PEMBROKE — There was no exchange of power Thursday when the Lumbee Tribal Council met to elect officers.
District 13 Representative Ricky Burnett will remain Council speaker. He was the only nominee and was reelected by acclamation.
Corbin Eddings, the District 8 representative, was reelected vice chairman. He also was the only nominee.
Larry Chavis faced no opposition Thursday after being nominated and then elected, by acclamation, to the role of parliamentarian. Chavis is one of the District 6 representatives.
Pam Hunt, District 3, will retain the role of Council treasurer.
Sharon Hunt kept her position as secretary. She and Carvicous Barfield were both nominated for the role, but Barfield declined. Hunt represents District 2.
The Council also elected chairs to the subcommittees.
Dewey McNeill, District 9, will continue to act as chairman of the Federal Recognition Committee. Eddings was also nominated, but he declined.
Marshil Locklear, District 10, was reelected chair of the Health and Human Services Committee; and Pam Hunt, District 3, was reelected Finance Committee chair.
Yvonne Dial, District 7, will now serve as chair of the Education Committee. The role was formerly held by Frank Cooper, who was replaced by Chocajuana Oxendine on the Lumbee Tribal Council as the District 11 representative.
Eddings will now chair the Ethics Committee, a seat previously held by Gerald Goolsby, District 2. Goolsby now is chair of the Economic Development, a position previously held by Eddings.
Wendy Moore-Graham, District 5, was elected chair of the Constitution and Ordinance Committee, by way of receiving more yes votes, 15, than McNeill, 6. The seat was held preciously by Reginald Oxendine.
Ted Woodell, District 4, will take Moore-Graham’s place as chair of the Agriculture/Natural Resources Committee.
“Congratulations to all elected committee chairs. I look forward to working with you, look forward to a good year. This is our year, this is America’s year 2021,” Speaker Burnett said.
Also Thursday the council approved its Standing Rules of Order and Regulations Governing the Duties of the Tribal Council Officers and Decorum of Tribal Meetings ordinance, which is reviewed each year. The council voted 12-9 to uphold the ordinance, but not before hearing concerns from some council members.
Moore-Graham said the language about holding workshop sessions gave her “pause” when she read it.
“Even though we’re Tribal Council and we have legislative authority, we don’t have legislative authority to break our own Constitution,” Moore-Graham said. “That’s just in my personal opinion. We don’t have anything that gives of the right to do a work session out of the public’s eye, but that’s my opinion.”
Richard Jones, the newly elected District 6 representative, also disagreed with the language.
“I think we ride a slippery slope when we have work sessions that’s not open to the public,” Jones said.
Jones also questioned if the the chairman should be allowed to vote if the tribe is going by the Robert’s Rules of Order.
“I think the chairperson should not vote if we’re going to use the Roberts Rules of Order,” Jones said.
Burnett moved forward with the vote on the presented ordinance and said Council had “ample” time to review and suggest changes during the orientation.
The Council also approved the schedule of tribal business meetings for the year 2021.
