MISSION – The culmination of an election season that
saw three changes to the Board of Trustees occurred with a
swearing-in ceremony Dec. 1 in the rotunda of the Nixyaawii
Governance Center.
The 2021-23 BOT includes Chair Kat Brigham, Vice Chair
Aaron Ashley, Treasurer Sandra Sampson, Secretary Sally
Kosey, and At Large Members Cor Sams, Boots Pond, Lisa
Ganuelas and Toby Patrick.
“We’re looking forward to two more years of making progress and developing, protecting and restoring our Tribal treaty rights on and off the reservation,” Brigham said. “We’ve got a lot of work done this last two years, but I’m also looking forward to the next Board and how we can protect our Tribal treaty rights.”
General Council remained the same with Chair Lindsey Watchman, Vice Chair Michael Johnson, Secretary Shawna Gavin and Interpreter Thomas Morning Owl.
“I want to pay respect to past Board members. There’s a lot of responsibility at this level. The world’s changing every hour, on the hour,” Watchman said. “We’ve all had resiliency this last two years, and I pray weekly (regarding this pandemic). … Prayers are for a happy and prosperous 2022.”
Also speaking was CTUIR Youth Leadership Council Chair
Lindsey Pasena-Littlesky.
“Recently we’ve gone through some of the hardest challenges,
including a global pandemic,” she said. “During this time, the pandemic has brought to the surface, newer awareness of the mental illness issues and the magnitude and impact on our children and adults. … Unitedly, we agree this issue is one of the highest concerns of this upcoming year.”
Leaders were sworn in following a November election that saw some close races.
Brigham tallied more votes (274) than Justin Quaempts (196), Gary Burke (188) and Elwood Patawa (42).
Ashley defeated Jill-Marie Gavin Harvey in a tight 368-324 vote.
Sampson topped Eugena Stacona 484 votes to 209.
Kosey (343 votes) defeated William Sigo IV (195) and David Wolf Jr. (159).
And Pond (485), Sams (415), Patrick (415) and Ganuelas (422) garnered more votes than candidates Lawanda Bronson (201), Babette Cowapoo (271), Rosenda Shippentower (269) and Michelle Moses (154).
Watchman, the incumbent, defeated Alan Crawford (196) and Andrea Hall (122) to retain the General Council Chair position. The rest of the General Council went unopposed.
Two Constitutional Amendments were on the ballot this election cycle.
The first proposed Amendment asked voters to add new language describing misconduct of members of the Board of Trustees. The Constitutional Amendment passed by a vote of 511 yes and 168 no.
The second proposed Amendment addressed the Amendment process itself to adjust the requirement of a majority vote from 50 affirmative votes to 10 percent of the eligible CTUIR voting population with a three-fifths majority approval for a proposed amendment to pass. The second proposed Constitutional Amendment passed by a vote of 420 yes and 250 no. Exact language for the Constitutional Amendment questions are available on the Notice of General Election posted online at www. ctuir.org.
Of the 2,392 eligible CTUIR voters, 716 voted in this election (540 in person and 176 by absentee ballot).
The 2022 Youth Leadership Council includes Pasena-Littlesky, Isabelle LeCornu (Vice-Chair), Ella Stewart (Treasurer), Elsie McKay (Secretary), Summer Wildbill (Publicist), Keyen Singer (Cultural Ambassador), and Members at Large Sky Smith, Muriel Jones-Hoisington, Sunhawk Thomas, Addison Carey, Weptis Brockie, Diamond Greene, Amariana Willingham, Malaya Stanger, Ryelynn Melton and Madison Munoz.
The Junior Youth Leadership Council included Teegan Herrera (Chair). Penelope Gavin-Harvey (Vice-Chair), Brooklyn Jones (Treasurer), Victoria Sweowat (Secretary), Malaeloa Malumaleumu (Publicist), Hiyuum Nowland (Cultural Ambassador), Keli Spencer, Cashis Bevis, Sydney Carey and Denise Morning Owl.
