BAY MILLS — The Bay Mills General Tribal Council (GTC) met on March 14 at the Horizons Conference Center — 183 members of the community met to discuss a variety of agenda topics.
Tribal Chairman Jeff Parker opened the meeting with an apology to the community for a personal incident that occurred over the weekend. Parker then turned the meeting over to Vice Chairman Allyn Cameron so the GTC could discuss an alleged petition asking for Parker's removal that was rumored to be circulating through the community.
Bay Mills Tribal Lawyer Candy Tierney read Article V of the Bay Mills Constitution regarding vacancies and removal of office. She said that the GTC would have to determine whether or not an issue of removal should be considered and if so, a specific meeting of the GTC would have to be designated. If a specific meeting was set, the accused would have a chance to defend themselves and could only be expelled from office by a two-thirds majority vote.
Cameron said that if the petition for Parker's removal exists it should be brought forward so that a special meeting could be scheduled to deal with the issue. Since no one came forward with a petition, members of the GTC said that they accepted Parker's apology and asked that he return to the meeting.
ADOPTIONS
After approving the Aug. 16 and Oct. 11, 2004 meeting minutes, the council moved on to a memorandum and recommendation sheet from the Enrollment Screening Committee regarding 18 applicants for adoption into the tribe and one recommended for denial. A motion to approve the recommendations of the Screening Committee was carried by acclamation without much discussion.
Phyllis Malloy, of the Screening Committee, said that the 10 applicants who were denied membership by the GTC were given notice of their right to appeal. Of the 10 applicants, only three responded — Victory Donnelly, Diane Tremblay and Mark Brownell. Donnelly and Tremblay were approved for membership after explaining their cases before the GTC. Since Brownell was not present at the meeting, no action was taken regarding his membership.
PORT HURON
Parker said that the last motion of the GTC allowing the Executive Council to continue working on the Port Huron project expired on Dec. 31, 2004, and asked the GTC for authorization to continue working on the project. Parker explained that the tribe had a land claim to property at Charlotte Beach that is currently occupied by individuals. He said that the tribe is not interested in removing them from their property, but said the tribe does have a valid claim to the land.
Parker followed by saying that the tribe is currently working with a development company (BlueWater L.L.C.) on the project and that the best opportunity would be to continue working on the Port Huron site at least until the end of this session of Congress. He added that the issue could not be resolved in court, but needed an act of Congress to settle the claim. Since the council has been working hard to get the issue on the transportation bill, which they are hoping will be signed into law by May 31, Parker asked that the GTC allow the council to try getting it through since so much time and energy has already been expended on it.
A member of the community said that the development company was given an extension 18 months ago to move this piece of legislation through Congress and that it got nowhere. He said he opposes an extension because he feels Bluewater lacks the political clout to move this through the Senate. He added that Congress has to be motivated to move a particular piece of legislation and attaching it to a bill is only one way. He said he thinks it's time the tribe explored other options of motivating Congress.
A motion to grant the Executive Council the ability to act on behalf of the GTC on any Port Huron dealings for the remainder of their current elected terms and also to allow Blue Water L.L.C. to continue to work on behalf of the Bay Mills Indian Community until June 1, 2005, was carried.
PLASTICS BUSINESS
Parker said that Mike Malik is involved in the plastics business because the tribe did not want to expend any tribal funds on the project. He said the initial concept is to have the business in Kinross until the planned creation of an industrial park on tribal properties at I-75 and M-28.
A member of the community had questions about the business — who is the International Composite Institute of Michigan (ICIM) and what is the tribe's relationship with this company? Parker said that ICIM is a non-profit entity comprised of Lake Superior State University and Bay Mills Community College and that BMCC is a charter member.
The concerned member said that ICIM is a non-profit corporation chartered within the state of Michigan and it's chief principal is Tony Andary.
BMCC President Mickey Parish said that ICIM is a non profit testing company and that the college is involved to give students an opportunity to do internships there. He said that LSSU would also like to use the facility for their students to do internships. He added that BMCC has applied for a grant to purchase testing equipment and that LSSU has also applied for a $500,000 two-year grant to fund the staff of the testing institute.
The concerned member said that ICIM'S mailing address, P.O. Box 915, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., currently shares the same address with Integrated Composites Company, a company owned by both Tony Andary and Parker. He said that BMCC shares a partnership with this group to provide free labor that will help advance Parker and Andary's company. He added that Parker had signed a lease to the building to ICIM and the group that licenses this technology is known as Polycom Inc.
Parker said that he and Andary did form a L.L.C. called Integrated Composites, but he sold out his interest in the company. He said they had only one piece of equipment and that has been sold. He admitted that they did lease the building, but said that has since been assigned to someone else. Parker said that he is only listed as a partner of Polycom because he did legal work with Andary and, because of potential problems, he did sell his interest in the business.
A concerned community member said that at the last GTC meeting Chairman Parker had said that he had no interest, whatsoever, in the business. She suggested the GTC put together a committee to investigate the allegations.
Another member said that it was his understanding that Malik would invest $1.3 million into the company and would own 49 percent of it, while Bay Mills would own 51 percent. He also recommended a committee be put together to investigate some of these allegations and report back to the GTC with their findings. Parker said he would like to have the tribe do the venture on their own, but said that they did it this way so they would not be out any money.
A motion to have the council report back with paperwork at the next GTC meeting on all of the legal issues presented failed to pass.
A motion to have the Executive Council enter into a joint venture for the Plastics Business carried.
TRIBAL MEMBER CONCERNS
A tribal member asked the executive council why personnel policies were not followed and why they intervened in the termination of a Bay Mills Resort and Casino employee. Parker explained that the employee was terminated because members expressed concern over some of the remarks made. He said that it is the council's belief that they have to provide a work environment that people are comfortable with and that they should not be ashamed of who they are when working for the tribe. He pointed out that the employee had been disciplined before and only after additional comments were made did the issue come to the executive council. The concerned member wondered why the situation was not investigated and why employees were not questioned. He said that he felt the council over-stepped their bounds. Several other tribal members expressed their concerns regarding the situation.
Parker said that the tribe would now be implementing sensitivity training and that it would be mandatory for all employees to attend. He said that all tribal employees, whether members or not, should feel good about where they work. A motion to overturn the decision of the executive council to terminate the employee failed.
