In what is becoming the new status quo, the General Tribal Council (GTC) reconvened to finish a GTC meeting on Monday, November 14 at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center.
Nearly 1,600 members of the GTC worked through 4 topics that were not addressed at the October 2 meeting.
Up first was a resolution seeking the repeal of the Oneida Judiciary Law. The GTC adopted the Judiciary Law in January of 2013. The Judiciary took place of the Oneida Appeals Commission, which was established in 1991.
Along with repealing the Judiciary Law the petitioner was looking to ensure full disclosure was being provided on contracts agreed upon with the Oneida Nation.
The motion was defeated with 32 votes in favor, 1,187 against and 51 abstentions.
The next resolution seeked to create accountability for the nine members of the Oneida Business Committee (OBC). It asked for the first agenda item on the Annual and Semi-Annual GTC meetings be a roll-call type presentation from each OBC member reporting if any GTC directives are not being carried out. This resolution failed.
Two amendments attached to the main motion failed. One asked that all resolutions passed by the OBC be included in the presentations and the other amendment asked for the suspension of Secretary Lisa Summers and Treasurer Trish King.
The suspensions were related to the yet to be opened Emergency Food Pantry. During the October 2 special meeting the GTC directed that the pantry be open in 45 days. With that deadline date of November 15 approaching some felt a suspension was appropriate for the two OBC members who acted as liaisons to the project.
The final resolution looked to create a support system of advocates and an attorney that would assist individuals with litigation in the Oneida Judiciary. The office would not report to the OBC but would submit reports to the GTC.
The resolution passed along with two attached amendments. Those amendments asked for training on a bi-annual schedule that addressed tribal laws and procedures within the Judiciary. The other passed amendment had the positions within the support office be elected with four-year terms.
