A committee of San Carlos Apache Tribe members is seeking to recall the Tribal Council after the council allegedly met in closed meetings, voted itself generous raises and abolished the office of vice chairman.

People First, a group of tribal members unhappy with the council’s actions, is circulating petitions throughout the reservation and in several states where tribe members live in hope of collecting 4,765 signatures to force a referendum vote on recalling the Tribal Council.

In a column appearing in the Oct. 17 edition of the San Carlos Apache Moccasin, Tribal Vice Chairman David Reede alleged the Tribal Council voted in a closed meeting to abolish his office and terminate his senior staff member Beverly Russell after Reede declined an $18,000 raise for personal use. He accepted the money, however, and added it to his budget for community projects. “Unbeknownst to me, my written refusal of the $18,000 salary increase was placed on an agenda as an executive session (closed meeting) topic during a special council meeting held Oct. 10, a meeting in which the Tribal Council knew that I would not be present,” Reede wrote in his column.

He also denounced the raise and “the purchase of the Tribal Council vehicles” in his column.

Tribal Council Chairman Wendsler Nosie Sr. wrote in an Oct. 28 column in the San Carlos Apache Moccasin that tribe members have an “unquestionable right to understand (and) evaluate the conduct of its government.”

In the same column, however, Nosie wrote, “Confidential or privileged commercial or financial information is generally recognized as permissible subject matter for executive session and is specifically recognized as exempt under the federal Freedom of Information Act. As a result, the content of these discussions is privileged and not available to the general public.”

On Dec. 3, Russell hosted a meeting of People First, a group whose goal is “to serve as a tool for San Carlos Apache tribal members to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold the elected leaders accountable to the public interest.”

According to the meeting minutes, 54 tribal members were in attendance. Those at the meeting learned that the purpose of the petitions is to initiate a referendum vote for removal of the Tribal Council as a complete governing body.

The tribe’s constitution does not afford the people an opportunity to recall their representatives. The reservation is split into several districts, each of which has representatives serving on the Tribal Council.

Nosie did not respond to two phone calls placed by the Courier.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs office in Phoenix did not have an immediate response to the situation in San Carlos.

Russell indicated she is willing to be interviewed later this week.