There was little turnover during the Northern Arapaho and the Eastern Shoshone tribal elections last week. Elections are held every two years. Half of the Shoshone Council's six members will be new going into the next term, including Clinton Wagon, Jodie McAdam and Rick Harris Jr.
The Northern Arapaho also have three new councilmen-- Forest Whiteman, Richard Brannan and Norman Willow Sr. Re-elected Arapaho councilman Darrell O’Neal says the relative lack of turnover is a sign of support for the council’s decisions this last term.
“There is a lot of support for the council and what we did these past years,” O’Neal says.
He says the big issues for the councils in the coming year will be the boundary dispute over the city of Riverton and navigating tribal relations following the dissolution of the tribes' Joint Business Council. Another big issue will be energy and water development on the reservation.
"There is a lot of support for the council and what we did these past years."
“There’s potential in our water,” he says. “How do we develop a plan to do it? As you probably know, water’s going to be a big priority in years to come just because of climate change.”
The new councils will be sworn in on Monday.