At the opening of the Seldovia Village Tribe Health Center in Anchor Point, SVT President Don Kashevaroff said he was asked why SVT would open a clinic in Anchor Point, a community of mostly non-Natives.
"We shouldn't just be serving Natives," Kashevaroff told the crowd gathered for the clinic's open house.
The same cannot be said, however, for the tribe's program that provided meals for Natives and non-Natives until mid-October. Refusal to sign a state-required form resulted in the program being revised to serve Natives only.
"It's quite disturbing to have the program go from one type of operation to another," said Walter McInnes, a non-Native who serves on Seldovia's city council and attended the lunches for 15 years. "It gets to a point of being unreasonable and unfair."
Beginning in 1986, the program provided an average of 30 congregate and home-delivered meals to Native and non-Native Seldovia seniors three days a week, according to Program Coordinator Marcia Patrick. Funding came from state-dispersed funds to serve Native and non-Native populations, federally distributed dollars for Native services only and a small amount of financial support from the Kenai Peninsula Borough.
In September, Crystal Collier, the tribe's chief executive officer, wrote a letter to recipients of the senior meals program announcing it would end Oct. 15.
"The state of Alaska, Department of Health and Social Services has not funded this program. With a lack of funding, the tribe is unable to continue this service," Collier said in her letter.
Joan Gone, the department's program manager for senior grants, said Collier's explanation is "technically correct." Funding is available, but the tribe has refused to sign a state-required form waiving the tribe's sovereign immunity and making the tribe subject to legal recourse as a result of any actions or claims arising from a state-awarded grant.
The state's authority to make such a requirement comes from the Alaska Administrative Code, which says, in part, "An Alaska Native entity must submit with its proposal a resolution approved by its governing body that waives the entity's sovereign immunity from suit with respect to claims by the state arising out of activities related to the grant."
It isn't just a matter of the tribe not wanting to sign the form, according to Collier.
"It's that we can't sign it," Collier told the Homer News, adding, "Tribes are sovereign, we can't be sued in court."
A revised form was drafted by the tribe and submitted to the state, but it was rejected. The Attorney General granted an Oct. 31 extension for the form to again be revised by the tribe and resubmitted, but SVT's legal council has not responded, according to Lisa Morley, a social service program coordinator for the state.
Kashevaroff has now asked Gov. Sarah Palin to intervene. In a letter dated Oct. 29, he offered three alternatives to requiring the tribe to relinquish its sovereignty:
1. The state adopt a "post pay" concept, with funds dispersed a quarter after the tribe has performed the grant requirements.
2. The tribe include the state as a beneficiary on the tribe's insurance policy in the case of unexpected events prohibiting SVT from providing for the program's clients.
3. The state change its policy so it does not apply to grants under $100,000 or for tribes that have successfully operated the grants for three or more years.
What is a stumbling block for SVT has not stopped other Native organizations from signing on the dotted line.
"We've always signed the form," Christine Erhart, comptroller for the Tanana Tribal Council, said of TTC's senior meals program that has served annually 50-75 Natives and non-Natives since the late 1990s. "For the benefit of our elders in this region, we like to provide the program."
Tim Navarre, the chief of staff for KPB Mayor John Williams, said the borough is working to find a solution.
"We met with some people and we're trying to work out where the problem lies," Navarre said. "Hopefully we can get that program up and running."
Collier places resolution of Seldovia's senior meals program at the state's feet.
"We spent a lot of time, a lot of months dealing with this issue and we don't have the ability to resolve it," she said. "The state needs to resolve it. We'll give any help we can. We just want to see services provided to people."
Revising the meal program for the whole community is at the top of McInnes' list.
"It's the same village, the same community, everything is pretty much the same," he said. "Let's help one another."
McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com.
