TNNAC Minutes: 6 september 2003
Board Members present:
Guests present:
Guest Speakers:
NOTE: most of the above were present at the sign-in or shortly afterward.
Following intro's & sign-in, the meeting was called to order at 10:27am
A motion was made & passed to seat Van Lynch as an alternate board member from the Humboldt/W. Tennessee Caucus. Check-in by areas: Memphis - no report. (John Smith, the only attendee from Memphis, did not arrive until later. Humboldt - Sarah Cantrell: "We have six attendees today from West TN Caucus." Nashville - Edna Fay: "I would like to discuss the poll that Teri Ellenwood sent out."
Shelbyville - Vicky Garland: "We're doing okay as far as I can tell. Knoxville - no report. No one in attendance.
Chattanooga - tom kunesh, speaking on behalf of Cleata Townsend: Kingsport - John Hedgecoth sends regrets that he will be unable to attend because he & Tommy Veal will acting as the Honor Guard at the festival in Vonore at the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum. At-Large - Joe McCaleb: "Van asked me to do a liability release, which she can about, regarding the TNNAC Convention." General discussions: tom: TNNAC does not have valid genealogical information on the following 2003 nominees {somehow I failed to note the names. Vicky may be able to fill in the blanks}. We have documented proof of John Hedgecoth's ancestry, but not the others. Teri Lee Rhodes-Ellenwood's documents have been corrected to include her married name (which was inadvertently left off the original packet of 2001 nominees). David Luther Teat's documents were corrected to state that he does not seek Indian Preference. Motion was made & passed to amend the Nomination Form to include the question: "Do you request Indian Preference?" (Motion: V.Garland; 2nd: S. Perry; unanimous) Motion by Vicky, 2nd by Sandi: If a person requests "Preference" they must submit certified birth certificate & genealogy showing descendancy from enrolled person. Joe McCaleb moves to table this until later, Dale Mitchell seconds. Motion to table passes. J.McCaleb moved to accept Dale & Vicky's recount of the Memphis Caucus order of nominee seeding. Floyd Ayers 2nds. Motion carries with 1 abstention. Motion follows to accept recount of Memphis 2003-05 TNNAC Board/Caucus chairs which placed Ed Vinson as Chair, Kathy Shassere as Vice Chair & added Ron Lema as an alternate. Carries, with one abstention. Motion by E.Fay to appoint an experienced current or former TNNAC caucus chairperson to assist with 2005 elections in Memphis or elsewhere, if needed. 2nd by S. Perry. Passed unanimously. Motion by Floyd to accept Dale & Vicky's Memphis recount of 15 delegates/8 alternates. 2nd by J.McCaleb. Passed unanimously. [See notes on pre-meeting for changes in delegate list that were made later when more information surfaced.] E.Fay moved that Caucus chairs be responsible for contacting delegates. V.Garland 2nds. Motion carries. Sandi moved, Floyd 2nds that TNNAC develop a letter to send to caucus chairs to use in the above situation. Motion carries. Since the Kingsport Caucus ran over their allotted time, they were charged an extra $45.00 rental fee on the library. Vicky made a motion that TNNAC pay that fee for John H. Edna 2nd. Motion passes unanimously. Since Dale made a 94-mile round trip to ascertain Mike Mangrum's residence, Edna made a motion that TNNAC make a $10.00 donation towards his gas as a sign of approval of his efforts. S. Cantrell 2nds. Motion passes with one abstention. Vicky moved that standing rules be modified so that any expenses to be reimbursed should be approved in advance by the Board, but that the Chairman might give tentative approval by voice/fax or e-mail (if the Board is not in session) subject to the later approval or disapproval by the Board. 2nd by Dale. It was decided to take this issue up later. Floyd moved that any & all funds raised & dispersed in TNNAC's name must be accounted to by the Board. 2nd by Edna. Passed. There was a recess at 12:07. Joe Walters, Ann & Pooch Shields left shortly afterwards to meet with someone about donating property to the Wolf Clan. After the break, we were joined by Harold & Alice Spears at 1:00pm, who spoke to us about Indian Preference. Harold is a Native American veteran, a member of the Red Lake Nation of Minnesota, and works for the BIA Office of Recognition & Acknowledgement. He made mention of different types of recognition & differing levels of Indian Preference. He said, "We should have standards that treat everyone with consistency. Be fair with everyone. If they meet the standards, then issue them a card." Spears handed out some sheets for reference, and spoke about the way preference was handled on different levels. Each governmental or tribal organization can set its own standards, and those standards might be tighter or looser than those set by the Federal Government & the BIA. There was a short break from 2:00-2:20pm. Then business resumed. It was decided that TNNAC would do a formal presentation at the Convention regarding a Conference in 2004 for all interested parties to discuss policies, ways to conduct referendums, etc. Final reading of Amendments to Bylaws, statement of TNNAC's purpose. Floyd moves for approval, Dale 2nds. Passes unanimously. At-large Board member terms to be set at 2 years, expiring on the date of the 2nd quarterly meeting of even-numbered years. Proposed by Vicky, 2nd by Dale. Passed. Regarding the Confidentiality Agreement, Vicky made motion of clarification that TNNAC is only the holders of the confidential document(s) & that the owner(s) may retract such at any time; and that information that is commonly known is not confidential. Floyd 2nds. Passes unanimously. John Smith arrived. It was noted that the Convention schedule will have to be altered slightly to accomodate the delegates from Humboldt, 11 of whom will be involved in cooking & serving. tom kunesh was approved as Convention Chair, Vicky Garland as Vice Chair & Dale Mitchell as Secretary/Treasurer; with further approval to be obtained by the delegates at the Convention itself. Little Cedar Mountain was proposed as Convention site for 2005, with tentative dates of September 25-26. Motion by Sandi, 2nd by Sara. Approved by all. Floyd moved that motions at the Convention be made by & seconded by caucuses instead of individuals; 2nd by John Smith. Approved by all. Dale was given a private donation by member(s) of the Humboldt Caucus & returned his earlier $10.00 donation to the TNNAC treasury. The treasury started the day with $109.05 in cash & checks. $45.00 was deducted to pay for the Kingsport Library facilities, leaving $64.05 on hand. Joe McCaleb reported that he had spoken to legislative attorney Fred Standbrook, who stated that, according to the law passed earlier this year, TNNAC can call upon the State Attorney General's Office for defense, if needed. Vicky will compile a list of delegates for tom to keep. The list may be purchased by interested parties (such as TNCIA candidates) for a fee that will go into the TNNAC treasury. Dale will relay any requests for the list to tom. The next meeting was set for Oct. 25, 2003, 10:00am, at the Keithly Center. Sandi moves than John Smith, as the only regular attendee from Memphis, be accorded At-large status. Sara 2nds. All ayes. Motion to adjourn is made & seconded. Meeting adjourns at 6:15pm.
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