Chairman Mic Isham of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians speaks at the White House Tribal Nations Conference in Washington, D.C., on September 26, 2016. Photo by Indianz.Com / Available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

The Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians is "ready and willing" to discuss concerns raised by citizens who are worried about the Wisconsin tribe's finances.

More than 100 tribal citizens signed a petition seeking an audit, The Dryden Wire reported. While that's just a small percentage of the overall membership, the concerns grabbed the attention of Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisconsin).

"Members of the Lac Courte Oreilles tribe deserve to know funds provided to their tribe by the U.S. federal government are being spent in an open, accountable and transparent manner," Duffy wrote in an October 7 letter to the leaders of four federal agencies. "A timely and comprehensive forensic audit of the LCO’s tribal accounts will ensure that all funds are accounted for and being put to the best use possible."

The letter came as a shock to the tribe's leaders, who said Duffy could have approached them about the issue but didn't. They also note he could have checked out the Federal Audit Clearinghouse for reports on their spending.

"Congressman Duffy has had numerous opportunities for government-to-government relations with the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe to improve the lives of our Tribal citizens," the tribe said in a press release on Wednesday. "We stand ready and willing to discuss the needs of our Tribal citizens with Congressman Duffy at any time."

The Federal Audit Clearinghouse includes copies of forms and audits of the tribe and various tribal entities, including the Lac Courte Oreilles Housing Authority, the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College and the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe School.

An independent audit of the Lac Courte Oreilles Housing Authority for the year ending December 31, 2015, found no significant problems, for example.

"The Lac Courte Oreilles Housing Authority is determined to be a non low-risk auditee," the report stated in part.

But auditors have highlighted areas for improvement. The authority needs to a a better job at monitoring check disbursements for purchase orders, the audit stated, referring to an issue that was raised in a prior year.

"The Tribe fully adheres to all grant requirements, including annual independent audits," the tribe's press release read. "As our audits will show, our programs have seen vast improvements over the past several years."

The housing authority audit noted that the disbursement issue was on its way to being fixed at the end of 2015 and should be "resolved" before the end of this year.

Tribal citizens, however, have raised concerns about other spending practices, The Dryden Wire reported. One audit highlighted issues dating back to 2011, according to the report.

"Our tribal program funds are being mismanaged,”elder Marilyn Tribble told The Dryden Wire. “People are not receiving the services they should."

Read More on the Story:
Congressman Duffy Requests Forensic Audit of Lac Courte Oreilles Federal Funds (The Dryden Wire 10/13)
Rep. Sean Duffy Calls For Audit Of Northern Wisconsin Tribe (Wisconsin Public Radio 10/13)