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TAHLEQUAH, OK - The Cherokee Nation Tribal Council voted to override the Principal Chief’s veto of a bill addressing the pay for elected officials at the August Council meeting.

"The law treats all elected officials alike", said Council Member Barbara Starr-Scott. “We’re just trying to equalize ourselves in pay and compensation."

"I vetoed the law for a number of reasons", said Principal Chief Chad Smith. "The key reason is the fact that this law re-affirms the Council’s pay raise, which they approved for themselves but I refused to sign more than a year and a half ago. To be consistent, I could not sign this law that re-affirmed that pay raise."

In committee discussions relating to the law, Council Members discussed the possibility of reducing the pay raise, and offered to include a $25,000 raise for Smith and Deputy Chief Hastings Shade. The Council decided not to reduce their current salary to the previous levels. Smith and Shade refused the increases and their pay remained the same in the law that is now in effect after the override.

"If there are any changes to salaries for elected officials, including the Office of Principal Chief, those changes should be effective for the next term", Smith said.

The Council’s override means that the law becomes effective and that Council Members are no longer termed 'a special class of employees' of the Cherokee Nation but instead receive their benefits as elected officials.

The Council voted to table a discussion whether to override Smith’s veto of an act that would give the Sequoyah High School Board authoritative power over the school. Under current law, the SHS board is a advisory board that recommends a course of action for the school, which is operated by the Cherokee Nation executive branch under a contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Council Member Chuck Hoskin moved to table the issue, out of respect for "the Sequoyah family", which is still recovering from the deaths of four area teenagers, including two Sequoyah students and the daughter of an employee, in a recent car crash.

In other action, Smith nominated eight people for positions within the judicial branch or on boards or commissions of the Cherokee Nation. All eight were confirmed, seven unanimously.

Bart Fite was confirmed as a judge on the Cherokee Nation District Court. Marcella Morton and Paula Young were confirmed as members of the Cherokee Nation Home Health Governing Board. Mike McEver and Brian Berry were confirmed as members of the Cherokee Nation Employee Appeals Board. Dick McNair was confirmed as a Commissioner for the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation Board. Ed Fite, Ed Henshaw and Stann Hummingbird were confirmed as members of the Cherokee Nation Environmental Protection Commission.

The Council also approved resolutions authorizing additional grant applications to be made for WIC, food distribution and LIHEAP programs.

The next Tribal Council Meeting will be held Monday, September 10 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the W.W. Keeler Complex in Tahlequah.