A sign at the Delaware Tribe's headquarters in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Photo from Facebook
The Delaware Tribe of Oklahoma is refusing to pay employment contracts that were signed by former chief Paula Pechonick. Pechonick was in office until last November, when she was ousted in an election whose results she disputed. A new set of leaders, including Chief Chet Brooks and Assistant Chief Bonnie Jo Griffith, started taking a closer look at the tribe's finances and ended up dismantling a tribal business and firing all of its employees. Among those who lost their jobs were Pechonick's son, Beau Watt, and two other people. The three demanded payment for early termination but the tribal council voted to take the issue to court, according to the minutes from a February 17 meeting that were published in the Delaware Indian News, the tribe's newspaper. The tribal court came back with a decision last Tuesday. Brooks said it confirmed his view that the contracts were not valid. “I am thankful this matter has been settled and appreciate the efforts of our Delaware Tribal Court," Chief Chet Brooks, who testified during a trial into the contracts, said in a press release. “I feel justice was served.” Griffith, who made the motion to dispute the contracts in court, also testified at the trial, which was held at the tribe's second headquarters in Kansas. “I think the contracts are fraudulent," she said during the proceedings. Watt, however, disputed those accounts. He maintains he was fired only because he is Pechonick's son. "[T]he employment contracts were approved and recommended by a majority vote of the Delaware tribal council," Watt said on Facebook after learning about the tribal court's decision. Watt acknowledged that the Delaware Facilities Management Services where he worked was suffering from financial woes before it was shut down by the new tribal council. But he said those problems occurred prior to Pechonick's tenure. He also said the former CEO -- who was among the three who were fired -- was working to "correct the financial mess the past director created." Pechonick wanted to rebuild the company so that it could enter into government contracts, a lucrative field for tribes across the nation. "I understand we are down in money right now but you got to understand, we had people working for us that ... stole from us," Nathan Scullawl, who was one of the fired employees, said at a special meeting following last November's election, according to the minutes. But the entity, which provided facilities services to the tribe, never got a chance to succeed. During her campaign for assistant chief last year, Griffith vowed to shut the company down. She also criticized the council for interfering in employment decisions and proposed creating a personnel committee to handle those matters. That system wasn't in place when she and Brooks voted to fire Watt, Scullawl and other Delaware Facilities Management Services employees -- a total of 13 people were fired. Jenifer Pechonick, a former council member who is a daughter of the former chief, said "you are going to regret what you are doing to them" at the meeting.
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