Oglala council working on BIA financial certification
PINE RIDGE, S.D. - Recent financial difficulties that resulted in an impasse between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the BIA may be nearing an end.
At issue is BIA certification of the tribe's financial accounting system. The tribe has a certified system - in the Red Cloud Building in Pine Ridge village, the scene of a Jan. 16 takeover by a group calling itself the Grass Roots Oyate.
To date, efforts by the tribal council to remove the group have met with resistance by the tribal court and tribal police.
During a May 9 meeting in Rapid City, between BIA accountants, members of the tribe's Finance Committee and the accounting firm of Ketel Thorstenson, five areas were outlined where the tribe needed to plan for certification: property, procurement, personnel systems, financial accounting and record keeping. Donna Danker, representing the accountant, was charged with reviewing the plan for what BIA Superintendent Bob Ecoffey called provisional certification.
"Provisional certification has to come from an auditor, and I think we're moving closer to that," Ecoffey said.
Ecoffey referred to a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed by the tribe and the BIA that put an interim certification in place while the tribe and Ketel Thorstenson work to reach more solid certification.
"I think it's all a move in the right direction. The MOA that we signed is really going to assist them in management of those 638 dollar," the superintendent said.
Ecoffey said he was optimistic about installation of a revised personnel system. The Rapid City management and accounting firm of Whiting, Haig & Haig is assisting the tribe in preparation of a new personnel policies and procedures manual.
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"Dealing with the personnel section is going to really help strengthen tribal government," Ecoffey said. "This will give some stability to those employees who have been temporary employees for a number of years." Ecoffey noted that 22 tribal program directors were on temporary status.
Central to all the negotiations is the continuing occupation. After meeting with the members of the Grass Roots Oyate May 18, Ecoffey said he was told their main demand was removal of tribal treasurer Wesley Jacobs. Ecoffey said he was told, "if Jacobs resigned, the group would be gone tomorrow."
Currently the tribe's Financial Accounting Office is in the basement of the nearby community building and post office known as Billy Mills Hall. The BIA superintendent thinks the tribe can reach certification without returning to the Red Cloud Building.
"If we can make some modifications to that building (Billy Mills Hall) to where people can have adequate phone lines and other necessities, I think we can move forward.
Norman Fourd, BIA contracts officer at the Pine Ridge Agency, said a key is completion of an indirect cost audit of the tribe's federal programs by John Donham. The deadline for the BIA receipt of the audit was May 16. On May 18, Fourd said it had not arrived.
Finance Committee chairman Mike Her Many Horses said the tribe has a copy of the audit and is sending it on to the BIA. "We have '98's audit, we still need to find a company to do the one for '99."
Tribal Treasurer Wesley Jacobs said he thinks the audit will clear up many of the charges made about the tribe's 1999 finances.
Fourd guardedly agrees. "From what we can see, it looks like they have been making improvements. We can say they have those systems needed for certification, but they haven't always followed them. From what we can see it looks like they have been trying to do better in the last year."
Repeating Ecoffey, Fourd said, "Quite possibly this could all be resolved by the end of June. What with the provisional certification, I look for things to settle down for the fourth quarter of this year. They still have ways to improve, but they're making a good effort.
