Bodaway Gap Chapter skirts sanctions for now

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Chapter officials from Bodaway Gap have skirted sanctions for now.

Delegate Lorenzo Curley, who sponsored the legislation, said the Transportation and Community Development Committee held lengthy discussions on the matter and urged that the chapter be given another 90 days to implement its Corrective Action Plan.

But Alfreida Lee, from the Auditor General's Office, said Bodaway Gap officials have made "minimal progress" in implementing the CAP. The Budget & Finance Committee first approved a CAP for the chapter in 2003, and to date chapter officials have yet to correct 15 findings, Lee said.

A follow-up audit focusing on the period between January and June 2006 found that 100 percent of travel and discretionary funding lacked proper documentation, Lee said. Of $66,000 worth of expenditures, 38 percent more than $20,000 lacked paperwork and documentation, she told B & F Tuesday.

"The chapter still has property located off-site at private residences," Lee said. "Some chapter property has not been located."

Sanctions are called for, Curley suggested.

"In the private world, with a report like this, you would be out of a job," Curley said. "In the Navajo world, we seem to accept reports like this."

"Maybe we're barking up the wrong tree," said B & F's Mel R. Begay. The problem may not be with local chapter officials, but at the agency level, Begay said. "Somebody's not doing their job."

The Local Governance Support Center seems to be dropping the ball, Begay said. He recalled that B & F had asked LGSC for a report on its work with chapters and had yet to receive it.

For that reason, he had concerns about proceeding with sanctions against Bodaway Gap, Begay said.

"This opens a can of worms," Begay said. "TCDC did not do its job; it just passed the buck."

Committee member Ralph Bennett also favored tabling the legislation until B & F could hear from LGSC.

"Once a chapter is sanctioned, it's hard to get out of it," Bennett said.

LGSC doesn't seem to be helping chapters much, and maybe an outside person needs to be brought in to steer the chapters away from sanctions, Bennett said.

B & F, by a 4-2 vote, opted to table the bill until its May 15 meeting. The committee plans to hear from LGSC at its May 1 meeting.

John Christian Hopkins can be reached at hopkins1960@hotmail.com or by calling 505-371-5443.