An Osage Nation Maintenance worker changes the locks on the Osage Nation Gift Shop doors Monday. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

The Osage Nation LLC got rid of two Osage businesses Monday. Two businesses some Osages felt were meant to serve the community and just weren’t for profit.

The Osage Nation Gift Shop closed for good and the Palace of the Osage grocery store in Fairfax has been sold to Rick Parker, a Barnsdall grocer.

“I always felt the Palace and the gift shop were more of a service to the people, more like a program,” said Anthony Webb, married to Osage artist Wendy Ponca and who also ran for Osage Congress in June. Webb and Ponca were at the gift shop Monday as the locks were being changed to pick up the consignment items Ponca had in the store. “I didn’t want the gift shop to go to the LLC, I knew the gift shop was in trouble when it went to the LLC.”

Both the Palace and gift shop were acquired by the LLC in 2008 when the LLC was formed.

The gift shop was closed at 1 p.m. Monday, “with no notice” said the shop’s manager, Trini Haddon. Along with being a Pendleton distributor, the store was a place for Osages from all over the country to buy blankets, beads, ribbons and other Osage items to make dance regalia. It also sold books by Osage authors, CDs from Osage singers and artwork by Osage artists, local or out-of-state.

After working all weekend at the Ponca Powwow selling gift shop items at a booth, Haddon said she had taken Monday off because she didn’t get home until 4 a.m. that morning. At 1 p.m. she was given a call to go to the store and there they told her the store would be closing and all three employees were without a job.

Haddon had managed the store for more than three years along with co-workers Jo Brooks, who has worked there for six years, and Marla Woodard, who has worked there for seven.

According to a prepared release, the LLC is looking for a buyer of the gift shop’s inventory.

“From the tribe’s point of view and the community’s point of view we feel like it’s the best move,” said Charles Maker, Osage LLC Board Chairman in a phone interview Tuesday. “It’s strictly a business move and nothing more.”

Ponca, along with other Osage artists in and out of state, sell their wares through the gift shop, something that Ponca cherished and depended on for her business, she said. According to Haddon, more than $35,000 worth of consignment items were in the store.

“This is really going to hurt my artistic endeavors,” Ponca said, who is a former professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M. “This is my only source to buy ribbons for my work . . . I’m really disappointed. I was just on the phone asking my relatives where I can get ribbons.”

Ponca said that every year she and her husband know Osages from California who need to buy Osage materials for clothing and they always send them to the gift shop.

“I know that if I was an out-of-state Osage, I’d be upset.”

Dollars and sense

The Osage Limited Liability Company was formed by the nation to allocate capital to acquire or launch profitable businesses which would ultimately build wealth for the tribe, according to a prepared release. If the businesses cannot be made profitable, it’s the LLC’s duty to find buyers more suited to do so. Which was the case with the Palace and gift shop.

According to a Bigheart Times article that ran Sept. 1, Maker said the Palace and gift shop were losing too much money and it was mostly due in part to the way they were being managed. In 2003, the Palace was bought by the 31st Osage Tribal Council for $285,000 and on Monday the LLC sold it to Parker for a reported $600,000.

“It’s absolutely essential that the management of the [LLC] enterprise have a stake in the game because, if they don’t, it’s tougher to treat the business as their own,” said Maker in the release. “These were smaller operations and in order to be successful, the management must be hands-on and have a vested interest [in] their success.”

According to the LLC’s annual report, the Palace lost $91,000 in the last three months of 2009 and the gift shop lost $7,945 in the last six months of 2009. Maker said in the Times article that the LLC had been looking for a buyer for the gift shop without luck. They decided to cut its losses and close it down.

According to Haddon, the gift shop had seen a 76 percent increase in June and a 126 increase in July over last year’s sales. She said the Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center had just bought 42 spools of shirt ribbon, 20 colors of shawl material and she couldn’t remember how much fringe they had bought, all for their classes held at the center.

“I’m just a little drop in the bucket to the LLC, they didn’t come and help, they kept my books and I never saw at the end of the month whether I was in the red or black,” she said. “If somebody bought the merchandise I would sell it.”

Haddon will be working at the gift shop for a couple of days a week for a couple of hours to get rid of all consignment items and handle the layaway purchases for the next two weeks.

Palace to ‘remain the same’

The Palace of the Osage grocery store will be offering the same services as it was before, said new owner Rick Parker. All employees will remain, Osage Drumkeepers who keep accounts at the store during the Grayhorse In-Lon-Schka dances need not worry, he said.

“I hate to see a little store like that struggle – Walmart’s eating everybody up and we went over and identified a few things that weren’t working . . . switched the store’s meat case around and put some new stuff in,” Parker said. “We just started talking about purchasing the store [with the LLC] and that’s how the discussion happened. I tried to help them and they definitely helped me.”

Manager of the Palace for the past four years, Robert Taylor, agreed that the sale was a good move for the store.

“I think [Parker is] going to have more of a ‘hands on’ approach with it and he has done some changing here anyway and as far as the set up of the store it will remain the same,” Taylor said. “It will be a good thing for it and we’re not going to keep dealing with this as a tribal program.”

Parker said a “suggestions list” will be kept at the front of the store and any patron who wishes for the store to receive a new item, or they wish for the store to sell a certain brand, to put it on the suggestions list and they will do their best to get it in the store.

“I’m excited,” Parker said. “I think there are some things we can do differently that are going to benefit the community.”

The Osage Nation Gift Shop front window. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By John Jech, Osage Nation Treasurer

The following is the unaudited summarized information for the Osage Nation Treasury Fund for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010. The Nations Treasury fund received $8,252,083 during the second quarter of fiscal year 2010. $7,500,000 was received from gaming operations, $642,289 was received from tax revenue, $80,622 was interest earned and $29,172 represents returns of unused prior year distributions and other miscellaneous income. The total distribution from the Treasury Fund for the second quarter of 2010 was $6,164,143 with $2,720,310 being distributed to supplement federal programs, $2,826,450 was distributed to fund tribal programs, $596,113 was distributed to the Nations boards and commissions and $21,270 was distributed to various non-program functions. As of March 31, 2010 the total current assets in the Osage Nation Treasury fund was $50,996,763, with current liabilities of $0 and total capital of $50,996,763. The Nation expended $7,731,802 of federal and state grant and contract funds during the second quarter of fiscal year 2010.

2nd Quarter-2010 Treasury Report

By John Jech, Osage Nation Treasurer

The following is the unaudited summarized information for the Osage Nation Treasury Fund for the third quarter of fiscal year 2009. The Nations Treasury fund received $20,997,222 during the third quarter of fiscal year 2009. $19,309,942 was received from gaming operations, $1,300,000 was received from tax revenue, $209,147 was interest earned, $104,993 represents returns of unused fiscal year 2008 distributions, $21,623 was received from gift shop operations and $51,518 of other miscellaneous income was received. The total distribution from the Treasury Fund for the third quarter of 2009 was $7,107,011 with $954,260 being distributed to supplement federal programs, $2,614,020 was distributed to fund tribal programs, $3,336,686 was distributed to the Nations boards and commissions and $172,045 was distributed to various non-program functions. As of June 30, 2008 the total current assets in the Osage Nation Treasury fund was $55,240,564, with current liabilities of $0 for total capital of $55,240,564. The Nation expended $8,060,684 of federal and state grant and contract funds during the third quarter of fiscal year 2009.

3rd Quarter-2009 Treasury Report

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

The Osage Nation Health and Wellness Advisory Board is planning to meet with government officials to discuss legislation which will lengthen its life. It’s slated to sunset at the end of September.

The board was created through a 2007 legislation bill to start developing the structure of the Nation’s Health and Wellness Division. But the bill (ONCA 07-59) states the board will be “disestablished after a period of three years from the effective date.” Former Principal Chief Jim Gray signed the bill on Oct.3 of that year after the Osage Nation Congress passed the bill with a 7-4 vote.

“The board was created as an advisory one,” said Dr. Ron Shaw, the health board’s chairman. He addressed several executive and legislative branch officials who attended the health board’s Aug. 9 meeting. That means the board’s duties which include making decisions on health-related matters are made as recommendations to government officials, he said.

The health board has hired two consultant organizations to work with the board during its tenure, Shaw said. One consultant evaluated the Health and Wellness Division recommendations compiled and the other consultant conducted a feasibility study on whether the Pawhuska Indian Health Service clinic should be compacted.

One recommendation raised in the IHS clinic compacting study is the Nation should create a governing board, “which is required for compacting,” Shaw said.

According to the study, said Shaw, the governing board should “evaluate and improve the quality of health services provided to the community, provide for meaningful financial resources for ongoing operations and capital needs, provide for the selection and retention of qualified staff – to include the special requirements for licensed and credentialed personnel, to plant programs for the health needs of the community.”

This is the board’s first gathering since the July 19 runoff election in which John Red Eagle was elected Principal Chief and Scott BigHorse Assistant Principal Chief.

BigHorse, who attended the meeting, recommended more meetings between the health board and government officials, including Red Eagle, to pursue legislation that could prolong the health board and possibly turn it into the governing board which would pursue further IHS clinic compacting efforts, according to the feasibility study recommendations.

Red Eagle was at a gaming commission meeting held at the same time of the health board gathering.

The health board also plans to meet with Congressional members who sit on the Congressional Committee on Health and Social Services which is scheduled to meet on Sept. 7. The chairman of that committee is Congressman Archie Mason and vice chairwoman is Congresswoman Alice Goodfox.

The Osage Nation Tax Commission is putting together a list of Businesses that are owned by Osage members. If you would like to have your business recognized with the Osage Nation. Fill out the Business License Application on the Osage Nation Website. Any questions contact Darrell Wildcat at (918) 287-5678

Scott BigHorse, Candidate for Assistant Principal Chief

By Shannon Shaw

Osage News

Scott BigHorse is ready to bridge the gap between the Executive Branch and Congress if elected assistant principal chief.

His experience as a state legislator, in which he served a two-year term from roughly 2007 to 2009, will bring invaluable experience and contacts to the new administration, whether it’s John Red Eagle or Tim Tall Chief, he said.

The runoff election is July 19.

Correctional facilities

Besides being a state legislator for two years, BigHorse has carved out a place for himself in Oklahoma correctional facilities. For 13 years he worked at the D. Conner Correctional Center (DCCC) located outside of Hominy and for nine years he contracted with the state by opening the only Co-Facilitated Juvenile Detention Center in the state.

He’s been named Correctional Officer of the Year twice, once for DCCC and the second for Division I Institutions which covers approximately 12 institutions, he said. In 2003 he was promoted the Director of the Juvenile Detention Center to Assistant Director for the Youth Services of Osage County which has five programs within it.

He’s active in the community in which he sits on the Pawhuska City Planning and Zoning Board; he’s the current Chairman of the Friends of the Osage Language, Inc.; he’s a member of the board of directors for the Edwin Fair mental health and he’s a Peace Officer, certified by the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training.

Osage community

BigHorse has always been active in the Osage In-Lon-Schka dances and other Osage traditions, he said.

“I have participated in our In-Lon-Schka dances since I was a baby and have grown up in that way of life to the point that it has affected the way I conduct myself when dealing with any situation,” BigHorse said. “[Just as in the In-Lon-Schka] we all have a job to do and we must focus on that job rather than trying to micromanage or worry about everyone else’s job.

“For instance, I want to be your assistant principal chief, I don’t want to be your principal chief during this administration nor do I want to be your director of operations, chief of staff or member of congress,” he said.

He also pointed out that when it comes to the In-Lon-Schka the Osage people put their personal or family differences aside because those differences have no place in the In-Lon-Schka.

“Our government should not be run around personality differences but for the best interest of our Osage people and our Osage government which is much bigger than the sum of individuals serving our government,” he said. “We must begin to put those personality differences aside when we are working for our people in the capacity of an elected official or Osage Nation employee.”

Legislative experience

As a former state legislator he said he is the only candidate that has real experience working within a three-branch government system.

“As a state legislator I joined the National Conference of State Legislators and then joined their Native American Caucus where we developed policy to be sent to Washington, D.C., for bill consideration,” he said. “While a member of the Native American Caucus I chaired the Environment and Natural Resources Committee and Co-Chaired the Transportation Committee.”

From that experience he said it will be his job as assistant chief to explain the intent of legislation to the executive branch through discussions with members of congress and to explain any problems the executive may have with items of legislation.

“I will not participate in the personality conflicts that have plagued our current congress but will work with the executive branch and the principal chief to do what is best for our people and our government,” he said. “This means that I will not take any side but that of our people when congress is divided.

“I will not take a side voting ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on a tie simply because of who may have sponsored the legislation on the table.

“I believe my experience in the Oklahoma State Legislature will help me to do an exemplary job as assistant principal chief when discussing and debating legislative items,” he said.

Policy

His policy ideas focus on making the Osage government more effective and more transparent, he said.

“As a tribal member I would like to see in some form every stream of revenue that comes into the nation (with exception to the minerals estate) and some form of where every stream of revenue leaves the nation and why,” he said. “I work in a business that is audited from four to six times a year on both financial condition and program records, needless to say I believe in being up front and above board with any and all audits.”

He said during his time as a state legislator he formed many valuable contacts within the state to help the principal chief in his decision-making processes.

He is the great grandson of Andrew and Laura BigHorse on his father’s side and the great grandson of Tobe and Mary Trumbly Pearson on his mother’s side. His Osage name is Ki-He-Kah Tah and he is from the Wa-Ka-Ko-Li’n district in Pawhuska. He has been dancing and singing for 40-plus years and he also attends the Native American Church and the Catholic Church.

Assistant Principal Chief candidate Amanda Proctor poses for the Osage News during the Pawhuska In-Lon-Schka. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

Before Amanda Proctor started her law career with a focus on Native American issues, she worked as a program director for two tribes where she found herself taking on duties which lawyers tackle on a day-to-day basis.

“I started as a housing director and I felt as a housing director, I was doing a lot of legal work which included drafting policies, negotiating intergovernmental affairs and litigation” such as eviction matters which ended up in court, Proctor said. Those experiences would fuel her efforts to help several Native tribes and causes by representing them in court after graduating from law school.

Now she is running for Osage Nation Assistant Principal Chief to bring her knowledge to the Executive Branch.

Proctor, 35, won the second highest number of votes in the Nation’s June 7 election out of six candidates for the assistant principal chief’s office. Now she faces a July 19 runoff election against Scott BigHorse while incumbent John Red Eagle makes a run for the Principal Chief’s office against Tim Tall Chief.

If elected, Proctor will be the first Osage woman to hold the assistant principal chief’s office. Proctor said she’s heard concerns about a woman holding the second highest elected position in the Executive Branch, but she believes the Nation is ready for another change in progress.

“We’ve never had a female chief or assistant chief. Some people have told me they didn’t feel the tribe was ready for a female leader,” Proctor told the Osage News during an interview after dancing at this year’s Pawhuska In-Lon-Schka dances. “There’s been a lot of evolution: originally these dances were not open to the participation of women. It might be time for leadership to open up as well.”

What’s next for the assistant principal chief?

As assistant principal chief, whoever is elected will have the task of performing duties which may be delegated by the Principal Chief and will serve as an ex-officio member of the Osage Nation Congress, according to the Nation’s Constitution. When meeting with Congress in committee of the whole, the assistant principal chief shall also have the right to join in debate and cast tie-breaking votes when the 12-member Congress is equally divided.

The assistant principal chief-elect also joins the tribal government which is at a crucial crossroads with the Second Osage Nation Congress taking oath of office this month with four new members and several litigations issues in the air, such as lawsuits filed in the Nation’s court system involving the executive and legislative branches and whether the tribe will make a move in response to the recent federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to not rehear the Nation’s case against the Oklahoma State Tax Commission.

On running for office, Proctor, says she’s “wanted to for quite sometime and really thought this through as the (candidacy filing) deadline approached because it involves sacrifices for me. Anytime you put yourself out there, there are risks and consequences.”

Proctor, who is co-founder of Tulsa-based Shield Law Group PLC which focuses on representing Native American tribes and organizations, said she “certainly will have to disengage from a number of my relationships” since the assistant chief position is full-time.

To date, Proctor has represented nine area tribes which, includes serving as general counsel for the Housing Authority of the Seminole Nation (Okla.) as well as the Absentee Shawnee Housing Authority. She is licensed to practice law in the tribal courts for the Iowa, Ponca, Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee Nations.

Last year, Super Lawyers magazine selected Proctor as one of their Rising Star attorneys who are age 40 and under. According to the magazine’s Web site: “[The Super Lawyers selection process] is a comprehensive, good-faith and detailed attempt to produce a list of lawyers that have attained high peer recognition, meet ethical standards, and have demonstrated some degree of achievement in their field.”

“If elected, I think I will be practicing a lot more law than I am now,” Proctor said. “We are at a critical juncture in the history of this tribe and I think I am in the position to make decisions for the Nation – especially without the comfort of an attorney general (for the Nation).”

Proctor is referring to the Nation’s lack of an attorney general, a position she believes could be instrumental in providing legal advice or resolving conflicts on issues that may arise within the tribal government. “It will keep me sharp in my skills,” Proctor said of holding office, if she is elected. The Nation’s latest effort to establish an attorney general’s office failed earlier this year when the First ON Congress voted down a bill, sponsored by Congresswoman Shannon Edwards which would have created the AG position, during the Hun-Kah Session.

One issue affecting the Osage Nation that Proctor believes she can help with as assistant principal chief is closing the issues raised by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last year after the agency issued a monitoring report to the Nation asking it to account for more than $666,000 in grant funding which had been awarded to the tribe but was unaccounted for.

A HUD spokeswoman told the Osage News in May the agency was still working with the Nation to close the findings in the monitoring report. A follow-up inquiry made last month has yet to be answered.

“Thanks to my background in housing authority, I really know the ins and outs of federal compliance and HUD audits,” she said.

Proctor also believes “we’ve got to put in some long hours” immediately if she’s elected because the Nation must decide on whether to respond to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to not the rehear the Tax Commission case (also known as the “reservation/ rez status case”).

“We need to figure out where we are and where we need to go,” she said because the Osage Nation’s reservation status is at issue which could affect three of the seven Osage Million Dollar Elm Casinos which are not on protected trust lands.

‘Humble’ start to helping Native Americans

Born in Dallas, Proctor (Osage/ Cherokee) grew up in Wichita, Kans., and graduated from high school in nearby Goddard in 1993 before heading east to attend Ivy League-famed Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. “My background is humble with no expectation of (rural residents) going to Ivy League school,” Proctor said adding her parents (mother Karen Proctor is Osage) grew up in rural Kansas.

Amanda Proctor’s uncle and newly-elected Osage Minerals Councilman Galen Crum is one of her most ardent supporters who has championed and defended her on the Osage Shareholders Association blog which has been a lightning rod of discussion, criticisms and praise for all the candidates, newsmakers and rumors aired through the Internet since the election seasons started heating up last year. In a June 29 posting to the blog, Crum wrote:

“When Amanda was barely in high school she announced that she was going to Harvard to study some major that would allow her to serve Native People. I smiled and encouraged her, (I’m her uncle) but I was certain her parents could never afford Harvard, even if she could qualify. But Amanda fooled me. She worked hard, got the grades, did the public service and extra curricular activities etc. that would land the necessary scholarships to pull it off. Harvard was very hard, not just the incredibly demanding curriculum, but also being a thousand miles from home, with little extra money. Scholarships pay for tuition, room, books etc., but not for plane trips home. I suspect a big, empty college campus is about the loneliest place on earth over Christmas and Thanksgiving breaks. But she stayed with her dream and got it done.”

Proctor completed her Harvard studies and graduated with an AB (bachelor’s) degree in anthropology in 1999. Proctor, who has participated in Native American cultural dances since childhood, founded the Harvard University Powwow in 1995 while attending the school.

After Harvard, Proctor started her work in Indian Country by working as housing directors for the Otoe-Missouria Tribe in Oklahoma and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians in Dowagiac, Mich., before returning to school to pursue her law degree.

Proctor attended the University of Tulsa from 2003 to 2005 when she earned her Juris Doctorate as well as the Native American Law Certificate. The following year, she was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar Association and joined the staff of Sneed Lang Herrold PC, a Tulsa-based law firm where she focused on Native American law and has signed onto cases involving various tribal matters and causes including the Fletcher v. United States case which involves shareholders of the Osage Minerals Estate.

Today Proctor keeps home in Skiatook where she’s lived for the past five years. She is raising three sons as a single mother: Grayson, 8; Amory, 3; and Rhett, 11 months.

As attorney, Proctor is also general counsel for the Ponca Tribe and has provided legal work for the Otoe-Missouria on some projects. She left Sneed Lang Herrold last year to start Shield Law Group PLC with fellow TU law school graduate Katrina Jacuk who is a member of the Kenaitze tribe in Alaska and is of Aleut descent.

In the eight-year-old Fletcher case, in which Proctor is one of the attorneys of record, Osage plaintiffs William Sam Fletcher and Charles Pratt are seeking the return of headright shares which are being paid to non-Osage shareholders and entities with hundreds of defendants who have been served in the case.

Assistant Principal Chief candidate Amanda Proctor poses for the Osage News during the Pawhuska In-Lon-Schka. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Osage Nation Congressman-elect John Free (orange shirt) laughs with Daniel Boone (blue shirt) during a training session for the newly elected congressional members on June 30 in the Congressional Chambers. Both were elected to the Congress during the nations June 7 election. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

Six Osage tribal members elected to the Osage Nation Congress in the June 7 election received training June 29-30 in holding the Congressional sessions they will attend after taking the oath of office this month.

The Second ON Congress will be sworn in to office on July 7 with four new members joining the remaining eight, including two Congressmen who were elected for their second terms last month. In order for all the Congress members to have the same lessons in how the Legislative Branch works, Congressional staffers arranged for a seasoned Native American affairs consultant to come to Pawhuska and teach them.

James Mills, president of New York-based Creating Stronger Nations, led two days of training which touched on Roberts Rules of Order as well as lessons in governing ethics since both will be crucial keys for the Congress members to conduct business in the Congressional Chambers. The Osage News visited a portion of the training in which Mills encouraged the Congress members to use real-life examples during their lessons.

William “Kugee” Supernaw, who won a Congressional second term, referred to the tumultuous relationship the First ON Congress had in recent years with the Executive Branch and suggested that Congress consider stronger legislation which defines the roles of the Nation’s boards. Supernaw referred to the Nation’s Gaming Enterprise Board (the Congress declined to confirm two of three board members earlier this year) which he believed did not always seek or follow the advice of the chief executive officer.

“Congress basically sets the legislation that gives the boards their authority, correct?” Mills asked the group. “What is a board’s rule, what should be their job? A board’s job is to set policy… hire and fire the CEO and nobody else. That’s really what a board should be doing, they shouldn’t be getting involved in the day-to-day operations – that’s the kiss of death in most cases.”

“In Congress, your role is to legislate – simply put. It’s not to do all the other things,” Mills said in his lesson. “I see tribal councils all over the country that get involved in the day-to-day operations, just the single government tribal councils and they usually mess things up too. And then I see tribal councils that are really good at being really smart about the ‘taking your hands off approach.’”

In a brainstorming session, Mills asked all the training attendees to think of some recent issues which still need resolutions and asked everyone to come up with solutions for class discussion. One issue raised by Congressman and former Speaker Archie Mason, who participated in the trainings, involved the Nation’s budgets which became a contentious political topic after the budgets were not passed in time for the 2010 fiscal year. The FY 2010 budgets were not passed until this past January due to several debates between the Executive Branch which must prepare and present the budgets to Congress who ultimately approves them.

Mason said one solution he and another Congress member are proposing to prevent another budget standoff is to enforce a stricter deadline. The stricter budget rule shared by Mason would apply to budgets not handed in by a September deadline in which those budgets not turned in on time would only receive the same amount appropriated in the previous year’s budget.

The crowd offered murmurs of approval to the idea and Mills, who has worked in the private hospital sector before, said he’s seen a similar practice. “There are businesses that practice exactly that… when I was a hospital administrator, if someone didn’t submit their budget, last year’s budget was approved. That’s an effective tool.”

Participating in the trainings were first-term Congress members Alice Goodfox, John Free, Daniel Boone, Geoffrey Standing Bear and current Congressmen Raymond Red Corn, Supernaw and Mason. Also present were Kelly Corbin and Donna Buchanan from the Office of Fiscal Performance and Review and Congressional Clerk Alexis Rencountre and Assistant Congressional Clerk Barbara Rice.

Mills said he’s worked with over 300 Native American tribes on issues ranging from rewriting tribal constitutions, tribal ethics, training on other government topics and leadership training. He works with Jenni Monet (Laguna Pueblo) who is marketing director and also owner in Creating Stronger Nations.

Consultant James Mills reads a copy of the Osage Nation Constitution during a training session he led for the six newly elected congressional members on June 30. The six congressional members elected in the June 7 election take the oath of office on July 7. Photo by Chris Jake/Osage News

On July 12, at 10:00 a.m. there will be a Osage Nation Health & Wellness Board Meeting at the Osage Nation Executive Conference Room located at 627 Grandview, Pawhuska, Ok.

The meeting is being noticed in accordance with Osage Nation Open Meetings Act Section 8, with actual notice posted at the Executive Office and Congressional Office 48 hours prior to the meeting. Pursuant to the rule of Section 8(A) of the Osage Nation Open Meetings Act. The meeting is open to the public.

THE AGENDA IS A FOLLOWS:

1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Establish Quorum
4. Opening Prayer
5. Review/Approval of Minutes
6. Old Business
a. Grant Update- Jeff Irons
b. Division Leader
c. Budget
7. New Business
a. Tribal Administration Transition
b. Board Sunset Status
i. Congressional Represenative
8. Set Next Meeting Date
9. Adjourn

On July 6, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. there will be a Osage Home Health Governing Body Meeting at the Osage Home Health Office located at 128 E. 6th Street, Pawhuska, Ok.

Agenda

I. Call to order Cecelia Tallchief, RN

II. Approval of Agenda

III. Approval of Minutes (last meeting)

IV. Financial Report Jim Littleton
A. Financials
B. Account Balances
C. Billings/Collections

V. Operations/Old Business Cherie Leach, RN
A. Update on office lease & renovations
B. Census Report
C. Operational Activities
D. Introduction of Hospice RN - Beth Dahl

VI. New Business Teresa Hudgins, RN
A. Administrator Applicant

VII. Schedule Next Meeting Cecelia Tallchief, RN

VIII. Adjourn