PEMBROKE — The Lumbee Tribal Council’s Constitution & Ordinance Committee voted 13-1 Monday to approve a draft gaming ordinance, which will now advance out of committee with public hearings expected to be held before it goes before the full council.
The committee has worked through the draft over a handful of meetings in recent weeks, reviewing it with Joshua Malcolm, the Tribe’s general counsel. After the Tribe’s constitutional amendment to authorize gaming was voted down by the Tribal membership on June 23, Tribal Council authorized Malcolm to pursue what avenues for gaming may still exist, which led to this draft ordinance.
Four members of the committee were not present for Monday’s meeting. Councilman Billy Oxendine cast the lone no vote. Councilman Larry Soles made the motion and Councilman Homer Fields seconded.
Tribal Speaker Alex Baker will soon schedule four public hearings to allow the Tribal membership to give feedback on the draft ordinance. One hearing will be held in each of the four counties in tribal territory, including Robeson, Cumberland, Hoke and Scotland, Baker told The Robesonian.
“It’s not a final version, it’s only a draft,” said Councilman Rudy Locklear, chair of the committee. “But we’ll be moving it out of committee into the speaker’s realm for him to schedule public hearings for the community review the document and give feedback.”
Following the public hearings, the full Tribal Council will consider the ordinance; the agenda for that meeting will also include an item to the effect of “consideration of public comments from public hearings” to ensure that the input received remains part of the discussion even once the ordinance goes to the full council.
“I expect when the speaker schedules these public hearings that I will hear things and read things afterwards that will trigger ideas in my mind that I have not contemplated,” Malcolm said.
Councilman Graylen Mitchell raised concerns during the meeting about social media misinformation which is suggesting that the ordinance could take effect with no public input; Mitchell even said he would vote no “if we’re not going to hear from the people.”
“This document’s going to be made public, so people have a chance to read it, and people are going to tear it apart — and I’m OK with that,” Malcolm said. “Everything’s going to be on the street, people can bring it, they can share their words, their strong feelings, orally and in writing.”
Malcolm added that that level of input did not happen leading up to the June 23 vote, saying “I don’t know what more this government can do to hear from the people.”
The draft ordinance, which is currently 19 pages long, details qualifications for the selection of a gaming commission, which would include three voting members, nominated by the Tribal chairperson and confirmed by the Tribal Council, and two nonvoting advisory commissioners, appointed by the council. The ordinance also gives directives for licensing and background checks for employees of the gaming operation, which is a thorough and robust process, as well as procedures for license suspension and revocation in the event of wrongdoing by a licensee.
During Monday’s meeting, Malcolm presented a handful of small revisions to the draft ordinance which came from discussions in previous meetings. These include:
— Adding a secretary to the list of officer roles within the gaming commission; the chair shall reside of the commission meetings, the vice chair would preside in the chair’s absence and the secretary will be responsible for creating a written record.
— All action of gaming commissioners will be by majority vote, with the chair required to vote on all issues before the commission.
— A quorum would include four members, meaning that one advisory commissioner must be present. At an initial meeting when officers are selected, all five commissioners must be present.
— Commissioners must establish a “principal place of residence” in Lumbee tribal territory within 60 days of their effective date as a commissioner.
— For the three voting commissioners, at least one of them on the initial commission must be a member of the Lumbee Tribe and have voted in at least one of the last two tribal elections. Three years after the initial commission is established, two of the three voting commissioners must be members of the Tribe. Additionally, at least one of the two advisory commissioners must also be a member of the Tribe.
— The gaming commission will provide oral and written annual reports summarizing its activities over the previous 12 months to the chairperson and Tribal Council, and the chairperson and council will publish an summary to the tribal membership. The commission will also report to Tribal Council at least quarterly.
— The speaker of Tribal Council was added to the list of who should be notified by the National Indian Gaming Commission in the event of written notice of noncompliance. The list previously included the Tribal chairperson, its legal officer and Tribal Council’s attorney.
The two nonvoting commissioners have been a subject of discussion throughout the committee’s draft and revision process, including during Monday’s meeting.
Rudy Locklear said that the idea behind that format is because the two nonvoting members would be appointees which the Tribal chairperson/executive branch has no say over, while the three voting members would be part of checks and balances, nominated by the chairperson and confirmed by Tribal Council.
Baker said he anticipates this will be a subject of much discussion when the public hearings begin.
“I would ask that we not get stuck here, because whatever we do we’re going to put this out (to the public),” Baker said. “The commission is the biggest thing that people are going to be interested in, and they’re going to have a lot to say.”