Council miffed with tribal chair

Record Number: 
NEWS002
Citation: 

Shiles, Bob. "Council miffed with tribal chair." Robesonian [Lumberton, NC] July 24, 2013.

Annotation: 

This article reports on a Lumbee Tribal Council meeting during which disagreements between the Lumbee Tribal Council and Tribal Chairperson Paul Brooks escalated. The disagreements concern financial records on the tribal government's expenditures; the tribe's budget for fiscal year 2013-2014; and a land purchase.

The Tribal Council states that Brooks has refused to share with them financial records on how the tribe's funding has been spent. They maintain that the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which provides most of the tribe's funding, has guidelines giving them the right to view financial records and ensure that HUD funding is spent in accordance with HUD regulations.

Of particular concern to Tribal Council members is the rationale for Brooks's expenditure, without their authorization, of $36,000 to purchase a lot in Pinecrest Village, a subdivision adjacent to the Pinecrest Country Club.

McDuffie Cummings, the chairperson of the Tribal Council's Finance Committee, said he was ready to request that the tribal court obtain the financial records. Danita Locklear, another Tribal Council member, said she was ready to shut down the tribal government until the Tribal Council received the information it had requested.

Other disagreements of this nature which arose during the meeting, and a discussion of the proposed 2013-2014 Indian Housing Plan (which Brooks and Hunt submitted without the Tribal Council's authorization) are discussed in the article.

Tribal Administrator Tony Hunt attended the Tribal Council meeting and is quoted in the article. Tribal Chairperson Paul Brooks did not attend the meeting.

First Appeared in 1994 Book?: 
no
Category Tags: 
Publication Type: 
These libraries have back years of this newspaper. Check the library catalog of the library of your choice to see if the year you need is available.