By Joe Morey
News Editor
The LCO Citizenship Services Department confirmed the validity of 106 signatures on a petition received by the LCO Tribal Governing Board (TGB).
A petition containing the signatures of over a required 100 tribal members was presented to the TGB on Monday, Oct. 7, by Ramona Ingerson, a member of the LCO Elder Advisory Council. The petition asks for a referendum vote of the tribal membership to reverse the official action of the TGB to terminate the LCO Health Center Director, Sarah Cormell.
At their meeting on Monday, Oct. 21, the TGB was presented with the findings which concluded that the petition of 115 signatures had the necessary signatures of 106 tribal members. The petition contained nine signatures that were disqualified, seven of which were non-tribal members, one signature was removed by the signer and one was ineligible.
The petition was organized under the Tribal Referendum Code established by the TGB under the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Constitution, which states a referendum requires at least 100 signatures and at least 200 registered tribal members to vote in said referendum.
Now that the petition has been confirmed valid, according to the Referendum Code, the petition needs to be accepted by the TGB within 60 days of receipt and a Referendum vote is to take place within 90 days of receipt.