Board Proposes Amendments to Bylaws, Charter

By Shelley Marmor

HOLLYWOOD — The Seminole Tribe of Florida, Inc. has not amended their corporate charter and bylaws since 2002, and according to General Counsel Travis Trueblood it was a “small change.” Before that, it was only amended five times since its adoption in 1957.

Trueblood said in his six years working as the board’s lawyer he has been jotting down changes that should be made to “modernize” the charter and bylaws. He said many of these suggestions have come from Tribal citizens, something he said is very important to the board.

He said the board has asked him to attend community meetings on all reservations in the coming months and inform community members of what they are proposing before making any changes. Trueblood said legally “they don’t have to do this, they want to do this.”

One the most significant proposed changes, according to Trueblood, is that the board wants to add four new representatives. If passed, this will mean the board will increase to eight total members. These representatives will head the Fort Pierce, Immokalee and Tampa reservations from the board side.

The board also wants to add an at-large board representative, for a total of four new board members. The at-large representative will act on behalf of all non-resident Tribal citizens. This is the largest segment of the Seminole population, according to Trueblood. Each of these four will have full voting privileges, like those currently serving on the board.

Trueblood said that any Tribal citizen living within 30 miles of any reservation will be considered a member of that community, according to the proposed changes. Therefore any person living in Okeechobee, for example, will be considered part of the Brighton community due to their geographical proximity. This is outlined in Article III, Section 2.

In Article III, Section 4, the board wants to make several changes, including changing term limits for representatives. Currently the president can serve for four years, but the board wants to increase this to six. Also, representative terms will increase from two to four years, should this change be approved.

According to Trueblood, the term limit increases will help “to ensure long term economic stability” for the board.

Should these increases be made amendments to the bylaws, the existing reservation board representatives will have their regular elections in May of every odd numbered year. The four new representatives will have elections in November of all even numbered years.

For a complete outline of these and the rest of the proposed changes, please see the side bar that accompanies this article. Please submit all written comments on these changes to: Seminole Tribe of Florida, Inc., 6300 Stirling Road, Suite 325, Hollywood, FL 33024, Attn: Charter Amendment Comments.