Rapid City, S.D., Indian Health Board Members Accused of Misspending Story-Date: 12:32 p.m. PST Sunday , September 28, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ Rapid City, S.D., Indian Health Board Members Accused of Misspending By K. Marie Porterfield, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News RAPID CITY, S.D.--Sep. 29--Buffalo wasn't the only item on the menu at a Rapid City Indian Health Board victory dinner earlier this month to celebrate a BIA judge's ruling that an IHS decision terminating health board 638 contracts was not legal. Board members were served with a summons and complaint to answer to alleged misspending of funds. The battle between the board and concerned community members centers around stipends and stipend advances. Named in the suit are RCIHB along with individual board members Melvin Miner, Florence Janis, Marilyn Prairie, Charles "Chuck" Davis and Robert Chasing Hawk. Myron Rock, a former board member who served as treasurer was also named, along with executive director Theodora Wallace. The complaint from community members alleges that the board of directors and Executive Director Theodora Wallace, "conspired to and did make illegal and extravagant use of funds entrusted to the corporation for the use and benefit of the American Indian people." The suit demands that the defendants restore the allegedly misappropriated funds to the corporation. At a special meeting held Sept. 17, to discuss the legal action, community member Rosemond Goins handed a revised version of the complaint to board members. About 15 people who said they spoke for the Rapid City American Indian community sat in on the meeting. "What is happening on the board is just not right," said Mary Wright, a former health board member from 1991 to 1993. "What we are concerned about is a $5,000 loan to Toni Montileaux," Ms. Goins said. The suit, which was not filed in State Circuit Court until Sept. 18, did not name Ms. Montileaux as a defendant. According to the protesters, the check Ms. Montileaux, a board member, received -- an advance on her $500 per month stipend for attending meetings -- had not been drawn with the knowledge of the full board or the finance committee. In a letter explaining the suit to Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe President Greg Bourland, Ms. Goins wrote that legal action had been entered into to recover advance stipends given five board members and one former board member. Three board insiders said privately that all RCIHB members, excluding Mel Prairie Chicken and Marvin Weston, have received stipends at some point during the fiscal year. RCIHB's bylaws currently allow for stipend advances, and no policy states that they must be given with full board knowledge or approval. Mr. Chasing Hawk said board members must sign an agreement to attend all meetings in order to obtain a stipend advance. The money must be returned if that promise is not kept. Two years ago community activist Rosalie Little Thunder, now a board member herself, introduced a resolution to abolish stipends which was passed by the board. Several days later, in a closed session, it was rescinded. Subsequently a $500 per month cap was put on the stipends. The controversial stipend issue, which has plagued the board for years, was raised again this June when several board members received $2,000 advances. "We can't seem to police ourselves," Ms. Little Thunder said of the recent controversy. "It seems like we don't want boundaries." Before a cap was set on board member stipends, RCIHB spent as much as a quarter of a million dollars annually on payments for meeting attendance and travel with some former board members drawing $400 to $500 a day. The present board, which is faced with a legacy of over $65,000 in disallowed expenses from the 1993 board, has cut operating costs by two thirds from last year and has reduced support staff from 8 to three employees. "The issue here is that our health needs in the community aren't being met," Ms. Goins said. "They need to redo their priorities so they are for the people, not themselves." "The battle with the IHS and now with this case costs money," Ms. Prairie said. "It sidetracks us from working on the things we need to be doing for the community." At the Sept. 17 meeting, the board voted to have their lawyer, Terry Pechota, investigate the possibility of filing a countersuit. The stipend advance policy was referred to the finance committee for review. A motion made by Ms. Prairie to check board members' attendance at regular, special and committee meetings in order to determine if stipend advances were being abused, passed with only one member, Mr. Davis, voting against it. The election committee was asked to discuss holding a community referendum on the stipends. Some board members speculated that the current controversy was a campaign strategy by protesters to win seats on the health board in the October 28 election. "I hope every one of you runs for the board," Mr. Chasing Hawk said to the group. "That's what you are doing -- campaigning." Ms. Wright, who has announced her candidacy for the board is responsible for $1,350 of the questioned costs from the 1993 audit by Reimer, Wenande Smits & Co. from Sioux Falls. The expenses were from stipends paid without evidence of attendance at board meetings or training. "We're poor people and the lack of policy puts more temptation in front of people than they can handle," Ms. Little Thunder said about the controversy. Nobody's getting rich, but it's like a welfare fund for the board using public money. I hope we can get this resolved and put it behind us." ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ ----- (c) 1997, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------