PEMBROKE — The Lumbee Tribal Council heard Thursday that $3.2 million in federal money is available to pay for repairs to the dam at the Lumbee Tribe Cultural Center in Maxton.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency money was part of a discussion of amendments to the tribe’s budget for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
Council Speaker Ricky Burnett said the money has been allocated and can be accessed by the tribe. However, it is unclear when repairs to the dam damaged by hurricanes Matthew and Florence will begin.
The tribe wants to expand the offerings at the lake and Cultural Center. Plans include adding parking for recreational vehicles, camping sites and hiking trials. Fishing and boating can be added as lake activities once the dam is repaired.
There was little discussion of the FEMA money or the other budget amendments, which were approved.
Nor was there much discussion before the council members unanimously approved a resolution that will be sent to members of the U.S. Senate asking them to support SR 1368, legislation to grant the Lumbee Tribe full federal recognition.
The vote on the resolution was taken after a brief discussion during which council member Jan Lowery pointed out a capitalization mistake in the document. Jarrod Lowery, chairman of the Federal Recognition Committee, from which the resolution originated, also pointed out an error.
The recognition legislation was introduced in to the Senate on May 8. It was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs that same day. No action has been taken since.
Federal recognition legislation was introduced in to the U.S. House of Representatives on March 28. That legislation, HR 1964, was referred to the Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States on April 17. No further action has been taken on that legislation.
In June, the council members approved a resolution to be sent to U.S. House members asking for support for HR 1964.
There was much discussion before council members sent back to the Constitution and Ordinance Committee a resolution calling for the Tribal Council Executive Committee to remove the council’s representative to the North Carolina Indian Housing Authority Board. The representative in question is Al Locklear, the council District 3 representative until he resigned from the council effective December 2018 because he was moving out of the district.
After the resolution was read by committee Chairman Reginald Oxendine, council member Janie McFarland questioned the lack of a copy of the letter that is to be sent to Locklear asking him to resign from the board.
Burnett said the letter has not been sent because it needs to be approved by the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee is comprised of Burnett, Vice Chairman Corbin Eddings, Secretary Wendy Moore-Graham, Treasurer Sharon Hunt and Parliamentarian Larry Chavis.
McFarland questioned the prudence of approving the resolution without the council members seeing the letter. She also questioned the need for Executive Committee approval since the full council needs to approve the resolution and the letter.
“I don’t think this is what came out of the committee,” she said.
Council member Jan Lowery suggested taking the Executive Committee out of the resignation request process.
“It does need a lot of reworking,” she said of the resolution.
That began several minutes of suggested changes to the resolution’s wording and the pointing out of spelling errors. A motion to approve the amended document was approved. The motion to approve the document failed on a vote of 15 to 4.
After the vote was taken, Moore-Graham asked for an explanation of why members voted no. The only response came from Alvin Mercer, who cast a no vote.
“We’re sitting up here wasting our time on a bunch of words,” he said.
In other business, the council heard a request from the tribal Board of Elections for $25,000 to pay for ongoing operations. Burnett said the request would go to the council’s Finance Committee.
The Elections Board also requested a new telephone. The one it has was cut off by the service provider because the phone is obsolete. The Elections Board staff, all part-time employees, is making due with personal cell phones.