Friday, March 29, 2024
53.9 F
Pawhuska
HomeEducationON Congress files lawsuit over building leased for Skiatook WELA

ON Congress files lawsuit over building leased for Skiatook WELA

The Osage Nation Congress has filed a civil suit against a Creek County couple who signed a five-year lease agreement with the Nation for a building in Skiatook. The building is currently being used as the Skiatook Essentially Kids Wah-Zha-Zhi Early Learning Academy (WELA).

The Congress claims the leasing of the building is not valid because they did not authorize, agree to or issue the funds for the agreement. According to the complaint, Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear acted “in excess of his authority” when he signed the lease agreement with David and Phyllys Nowlin on June 28, 2016.

According to the lease, the building is located at 205 S. Hominy in Skiatook and is approximately 3,295 square feet. The Nation also paid $250,000 up front and is responsible for all the taxes on the building, including the upkeep and maintenance. According to the complaint, “There is no value noted in the lease based on the square footage of the building nor any other factor.”

The lawsuit, Angela Pratt v. David L. Nowlin, Phyllys L. Nowlin, and Brad Hilton, Hilton Law Office (2017), was filed in Osage Nation Trial Court on Jan. 17. The Congress is being represented by Tulsa-based attorney Mark Lyons, who represented the Fourth Osage Nation Congress in the removal trial of former Principal Chief John Red Eagle.

Treasurer

According to a letter from ON Treasurer Samuel Alexander to ON Attorney General Holli Wells on Jan. 31, the Congress appropriated $8,318,343 for the Division of Education and Early Learning Services, including $3,476,552 for salaries and wages on April 20, 2016.

In June of 2016, there was a projected budget variance in the amount of $1,039,538 in the WELA Year End Savings. The $250,000 lease payment to the Nowlins was well under the 10 percent line item restriction found in the Treasury Act, and was transferred into the Occupancy line item for payment of the lease. According to Alexander’s letter, lease payments are an allowable expense for Occupancy, according to the Budget Definitions Law in place at the time of the transaction.

Relief

According to the Congress’ complaint, Skiatook-based attorney Brad Hilton, of Hilton Law Office, holds the General Warranty Deed to the building and the Congress is asking the Trial Court to order Hilton to deliver the deed to the Congress.

For relief, the Congress wants the lease agreement rescinded, the Nowlins to pay back the money for the lease, attorney fees, court costs and any other costs associated with the lawsuit. They also want the Trial Court to declare that “only the Osage Nation Congress can authorize or delegate the authority to purchase, lease and/or sell real property for or by the Osage Nation, and only after funds for such lease purchase have been duly properly requested and appropriated by an act of Congress.”

Attorney General

AG Wells sent a letter to Standing Bear’s general counsel, Terry Mason Moore, about the lease agreement for the Skiatook WELA on Feb. 2. The letter stipulates that Standing Bear spoke with her and First Assistant Attorney General Clint Patterson before he signed the lease agreement.

She writes in the letter that Standing Bear informed her and Patterson that he knew of a building that would work perfectly for a WELA facility and had become available “due to the building owner’s medical situation.” Standing Bear said there was $250,000 left in the WELA program budget available for the lease agreement, and that because the owner was facing immediate medical costs the Nation could lease the building immediately and pay up front.

Wells wrote her opinion and told Standing Bear “that he was able to proceed with the transaction.”  

“I want to add the Chief has been fully cooperative and transparent on all aspects of this transaction,” she wrote. “Also, the Chief was acting upon my advice and his actions were covered under the then existing ‘safe harbor’ provisions of the Attorney General Act.”

Standing Bear said in an Oct. 16, 2016 email to the ON Congress, that there was absolutely nothing improper about the transaction.

“The availability of this building unexpectedly came up during the summer and we were told that the owner needed immediate cancer surgery and she would not be able to keep her daycare open. Our very capable WELA Director Melvina Prather inspected the building, other inspections occurred, and this building was deemed perfect for the Skiatook WELA,” he wrote in the email. “No one at Osage Nation, including myself, personally gained any money or favor. Only the children, parents, caregivers, and the Osage Nation benefitted from this transaction.”

Reconsider

According to the Congress’ complaint, if the Executive Branch were to present the lease agreement to the Congress, ask for the money and allow for the inspection and appraisal of the property, then the Congress would consider funding the agreement. “Should that occur, then the contract should be reformed to note the execution of such document by the appropriate person and that it has been duly approved and funded by the Osage Congress.”

The Skiatook WELA currently serves 50 children, all from the Skiatook area, and is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. There are currently about 60 children on the waiting list, according to Prather.

Representing the Nowlins is Tulsa-based attorney Jeff McGrew. He filed a motion to dismiss on Feb. 10 for lack of jurisdiction. According to the motion, the Congress cannot sue the Nowlins because both parties to the lease, the Nowlins and the Nation, have not violated the terms of the lease. The motion also states that the Congress cannot declare there is a valid lease and then contradict themselves and say there isn’t a valid lease in the same filing.  

ON Trial Court Associate Judge Lee Stout is scheduled to hear the case. A date and time for a hearing has not yet been scheduled by Judge Stout. Check back to www.osagenews.org for updates on the case.


By

Shannon Shaw Duty


Original Publish Date: 2017-03-10 00:00:00

Author

  • Shannon Shaw Duty

    Title: Editor

    Email: sshaw@osagenation-nsn.gov

    Twitter: @dutyshaw

    Topic Expertise: Columnist, Culture, Community

    Languages spoken: English, Osage (intermediate), Spanish (beginner)

    Shannon Shaw Duty, Osage from the Grayhorse District, is the editor of the award-winning Osage News, the official independent media of the Osage Nation. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a master’s degree in Legal Studies with an emphasis in Indigenous Peoples Law. She currently sits on the LION Publishers board of directors, the Freedom of Information Committee for the Society of Professional Journalists, and she is also a member of the Pawhuska Public Schools Board of Education. She served on the Board of Directors for the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) from 2013-2016 and served as a board member and Chairwoman for the Pawhuska Johnson O’Malley Parent Committee from 2017-2020. She is a Chips Quinn Scholar, a former instructor for the Freedom Forum’s Native American Journalism Career Conference and the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute. She is a former reporter for The Santa Fe New Mexican. She is a 2012 recipient of the Native American 40 Under 40 from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. In 2014 she helped lead the Osage News to receive the Elias Boudinot Free Press Award. The Osage News has won Best Newspaper from the SPJ-Oklahoma Chapter in their division the past five years, 2018-2022. Her award-winning work has been published in Indian Country Today, The Washington Post, the Center for Public Integrity, NPR, the Associated Press, Tulsa World and others. She currently resides in Pawhuska, Okla., with her husband and together they share six children, two dogs and two cats.

Get the Osage News by email!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Shannon Shaw Duty
Shannon Shaw Dutyhttps://osagenews.org

Title: Editor

Email: sshaw@osagenation-nsn.gov

Twitter: @dutyshaw

Topic Expertise: Columnist, Culture, Community

Languages spoken: English, Osage (intermediate), Spanish (beginner)

Shannon Shaw Duty, Osage from the Grayhorse District, is the editor of the award-winning Osage News, the official independent media of the Osage Nation. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a master’s degree in Legal Studies with an emphasis in Indigenous Peoples Law. She currently sits on the LION Publishers board of directors, the Freedom of Information Committee for the Society of Professional Journalists, and she is also a member of the Pawhuska Public Schools Board of Education. She served on the Board of Directors for the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) from 2013-2016 and served as a board member and Chairwoman for the Pawhuska Johnson O’Malley Parent Committee from 2017-2020. She is a Chips Quinn Scholar, a former instructor for the Freedom Forum’s Native American Journalism Career Conference and the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute. She is a former reporter for The Santa Fe New Mexican. She is a 2012 recipient of the Native American 40 Under 40 from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. In 2014 she helped lead the Osage News to receive the Elias Boudinot Free Press Award. The Osage News has won Best Newspaper from the SPJ-Oklahoma Chapter in their division the past five years, 2018-2022. Her award-winning work has been published in Indian Country Today, The Washington Post, the Center for Public Integrity, NPR, the Associated Press, Tulsa World and others. She currently resides in Pawhuska, Okla., with her husband and together they share six children, two dogs and two cats.
RELATED ARTICLES

In Case You Missed it...

Upcoming Events