# Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council (2025)

> Briefs, arguments, decisions, and more.

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/tribal%3Apyramid_lake%3Ac61f102122976e8d

## Record

- **Collection:** Tribal code
- **Document type:** Tribal code

## Text

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council

Post Office Box 256
Nixon, Nevada 89424
Telephone: (775) 574-1000
Fax (775) 574-1054
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES
Tribal Chambers ~ Nixon, NV

October 22, 2025

Members Present:

Steven Wadsworth, Tribal Chairman Edward Ely III, Vice Chairman

Loren Decker, Councilmember Nicholas Cortez, Councilmember

Judith Davis, Councilmember John Guerrero, Councilmember

Nathan Dunn, Councilmember Della John, Councilmember

Georgina Wadsworth, Councilmember Ceira Sampson, Councilmember
CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Wadsworth called the October 22, 2025, Special Tribal Council meeting of the Pyramid Lake Paiute
Tribal Council to order at 6:00 p.m.

ROLL CALL

Brenda A. Henry, Tribal Secretary, took roll call. Councilmember Dunn arrived at 6:05 p.m. All
Councilmembers were present at roll call, and a quorum was established for this meeting.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Chairman Wadsworth presented the agenda for the October 22, 2025, Special meeting with the following
changes. Add Finance Update to New Business #2 and add an Executive Sesson regarding contracts.

Vice Chairman Ely motioned to approve the agenda with additions. Councilmember Guerrero seconded the
motion. Votes were eight (8) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED

PUBLIC COMMENT. No public comment.

NEW BUSINESS

1. Quarterly 2025 Budget Review.

Councilmember Dunn arrived for the meeting at 6:05 p.m.

Councilmember Sampson stepped down to present as the Tribal Treasurer.

Councilmember Sampson, appointed Tribal Treasurer, explained she’s been in the position for the past two
and a half days and will provide comments based on what she’s seen in the Finance Department. The staff is

currently overwhelmed and with some of the staff, she doesn’t have confidence they can do what they have
been appointed to do, they need help. They are trying to do their own job on top of someone else’s job. She
Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council
October 22, 2025 Special Budget Meeting

spoke to the Chairman this morning about bringing individuals back who currently still work for the Tribe
but in different departments and who have done a stand-up job in Finance before. personally, to them
personally and they would be willing to come in and help catch them up, as well as help cross train them.
Another item she’s seen is their policies which are outdated. They are doing some practices for payments,
such as teams, which is not indicated in the policy, and it should be reflected in the policy. She is requesting
they go back to paper until they can get those policies updated to reflect the payments that go through on
teams. With the end of the year coming up, she wants to make sure they get all their payments done, POSs
submitted and that it’s done quickly. She would like to get the information out to the employees, so they are
not trying to spend funds when they are supposed to be closing out. Finance is overwhelmed and
understaffed; they need help.

Chairman Wadsworth said specifically, it’s a yearly practice to stop accepting Pos in the month of
December. Councilmember Davis said it would be the Tribal Treasurers call as the supervisor.

Vice Chairman Ely asked how many people did they have in mind to bring back? Ms. Sampson-said she’s
been in contact with Francesca Maip, who has been in contact with a couple of others who voiced that they
are willing to come in and assist. One is still an employee but the other two are not.

Councilmember John said the Tribe has a modified accrual accounting system, once it closes on December
31st, they still have 90 days to close the programs out. If you obligate a contract by December 31s and the
invoice doesn’t come in until after the new year, you still have time to clear that invoice.

Councilmember Dunn asked about the employee that is working full time, will they be contracted or who is
going to be paying their overtime? Ms. Sampson said they operate under a grant and they do have one day
set aside for Tribal where they can come in and assist for that one day.

Vice Chairman Ely asked if that would be enough support. Ms. Sampson said hearing from other employees,
they did a good job when they were there so she would have confidence that there would be enough and
then they would cross train the employees that are currently there. Vice Chairman Ely asked once they are
in there would be they be interim, appointed, and would they be interviewed? Ms. Sampson said they
would be an emergency appointment. Councilmember Wadsworth said that it would be between Ms.
Sampson and the employee on how long they would be able to work and what their hours would be. Ms.
Sampson said he is worried that whoever is currently in there right now is going to get too overwhelmed
and they decide to leave, which would leave another vacant position. She did have a meeting with the
current employees, and they would like to have more open communication, teamwork and to be able to
step into the roles if they need to if someone is out.

Vice Chairman Ely posed a question in regard to grants or the project that he oversees but knows there are
a lot of other funding agencies that they must deal with. How close are they to getting a person appointed
that can go into an accounting system, for example the bypass which is funded through a Delphi accounting
system. There is only one person that he knows of that could have made a payment and then ask for
reimbursement through their funding agency, through the Federal Highways Administration, how close are
they getting that person for the grants to be approved? Ms. Sampson said it all comes down to access, if that

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October 22, 2025 Special Budget Meeting

person was the sole point of contact, they will have to contact the funding agency, letting them know we
have a new point of contact, terminating the previous user and then activating a new contact. It depends on
how quickly they can get it done. Chairman Wadsworth said they might have answers to that line of
question when Sheri Hunter arrives.

Councilmember Cortez asked Bengamin John, Business Officer and acting Finance Supervisor, if he could
give an update on what he’s seen as the supervisor. Mr. John said he was asked to take on that role which
he found out a day later and just like Ms. Sampson, who was appointed Tribal Treasurer, she would take on
that role, so he technically didn’t do anything. He had already talked to Sheri Hunter about reinstating her
contract at that point, she expressed interest but later when she found out that nothing really changed, then
she wasn’t interested anymore because it would be a step back into the same situation she had left. But
working with the Chairman, they got that straightened out, so he reached back out to Ms. Hunter, and they
made a plan. First, they would need to keep the closeout going to get ready for the audit. They need that in
addition to being able to see a cash flow analysis so they can see where the Tribe is to begin the budget
process. But at the same time, it didn’t make sense to start if the problems were going to continue to tack
on each other. So, he asked Ms. Hunter if she could bring in somebody to support and train AP people,
which she can find along with someone for payroll and for GL to get them caught up. She is willing to bring
these additional supports staff to help the current employees along with keeping the closeout continuing to
get ready for the audit. Councilmember Cortez asked if he met with the employees because it was an action
made by motion. Mr. John said he hasn’t met with the Finance employees. Chairman Wadsworth said it was
conflicting, along with having Ms. Sampson on board because they had to go back and look at the
Treasurer's job description and it’s in the that description as being a supervisor. It’s just one of the things
they are trying to get through because it is contradictory having both in Finance, they just must work
through those issues. The last job description posted was back in 2002. Councilmember Cortez said at the
last meeting, they had appointed Ms. Sampson specifically as a signatory and appointed Mr. John to do the
supervisory position. He thinks Mr. John would be the supervisor in that situation because it was by motion
and passed. Chairman Wadsworth said it was part of the checks and balances for Ms. Sampson to have
signatory authority as well. They’re trying to get through this because they've never done this before, trying
to find that job description and finding it hasn’t been updated.

Councilmember Davis said it’s good they are trying to work it out but she left the last meeting thing when
they made the motions, Ms. Sampson would be there as an extra person, an oversight, to assist wherever
she could and have a signatory. That would take that responsibility off the Chairman, being the only
signatory, it removes the payroll clerk from having access to the bank. Mr. John would have supervisory
oversight of the Finance Department. Chairman Wadsworth said they have been working through it, Ms.
Sampson has been signing more of the requests. Some of the other details they are still working through,
like getting her access to the banks. Councilmember Davis said she realizes they have a job description for a
treasurer but they also have a job description for a comptroller, which is vacant now and they placed Ms.
Sampson in there for checks and balance for the other signatory, not supervisory which is why they put the
Business Officer in there.

Councilmember Dunn noted Ms. Sampson also becomes an employee.

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October 22, 2025 Special Budget Meeting

Chairman Wadsworth said they are just trying to follow what they have in place and make it work. Like Ms.
Sampson said it’s been two and a half days since they've been at it, and it will take more time. He is hoping
to have more information at the Friday meeting.

Councilmember Davis said she would like to move forward knowing where they are going, it’s not like they
have three supervisors in Finance. What she would like to know now is where they are going. Chairman
Wadsworth said Mr. John is signing off on all the employee paperwork for checks and balances, then they
will have Ms. Sampson do that. They’ve had one issue with an employee action (EA) which Ms. Sampson
signed as the Comptroller, but they will work through that.

2. Discussion and Possibly Action Finance Department Update.

Councilmember Guerrero asked Ms. Hunter if she would like to go into Executive Session. Ms. Hunter said
she would be mentioning names, or she could mention positions but if you know the Tribe then you would
know who is in those positions. She will leave it up to the Council, but she will be speaking frankly and
bluntly.

Councilmember Davis asked how close is the Tribe to the audit. Ms. Hunter said for the Council’s
information she came on board under Doug Williams, who began the 2021 audit, then he left and she
finished the 2021 audit, the 2022 audit and the 2023 audit. In 2024 she started to see a slide in clean
records, clean books which makes it complicated to reconcile. For 2024, fixed assets are completed, leases
are done, right of ways are done, liabilities reconciled, there is a lot that is done but what is holding it up is
reconciling cash. Cash got complicated in 2024 due to high turnover in staff. High turnover in staff and
comptrollers and every time there is a new person, the way things are done and the way things are
processed have changed. She sees it on the back end when she is reconciling. The Tribe has two major bank
accounts among the seven accounts, they are reconciled but the General Fund and Fed State are the million
dollar accounts which she sees electronic fund transfers and ACH paying utility bills, paying the credit card
bills, all of these things are moving and the bank statement is enormous. The activity that is moving in and
out of the bank account doesn’t match the Tribe’s records, everything is not getting posted for the record.
Because of the high turnover in the three years she’s worked here, the Tribe has done through about eight
accounts payable, and if they are not trained or qualified, there are a lot of mistakes and they may not even
though they are making mistakes but she sees it all on the back end. It’s accounts payable, it’s electronic
transfers which occurs at a higher level, either accounting supervisor or the Comptroller and that person
knows why they are making a transfer but if they are in a hurry and don’t’ remember the day afterwards,
they may forget to put it on the record. Then months down the road, it just doesn’t happen and that person
is no longer there, you get new people in, and nobody knows about that transfer. She spends a lot of time
digging for source documentation, they can guess what it might be, but it’s a lot of research. They do a
complete search at the desk where the last person sat, they go through the desk for any kind of source
documentation that helps them look for the reason for the transfer. For her as an accountant, at what point
does she start to say red flag, something isn’t right? Everything that worried and concerned her, she shared
with every single Comptroller but had never seen a change. There are big errors in payroll which means the
filing in incorrect in the quarter reports to the federal government and the W2s are incorrect. She shared
her concern with payroll with the Chairman in June but hasn’t seen anything changed. She’s at the point

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October 22, 2025 Special Budget Meeting

where she is not in charge of anything in the Finance Department but is trying to get the books reconciled
to the point where the audit begins. Once it’s reconciled, the closing entries are performed, the Schedule of
Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA) is put together, and they get the trial balance to the auditors. They
get the detailed general ledger, the payroll registers, aged payable and aged receivables to begin uploading
them to the portal so the auditors can get started. They are not there because of the problems with cash
and the audit, and the audit was already decided in the 2022 and 2023 audit of how weak the internal
controls are. There is a material weakness according to the audit finds of internal controls. What she shared
with every Comptroller was to make sure they cover themselves from any liability. They’re doing transfers,
they have the source documentation, the transfer is done and whoever is the signatory, which would be Ms.
Sampson and the Chairman. The signatories should not be authorizing it unless there is source
documentation backing it up. For example, how does a person transfer $8,000 and where is the source
documentation when you have checks and balances in place, which is the signatory. Where are they in the
picture? It’s starting to concern her, and she terminated her contract because she felt like it was getting
inappropriate and didn’t want it to reflect on her. None of it was within her control but she sees it
occurring. There are flaws in internal control, it doesn’t matter if there are 10 people signing or two, it
obviously isn’t working regardless. She has told each Comptroller to make sure the source documentation
is there and to get the signatories to sign off on it to protect them from any inappropriate accusations.
Including the Council, at their level, they are protecting the Tribal assets. At the Comptroller level they
should also be protecting the Tribal assets but also protecting themselves against any future liability. She
doesn’t understand why it’s still happening. That is where they are with the audit. They have been trying
for months to clean up federal, state and the general fund cash. What they have come across is duplications.
It’s an expense that has already been booked but another person who is a new person that just started
because this other person booked it, they are no longer there, but the new person gets the documentation
and they book it too, and then they see it coming out of cash twice. There is no coordination in the office,
and it makes them wonder if the directors are getting their detailed general ledger or their R&Es, who is
catching the errors, which is the point of internal control, the checks and balances. It’s a failure now and it
will take a team to come in to help to get the internal controls back in place but it also takes cooperation
from all the employees and directors to understand there is going to be controls, which there should have
always been. Something she shared with the Vice Chairman is the government is a highly regulated
environment, but they are just spending like it’s not and it concerns her. It just seems like nobody is paying
attention. For the 2024 audit, cash, accounts payable, and credit card expense is a red flag for her in 2025.
Any credit card spending that’s taking place, none of it is on the books yet, they must and 2025 is almost
over. They must get those expenses on the books because they came out of the bank. It was a concern of
Pamela Wright, Grants, and Contracts. They discussed the financial status reports, and they are wrong for
2025 for the people who travel on federal, and state grants, contracts and for the Council, the general fund,
and indirect purposes because the expenses are not reported. All that is not in the books, but the federal
people travel quite a bit, airlines, hotels, and training, they have not been expensed yet and if the directors
are receiving an R&E, they're wrong. Ms. Wright knew they were wrong, but she couldn’t get anyone to do
them because she was taken out of the loop on everything which she didn’t understand because she knew
how to do it. When asked by Vice Chairman Ely about not having any of the credit card expenses for 2025
added, Ms. Hunter explained the general ledger accountant had done January, February and parts of March
but he last interim Comptroller aid she was going to reverse it all out. When asked if she was certain, it
didn’t belong there, the interim Comptroller said she was certain it didn’t belong there. People change and

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October 22, 2025 Special Budget Meeting

they change the way things are done, she gives them caution but they are the boss and decide what they are
going to do and her recommendations go unheard. She is worried because the third quarter is ending and
contracts and grants will be drawing down millions of dollars by November 15", and they are not going to
get them I the bank account because there is nobody sitting in that position to draw down or do the
financial status reports and file them. She is not sure how they are functioning, there are funds being spent,
payroll, paying the bills but who is bringing in the revenue, there is nobody that she can see. She is
concerned about the Tribe’s financial health and she’s glad she was asked to come to share her concerns.
It’s an urgent matter. She doesn’t know about the grants and contracts position because it’s a specialized
field and finding people who know the job is hard for the Tribe. As for Nevada Tribes, she has worked with,
all of them have the same problem finding a qualified Contract and Grants person.

Vice Chairman asked if any financial or accounting institutions can provide that type of individual because
states, county, city, tribal, they all work on grand funding and reporting to somebody, he thinks they should
be able to hire somebody that could come and assist. Ms. Hunter said the grantor agencies require the head
of finance who can’t be a contractor, it must be an employee, a responsible person under the Tribe, who has
access to the grantor agencies because they are allowed access for reporting and drawing down the funds.
The information is confidential data or sensitive information, so that person who is logging on to their
website is a person who works for the Tribe. Every grant and contract has the Chairman, the director and
the finance department for the program side and the financial side. There are usually three people
minimum of the Tribe that has access to the grantor agencies. There are passwords and lock and key
systems which are highly secure and that is why it’s the top officials and the top finance person who have
had thorough background checks who are handling the funds. It’s assumed the Tribe did its due diligence
when you hired somebody and gave them all the access. Her experience working with these systems is they
are not easy systems to work in, none of them are and that’s where the expertise of the person doing them
comes in. She has helped other tribal clients trying to get into the DOJ system and it was frustrating but
then they finally got them in to show them around the website so they can file their reports and do their
draw downs, which are two separate functions. Some of the bigger tribes separate those duties, one filing
the reports and the other doing the reimbursements, but the Tribe doesn’t have the staff. There is one
person who is preparing the reports, same person filing them, same person doing the draw downs, and
same person posting them to cash after it hits the bank. There is no separation and it’s lacking all over in
the finance department which leads to errors and hopefully there’s no fraud.

Constance Athayde, Victim Services Director commented the Tribal Financial Management Center does
allow contractors, so contractors are allowed to be entity administrators and grant administrators. She is
not sure if it’s new, but it’s allowed. She would like to personally have someone in-house to be able to talk

to someone.

Chairman Wadsworth said he noted that it would be helpful for when they get a new Council seated if Ms.
Hunter would be willing to come in and provide a general overall finance training.

Councilmember Decker stepped out of chambers at 5:42 p.m.

With no further update, the Council moved into Executive Session.

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October 22, 2025 Special Budget Meeting

EXECUTIVE SESSION. Contracts Review

Councilmember Davis motioned to move into Executive Session. Councilmember Cortez seconded the motion.
Votes were eight (8) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED. Tribal Council
moved into Executive Session at 5:44 p.m.

Councilmember Decker returned to the chambers at 5:50 p.m.
Councilmember Dunn left the meeting at 6:35 p.m.

Vice Chairman Ely motioned to move out of Executive Session. Councilmember Cortez seconded the motion.
Votes were eight (8) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED. Tribal Council
moved out of Executive Session at 7:17 p.m.

After discussion in Executive Session the following motion was made.

Councilmember Cortez motioned to approve payment of the invoice from Francesca Maipi, FM16 in the amount
of $3,400. Councilmember Davis seconded the motion. Votes were eight (8) for and zero (0) opposed with
zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED.

Councilmember Cortez motioned to approve an addendum to the Tribal Consulting Services LLC, owner Sheri
Hunter, for four (4) positions: Accounting Supervisor, GL Accounting, Accounts Payable and Payroll.
Councilmember Davis seconded the motion. Votes were eight (8) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0)
abstentions. MOTION PASSED.

ADJOURNMENT

With no further business before the Tribal Council, Councilmember Sampson made a motion to adjourn the
meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Wadsworth. Votes taken were all in favor, motion
carried.

The meeting adjourned at 7:19 p.m.
Submitted by,

Piundall

Brenda A. Henry
Tribal Council Secretary

CERTIFICATION

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Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council
October 22, 2025 Special Budget Meeting

The foregoing minutes were adopted by the Pyramid Lake Tribal Council, governing body of the Pyramid
Lake Paiute Tribe, at a meeting duly held on the 21st day of November 2025, having eight (8) members
present, constituting a quorum, by the vote of six (6) FOR and zero (0) OPPOSED, with one (1)
ABSTENTION.

Minutes attested and concurred by: SE dee az

Steven Wadsworth, Tribal Chairman
Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/tribal%3Apyramid_lake%3Ac61f102122976e8d. Public record. Not legal advice.