Hopi Tribal Council clarifies resolution affecting Chairman Shingoitewa's acting duties

KYKOTSMOVIE, Ariz. - After a recent Hopi Tribal Council meeting in which two resolutions were put into place - one regarding Chairman LeRoy N. Shingoitewa's duties and another regarding the Tribe's interim legal counsel - the council has chosen to further clarify the resolution regarding Shingoitewa's chief administrative duties (CAO) due to lack of clarification and misrepresentation of the facts in articles that were recently published.

The most recent resolution regarding the chairman's CAO duties reverses a measure passed in 2005, which added the CAO responsibilities to the chairman until a full-time CAO was hired; all part of an ongoing reorganization that the tribe has been working on over the last few years.

The 2005 resolution states:

"BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that until such time as the position of Chief Administrative Officer is filled, the Chairman of the Hopi Tribe shall assume the duties and responsibilities of the CAO position and is hereby authorized to take all actions necessary to fully implement the Second Phase of the Tribe's Reorganization."

In a vote last week, the council passed a new resolution that transferred only Shingoitewa's chief administrative officer (CAO) duties to Vice Chairman Herman Honanie.

By transferring Shingoitewa's CAO duties, the chairman's role is returning to its original position by handing over all matters related to employee and personnel matters of the Hopi Tribe to the vice chairman's office until a CAO is brought on board full-time. Shingoitewa remains chairman and chief executive officer of the Hopi Tribe.

The new resolution states:

"The Tribal Council hereby delegates to the Vice Chairman to supervise and direct the following administrative and technical offices of: (1) Human Resources; (2) Finance; (3) Management Information Systems; (4) Planning & Evaluation: (5) Realty."

"The Tribal Council also delegates to the Vice Chairman to supervise and direct the following line departments of: (1) Department of Education; (2) Department of Hopi Guidance Center; (3) Department of Community Health Services; (4) Department of Natural Resources; (5) Department of Public Safety and Emergency Services."

In addition to the transferring of CAO duties from the chairman to vice chairman, the Hopi Tribal Council also voted to terminate the Tribe's contract with Robert J. Lyttle as attorney and interim general counsel, effective Dec. 31, 2011.

The two resolutions were decided upon during a Hopi Tribal Council meeting which was presided over by Vice Chairman Honanie while Shingoitewa and Chief of Staff Curtis Honanie were meeting with legislators in Washington last week regarding land, water, education and healthcare issues affecting the Tribe.

For more information on The Hopi Tribe, visit

www.hopi-nsn.gov.

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