Section ADM.01.15 — Council And Individual Council Member Authority

(a) The Council may only engage in official action during open session of in-session Council meetings and in accordance with law.

(b) Individual Council members shall not conduct discussions, sign contracts, make commitments or make official representations on behalf of the Community without the consent of the Council or as otherwise provided for through tribal law. This requirement is not intended to infringe on communications as part of the deliberative process between Council members and/or tribal employees, but rather to ensure that individual Council members do not speak on behalf of the Community without proper authorization.

(c) No Council member is empowered to violate tribal law and protocol or chain of command in carrying out the duties of office.

(d) All Council members shall respect, abide by and comply with valid Council actions. An individual Council member shall have the right to challenge a Council action in a meeting, but once an official action is taken by the Council, regardless of the dissent, a Council member shall abide by the action.

(e) Neither the Council nor any individual Council member shall involve themselves in any matter involving a tribal matter unless they do so through the proper, established protocol, and by following the existing chain of command. This includes, but is not limited to such matters such as personnel actions; contracts; tribal law enforcement; procurement and bid process and any matter involving the distribution of tribal assets.

(f) Access to and use of Tribal information.

(1) Except as required by business necessity, individual Council members shall not have access to protected personal information held by various tribal entities during the normal course of business, including but not limited to: personnel; loan; gaming and elder-youth licensing information; insurance or any other records that are individually identifiable to a specific individual.

(2) Individual Council members may only use tribal information, including but not limited to tribal data, documents and documentation, records, contracts and grants, for carrying out their official duties as officially delegated by Council or otherwise through tribal law.

(3) Individual Council members shall not ask or direct any employee or agent of the Community to provide or disclose confidential or proprietary tribal information without the consent of the Council or as otherwise provided for through law.