PEMBROKE — The Lumbee Tribal Council on Thursday turned back a resolution that called for the creation of two more tribe-owned for-profit corporations.
A unanimous vote of the 15 council members present sent the resolution back to the Economic Development Committee. The resolution called for the creation of Construction and Facilities Maintenance corporations, which would fall under the tribe’s Lumbee Tribal Holdings.
The vote came after Jan Lowery, who was filling the role of council secretary, questioned whether or not a proper quorum was present for Tuesday’s Economic Committee meeting. She cited Roberts Rules of Order, the guidebook for parliamentary proceedings, when she argued a quorum was not present.
“If you don’t have a quorum, you are supposed to shut the meeting down,” Lowery said.
Councilman Dewey McNeill asked why no one spoke up if a problem was seen during the committee meeting.
Council member Janie McFarland said she was at the meeting and was shaking her head.
“And I was ignored, as always,” McFarland said.
Councilman Reginald Oxendine, who presented the resolution to the council, suggested it should be sent back to the committee.
A motion by Councilman Terry Hunt to do so was entertained by Corbin Eddings, who was acting as council speaker. The 15-0 vote was taken and recorded, and the resolution was sent back to the Economic Development Committee for more discussion.
The proposed Construction and Facilities Maintenance corporations would fall under the parent Lumbee Tribal Holdings corporation, just as does the for-profit Lumbee Tribal Enterprises, Oxendine said after the council meeting. Among the issues to be discussed is exactly what type of contracts would be sought for the new corporations and contracts with whom. As with Holdings and Enterprises, the new corporations would be wholly owned by the tribe.
The council did approve three appointments, all without discussion.
Kenny Berry was appointed a tribal Election Board alternate member to represent council districts 1, 2 and 12. He was approved on a vote of 8-6, with one abstention. Tommy Cox also was appointed an Election Board alternate member to represent districts 6, 8 and 9. The vote to approve Cox was 11-4.
A vote of 14-1 made Christopher Locklear a member of the Administrative Court to represent districts 4, 10, 11 and 13. He was sworn in to office by tribal Supreme Court Chief Judge Joshua Malcolm immediately after receiving the Tribal Council’s approval.
Berry and Cox also were to be administered the oath of office, but neither attended Thursday’s meeting.
At the meeting were the parents, coaches and members of the Pembroke Soccer Association team United 06. The team was presented a resolution paying tribute to it for winning a gold medal at the 2019 State Games of America in Vicksburg, Virginia. The team won all four of its tournament games.
The resolution read by Tribal Chairman Harvey Godwin Jr. praised the team members for their outstanding achievement and sportsmanship.
