Autopsy debt hurts Navajo PD
New Mexico puts moratorium on services until $200,000 is paid

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Once again, the Navajo Nation is searching for funds to pay an outstanding bill for autopsies owed to the Office of Medical Investigations in Albuquerque, and Vice President Ben Shelly told the Public Safety Committee Monday that OMI has placed a moratorium on its service to the Nation until the bill is paid.

“The moratorium really impacts Law Enforcement's crime investigation,” he said.

Gordon Todalena, who became acting director of Criminal Investigations in January, said he met briefly with OMI last week. “Our balance looks like it's $199,475.25,” he said.

A proposal was presented to the Navajo Nation Council in 2007 seeking $167,000 from the Undesignated, Unreserved Fund Balance. “The reason why it was like that was because there was $43,000 that was still in question by the OMI,” he said, but after speaking with them on Thursday, “there is no question with the $43,000.

That is incorporated into our current billing, which amounts to $199,000.”

Todalena said he met with Public Safety Chairman Rex Lee Jim and Office of Management and Budget's Dominic Beyal on Friday and discussed the issue. The bottom line, he said, is “We need to pay our obligation off so we can continue working with OMI.”

“We did send an SAS through, it was going through the process, but it got kicked back to us over at the Division.

The reason why is OMB was more or less telling us that we had some monies that were in other programs and we could use some of those fundings to pay a portion or maybe some of the balance on this outstanding bill.”

However, he added, Criminal Investigation and the Division cannot pay the balance with program funds. Todalena said he had spoken with the division's Executive Director Samson Cowboy about the matter. “He said that we're going to go ahead and probably identify some funds and pay a portion of it and then review the SAS and thereafter submit that through the system again.”

Chairman Jim advised, “To keep this from happening again, maybe you need to create an emergency contingency fund.”

PSC’s Edmund Yazzie said that each year they try to set a budget for each department. He said his question to OMB would be, “Are we aware every time we see this budget that we have an outstanding bill that needs to be covered? Is there a way that we could just write a check to OMI right now to get this taken care of? Could that be a directive to the president and vice president?”

“The other question that I have is what happened to the legislation that was presented a while ago back? We have to clear this autopsy bill. It's a lot of stress on the officers when it comes to the investigation part. There are a lot of cases that are not closed. I think that some families are probably waiting, maybe insurances need to be paid out.

“There are criminal cases that need to be settled, and yet it's still an open door. We need to close these issues when it comes to autopsies.”

Todalena said that in discussions with OMB on Friday, “They never really realized there was an outstanding obligation until we brought it up to them. They were saying that there are a lot of tribal obligations out there and toward the close of the year, they pay a lot of the deficits.

That is absorbed by the carry-forward monies.

“OMB was pretty much surprised. They hadn't really thought about this, to absorb this cost at the end of the closing year.”

The Public Safety Committee was advised that a legislation had been initiated on March 27, 2007, seeking money from the UUFB. “OMB signed off on the legislation on April 11, 2007, and they raised several concerns. From thereon, it moved through the process. It reached the president's office on June 8, 2007, and it stopped there.

No one followed up on it,” the legislative adviser told the committee.

Yazzie said a letter had been sent to the vice president and asked for Shelly's input.

Shelly, who arrived at the meeting after Todalena had made his presentation, told the committee that on April 11, 2007, OMB indicated that Public Safety had approximately $80,000 in their FY 2007 account, and it was suggested that the amount could be applied to the outstanding bill.

“Whether this was done, it is not known. A follow-up is necessary. I believe this is where I can kind of intervene, maybe inquire about that $80,000 that was there, if there is anything available to at least pay part of the bill.”

If not, he said that perhaps he could ask Cowboy to look and see if there is some other account from which funds could be made available. “We almost have to have this because if they have done the moratorium on it, then we've got a problem,” he said.

Shelly also recalled a legislation regarding the autopsy bill coming to Council when he was still a delegate. “I believe I supported it, to pay the $80,000, but it didn't happen.”

Responding to the question of the $80,000, Todalena told Shelly that the department had missed a deadline and the $80,000 “was absorbed by OMB for our deficit for mileages. That's where that went. We didn't have anything left over.”

Vice Chairman Ben Curley asked to hear a report from OMB at the next PSC meeting and Yazzie agreed to sponsor another legislation if it becomes necessary to do so.

PSC’s Raymond Joe said there had been legislation before Council during fall session regarding the autopsy bill, however, Yazzie told PSC that the legislation was withdrawn on Oct. 24.