Navajo to work closer with state of N.M.

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Navajo officials are close to reworking the procedure for confirming joint powers of agreements with the state of New Mexico.

With the current process, where each project must reach its own joint powers of agreement, it can take three months or longer to get necessary approvals, Navajo Department of Justice lawyer LaTonia Becenti said.

“That’s a very long time,” she added.

The new procedures, which would provide blanket authorization for projects, would take two or three weeks for a project to get approvals, Becenti said.

The new streamlined process will change the joint powers of agreement into an intergovernmental grant agreement, Division of Community Development Director Arbin Mitchell said.

The cumbersome approval process has been a concern in the past, Becenti said. But the draft IGA, still awaiting review by New Mexico officials, should speed the process up, she said.

Under the old process, a joint powers of agreement needed approval from DCM’s oversight committee, Transportation and Community Development, and from the Intergovernmental Relations Committee, Becenti said. Each joint powers of agreement also needed a sponsor, and if the sponsor couldn’t make a TC/DC or IGR meeting, the issue was tabled until a following meeting, Becenti said.

The IGA would be a “boilerplate” document, covering routine, non-controversial projects, said Casey Begay of the Navajo Community Improvement Office.

“Shortening the time frame is the major thing with this,” Begay said.

In one instance, it took 11 months to get a joint powers of agreement approved, Begay recalled.

The projects would be tentatively approved in an IGA, giving the president to sign off on the final approval after a chapter submitted all its documentation, such as a scope of work, Becenti said.

While he supports the IGA plan, Delegate Johnny Naize said one big problem will remain: The chapters entering into private agreements with the state.

“We need to discourage the New Mexico chapters from submitting projects to the state that are not ready to go,” Naize said.

Under Navajo law, certified chapters can enter into agreements with the state without awaiting council approval, Becenti said. Unless the law is changed the chapters cannot be prevented from doing that if they want, she said.

The certified chapters should be strongly encouraged to let the CIO in on its plans, Mitchell said. That way, community development can at least keep track of what’s going on, he said.

The Nation has been chastised for “leaving money on the table,” Naize said. That happens when chapters enter into their own agreement before securing all the necessary approvals, he explained.

Though the state may approve a grant, the fiscal year comes to a close before the project is green-lighted by the delegates and the money set aside has to revert to the state, Naize said.

Although its a draft, she doesn’t foresee any dramatic changes to the document, Becenti said.

John Christian Hopkins can be reached at Hopkins1960@hotmail.com