Copyright © 2003 NLThomas
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TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA - The Cherokee Nation Tribal Council has proposed to remove $30 million from the Cherokee Nation annual budget just six weeks before most of the Council leaves office.

The Council’s Executive and Finance committee voted to remove Cherokee Nation as the recipient of $30 million in federal Indian housing funds, instead sending the money directly to the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation, a state-chartered organization.

"If I were leaving office in a few weeks and tried to make a $30 million budget decision, people would be screaming bloody murder, and rightly so", said Principal Chief Chad Smith, who will begin his second term on August 14. "A lame-duck Council should not try to push through a $30 million policy decision at the last minute."

Smith pointed out that at least eight members of the 15-member Tribal Council will leave office in August and questioned the timing of such a big policy change.

"This Council could have made this decision months or years ago", Smith said. "This Council voted to take control of the of the Housing Authority’s budget in 2000. Now that they are leaving office, they don’t want the next Council to be able to have the same controls over the Housing Authority that they voted themselves."

"I hate to change (the funding) right in the face of a new Council coming aboard", said John Ketcher, who is retiring from his Council seat at the end of this term. "This is something for the new Council to get a grasp on and work with."

The issue will be on the agenda for the next Tribal Council meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. on July 14 in the Tribal Council Chambers at the W.W. Keeler Tribal Complex on Highway 62 south of Tahlequah.

Related contact information:

Mike Miller, Cherokee Nation Director of Communications Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2210) Fax: 918-458-5580 E-mail: Communications@cherokee.org Larry Daugherty, Advertising Manager Cherokee Nation - Public Affairs Phone 918-456-0671 (Ex.2324) E-mail: ldaugherty@cherokee.org

Steven Swogger, Agriculture Liaison Natural Resources Department Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2546) FAX: 918-458-7673 E-mail: sswogger@cherokee.org Bradley D. Peak, Cherokee Nation Natural Resources Specialist Phone: 918-456-0671 (ex.2843) E-mail: bpeak@cherokee.org