During the 2022 Hun-Kah Session, the Seventh Osage Nation Congress voted to confirm several appointees to their respective boards.
Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear appointed all but one individual and those board confirmations are as listed.
Mark Bowman is confirmed to serve on the five-person Grayhorse Village Committee. He was a previous appointee in 2019 also. His confirmation passed 11-0 with Congressman Joe Tillman abstaining from the vote.
Wayne Mitchell is also confirmed to serve his first term on the Grayhorse Village Committee.
For the Grayhorse village, Osage election law states: “The Chief shall appoint the Grayhorse five-person Village Committee with the advice and consent of the Osage Nation Congress.” The law also states the Hominy and Pawhuska village committees “shall undertake biennial elections for Five Person Village Committees” with village residents voting in those respective elections.
Fred Byers is confirmed to serve a second term as a Wahzhazhe Elections Board alternate member. The Nation’s election code calls for a three-member board with two alternate members who serve in the event a sitting board member must recuse his/herself due to a conflict in carrying out election duties. Byers received a 12-0 confirmation vote.
Teresa Trumbly Lamsam and Tara McLain Manthey are both confirmed to serve another term on the Osage News Editorial Board. Lamsam is a board appointee by Standing Bear and Tara McLain Manthey is an appointee from the Congress made by 12-0 affirmative vote beforehand. Both received 12-0 confirmation votes.
Lamsam and Manthey are both board members who served prior terms, which date back to the first Editorial Board formed when the Nation’s Independent Press Act was developed and passed by the First ON Congress. The Editorial Board is comprised of three individuals with two board appointments each made by the Legislative and Executive branches and those two members are subject to Congressional confirmation. The two confirmed board members appoint the third board member, who is also subject to a confirmation vote.
Frances Williams is now serving another term on the Nation’s Veterans Memorial Commission. She also received a 12-0 vote for her confirmation vote.
Each board and commission member will serve a three-year term once confirmed.
