Section MEM.01.06

(a) Descendants of members of the Stockbridge Munsee Community may be enrolled as members of the Community upon approval by the Tribal Council of a certified or photostatic copy of the descendant's birth certificate; Provided such descendants are of one-quarter (1/4) or more Stockbridge-Munsee Indian blood, and, Provided further that such descendants are not members of any other Indian tribe.

(b) In addition to meeting the requirements of Section MEM.01.03(a), examples of other relevant documents that may be considered in determining blood degree include:

(1) Treaties,

(2) Corn list 1838,

(3) Census 1842,

(4) Land Assignments of 1843,

(5) 1850 Calumet Co. Census,

(6) 1893 Testimony,

(7) 1901 Appl. For Buffalo, N.Y. Claim & other Census and Allotment Rolls,

(8) 1905 Testimony,

(9) Family Bibles,

(10) Missionary Journals,

(11) Heirship Roll, or

(12) 1906 Allotment Roll.

(c) If the Membership Committee recommends to Tribal Council to deny enrollment to an applicant, the following procedure shall apply:

(1) At least two regular Tribal Council meetings are required in order to deny membership.

(2) At a regular Tribal Council meeting, the Tribal Council shall announce, by motion, its intent to deny membership to the named applicant. For the purpose of this Chapter, regular Tribal Council meeting has the same meaning as in Chapter ADM.01 of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community ordinances.

(3) The Tribal Council Secretary shall than notify the applicant that the Tribal Council is considering denying the membership application.

(A) Such notification shall be in writing and shall be served via certified, restricted, return receipt requested.

(B) The notification shall state the following:

"At the ___________(date) regular Tribal Council meeting, Tribal

Council made a motion of its intent to deny membership to

___________ (applicant's name). Tribal Council based its decision on

____________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________.

You have thirty calendar days to respond if you wish to challenge

Tribal Council's intent to deny membership. If you do not respond

within thirty calendar days, Tribal Council may deny membership to the

applicant at its next Regular Tribal Council meeting.

If you chose to contest Tribal Council's intent to deny membership,

the applicant, its parent(s), its guardian, or representative must respond in

writing to the Tribal Secretary. Your response must be received within

thirty calendar days of you receiving this notice. If you are contesting

Tribal Council's intent to deny membership, the applicant, its parent(s), its

guardian, or representative will have the opportunity to review the copies

of the documents that Tribal Council is relying on.

If you are contesting Tribal Council's intent to deny membership, the

Tribal Council Secretary will then contact the applicant in order to

schedule the membership issue on an upcoming regular Tribal Council

meeting agenda. The Tribal Council Secretary will also provide you with

the copies of relevant documents that Tribal Council relied on for its intent

to deny membership decision."

(4) If the applicant has not responded to the Tribal Secretary's Section MEM.01.06(c)(3) notice, the Tribal Council may take action to deny membership to the applicant at a regular Tribal Council meeting.

(5) If the applicant has responded to the Tribal Secretary's notice, the Tribal Council may not take action to deny membership unless the applicant, its parent(s), its guardian, or representative has had an opportunity to present its case to the Tribal Council in Executive Session at a regular Tribal Council meeting.

(A) The applicant, parent of the applicant, guardian of the applicant or representative of the applicant bears the burden of proving that enrollment should not be denied.

(B) Notwithstanding Section MEM.01.06(c)(5), Tribal Council may take action to deny membership if the applicant, its parent(s), its guardian, or representative does not attend a Tribal Council meeting within ninety calendar days after responding the Tribal Secretary's Section Section MEM.01.06(c)(3) notice.

(6) Nothing in Section MEM.01.06(c) is intended to limit Tribal Council's authority to consider membership matters to only two Tribal Council meetings, provided that applicants are provided with the opportunity to respond pursuant the requirements in Section MEM.01.06(c).

(d) All seven (7) members of the Tribal Council shall be present in order to take action on the final decision to deny membership as outlined in Section MEM.01.06(c)(4) and (5) above.

(e) Tribal Council is the final forum to determine Tribal Member eligibility.