The Greater Tulsa Area Indian Affairs Commission held its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, at 5:31 PM. The meeting included roll call, approval of previous minutes, reports from the Chair and Vice Chair, a director's report, a vote on a liaison appointment, committee updates, old and new business, and announcements.
Okay, we don't read each other's mind. We are live. All right. Good evening. Good evening. Lexi's got us hooked up and they're and they are rolling. It is 5 31 on election day, June 16th. Good roll out. We appreciate everyone. You know, braving the polls and uh the warmer weather to uh to get here as we you know wrap up this first half of uh 2026. Uh at this time we'll turn it over to Miss Ms. Bolis for the uh roll call. David Bible, Linda Leaf Bowlin, Daniel Carter, Cheryl Cohenauer, Joe Deer, Warren Harjo, Stacey Lasky, uh Brandy Payton here, Winnie Guest Purdue, here, Pat Powell, here, Warren Cuiton, Joyce Roberts, Matt Roberts, here, Teresa Runnels, Amanda Swoke, Kim They, Mark Van Kieran, Erica Weltz Carter, Dorcas Williams, Cherie Williams here, and our land acknowledgement. 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 more 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. All right, thank you, Ms. Bowlis. We greatly appreciate that. Before you, there are the meet uh the minutes from last month, the May 19th, uh commission meeting. If you if you would like to uh review those if you've not uh done so, and after we review those, if we have a we are at quorum, so uh after you reviewed those if we have a motion for approval. Um, second. All right. Uh all in favor or say aye. All opposed. Motion carries. All right, Chair Vice Chair Report. Um I left my sticker. It's great to see everyone with their I voted stickers in my truck. I played that, I changed my shirt. I that's what I did. I I changed, and it was in the truck and I was planning on putting it on and still sitting there, but it's good to see everyone out uh exercising the right to vote, uh, you know, getting out and and voting today. Uh and also this is this will be our uh last meeting of the first half of the year is as we do take July off, but uh and this will probably be in uh new business as we come forward, but but actually uh we will in essence have a meeting because next month on July 21st, you know, the city's is hosting a um young professional uh young professionals meeting and the the organization is called uh it's Tulsa Young Professionals or Typros as most know it. Yes, and uh and all the title five commissions will have a table there, so more information will be out if you if you would like to attend, but it'll be the young professionals and then obviously uh it's good for uh the young leaders of the city to know about all the organizations and it's always good for us to recruit uh you know young young members to the commission as well, and so uh Lexi and her team have been reaching out and so um I guess last week we we just sent in some information and then her team's putting together a flyer just so those young professionals when they come in if they if they'd like to do some QA ask us some questions and uh and and pick up a flyer. But but one thing I can say, uh, obviously tell me about the Greater Tulsa Area Indian Affairs Commission. But one thing is uh all of us don't necess don't just meet, it's not just a one one day a month uh appointment on the commission because uh all the every month we see each other out about whether it be at the Dance of the Two Moons supporting the uh Indian Healthcare Resource Center. Uh whether it be yesterday, when old how's it I stopped by Tulsa Public Schools and Commissioner Williams is is taking an inventory of her of her uh school year, whether it be a uhwasso Cherokee organization meetings, blood drives, uh things that are going on in uh North Tulsa with my neta and her team and so I know all of you are are are doing many things but just as far and and you'll get to see that flyer, but we just talked about uh in the partnership that we have with the uh some of the highlights we put out there, the partnership that we have uh as with the city and as a bridge that we are between uh the city, the mayor, uh the city council, the county commissioners with uh, you know, the three tribes within the city of Tulsa and and then the others and w we told them a little bit about the makeup of the uh commission as far as the information we uh how many members we have and city appointed, county appointed, and then uh you know, we talked to to focus on some of the big events. You know, obviously we talked about the Native American Day celebration, the Dreamkeeper Awards, the Student of Excellence Awards and that this is a a relatively new one for those of you that have been on the but uh obviously the the uh development uh of uh dream keepers park and the continued work and improvement on that. So those would be the four bullet points I think that are that are really highlighted there so we can share that with those young professionals uh next month on Tuesday uh July twenty first. But there'll be some more information about the location and and everything else uh that we have out there. All right, I'll turn it over to our vice chair, uh Commissioner Carter. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um well thanks to everyone for for being here listening in. I know that it's a busy season, it's Bow Wow, ceremonial season, vacation season, event season, uh just a lot going on, so it's always good to be able to gather um officially and then in addition to to as Chair Roberts said, all the different opportunities to get together in between meetings to support the community. Um I'll just report the the last two days we've had sovereignty symposium uh in Oklahoma City, which is uh it's a great gathering of of tribal leaders, uh city leaders, uh occasionally the state will send a leader or two, um, and see any president this year, but uh it's two full days of just panels talking about kind of the what's on the cutting edge, what's in the future of of um you know tribal sovereignty, uh, what are the battles that we can expect in the future. Um what progress has been made.