March Council Meeting

By Iretta Tiger

HOLLYWOOD — On March 28, the Tribal Council held a regular meeting in the Hollywood tribal auditorium.

Representatives from the Stranahan House were allowed a five minute presentation before items on the agendas were discussed. The Stranahan House is a historic site in Ft. Lauderdale that, in the early parts of the 20th Century, served as a trading post, bank, town hall and post office. Today it is a museum.

Jim Blosser from the Stranahan House talked about the relationship between the Seminole Tribe and Stranahan House. Blosser highlighted the Tribe’s commitment in preserving Stranahan House and of the Tribe’s promised contribution towards a park adjacent to Stranahan House.

Before anything could be done to create the park, the city of Ft. Lauderdale will allow the construction of a 38-story condominium. Stranahan House is seeking any support the Tribe can offer in the effort to stop the construction and preserve the park.

Council agreed and asked Tribal attorney Jim Shore to assist them.

On the meeting’s regular agenda, one remarkable item was the creation of a credit card account for the Tribe’s seniors.

This card is more like a debit card and would be used for meals at participating local restaurants. There is a limit of dollar amount per meal. The card will be controlled so if someone attempts to purchase something other than food or meals, the card cannot be used.

There will be a use-it-or-lose it policy; meaning that if a person does not use the money towards one meal, they lose it. Therefore, not using the money for lunch does not allow any seniors to purchase dinner with it. Remember this card is for Seminole seniors only and it will be controlled.

The final resolution on the regular agenda was for the 2005 budget.

Before voting on the budget, Big Cypress Councilman David Cypress explained to those present that the budget on the agenda is to maintain the normal operations of the Seminole Tribe. If this budget is not approved, no one gets paid and no one receives a dividend.

The reason why this budget is essential is because it meets the time frame allotted towards the budget recall issue.

The Council said they were taking into consideration the suggestions from Tribal citizens for the budget and the budget is also amendable. So as the issue is further discussed with Tribal citizens, changes can be made.