I have read some very interesting material recently in regards to an employment relations matter within our Tribal workforce. I would first like to explain that Tribal Council directly supervises seven employees. Collectively, council has a responsibility to manage each of them as individual employees of our government.
As a manager, there is a responsibility to supervise employees and there is a responsibility to protect an employee's rights. This should be considered a very important responsibility for any manager, even if that manager is an elected government official.
In my opinion, there is a fine line between information considered to be confidential and information that is appropriate to be released to the public in an attempt to operate an open, honest and transparent government. Believe me, I am all for giving the Tribal membership the most information possible without crossing boundaries. However, I am also in support of keeping confidential information confidential as well as protecting the rights of our employees. There are state labor laws and policies that prohibit public notification of disciplinary action taken against an employee.
I commend those who have chosen to respect their Oath of Office and uphold their responsibilities as a manager. I believe we have done the right thing.
I can also assure each of you that if our tribal resources or the future of our tribe was in jeapordy, Tribal Council would have made a public statement to the entire membership.
I hope this gives you all a peace-of-mind. There are no secrets here, just a group of individuals acting in an ethical manner and in my opinion, doing their job.
Thank you for reading,
Toby
