From the Record-Eagle:
PESHAWBESTOWN — Tribal officials with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians are caught up in another lawsuit.
Members of the band’s compensation committee filed suit in tribal court alleging former tribal Chairman Robert Kewaygoshkum inappropriately raised council members’ salaries.
The complaint was filed in October, amid several disputes over the tribal chairman election. Kewaygoshkum, 57, defeated Derek Bailey, 36, in the original May election, but those results were overturned in tribal court. Bailey won a special election for the chairman’s post in September.
More challenges followed the second vote, but results were certified this month. Bailey took office on Dec. 11.
The compensation committee’s suit alleges Kewaygoshkum raised salaries and gave retroactive pay to five tribal councilors without committee approval. The suit seeks to void the pay raises and recoup increased wages already paid.
The compensation committee in February set a salary range between $60,000 and $69,000 for the 2008 tribal council. Committee members ruled that wages should be frozen and salaries considered after the election. But Kewaygoshkum increased five councilors’ wages in July when election challenges were pending. The new salaries ranged from $66,114 to $76,644.
Kewaygoshkum did not return phone calls for comment.
“The (former) tribal chairman abused his authority and implemented salary changes without the authorization or approval of the compensation committee,” said Barry Levine, attorney for the committee. “The reason for the tribal ordinance is to prevent a conflict of interest, which can occur with the tribal chairman implementing salaries of the tribal council, since the tribal council sets the tribal chairman’s salary.”
Kewaygoshkum, in a response filed in court last month, “denies he violated the Tribal Constitution and asserts he acted within the scope of his authority by enforcing a wage grid established, approved and implemented by the Compensation Committee” in 2004.
He contends the committee’s more recent decisions regarding salaries did not follow tribal rules because the committee met more than once per year, abolished the wage grid, used personal discretion in determining salaries and engaged in closed-door unrecorded meetings.
“They’re arguing over who was following the ordinance or who was not following the ordinance,” said John Petoskey, Kewaygoshkum’s attorney and the band’s general counsel.
Bailey, the band’s new chairman, gave no comment on the case, and neither did Ardith “Dodie” Harris, chairwoman of the compensation committee.
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