use it for ... they have
patches, they have pills, they have,
I mean, it’s going to be beneficial to
people who are dealing with long
term terminal illnesses.”
“I do not agree with the
recreational marijuana, just because
we have so many issues already that
we’re dealing with, within our own
Tribe here. And that would just
lead onto another issue that you
know, with … us trying to get rid
of the meth and drug use, illegal
drug use. So I do agree with medical
marijuana, just because it will help
out financially.”
Myrna: “That’s a good
question.”
“I’ve learned that marijuana
is a gateway drug that leads to
other drugs, however the medical
marijuana, they can give that to
children that are suffering from
cancer and things. And I work with
a lot of clients that actually use
marijuana to combat their anxiety,
so I know that it can calm people
down. It can help them with their
anxiety, it can help them with their
sickness, with their nausea.”
“So, you know, there’s some
benefits to it, but I cannot support
the recreational use because of how
it can be a gateway drug into other
drugs. But I am supportive of the
medical marijuana.”
Dave: “I say this respectfully,
it’s dollars versus morals.”
“We just talked about language
preservation of culture and history,
and that is not part of our culture.”
“And speaking from experience
with it myself, I’m not proud of it,
but there are other states, North
Dakota, Minnesota. I know Tribal
members that have chosen to move
to Denver because of their laws,
because of the sicknesses they have,
unfortunately, and Minnesota is a
medicinal state and I believe North
Dakota’s got it on their ballot.”
“So there’s land in North
Dakota, we could build housing
maybe, maybe get into that.”
“Morally, it’s wrong.”
“I understand the dollars part
of it and the medical part of it,
but it’s not part of us, as Dakota
people.”
“We have traditional medicines
here that can heal the same types of
sicknesses.”
“Warriors in the day
experienced post traumatic stress,
they experienced different social
dysfunctions in their Tribe, different
illnesses. Smallpox, influenza and
those types of illnesses that back
then, those … (were) able to
make medicine within their own
homelands and they were able to
cure any disease.”
Exec candidates forum
Continued on Page 10