I put my janitor.

Good evening.

And welcome to our April Greater Tulsa Area Indian Affairs Commission meeting.

We greatly appreciate all of you being here.

At this time.

Yes.

David Bible.

Here.

Linda Leif Bolin.

Daniel Carter.

Cheryl Cohen Hour.

Here.

Joe Deer.

Warren Harjo.

Here.

Stacey Lasky.

Here.

Wyneta Laurie.

Winnie Gus Purdue.

Here.

Pat Powell.

Here.

Warren Keeton.

Here.

Joyce Roberts.

Here.

Matt Roberts.

Here.

Teresa Reynolds.

Here.

Kim Thee.

Mark Van Kieran.

Erica Welk Carter.

Dorcas Williams.

Cherie Williams here.

And our land acknowledgments.

We begin by acknowledging the tribal governments on whose reservations we stand.

Oklahoma is home to 38 federally recognized Indian tribes and local schools serve students belonging to more than 60 tribes.

The City of Tulsa sits within the reservation lands of the Cherokee Nation, Muscogee Creek Nation, and Osage Nation.

Each of these great nations have vibrant cultures, unique histories, and distinct languages.

We acknowledge and honor these nations, their citizens, their enduring commitment to our community and their land.

We begin with gratitude, appreciation, and respect.

Great, thank you.

We appreciate it.

All right.

Last month we did not meet meet a quorum.

And so basically we just had notes.

So in the email that you received from Lexi, we had our February 17th minutes, but then our March gathering.

Since we didn't have a quorum, we had a gathering, and so we had some notes.

And so at this time, if you could review the February meeting minutes, and then we can the we can approve those and and uh and move forward.

I will make a motion to approve the February 17, 2026 meeting minutes.

Second.

All right, we have a second from Commissioner Laskey.

Okay, moving in to the chair and the and the five.

Oh we are okay.

We have a second.

Uh we're a month behind, but uh all in favor of approving the uh February meeting minutes.

Say aye.

All opposed.

All right.

It it carries February minutes are approved.

All right, uh shifting gears uh into the chair report.

And I haven't heard from Commissioner Cohen hour.

I'm sure she will be here, sure.

I snuck in.

Yeah, because I don't want to walk over any other any other uh we kind of flipped roles.

Usually I'll be sneaking in and you're and you're here early.

So she's gonna give a big uh Native American Day committee report, but you know, we've always talked about some of the the highlights of this commission, and obviously Native American Day and Dream Deepers, but we have another one coming up just in a few weeks before our next meeting, and Commissioner Williams is going to uh talk about that uh in in a report, a department report, committee report here shortly.

Uh similarly tying into that since our since our last uh meeting.

Uh I know one of the goals of all the commissions within the city of Tulsa when last chair Carter and I you know met with the mayor and his team and the other commissions was uh to do some collaboration among commissions, and so um uh the chair of the African Affairs uh commission has has reached out to all the commissions and uh we'll be meeting virtually uh May 14th, and they just want to bounce some ideas on uh what each commission does education-wise, and uh and so just to just to let you know uh know about that and and uh we're blessed in the fact that the majority of our you know our schools have Indian education programs, but we are blessed in that Native American Day.

uh the chair of the African Affairs um commission has has reached out to all the commissions and and uh we'll be meeting virtually uh may 14th and they just want to bounce some ideas on uh what each commission does education wise and uh and so just to just to let you know uh know about that and and uh we're blessed in the fact that the majority of our you know our schools have any of education programs but we are blessed in that Native American day we have you know hundreds maybe thousands of students that that participate in that we have academic support and we and we celebrate those students as well so we'll keep you updated uh on that and then we'll get some ideas from those from those other commissioners as well another thing that as stood out to me uh recently and right before we got started uh not to take anything what from the public relations committee but there were a lot of posts there and everything you see so many of you on the commission do much more than serve on the commission there there's other events and so we know that many of you have have been active in and other events and within the native community uh and helping support the native community so uh thank you for that um uh I'll turn it over to uh share Carter he may he may move most of his comments to later in the in the uh in the evening with uh you know the bylaws committee but but we do have some big news to report from there.

Well hopefully it's not too late in the evening there but I will foreshadow some of the discussion the I'll bring up in the bylaws committee report uh the the city council uh passed the amended ordinance and I'll provide some some details on that but I think it's uh for the mayor's signing agenda tomorrow tomorrow yes so then does it take effect tomorrow there's nothing immediately upon signature immediately upon signature so we'll have a different uh the same feature but a different structure I guess next time we meet which will which will be great uh but throughout the process I had the opportunity to meet with the city council twice to discuss um to discuss the ordinance to discuss the commission answer questions there's some really great cover there's some great conversation and I think that any chance anyone on the commission or in the Native American community gets an opportunity to to develop relationships with the city council and the city um that's that's a good thing to be able to to uh bring education awareness to who we are what we do and if they ever need someone to reach out to you know they'll not just have a whole commission but they might have a uh contact number to to reach out to folks and of course Amanda and uh in her position can can be that but um it's also a large part of part of our uh purpose here on the commission um I think I'll reserve the rest of my time for for the bylaws committee to get into the details of that so we don't start out with boring and legal ease but there's good news thank you we appreciate that all right now we'll uh shift gears to miss amanda director of tribal policy and partnerships per report all right I'll just start with letting you guys know um kind of who I've met with over the last month and then I'll get into some more of the media topics and conversations we're having right now um I met with a partner bio research group uh really they're working uh to connect with tribes and the native community about getting our population included in more clinical trials for medical um research medication research and things like that um so I just connected them to some of our tribal partners that might be good for them I've been working with the Aspen Institute as well they're teaming up with the Correttz Foundation here in Tulsa to bring uh an event here to Tulsa in I think November of this year.

October October thank you Lexi was one of those two um and so working with them really to kind of talk about who should be in the room who they would like to participate in things like that making sure that tribes in our community are well represented in their event here um I met with the stepping up committee which is a committee with family and children services um the main focus in that is really trying to find ways to keep people um that have mental health issues and that are going through crisis out of jail um and so really it was just kind of I think trying to get me in the room and and see if there's any opportunities for tribes to to prioritize that work as well um let's see we had a global Oklahoma showcase in town so that was people from literally all over the world um here doing a conference in Tulsa and so I was able to to be there and partner with them we were able to get um a number of the nations involved in that it was really about I would say mainly technology like I know they connected with the SH Nation on their drone program and I think that they kind of worked with the Cherokee Nation over kind of economic impact and what that can look like.

It was really about, I would say mainly technology.

Like I know they connected with the Osage Nation on their drone program, and I think that they kind of worked with the Cherokee Nation over kind of economic impact and what that can look like.

I met with the Tulsa Renewable Business Alliance.

I did a round table with them, which was really just people that work in that industry.

I think kind of coming together to learn from different professionals about different types of work.

So I got to be there to kind of talk about my position and what I do and how ironically that does kind of get me more into this space of conservation, which isn't really something that I expected from my career, but it's been really a real enjoyment to kind of learn more about it.

I did a tour with the president of Oklahoma Technical College and Community Care College and Clary Sage College just to kind of learn about some of their programming.

But it was really wonderful to hear what they do for their students.

They really try to help them with housing and any kind of assistance they need.

They kind of do stuff to help them with transportation, all sorts of stuff.

So they really go above and beyond, I would say, kind of just your your regular school.

They really try to help them give them more.

Anyone that didn't make that drive, you really you really missed out.

I encourage you all to make that drive next time.

Right, exactly.

But the next one will be up here.

It'll be hosted by the Niscogee Nation at the River Spirit, I think in July is when that is.

So it was great to hear from him.

I know a lot of us actually were at the Native American Cultural Committee for the Indian Healthcare Resource Center this last week.

Got to hear our friend David Bival speak about his work in the community and the need for us all to kind of come together to keep doing the work that we're doing.

So it was great to hear you speak, David.

And then this weekend, just for fun, I went to the Muscogee art market.

I missed the fashion show, which I was very sad about, but everything else was a lot of fun.

Bought a new rodent skirt, so keep an eye out for that, y'all.

Some of the more media conversations I'll tell you that we're having or that are maybe more relevant.

Um the NAGCRA committee under the Guild Priest Museum who deals with repatriation efforts.

Um they're actually looking to kind of change their policy as well.

Um they're going a similar route that we did with their art ordinance, so they're gonna have tribal designees specifically on that instead of just kind of individuals that they've identified in the community, which I think is a great move.

Um obviously the Midland Trail renaming has been a topic of conversation for a number of months.

Uh, right now we've kind of just been waiting for the Muscogee Nation to put that on their community center's agenda.

Um, Secretary Butler wasn't able to get to it last month because they were um working on the celebration of horseshoe bend.

Um, and so I'm hopeful that this month will have it on the agenda for next Thursday evening to kind of talk about and consider.

Um the South Tulsa Dam.

That's been a conversation that's been going on well before my time here.

Um still an ongoing conversation.

I think now we're kind of considering different um levels of options, um, you know, a pedestrian bridge and dam, but there's also other amenities and things like that that were included in the initial bid, um, and still just trying to identify um additional funding for the project so that we can get it carried out.

Um so I'll keep you guys posted on how that goes.

I think our next meeting for it is in for all stakeholders.

I want to say it's the 30th, um, so coming up here in a week or two.

Um let's see, talked about NACRA, South Tulsa Dam.

Uh Cheryl and I did a little bit of a tour since we last met.

Um, obviously I think I've told you all that the conversation about a Native American cultural center somewhere in the city has come up.

So we went and did a tour at a location that is pretty large.

Um perhaps beyond what what we could manage, I think, but um certainly a great idea.

Um, and it is driving, I think, a lot of conversation in the area around Dreamkeeper Park and our efforts over there.

Um, I think it's just about dollars, which it always is.

Um I'm gonna be speaking to a group though on um Thursday, actually, uh, that reached out um and kind of told me that there are some uh some potential federal grants that might be coming out that we could apply for.

Um so gonna see if there's kind of any overlap there that would work for our project.

Um, and I'll keep you posted on that.

Um, the last thing and probably the thing that I need you all's help with the most is um we certainly don't want to overstep uh you know Native American Day and our celebration that we plan on that day.

I know that a lot of the city shows up to help and volunteer and support that.

Um, but the mayor has been interested in still establishing some sort of a holiday uh that we actually recognize at the city.

Um, you know, we we have uh one that we designated in observation of the race massacre last year, um, and so we're really trying to think about what would be a not only what would be a good day, um, not one that overlaps with the the current celebration, uh, but a different day, and how we want to go about honoring that.

We've talked about something like a treaty day or a sovereignty day or something to that extent.

So yeah, love to hear you all's kind of thoughts and feedback on something like that that could honor all of the nations, hopefully.

That's a we do.

That's all I got.

All right, thank you very much, Amanda.

We appreciate that.

All right, moving in to our committee reports.

Two meetings down, lots accomplished.

So Native American Day Committee, uh, Commissioner Kowanau.

Okay.

Well, we met April 1st, uh 2nd, excuse me, and again on April 10th to select both our theme for the year and our featured artist.

So it's pretty exciting.

Our our our theme this year is Sacred Roots Shared Future.

And we've selected Jessica Harjo as our artist, and uh uh I actually bought the uh painting from her at the art market that we're going to base our a lot of our uh advertisement and stuff by.

So if you want to see a picture of that, I have it on my phone.

Anyway, it's uh excited that we're getting started.

Um we've got uh some new people to the committee, which is wonderful.

We've engaged some more corporate uh uh employee resource groups, and I think that's gonna be real helpful in trying to re-engage uh a couple of those resource groups that have since fallen off the side that we need to probably pull back in.

But they're extremely extremely helpful to us.

We couldn't do this day without our corporate sponsors and our support from these employee research research groups.

Our next meeting will be April 30th, which is a Thursday at my office again or on Zoom.

I'll send out a meeting notice prior at the beginning of next week so everybody will know.

It's uh coming along.

It looks like uh I think the park department I may have reported this last month when we met and just talked.

Uh but uh the park department has told us that they will not begin construction at Dreamkeepers Park until after our Native American Day celebration.

So that's excellent, so that we don't have to move our celebration, which was gonna be logistically kind of crazy.

So I'm excited about that.

And uh we will be assigning chairs of certain areas on April 30th and got just kind of lining everybody out.

Uh want to encourage the student ambassadors to join us again this year, and Cherie might have to help me with that because our two of our student ambassadors from last year have graduated, will have graduated high school and are going on off to college, so they won't be with us.

So we want to get as many student ambassadors as we can because that's so important.

Our focus this year is gonna be around the students, and uh and we want to make sure that all of our programming in the afternoon, we kind of have our programming in the morning already set around the tribes and what they're what they're doing uh in individually, and then we have a parade and then our afternoon program instead of just having you know some different uh uh people speak and some different things going on.

We're we're gonna try to really focus it on cultural exhibitions and students.

So please come join us.

I look forward to seeing everybody on April 30th.

That's it for Dreamkeepers.

in the morning already set around the tribes and what they're what they're doing uh in individually and then we have a parade and then our afternoon program instead of just having you know some different uh people speak and some different things going on we're we're gonna try to really focus it on cultural exhibitions and students so please come join us I look forward to seeing everybody on April 30th is it for dream keepers any updates on parade marshal were still to be determined uh yeah that's right because I have not yes yes reached out and invited our prospective parade marshal to join us so I will uh who is that we were we're wanting to ask mayor nick of nickels is if he'll be our parade marshal so we're pretty excited maybe Amanda can help us with that he has supported us and the native community so much since he even before he got in office he always came to Native American day and he's uh just such a good representative for the city of Tulsa and such a uh champion of the native community that we thought it would be very appropriate to ask him to be our parade marshal this year.

I love that and I'm sure he loves it.

Okay.

Yep those are our big three with theme artists featured artists parade marshal and then uh so look uh look at your Facebook and uh uh we'll we'll try to get some printing things done pretty quick to get the word out and we'll start advertising and talking more and more about Tulsa Native American Day.

Yep and and those emails will start going out to the school soon before school is out getting them ready for for that big event next next October any questions all right next committee report dream keepers uh committee is there anyone that uh I know we did sign ups and really everyone's on the dreamkeeper awards committee too because we all vote on it and again we'll uh we'll have to have that both vote in September since we do honor honor those recipients in in October at Native American day and and really I I guess I've been the I've been the chair of that which really is you you know email the the nominees there and that kind of thing but if anyone would uh that signed up for that would like to take that on uh let me know we still don't have any uh I mean we have one nominee uh that that I'm working on but uh and I know it's still early but it's never too early to get some nominees in there and of course last year we every every all 11 awards were were uh were filled and we we didn't have any that were uh that we nominated that was not selected as in previous years and so uh if you have some especially if we could get get a handful of nominees good ones in before we take our one month off in July that would that would be great because when we come back basically it's August September and then we're and then we're voting and so uh but obviously that's that's a uh that's a big highlight and and if you are interested in uh just just taking the lead on that please please let me know all right education committee we'll start with commissioner Williams she's been extremely extremely busy and the big event I kind of teased at the beginning of the meeting uh she's gonna tell us all about okay commissioner Williams here um first we want to start out with our senior recognition that the uh Indian affairs commission joins with us to um honor and acknowledge some outstanding uh native seniors within our Tulsa Public Schools high schools and graduates and so uh we're currently um getting those students names in and so that event will be held May 7th which is a Thursday night at Booker T Washington auditorium high school auditorium at 6 p.m so we'll have the uh ceremony first and then a reception following so um as many commissioners that can be there fortunately last year we had enough people to give an award um so the commissioners provide a certificate uh for those students and acknowledge them that night so we had enough to acknowledge each student that was there but we appreciate anyone that can come out and be a part of that as well um also Tulsa Public Schools were we're pleased that um that our voters came out and they approved the TPS bond all four propositions for Tulsa Public Schools and then we're just busy right now with awards ceremonies end of the year things it's wrapping up in school will be out really really quick how many days most teachers are counting yeah yeah um so it's pretty much what we have on our agenda great uh thank you uh commissioner willies uh for those of you that that may be new of course the uh we call it the students of excellence and it's it's prestigious one just one native student from each Tulsa public school high school is selected by their by the the staff at that school in the Indian education department and um and really we would we are always having

Great.

Uh thank you.

Uh Commissioner Williams.

Uh, for those of you that that may be new, of course.

The uh we call it the students of excellence, and it's it's prestigious.

One just one native student from each Tulsa Public School High School is selected by their by the staff at that school in the Indian Education Department.

And really, we would we were always have a big uh event that that um TPS would host, and and we would attend, and then of course COVID hit, and they weren't able to, so we actually delivered during COVID season to the houses and uh and made deliveries, and then it kind of shifted gears where I don't think TPS was still ready to do it yet, so we invited them to a commission meeting, and we presented them their awards at a commission meeting that lasted a couple years, and and the uh parent committee, and I think that TPS wanted to wanted to go back to that.

So it's an honor for us to be there.

If you can be there on Thursday, uh May the 7th, all of us will go we'll go on the stage, and you know, and then all seniors will get lined up for a big big photo with the with the uh commission and and we'll uh present that uh with them.

So uh if you can do that, that's uh that is you know a significant night for those those graduating seniors and their and their families uh for sure.

Uh Commissioner Leaf Bowling, any news out of Jinx?

Do you have a big end of the year?

We're just busy banquet or anything like that.

Our awards uh last week, and our theme this year has been honoring our elders, our Native American Club, which we have about 90 every month that come to that, and uh our awards been quite we had over 150 there.

So we honored 24 for students of the year, and it was uh this Thursday we're gonna honor our seniors.

We have 91 seniors in our program at Jinx, and we'll be giving them special stained glass feathers and certificates for that too.

So it'll be busy and busy.

Yes, yes, Owasos will be this coming Monday at the boardroom education service center Monday night, uh honoring the the native Rams there.

So I know the just different school districts are doing that as they finish up the year, go through state testing and uh and everything else.

So uh great reports.

We appreciate you ladies.

Um public relations committee.

You're busy because you just sent out a bunch of stuff before didn't I?

Yeah, that's good.

That's good.

There's a meeting coming up.

Ding ding ding.

Warning name was listed.

Uh no, I just encourage everybody who has um outside activities that you're involved in in clubs or anything to send me your flyers so we can get those out uh across the site that I have that that I post to.

So if you could just send those to the um Greater Tulsa Indian Affairs Commission, do you guys always have to do that like me?

Umfo at gmail.com, and that way I can get them out to the public.

And that's about it.

She told you about our new artist, and that's about it.

Great.

All right, cultural committee.

Thank you.

Oh, she's not here.

Yep.

No report on the cultural committee.

All right.

Seems like every every month we've we've got new information about parks committee.

Parks Committee's been very busy.

You know, we have our designers, TSW that are working on the design.

They've been busy meeting with the different tribes, different neighborhood associations, different entities surrounding the park, businesses and finding out how they want to use the park, what they think would make the park better.

Uh, and that's that's been just kind of weekly ongoing stuff, which has been wonderful.

We've had lots of lots of input, lots of participation, and of course, like most things like that, they kind of are outside the park, which a little bit, so we're having to try to kind of then get together, uh, just the core group and pull those things back in so we just kind of address the park itself and what the grant will pay for.

I'm busy fundraising with different foundations and different uh corporate entities right now, and that's uh been kind of a full-time job.

So we did have a meeting today for two hours to talk about how they were coming with the design to make sure that they weren't getting too far out of scope, that they were maintaining the scope of the park itself and how things we wanted them to lay in the park.

And so that was a very productive meeting, and I'm certainly glad that we had that.

It was something I had suggested that we might need to do before they presented us with an actual design that was out of this world, you know.

So it uh it was a really good meeting uh talking about you know how big the gardens might be, how the layout of the plaza might be.

They've done a lot of work on stormwater drainage, looked at the everything that's currently in the park, evaluated the state of everything that's in the park, what's missing, what's needed, the flag monument, the state of the flag monument, and whether or not it can be saved because it's got a lot of damage on it, and it's not really ADA compliant.

So it was a very uh interesting meeting.

So we're moving forward very quickly, and I hope we have some sort of conceptual design by June 1st, which is excellent.

Um, June 1st is uh is a conceptual design meeting.

But yeah, we do have a cultural committee meeting coming up May 1st.

Uh that's our next uh large group meeting.

So it's moving along and it's very exciting.

Great.

That's it.

Is the design team reaching out to tribes directly?

Or is that what the cultural committee is?

Is the design team has met with all with the all three well uh Muscogee Nation, Cherokee Nation, and Osage Nation, they've reached out and visited each location, talked with the uh the leadership and the cultural uh uh secretaries of each one of the tribes individually, but we also have a cultural committee, which we have specific people sitting on the cultural committee that is going to help us guide us along the way, and if they need to reach back into the tribe, and they all three tribes are represented on that committee, and if they need to reach back into more cultural people at the tribe themselves, they do.

Um the last call went out for some horticulturals, so I know Skogie Nation has uh several uh council oak seedlings that they're gonna give us to plant in the park, and so we're looking now at trees and what trees down there are uh indigenous and what needs to be replaced, what ones are dead, what what ones don't mean anything.

So we're it's lots of moving parts, but yes.

It's great to hear, and this is the tribally owned design firm or uh Native American owned design firm.

I mean, that makes all the difference they know to reach out to the tribes and what questions to ask it.

Makes a huge difference when planning a park like this.

So it's been real nice.

Great to hear because what was it five years ago?

We didn't even have our own park, did we?

And look how far we've come.

And I don't know if I've reported on this, maybe I did, but I'm gonna report on it again real quick.

Uh when we met with the National Park Service that came to visit, I think in um March, they came to visit us in March, and we we we looked at the park, we went down to the park, we also walked up to Council Oak and we looked at the stickball park, and because Council Oak already has a national historic designation, they encouraged us to get a national historic designation for Dreamkeepers Park because Dreamkeepers Park has always been a park, it hasn't been anything else.

And so they thought we could get that, and that would be the next step along the way of maybe creating an entire national park of that whole area.

So that's that's way larger than we ever dreamed could be possible, but certainly a long-term goal for us.

And I thought it was just very excellent.

And that will help grants too, right?

With that designation and funding.

I think it's great.

Maintenance.

Yeah.

Great report.

Great report, exciting.

Thank you.

All right, Vice Chair Carter bylaws committee.

As I mentioned, the the amendments to the to the ordinance pertaining to our commission passed uh city council with uh unanimous approval, and it's going to be signed into law tomorrow, which uh well, I hope you know we can count on that signature that's good.

Um so just as a reminder, what those amendments do it restructures kind of the seats and some or one of the things it does is it restructures the seats on our commission.

So the people that are you know designees of a word uh tribal organization will now the those tribes, those nations have permanent spots on this commission and can assign designees that aren't subject to removal from this commission.

We didn't want to have a situation where you know the city could get mad at a particular tribe and then kick them off the commission.

Like the three tribes that have reservations in Tulsa are here to stay on the commission.

That's great.

That way, as administrations change in different tribes, you know the administration can assign new alternates that are within their staff that might have the ear of the chair or the national council or to be on this commission, which I think is beneficial.

And then for the organizations that you know might have one person and one alternate, you know, now you can have a couple to help with your attendance.

Another change is that we'll we will no longer be violating the ordinance by only having 10 meetings a year, because the ordinance currently says we're required to have 12 meetings a year.

We only have 10.

Kind of bugged me.

So now we'll only have 10, and that helps with the attendance requirements that are set forth in other parts of the of the Tulsa charter or the Tulsa Ordin ordinance.

What else is on there?

I don't know.

I'll answer that.

I actually called you Amanda earlier, but didn't know which one to go with.

And then Lexi has a uh a more defined role on the commission as a secretary on behalf of the city of Tulsa too.

So that's great.

Getting these things codified helps just with stability and security, where you know, changes in administration, whether that's in a tribe or in the city, that can change uh stability of particular um commissions or committees, and so I feel good about this actually being codified in the ordinance.

The one change that the city council made on its own that was a part of our recommendation was on eligibility for people serving as a commissioner.

The language that we had recommended was that a person be of American Indian ancestry traceable to a federally recognized Indian tribe as demonstrated by tribal citizenship card or a CDIB card.

They changed it to be a member of a federally or a citizen of federally recognized tribe or of American Indian ancestry traceable to a federally recognized Indian tribe as demonstrated by a CDIB card.

Seems like it doesn't have much of an effect, but I think you know, the discussion surrounding that was well, what if uh a tribe wants to designate someone that's a freedman that's not of American Indian ancestry on the commission?

The question was, would they be able to do that under this propos the ordinance that we proposed?

And I said no, they can't do that under the old ordinance, they wouldn't be able to do that under the proposed ordinance, and the discussion was well, let's create that flexibility should that be the case.

But you still have to be a citizen of a federally recognized tribe.

So if the tribe itself does not recognize freedmen who are not of American Indian ancestry as its citizens, then they would not be eligible.

It's only those tribes that do to provide that flexibility.

So that was um initiated as a change by the city council.

That was the only difference from what we worked on, what we recommended, and so you know, in my job, if you only get one little red line on your final work, that's it's pretty good day.

Um they have complete discretion to make changes to the ordinance however they please, and they you know didn't do that.

Um so that was always a bit of a risk of putting this whole ordinance in front of the city council, then they get a pen and can change a lot of things.

That wasn't the case, so that was good news.

And um, so yeah, now the now the difficult work will start because Crunch took what was in the bylaws, put into the ordinance, and that means we got to find stuff to put in the bylaws.

Um so I I think it'll what I envision for the bylaws is to have some more detail about our regular activities as commission.

So, you know, what what can the like what are the guidelines for giving dream keeper awards?

What are the guidelines for selecting student vaccines?

Even if we defer to the schools, maybe we put that in there so whenever commissioners come after us, that knowledge is not lost.

We could do the same thing about you know what's the directive address, what's the directive of the Native American Day Committee?

You know, who's on the Native American Day Committee?

We can make sure it's clear that everyone is on that committee and expected to participate.

Um but then we could also think outside the box, maybe create some new committees, maybe have some guidance on you know how we can pass resolutions that acknowledge people's great contributions uh to the Native American community in the city of Tulsa.

We talked about potentially having a finance committee or a treasury position to provide more checks and balances, uh no pun intended to the our expenditures.

So uh I think everyone on this commission is on this commission because they bring fresh perspective, uh different perspectives, great ideas, and so I really hope that you know we have participation in this process because it's not very often these changes are made, not very often you get these opportunities.

I think we have a great commission to put together uh uh some fantastic bylaws for for future future commissioners.

Any questions about about that?

Yes, ma'am.

I don't really have a question, but I I want to applaud the work that you did for this.

It I know it was a lot of work, and you did all the heavy lifting for us as commissioners.

We all appreciate it, I'm sure.

And I just wanted to make the comment that after speaking with several of the other commission commissions, they've all been very interested in this uh revision that you've done, and that's one of the things that they want to collaborate with this commission on.

Is it seems like we kind of blaze the trail sometimes for the other commissions, which is fine.

I think it's excellent.

And uh I know that there'll be people reaching out to you to talk about how how you went about looking at this because they all have the same issue.

They're looking at their bylaws, wanting to make it a little more uh formal on how their commission operates and what they do, and so I just want to say thank you again, and that this will be one of those things that we'll probably be able to pass on to the other commissions as well.

Good news, bad news there.

Yes, doesn't it?

I think I I think this moment cause calls for some applause.

Yes, it's a it's a big lift.

It was a big deal.

Yeah, so thank you, Vice Chair Carter for that.

Yeah, outstanding work, outstanding work for sure.

We greatly appreciate that for sure.

All right, old business, any old business to share.

All right, what about new business?

Again, I always get to speak, it seems like I have a question, and I think it's something that we should probably look at through the public relations committee.

And uh it's just popped up recently that there was an opportunity to advertise our event in the native magazine, but it costs money.

We've never paid for advertisement before, and that should be something that we probably need to throw back to the public relations committee and ask them to kind of evaluate that, see they if that would be something that would give us some return on our investment.

Should we do that?

I know that we struggle sometimes uh getting on those uh those event calendars, whether it's the city that I don't know even know who does those, but we we need to be get listed on some event calendars.

I mean, we we always have a wonderful turnout for Native American Day, and but it would be nice to have uh have our spot on several of these event calendars as we move forward.

So I don't really know who needs to do that.

I thought we could start throwing it at the public relations committee until they squealed, and then I don't I don't know.

It's just uh that that's my thought.

Got sure any other new business commissioner Reynolds will have some new business next month.

I might ask for September the third.

Uh the uh contract and employment support office out of the Muscogee Creek Nation will hold their annual uh vendor fair.

It will be at River Spirit, so all the Native American vendors.

Uh so last year in the last two years, I think was at 65, 66, and last year we had 90 vendors there, so it's growing and hope to see everybody come out and see what all the vendors that uh we have at Creek Nation uh can do for everybody here.

So it's open to the public.

Good.

Thank you, Commissioner Hartley.

We appreciate it.

Any other new business?

All right, public comments.

Do we have any public comments?

Those in attendance.

Any announcements?

Yes, ma'am.

Gotcha.

Thank you in advance.

So the Department of Resilience and Equity is very busy.

Let me see.

The first one timeline-wise, this Saturday, there will be a prescription drug take back event from 10 a.m.

to 2 p.m.

all across the city.

I have a little flyer here if you want to take a picture to see if there's a location near you.

So if you have any medications at home that you don't know how to dispose of, you can just drop them off at this site.

That way it doesn't end up in our water system or in the hands of a little person who doesn't need to be handling those items.

And the folks that are here can properly dispose of them.

So that is great.

So if you take a medication that has a sharp, a needle, this is also a place that you can drop those off and have them safely disposed again so they don't end up being used improperly.

So feel free to take a photo of that if you're interested.

Pass it around.

Yeah, yeah.

I can pass it down this way and can shoot around.

Next Tuesday, April 28th, there's a fair housing event hosted by the Tulsa Area Fair Housing Partnership, but our human rights commission's fair housing committee will have representation there as well.

So the event is gonna help educate folks about the Fair Housing Act and have resources available regardless of if you're a real estate agent, a landlord, a tenant, or just an housing advocate.

It's totally free to attend, and there's a QR code on here for more information and to sign up.

I guess I'll pass this around that way.

Unfortunately, also on May 7th, we have a neighbor a financial and neighborhood resource fair, which our Office of Financial Empowerment and Community Wealth is organizing.

So if you happen to not be able to make it to Booker T for that whole time, you're welcome to stop by this as well.

Or this is just something great to share with folks in your circles who might need these financial resources.

There will be on-site free financial counseling with the Financial Empowerment Center that day.

So if you know folks who would benefit from that, or you serve on any nonprofit boards or anything, please share this with them.

And the last thing is our team member who coordinates our opioid abatement response grant through the Oklahoma Attorney General's office is organizing a summit on recovery and mental health.

So it's an opportunity for folks to learn about addiction, how to help somebody who is struggling, recognizing opioid overdose signs and how to administer Narcan.

That's going to be on May 16th.

And again, completely free and open to the public to attend.

You just show up, you don't even have to register ahead of time.

There's gonna be a great a lot of really really important resources.

So again, if you have folks in your circles or you're connected to any social service or schools, this is a great resource for you know teachers and school counselors, nurses to be able to learn this information.

And that's all for me.

Great, everyone.

Any other announcements?

I'd like uh um we had at the Indian Healthcare, we had a little meeting on uh on the uh cultural center and stuff.

I'd like to encourage everybody to come out to more voices, and we had some good people come up with a lot of corporate uh sponsorship.

I appreciate uh Cheryl coming up and uh uh giving her announcement on some of the things that are happening uh with Dreamkeeper Park.

I'd like to also recognize uh Russell Sunny, go back here with Cross End News.

Uh we he just dropped a uh podcast today on cultural events and just not in Tulsa but in the surrounding area.

Uh there's a lot of things going on every weekend here that we need to be aware of and attend because that's where things a lot of things get discussed, talked about uh and everything that's going on.

Um he has a lot of good things.

We're talking about a community calendar, uh, to be aware of th different things other than you know, the Tulsa Indian Affairs Commission.

Cheryl had offered that uh uh link to different events that are going on to use that.

So um I had discussed about things that are happening uh we seem to pull get pulled, things seem to get happened pulled in different directions.

You know, we all have that same uh um end result, but we don't seem like we're all we're all working in different uh areas and it seems like there's the collaboration uh between different entities, you know, with the Tulsa Indian Ed was mentioned at that meeting that their resources with their kids would be the best way to get our youth involved, you know.

Um and uh, you know, they do uh outstanding things within the Tulsa Public School system.

They just passed a school bond.

We just have a new um board member, you know, they had an election there.

Uh the ladies that uh both Lee, the uh Webster and uh the uh uh mascot name will come back up uh here discussion and that conversation will get started again.

Um, you know, there's a lot of different things with uh things that are happening.

I attended the uh Wauso City Council meeting and discussed their new flag.

Uh almost almost won.

Uh and uh but I did sway a couple of council members uh to think differently on some of this uh uh imagery that's out there, you know.

So two of them uh what didn't think that was appropriate.

Uh but we have a three to two vote.

Uh so at least two people thought differently.

So this is something that uh we all need to get involved.

Uh I'd like to recognize uh Mr.

Epler here, Eddie Epler for coming out here.

He was part of our our our committee here and uh wants to get involved uh with uh different things that's going on.

I know that the Pawnee's come to Tulsa a lot and participate in a lot of our programs here.

Um so there's just so many things going on.

One of a shout out to uh Tulsa Indian Ed and their stomp dance the other day.

Man, there was a lot of attendance there, a lot of heard a lot of good things uh that came out of there.

You know, uh Linda over there with uh Jinx, you know, uh doing just fantastic everybody's Indian ed, uh Owen Hazipta over there within uh native Rams, you know, bringing out uh uh different things.

So we need to attend all these different things.

I know we're busy uh a lot of things.

Uh we sent an invite out to Amanda, um Carmelita and uh Andrew is going to Washington DC DC to uh approach a grant to help out with this cultural center that's coming up.

So hopefully I've invited Amanda and Cheryl to get involved in that.

Uh they're gonna talk to them personally about that.

So just uh a lot of information out there.

Yeah.

There he is.

Thank you, Commissioner Bible.

We appreciate that.

Appreciate your presence and the support because you you brought up Jake's at TPS and Owasso and you and your family are always at all of our events, Native American Day, you know, you know, supporting supporting uh the students and and we appreciate uh you and your family.

Thank you.

Um I well just announcement this weekend uh University of Tulsa's having their their events on Saturday from two to nine.

I'm the MC so announcements for uh the Tulsa community.

Any jokes.

Anything you want to send me, I I'll be glad to put it out there.

Things going on in our great Tulsa community that I can talk about and highlight.

I think would be an excellent opportunity, as well as uh Tulsa Powell coming up too in the summer.

So just uh think something I was thinking about.

So I don't have to tell too many bad jokes on the start doing an acting class.

That's right.

Yeah, this is gonna be their third annual one that they're doing this year, the Tulsa Indian uh Tulsa uh law student, native law students.

Yes.

Uh it's a new group every year they're moving in, so the the the lady uh that's running it and the people they just moved in from California, Arizona transferred to Tulsa to take advantage of our native law uh college over there.

Um, you know, we used to have it every year for uh every year when it kind of faded away and now it's coming back.

So uh the law students uh they're brand new, so they're they're just really excited putting it on.

So come eat um and it's gonna be a good time because you got one of one of the best MCs around.

Yeah, you know, we've uh asked him to also be part of our Tulsa Powell this year and our MC too.

So you know we're we're looking forward to uh uh uh hearing some new stuff.

So Stacy the pressure's on.

Stacy Leeds is our new president, you know.

We've got a chance to talk to her, and you know, uh as we go to new presidents at TU, you know, we've always think that we're gonna do something, and you know, she's she's really excited about offering space, you know, to some of the things that are going on in her area, you know.

So uh also the American Indian Chamber of Commerce meets uh every month.

We've been having uh promoting businesses with uh uh Creek Nation, uh Cherokee Nation, Osage, and uh been having you know 140 plus turnout every uh every month.

It's been growing.

Uh so you know it uh started out with Warren, you know, he he grew it and uh we're just trying to keep that momentum going, and it's a great great place to network and with other businesses that could help us out uh with those, you know, because we had some good uh high profile banks, uh you know, corporate sponsorships too.

So thank you.

I had one more announcement.

Sure.

Um David mentioned the American Indian Chamber, which I would encourage everyone to go to that, um, but also the Tulsa Regional Chambers doing their state of the tribal nations next month on May 14th.

Um usually went and plugged another entity, but they asked me to moderate the panel, so please come.

I don't know.

May 14th and it's um over the lunch hour.

Okay.

It meets over the lunch hour.

Yeah, I think they do like an 11:30 start time for like networking, and then they do the program from like 12 to 1, I think.

So do you just show up or do we call you?

There's a registration link that I can send uh you and to Lexi to see.

Yeah, she can send it out.

Okay, yeah.

Great announcements.

Any anything else?

All right.

I'll move for adjournment.

All right, we have a second.

All in favor.

Thank you.