# LEG-382 sponsored by Legislative Leader Linda Gokee, posted 07/09/26reposted > Briefs, arguments, decisions, and more. URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/tribal%3Alittle_traverse%3Ad5ed2e2cc5180bf1 ## Record - **Collection:** Tribal code - **Document type:** Tribal code ## Text LEG-382 sponsored by Legislative Leader Linda Gokee, posted 07/09/26reposted 091826 1 2 WAGANAKISING ODAWAK STATUTE 2026-___ 3 OPEN MEETINGS OF THE TRIBAL COUNCIL 4 5 6 SECTION I. PURPOSE 7 8 9 10 11 12 The purpose of this Statute is to mandate. that all meetings of the Tribal Council called pursuant to Constitutional Article VII J (8) Article, except phone conference calls and closed sessions allowed under subsections J (6) and J (9) of Article VII, are open to Tribal Citizens and Tribal Citizens shall have a reasonable opportunity to be heard, under such rules as the Council may prescribe in the Statute. 13 14 15 16 SECTION II. REPEAL 17 18 This Statute repeals and replaces Waganakising Odawak Statutes 2020-001 Amendment to Waganakising Odawak Statute 2015-014, 2015-014, 2010-010, and 2000-014. or as 19 20 further amended or any other previous statute or amendment, or any Resolution, Regulation, or Policy language to be considered deleted by this statute. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 SECTION III. DEFINITIONS A. “Actually Present” means continuous and observable participation in the meeting proceedings. B. “Immediate Family” or “Family member” means a person who is related to a Tribal Citizen by one of the following relationships: wife, husband, son, daughter, mother, father, brother, sister, step-mother, step-father, step-brother, step-sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law, child, step-child, grandmother, grandfather, brother-in-law and sister-in-law. C. “Official Act” means to take-action to approve or disapprove. D. “Political Purposes” means campaigns, initiatives, referendums, recall, petitions 34 35 36 37 Formatted: Indent: Hanging: 0.5" or other election related activities. Formatted: Indent: Left: 0.5", No bullets or numbering Page 1 of 7 Waganakising Odawak Statute Open Meetings of the Tribal Council Secretary VanDeCar_____ LEG-382 sponsored by Legislative Leader Linda Gokee, posted 07/09/26reposted 091826 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 D.E. “Public” means Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Tribal Citizens and their immediate family members. E.F. “Quorum of Tribal Council”. Five (5) Tribal Council members shall constitute a quorum at a Regular, Special or Emergence Meeting of the Tribal Council. F.G. “Tribal Citizen” means an enrolled member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. G.H. “Tribe” shall mean Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. SECTION IV. REGULAR, SPECIAL AND EMERGENCY MEETINGS The Legislative Leader, a Tribal Council Officer or in the absence of a Tribal Council Officer, a Tribal Councilor present at the Tribal government office shall preside over meetings where at least a quorum is present. A quorum shall be necessary to transact official business. Nothing in this statute shall prevent the Executive or Tribal Council from hosting meetings and welcoming candidates, by invitation, from state, federal, Tribal, Tribal entity, local municipal, or other governmental entities. 25 A. Regular Meetings: Tribal Council shall hold at least one (1) regularly scheduled 26 meeting each month at the Tribal government offices. Official minutes shall be taken and 27 recorded and shall be approved within sixty (60) days of the meeting. 28 29 B. 30 Legislative Leader; a majority of Tribal Council; or by a request from the Executive. 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Special Meetings: Special meetings may be called from time to time by the 1. Notice of such Special meetings shall be given to all members of the Tribal Council at least five (5) days in advance of such meetings and shall state the purpose or purposes of the meeting. 2. Special meetings shall be restricted to the purpose or purposes for which they are called. 38 39 C. Emergency Meeting: When immediate official action of the Tribal Council is 40 necessary to preserve or promote essential interests of the Tribe, the Legislative Leader or Page 2 of 7 Waganakising Odawak Statute Open Meetings of the Tribal Council Secretary VanDeCar_____ Formatted: List Paragraph, Left, Line spacing: single, No bullets or numbering, Widow/Orphan control LEG-382 sponsored by Legislative Leader Linda Gokee, posted 07/09/26reposted 091826 1 three-fourths (3/4) majority of the Tribal Council may call an emergency meeting 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 1. Advance written or verbal notice of such meeting shall be given to each Council member to the greatest extent feasible. 2. Emergency meetings shall be restricted to the urgent subject matter necessitating the meeting. 3. Emergency meetings may be conducted by phone conference call or with the aid of such other communication technology as may be available and in common use. 4. A statement shall be made in the minutes of the next scheduled meeting indicating the date and time that the Emergency meeting was held. 5. The Tribal Council shall keep records of Emergency meetings at the Tribal administrative offices which shall include the reason for the meeting and the action taken, which records shall be available to the Tribal Citizenship to the same extent as regular meeting minutes, and the same rules regarding closed sessions and closed sessions minutes apply. 21 22 23 SECTION V. 24 25 26 27 PROXY VOTING No Voting by Proxy. All votes must be cast only by those actually present at the meeting during which the vote was taken. 28 29 SECTION VI. RECORDINGS AND MEDIA 30 31 A. Any electronic recordings of Tribal Council meetings by individuals shall be 32 prohibited. 33 34 B. 35 in progress, any representative from the media shall immediately present their media Before a Tribal Council meeting starts or upon entering a Tribal Council meeting 36 credentials to Tribal Council. 37 38 39 SECTION VI. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD 40 Page 3 of 7 Waganakising Odawak Statute Open Meetings of the Tribal Council Secretary VanDeCar_____ LEG-382 sponsored by Legislative Leader Linda Gokee, posted 07/09/26reposted 091826 1 The following rules shall apply to public comment: 2 3 A. 4 scheduled meeting. Tribal Council shall allow for a reasonable amount of time for Tribal Council shall allow for at least one public comment period per regularly 5 comments from the public but may limit such time for comments as necessary to conduct 6 business. 7 8 B. Only the individuals within the definition of public may provide comment during 9 public comment period. 10 11 C. 12 present for the public comment period. Tribal Council shall only accept verbal comments from individuals physically 13 14 D. Written public comments will be accepted by the Legislative Office. All 15 comments must be in writing and shall be open to review within the Legislative Office in 16 accordance with any laws regarding such documents. 17 18 E. Initiatives and referendums shall go through the proper legislative procedures. 19 20 F. Unruly behavior, abusive language, or any personal attacks will not be tolerated. 21 22 If unacceptable behavior occurs, a person may be requested to leave by consensus of Tribal Council. 23 24 G. Tribal Council will not accept comments nor discuss matters that are under 25 26 investigation or are being adjudicated before an administrative or judicial tribunal. 27 28 H. Tribal Council will not accept comments nor discuss matters that relate to the following: 29 30 1. Personnel matters. 2. Personal information affecting an individual’s privacy, including 31 32 33 personnel matters or medical conditions or similar matters that constitute a 34 clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy unless it pertains to the 35 Tribal Citizens who is raising the matter. Page 4 of 7 Waganakising Odawak Statute Open Meetings of the Tribal Council Secretary VanDeCar_____ LEG-382 sponsored by Legislative Leader Linda Gokee, posted 07/09/26reposted 091826 1 2 3. Matters covered by attorney client privilege. 4. Matters considered confidential by other Statutes. 5. Matters regarding confidential business or legal matters of the Tribe or a 3 4 5 6 7 Tribal Citizen. 8 9 10 6. 11 6.7. Matters that could impair a criminal investigation. Political Solicitation Prohibition for Political Purpose. 12 13 14 SECTION VII. CLOSED SESSION 15 16 When necessary to protect the interests of the Tribe and fulfill its responsibilities to the 17 Tribal Citizenship, Tribal Council may by motion and majority vote of a quorum, go into 18 closed session during a regular, special or emergency meeting. 19 20 A. Minutes. Tribal Council shall take Closed Session Minutes and shall develop a 21 disclosure of closed session minutes policy. 22 23 B. 24 the matters for which the closed session was called. Closed sessions shall be limited to: Tribal Council shall not discuss anything in closed session beyond the scope of 25 26 1. Legislative Branch personnel under the authority of Tribal 27 Council. 28 29 2. Litigation. 3. Confidential business matters. 4. Legal matters. 5. Other matters that raise significant privacy or confidentiality concerns. 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Page 5 of 7 Waganakising Odawak Statute Open Meetings of the Tribal Council Secretary VanDeCar_____ Formatted: List Paragraph, Left, Line spacing: single, No bullets or numbering, Adjust space between Latin and Asian text, Adjust space between Asian text and numbers LEG-382 sponsored by Legislative Leader Linda Gokee, posted 07/09/26reposted 091826 1 B. 2 close session discussions. Any action considered in closed session that can be taken in Tribal Council shall return to open session immediately upon completion of the 3 open session without harming Tribal interests shall be taken after the Tribal Council 4 returns to open session. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 SECTION VIII. SEVERABILITY AND SAVINGS CLAUSE PROTECTION OF TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY A. Severability. If any provision of this Statute, or the application of such provision to any person, entity, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, unconstitutional, or otherwise unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of this Statute and the application of its provisions to other persons, entities, or circumstances shall not be affected thereby and shall remain in full force and effect. To this end, the provisions of this Statute are severable. B. Formatted: Font: Bold, Not Italic Formatted: Font: Bold, Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Indent: Left: 0", First line: 0", Numbered + Level: 1 + Numbering Style: A, B, C, … + Start at: 1 + Alignment: Left + Aligned at: 0.25" + Indent at: 0.5" Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Savings Provision. Formatted: Font: Not Italic 1. The amendment or repeal of any statute by this Act shall not release, extinguish, or modify, in whole or in part, any civil or criminal liability, penalty, or forfeiture incurred prior to the effective date of this Statute, and the prior law shall remain in full force and effect solely for the purpose of sustaining and enforcing such actions. Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic 2. This Statute shall not affect any prospective, pending, or ongoing litigation, prosecution, or administrative proceedings commenced before the effective date of this Statute. C. Preservation of Tribal Sovereignty. Nothing in this Statute, nor any application thereof, shall be construed, interpreted, or implied to waive, limit, impair, or modify the sovereign immunity, jurisdiction, self-governance, or inherent sovereign rights of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, a federally recognized Indian Tribe. Any ambiguity in this Statute shall be resolved in favor of preserving the sovereign rights, jurisdiction, sovereign immunity, and treaty-protected rights of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. No provision of this Statute shall be interpreted as applying to the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians unless the legislature has expressly stated such intent in clear and unequivocal language. SAVINGS CLAUSE 39 40 In the event that any phrase, provision, part, paragraph, subsection or section of this 41 statute is found for any reason, held invalid or unconstitutional by the Tribal courts of the 42 Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians to violate the Constitution, laws or 43 ordinances of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, such phrase, provision, Page 6 of 7 Waganakising Odawak Statute Open Meetings of the Tribal Council Secretary VanDeCar_____ Formatted: Indent: Left: 0.5" Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Indent: Left: 0.5", First line: 0", Numbered + Level: 2 + Numbering Style: 1, 2, 3, … + Start at: 1 + Alignment: Left + Aligned at: 1.25" + Indent at: 1.5" Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Indent: Left: 0", First line: 0", Numbered + Level: 1 + Numbering Style: A, B, C, … + Start at: 1 + Alignment: Left + Aligned at: 0.25" + Indent at: 0.5" Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic Formatted: Font: Not Italic LEG-382 sponsored by Legislative Leader Linda Gokee, posted 07/09/26reposted 091826 1 part, paragraph, subsection or section shall be considered to stand alone and to be deleted 2 from this statute, the entirety of the balance of the statute to remain in full and binding 3 force and effect. 4 5 6 SECTION IX. EFFECTIVE DATE 7 8 Effective upon signature of the Executive or 30 days from Tribal Council approval which 9 ever comes first or if the Executive vetoes the legislation, then upon Tribal Council 10 override of the veto. 11 12 13 14 15 CERTIFICATION 16 17 Page 7 of 7 Waganakising Odawak Statute Open Meetings of the Tribal Council Secretary VanDeCar_____ --- Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/tribal%3Alittle_traverse%3Ad5ed2e2cc5180bf1. Public record. Not legal advice.