Nuvamsa calls special meeting
for Monday

By Diné Bureau

KYKOTSMOVI — Hopi Tribal Chairman Benjamin Nuvamsa has called a special meeting of the Hopi Tribal Council for 9 a.m. Monday at the Council Chambers.

“I am calling this special meeting to facilitate proper public discussion by Tribal Council in order to provide the Tribe’s General Counsel clear direction regarding any brief that the Council may wish to file in response to the recent Interim Answer from the Hopi Appellate Court in the matter of the Certified Question of Law from the Village of Bacavi,” Nuvamsa stated in a press release.

It is critical that these discussions take place as soon as possible, prior to the next regularly scheduled Tribal Council Session, because the deadline for submitting briefs to the court is June 30, he said.

“If Council wishes to direct General Counsel to prepare a brief, he needs time to properly prepare one. It would be improper for General Counsel to begin preparation of such a brief without official instructions from Council to do so and without clear direction regarding Council’s position on the matter.”

Nuvamsa said that because of the critical nature of the subject, the instructions to General Counsel must come from the Council as a body after public debate and after a roll-call vote, not from individual Tribal Council representatives.

The only item on the agenda is the Interim Answer from the Hopi Appellate Court, ordered April 4 (Case No. 2008-AP-0001) regarding the Certified Question of Law from the Village of Bacavi in the Matter of Village Authority to Remove Tribal Council Representatives.