Minutes
Constitution Reform Initiative Community Meeting
Public Participation
March 18, 2014
6:00 p.m.
Opening Prayer
Welcome
 Thank you for the wonderful turnout and interest in our Constitution Reform
 Cover how we envision presenting material - PowerPoint, specific topic discussion
slides, and open discussion at end of presentation.
 Pizza, breaks, and drawing for prize at end of meeting
How Initiative Was Started
 Overview of the NCAI grant and documentation required
 A guidebook is located on the table at the back of room for viewing and will be shared
with other tribes throughout the country once the project has been completed.
Why We Need A New Constitution
 Overview of why the Executive Committee is trying something new
 What is needed to adopt a new Constitution
-Discussion Question: Imagine 10, 20, or 50 years in the Future. What do you hope the
Catawba Indian Nation is like?
Prosperous. What about Politically? How do we prepare? Can we prepare? What about
education for our children? Boys and Girls Club is an example.
(Note: We had no feed back with the first discussion slide.)
How Can You Participate?
 Public Input
 Volunteer
 Contact Names and Emails were provided
 Attend future meetings and bring others
 Attend General Council Meeting
 Participate in a focus group
 Signup sheets for focus groups are located on the back table
 8 focus groups have been identified
 Meeting minutes will be posted online
 Complete surveys - available in July 2014
 Submit comments on draft constitution – we want your input from start to finish
-Discussion Question: How else can we get tribal members involved in the creating and
adoption of a new Constitution and keep them engaged all the way until the Election in July
2015?
 Throw more potlucks, have more in-kind donations to provide more giveaways to get
people here. (Note: Our project does allow and we will be providing light snacks and a gift card.)
 Who are our lawyers? Information was provided on the RFP process, a tribal lawyer was
selected through this process. He will speak with us shortly. The lawyer for our next
process has not been selected yet. We will select when we are closer to that stage of
the process.
 Would like to see more information on the Constitution meetings in the newsletters
than there have been in the past. People say no information on constitution meetings
…when no one was showing up at those meetings it was only us working on them… we
asked people to come.
 Member of Constitution Committee mentioned recently stepped down from the
committee but here tonight. Not a quitter.
 Carpool. Bring more people. Employees should have incentive to come.
 Seniors need a way to attend.
 Weekend meetings. Some people work out of state for weeks on end. Back on
weekends if at all.
 Suggest placing previous and current constitution on internet ahead of time.
 Have we thought about Transit picking up people that don’t usually come?
Introduction of Consultant
 Jeff Harris, Lawyer, Tribal Member
 7 year CIN Scholarship Recipient
 Opportunity to help to the tribe
 We are off to a great start tonight
 This process can work /30% voting or 600-700 people voting for constitution to pass
In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven
generations.
 As we move forward keep in mind what we determine in this process will impact not
only us today but the next 7 generations. That is powerful.
What Is A Constitution?
 Shared values, vision
 A document allowing the tribe to asset sovereignty
 Allows us to determine our own future
-Discussion Question: What do you feel is important in our tribe’s constitution? How should
the document look? What are the major sections that need to be included?
 Bingo, gaming, State of S.C. issues
 Economic Development









Describe requirements of the Executive Committee, number of members, requirements
to be in office, who enforces the constitution, who protects
How tribal entities on tribal land are held accountable
Authority of tribal entities
Tribal households after passing of the tribal member
Bi-laws, policies & procedures
Layman’s terms
Include a definitions section
Enrollment, tribal member passing
Sovereignty, Bill of Rights
Good Government
-Discussion Question: How do we make sure the citizens are happy and prosperous in our
Constitution?
 No able to please everyone
 Glad to see we have a tribal lawyer working for us
 Everyone thinks gaming is evil but it is not. We have 3000 people on our roll. Tribes
with less people on their roll have gaming and are doing much better than us. We need
to come to an agreement if we put gaming in there and move forward.
 Are there other similar size tribes we can look at? If not broke don’t fix it. Use their
template – use what we can. Research and see what works for us from what others have
done. Using our history and what they have done might work for us.
 Hope we keep an open mind. May need to compromise.
 Yes, make a compromise.
 Trust. Everybody. Every family needs to trust everybody and all committees need to
trust.
 Need to diversify. Economic Development needs to diversify – not just gaming. Focus
groups need copies of the Strategic Plan the tribe developed a few years ago.
 The Southern Ute tribe offered us a Dome. Offered legal help from lawyers. Prior Chief
didn’t take them up on the offer. They have the same size tribe & gaming there.
 We should include net working in constitution.
-Discussion Question: How can we ensure everyone is being treated fair and equal?
 Include a non-discrimination clause
 All do not have the same background & situations – all are affected differently by our
decisions. Hope all done for the betterment of everybody and it is passed without
sending out again.
 Expand daily voice of Executive Committee. Current government is small. Grown since
1975 the number of people. EC has limits on duties and responsibilities.
-Discussion Question: How can we ensure that elected officials reflect the will of tribal
members?
 Judicial system. Don’t know anyone to elect but need a system in place.
 Need to amend settlement with the state
 Elected officials should be held to constitution and what is done if not stated clearly
 Confused during last election. Was unsure what those running stood for. Why not have
an open forum before the election to get to know each candidate and what they stand
for, so we will know if they are following through with what they stated when they were
running. Several on the Executive Committee now were all for the seniors, children,
cultural – but doing nothing for them now in office. We have no dance classes, no
cultural activities.
-Discussion Question: What makes our government a good government?
 Bill of Rights
 Transparency
 People participating
 People knowing and taking action
 Trust
 South Carolina and others know we are trustworthy
 Constitution should state how we remove someone from office if untrustworthy
-Discussion Question: How do we ensure honesty in our government? Executive Committee
and General Council
 Bi-Law, Policies and Procedures
 Handbooks, Social Media, Public Records
 Same rules and condition apply to everyone
 Have a place to view all grants for all entities
 Public records should be defined and confidentiality should be defined
 Honestly is the best policy. Better to avoid half truths. Even when on Executive
Committee.
 Respectfully
 Robert’s Rules of Order
Open Discussion
Thank you for input so far tonight. We encourage everyone to continue with open discussion.
Open minds help process move forward.
 Are we going to go for a complete new constitution or revise the last that did not pass?
Poarch Creek was a year behind us, they have a constitution we should take a look at
during this process.
 They have separation of powers in their constitution. That’s why it works.
 We can use the idea and consider but will it restrict us or impede us?











We don’t need to worry about who you might make mad – be honest. Everyone is kin
one way or another. It’s about the future. Be honest when we get together and start
planning what we want in our constitution.
Think long term. It’s not about the people in this room. It is about the next 7
generations of people.
What can we do to not be as restrictive? How can we get the numbers up? Is there a
time limit to get this constitution passed?
We are shooting for the election in July 2015 - paring up with the Executive Committee
election.
Tonight we spoke about the best ideas of a constitution and writing – we can do the
same thing.
Need to be very creative in getting the constitution out. I have worked with you guys, I
know you do everything you can – calls, email, newsletters, mail outs, and meetings but
still people lack participation.
Maybe we can explain the draft constitution via a video on the website
Run on CN2. Cherokee runs their business sessions on local TV.
Many different families are here tonight. We are all family. Work together. Bring
another person from another family. If we do this we can do it together and get a
document.
Celebrate the Room. We are here to get a document for the next 7 generations.
Bring 1 more person and we will double the next time.
Next time give a door prize to the person bringing the most people.
Meeting Comment Pages
 We want our meetings to be meaningful. As you came in tonight you received a
comments page. Please complete and leave with us.
 You should also sign up for Focus Groups at the back of the room if you are interested.
 Spread the news about the great progress we made tonight.
 Encourage attendance.
 Post your comments on Face book. Awesome meeting. Don’t miss the next one.
Drawing
 Jeremy Beck won the 32 Inch Television
Adjourn
7:43