Petersburg Indian Association’s president and four of its council members are up for reelection this month. For many of them, this is the first time they’re being challenged for their seats.
KFSK’s Shelby Herbert spoke with each of the incumbent candidates and has this story.
The incumbent council members for the Petersburg Indian Association aren’t running on a unified platform. But they’re mostly united on at least one thing: building economic sovereignty for the Tribe.
Marc Martinsen started his term on the council last fall. He said he ran for his seat because there weren’t any other volunteers, and because he wanted to help make PIA more financially solvent.
“I’m not going to pull any punches here,” said Martinsen. “I’m going to come out straight and say that it was very corrupt. But it’s been cleaned up, and they’re doing great things now.”
Kalk’ech Mary Ann Rainey has sat on the council off-and-on for about a decade. Rainey took inspiration from her eighteen grandchildren to run for office. She said she participates in PIA to preserve her culture for future generations.
“My interest in is keeping the culture alive, and I try to pass [it] down to each one of them,” said Rainey. “I just want them to remember where they came from and what their culture is and not to forget.”
Another incumbent, Yax Yeidi Brenda Norheim has deep roots in Petersburg. She was given her Lingít name by her great aunt Amy Hallingstad, a prolific civil rights activist who founded PIA. Looking back on her most recent term, she’s most proud of her work to coordinate a cultural exchange with the crew of the Hōkūle‘a, a Hawaiian voyaging canoe that stopped in Petersburg this summer on its journey across the Pacific Ocean.
“I just was really pleased with the way that it turned out in the end,” said Norheim. “Being part of PIA, and the people that we were able to work with — we managed to bring it all together. It was successful as a community, because we all know that it’s very busy for everybody.”
Heather Conn wears a lot of hats in the community — but she describes herself, first and foremost, as an advocate for children. She’s on the Borough’s Early Childhood Education Task Force, and she’s the principal of Petersburg’s elementary school. Conn is of Aleut and Norwegian descent, and her family was adopted into the Lingít Eagle Clan in the 70s.
Conn got inspired to get involved with PIA in 2018, while she was teaching at Tlingit and Haida’s Head Start program in Petersburg.
“Learning their history, as opposed to my own Aleut history — that was pretty exciting and fun,” said Conn.
Tribal Council President Cris Morrison has served on the council since 2018. She said she’s running again this year because the council has several important irons in the fire right now. In recent months PIA has started buying land from the Borough to create residential developments. And Morrison wants to see that project all the way through.
“That is something that’s very exciting,” said Morrison. “The purchase of the property, putting in the infrastructure, getting it started — it will take decades to develop. And I really would like to see that realized.”
When Morrison joined the council, she said PIA was just starting to become financially solvent. She said she fondly remembers the first time they got a clean audit — just a few years ago.
“That was cause for celebration,” said Morrison. “That meant that the auditors found nothing that they could question, no backup that they needed. It was clean.”
She said the best way PIA can continue to stay out of the red is through projects that build income for the Tribe. In the past, PIA has mostly operated on grant funding — and there are a lot of rules on how and where they can spend that money.
Morrison and the Council have set their sights on projects that would build financial sovereignty for the Tribe — mainly through developing rental properties. The idea is that the Tribe would be able to spend that discretionary income however they wish.
This year, PIA held a few work sessions to take feedback on how to spend about $3.4 million in federal COVID relief money. Some tribal members wanted cultural projects, which, they said, could strengthen the community and drive tourism to Petersburg. Ultimately, the council set those ideas aside. Morrison believes that building income is the council’s main role.
“They are the fiduciaries for the funds that PIA has,” said Morrison. “The Tribe has received generous amounts of federal funds. And these are unprecedented — I hope that this never happens again, because that would mean another pandemic!”
Morrison said the council has a duty to invest these millions of dollars in projects that would make PIA more financially independent.
“I think that is what the councils, through the decades, have been looking for,” said Morrison. “If they have their own, what I call, ‘clean money’ — that is power.”
But some members of the Tribe feel unheard. PIA’s work sessions had a large volume of attendees, and the council decided to limit public comments to five minutes. Some constituents have complained.
Yax Yeidi Brenda Norheim said she understands that the new change is probably shocking to some members.
“…But at the same time,” said Norheim, “…if you come with a specific purpose, and to get your message across, I think five minutes is probably plenty of time.”
Heather Conn said that when she first joined the council, some public comments would take up to an hour long.
“We were here so late, and it was very tiring,” said Conn.
Other constituents complained about not being able to access meeting minutes and agendas. Conn said PIA doesn’t have the bandwidth to publish that information for every monthly meeting.
“There is sometimes confidential information in those reports,” said Conn. “If we start presenting them to the public at large, we would miss that information. And our employees are strapped enough. We don’t want to have to ask them to supply a board report for the general public and a board report for us.”
The council also received a lot of criticism at a recent election forum for not doing enough to support cultural revitalization in the community. Cris Morrison said it’s not the Council’s responsibility to come up with ideas for cultural projects.
“It is unfair, unrealistic, and perhaps takes away from the experience of others and the knowledge of others within the tribe to leave that up to just those few that are at that Council table,” said Morrison. “But if other people bring us ideas, then we can start talking about it.”
Even so, Council Members Norheim, Rainey and Conn are proud of their involvement in many of PIA’s cultural initiatives over the last year. They say they’re planning to set up informational signs about Lingít culture and history on a popular walking trail, and construct a small totem pole and dugout canoe near a local playground. Ultimately, Norheim said she wants her constituents to know that she takes their proposals seriously.
“I think one of the things that is sometimes hard to get across is that we appreciate your suggestions,” said Norheim. “But a lot of these things take time.”
At the end of the day, the incumbents are glad that they’re not the only ones with their names in the hat. This year, voter participation is up and every seat on the council is contested.
More information about opportunities for early voting, election days, and candidates can be found on PIA’s website.
