General Council starts with elections, talk of strategic plan

KAMIAH — The Nez Perce Tribe’s governing chairman told the assembly at the fall General Council the tribe is developing a strategic plan, and it has combating climate change at the top of the plan.

The Nez Perce Tribe Executive Committee Chairman Shannon Wheeler addressed about 125 people at the Thursday meeting, explaining that a strategic plan is being devised, but has yet to be implemented.

Paramount among his concerns were advocating for increased healthy diets for tribal members and maintaining food sovereignty. But he also wanted to be conscientious of the environment and develop a plan that has as little harmful effect on the planet as possible.

“We want to continue to develop our land, but that might mean stopping irrigation of nonproducing crops,” Wheeler said. “This will be an implementation with a Nez Perce preference and extreme focus on climate change.”

Wheeler said implementing a strategic plan when it comes to resources like water and land will require the tribe to take a larger role on the federal stage.

“We must secure our brothers in salmon; they are the ones who have given themselves to us from the beginning,” Wheeler said. “How the salmon go, we go.”

Wheeler also mentioned briefly that the tribe is in the planning stage of building an assisted living facility.

Earlier in the day, the assembly debated at length how the tribe should conduct its voting of elected positions.

A note was added into the agenda by General Council Chairwoman Jennifer Oatman saying seats will be elected on a “plurality vote,” meaning regardless of how many candidates are up for a seat, the one with the most votes is elected. The tribe has jumped back and forth between a plurality vote and a majority vote (where a seat is granted once a candidate gets 50 percent plus one of the votes). In the majority vote decision, if a wide field of candidates vie for one particular seat but don’t meet the 50 percent plus one margin, then the election moves to a runoff between the top two vote-getters.

Several tribal members spoke against making all voting efforts a plurality. A motion passed to strike the wording from the agenda so that for each individual seat, the group at General Council can choose if they want to vote in members on a plurality or majority vote.

The discussion was followed by several committee reports and then elections to the General Council’s one-year term positions for secretary, chair and seats on the resolutions committee and for election judges. The voting led to several incumbents being ousted, including Oatman, who was unseated from her position as chairwoman by Julia Davis Wheeler, after being in the position for several years.

The tribe went into executive session shortly after 3 p.m. to discuss the treasurer’s reports and did not exit the closed-door session until adjourning the first day of General Council. The meeting continues today and concludes Saturday.

Holm may be contacted at (208) 848-2275 or tholm@lmtribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomHolm4.

Election results:

General Council Chair: Julia Davis Wheeler won with 42 votes to Allen Slickpoo Jr.’s 39 and Jennifer Oatman’s 37.

General Council Secretary: Shirley Allman won uncontested.

Resolutions Committee:

Seat one: Alice Spaulding won with 83 votes to Louis Harris’ 40.

Seat two: Ciarra Greene won with 78 votes to Margarita Bulltail’s 46.

Seat three: Bulltail won with 42 votes to Harris’ 28.

Seat four: Oatman won with 47 votes to Harris’ 36 and Kayla Warden’s 33.

Election judges:

Seat one: Melissa Guzman won with 53 votes to Warden’s 24, Harris’ 24 and Karee Picard’s 22.

Seat two: Nicole Two-Moons won with 47 votes to Melissa King’s 29, Slickpoo’s 28 and Picard’s 20.

Seat three: King won with 71 votes to Slickpoo’s 55.