Last Saturday I made some comments in my blog regarding the
Kinnamon School restoration project under the coordination of Brian Bisonette. I
basically questioned how this project has taken four years so far and still
today, there is no opening date set. In that blog I did state the wrong grant
total when I said $350,000 when it was actually $789,000. This was a simple
brain fart because I also had the new Boys and Girls Club grant in mind, which
is near that amount and also under the coordination of Brian Bisonette.
Anyways, Brian did make a comment on the blog in response to
my statement that this project was a fleecing of our tribe. He corrected me on
the amount and he also made a few remarks about why the project was taking
longer than planned. But, then, just as fast as he posted the comment, he
deleted it. Why would he delete it?
On Friday, March 6, the day before I wrote that blog, I
approached the LCO Grants Department and asked them to see the grant
specifications. I was told by the director that she wouldn’t release that
information to me and that I had to see LCO Legal. This was expected. I then
asked Jason Stark from the legal office if he could get this information released
to me. I told him I simply wanted to know each area that the funds were
intended for, if there were any add-ons to the grant and if the tribe had
subsidized any amount of the project. Also, I wanted to know what the
coordinator is getting paid. All of this information is public information
because this project is a federal grant.
Jason said he would have to ask the tribal council about
releasing the information. He did tell me that I could look it up from the
grantor side, which I did, but I couldn’t find it. Without some basic
information or numbers, I couldn’t find the grant. Anyways, on Tuesday morning,
Stark told me that the “Tribal Council” denied releasing the grant
specifications because it was “Proprietary,” meaning under the ownership of the
tribe. I asked three different council members if they had been aware of the
request by Stark to release this information and all three said no, they knew
nothing about it. What really happened was that Jason Stark called Mic Isham
and that was the extent of any inquiries. Mic never consulted with the rest of
the tribal council, he made the decision on his own once again, and spoke on behalf
of the tribal council, as he has done so many times over the past year.
Why is this federal grant such a secret?
Why did Brian Bisonette erase his comment when he did
nothing more than to defend himself after I made some accusations? Maybe he
just didn’t want to play politics with me. Or, was he told to erase it and not
respond.
According to Brian in his comment, the Kinnamon School
Restoration Project was a 3-year grant in the amount of $789,000. The award was
back in September of 2011, so the completion date was set for September of
2014, but this didn’t happen. Brian explained why in the comment saying this:
“The first year of the grant was NOT the start of the
construction phase, the initial phase covered the HUD required Administrative
requirements, in addition to the Procurement of Architectural &Engineering
services, General Contracting, Asbestos Removal and a host of other Historical
Renovation construction project related activities. The actual renovation phase
started Oct. 2012 on schedule. While it is true that the grant was intended to
renovate the existing structure only, the issue of handicap accessibility
needed to be addressed. Consequently, a decision was made to amend the project
to accommodate our physically disabled patrons.”
Brian said there were other unforeseen problems that arose
when dealing with an 80-year old structure that sat vacant for 40 years. He
said that the main problem was the elevator and some issues they had to deal
with concerning the subcontractor. He then filed for a one-year “no cost” grant
extension which was approved. He stated that none of the project was subsidized
by the tribe, but did let them know that there may be extra cost at a later
date.
I was glad that he responded with information concerning
this project that our community should know, but then disappointed to see that
he deleted it. I don’t understand why this is such a big deal, but of course, I’m
sure it has to do with me. Maybe they will publish it in their newsletter for
you now that the question has been brought up.
Why does this have to be a secret? Why is everything always
a secret with our tribal council? Even the simplest of things are kept from us,
the tribal membership, and it makes no sense. This is one of the main reasons
why I’m running for tribal council, because, I plan to let the cat of the bag.
It’s long overdue for some transparency on our reservation. I can promise you,
when I’m elected, you will get a weekly report from me and there won’t be any
more secrets up there. Like I said before, the only thing that should be confidential
are real estate dealings as they occur and personnel issues, which our council
members shouldn’t even be dealing with in the first place. You won’t be kept in
the dark about our financial status anymore. You’ll know exactly what every one
of our tribal businesses is making because I believe that is your right as the owners.
They claim by releasing that information it helps our competitors but, I’d like
them to explain how that helps them. How can our competitors use that against
us if they know how much our grocery store profited last year? Why is that a
secret? Everything is a secret and it’s time that ends.
Brian also attempted to explain to me how the tribal council
works despite the fact I have been writing news for this reservation for the
last 20 years which has provided me with plenty of in-depth detailed
information on how the council operates, but here is what Brian had to say
about it:
“Since you have announced your candidacy for this upcoming
election and started your political rhetoric, let me inform you how Tribal
Council actually functions. We have 7 elected Council members that serve on the
Tribal Council that make decisions on our behalf. In some of your previous
posts, you channel your disparaging remarks to individual Council members
(mainly Mic so far) for whatever issues you hold them personally responsible
for. One Council member DOES NOT have the authority to over-ride the remaining
six! Case in point, while Mic may have signed a negotiated settlement or Rusty
signing the social media memorandum, they did so under the authority given to
them by the majority of other Council. This holds true in my former capacity of
Secretary/Treasurer on the 2006 bonds.”
I’d like to point out the flaws in this statement. It only takes
an alliance of four council members to make decisions on our behalf, which is what
we are witnessing today. These four council members can make decisions by
consensus outside the scope of their weekly meetings and then the other three
have no idea about the decision. This has happened quite often lately. Take for
example, at the beginning of this blog about the decision to deny me the grant
specifications. The tribal attorney said “tribal council” made the decision. Yet,
three of them are completely unaware of this. I’m sure Mic made the decision on
his own knowing that he has the backing of the three council members in his
alliance, without even consulting them first.
Back to the topic of secrecy, why does the council
consistently feel the need to keep our membership in the dark on nearly every
issue? This makes the community suspicious of their activities, and can you
blame us? The free flow of information provides for a healthy community. By
including our membership in the ongoing activities at the council level, you
make them feel a part of this community rather than a servant to it. Just like
the new social media policy, it’s all part of the same big picture…hush, hush.
You can only keep our people suppressed for so long and they will speak out.
Their voices will finally be heard at the ballot box when they decide to, in
the words of a former council member, “Throw the bums out!”
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