July 25, 2005
Monday

To the Ketchikan Indian Community s Honorable Elders, Mr. President, Tribal council, and all Members:

I am troubled that KIC is publicly known more for our conflicts and not our contributions to the community.

I have two questions for the council.
1) I need a reason for your vote to remove our CEO?
2) Are you qualified to make a competent decision who is qualified to be our CEO of this multimillion dollar corporation?

I am aware that the council needs no reason to remove the CEO but as a KIC member I am going to require that the council who votes to remove Mrs. Zimmerle as CEO give specific reason or reasons for their action. This reason needs to be held up to stand in the test of validity and truth.

Examples of good reasons include:
1) Extreme dereliction of duties
2) Failure to comply with KIC policies in a seditious and deliberate act of insubordination.
3) Extortion
4) Fraud
5) Current actions that are unbecoming of an official of this community.

These are only examples and I must stress that these are only terms as they stand alone. These would only be valid if they are held up with proof and specific infractions that give the terms body. If you fail to give reasons for your decision to vote to terminate our CEO it will be a show, on your part, of complete dereliction of your duty as an elected official and in my opinion a demonstration of your incompetence as a leader of this community.

In your determination of who is qualified to be the CEO of KIC, you should take a look at your own life. If you can honestly say that you know who is qualified to be the CEO of our multimillion dollar community then you yourself would need to be qualified to be the CEO. Are you successful in your own business endeavors? Have you been able to hold a job for over 20 years? Have you lost your business or even at the very least lost business from your lack of good business? Have you ever been fired from a job for cause? Do you have a degree in business or any college degree at all? Search your heart carefully and answer these questions honestly. You are not just voting to terminate the CEO you are voting for the future of our community.

If you do not have very good reason for your actions, I believe that these the people will more than likely be very disappointed in this council and in this community. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

I urge you to do the right thing, put this behind us quickly and get on with putting some vision into the future of our community. Show us that you are willing to get on with the items you where elected for, such as: helping the elders of our community, providing more educational benefits, health care, housing, and helping our members become valuable productive members of this society. You need to show this community that we are more than people who only fight amongst ourselves and are always in conflict but a people who are encouraging our people to better their lives and make a contribution, not create conflict.
Georgianna Zimmerle, is more than qualified to hold this position and bring our community into the future and continue to build and grow our community. She is a very strong native woman who is not here because she needs this job. She could work just about anywhere she chose to work. But she chooses to stay here and use her qualifications, her connections, and her experience to serve our people, out of her love and commitment to our people. Mrs. Zimmerle had pointed out to the council s president, that although the intent of this council was clear, she had not actually been terminated because the motion did not specifically state that she was fired, & did not give a time line for her contract to end. Mr. President had checked with our attorney and found she was correct. It s ironic that this council couldn t even fire her correctly since these are some of the very skills that Mrs. Zimmerle has been trying to incorporate since she was hired. KIC has gone to great expense to arrange retreats, seminars and pay for classes so that the members could learn the correct parliamentary & lawful procedures. Mrs. Zimmerle is professional, conscientious and dedicated to any job or task she agrees to do.

I believe you have overlooked the organization, leadership and productive accomplishments that she has brought us as our CEO. Her service to Ketchikan Indian Community brought dignity and integrity to our community organization. If KIC would unite and work together, we could be very powerful and our programs would be valuable assets to Ketchikan s community needs. Georgianna is a valuable asset this community cannot afford to lose.

One last issue, Marly Edenso should be given the right to vote. She was elected by the people to serve the people not the council. Her vote should be included so that she may perform her elected duties. Ms. Edenso was elected by the people with full knowledge that her sister was the CEO. This did not hinder the votes of the people and they have elected her. If you do not let Ms. Edenso vote you are consequently gagging the membership s voice.

How long is this bickering and conflict going to be the business of the council? How many more recall petitions? The last two CEO s were dismissed in a similar manner without a performance evaluation or reason for their termination, since they work at the will of the council. How many more headlines about our conflicts and lawsuits are we going to go through before we lose it all? I challenge you take a look on the internet search and look in all newspaper articles regarding KIC. Take all the good things KIC has contributed to the community and put them on a scale and weigh them against all the conflicts KIC has and see how things balance out. By our fruit they will recognize us. Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Let us be known for our good fruit. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into!
the fire.

If you are blinded in thinking that you are making a contribution by producing conflict then you should take into consideration the reality of what is happening and how detrimental it can be for the betterment of our community and how our community is viewed.

I thank you for your time and allowing me to express my voice as a member of this community. I pray that you search your conscience and do the right thing.

Steven Booth
Ketchikan, AK - USA

 

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