Friday, May 13, 2011
By Jaclyn Shambaugh, Staff writer
Fayetteville Observer
Lumbee Tribal Chairman Purnell Swett confirmed Friday that he is resigning, citing health issues as the reason for leaving office early.
Swett, 77, filed paperwork with tribal administration Monday, but his resignation will not be final until May 23. He still had about a year and a half left on his term.
“I’ve resigned for health reasons on the strong advice of my doctor,” Swett said Friday in a telephone interview with The Fayetteville Observer.
Swett’s announcement comes in the same week that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a report finding the Lumbee Tribe to be out of compliance on several issues, including consultant and employee contracts and travel expenses.
As a result of HUD’s findings, the tribe will be required to pay back almost $115,000 spent on noncompliant contracts and misused housing funds to the federal government.
Despite his announcement following so closely to the release of the HUD report, Swett said his resignation is not related to the report.
“It is common knowledge among our people that I have health problems,” Swett said. “This isn’t a surprise.”
Swett also maintains that HUD’s findings are erroneous.
“We will be given written comments on all of those findings,” Swett said. “I think in the next report, you’ll find us on all of those things to be correctly exonerated.”
In an official statement he released Friday, Swett said he has discussed his decision to resign with his doctors and members of his family.
“It has become very apparent that the continuous stress of chairmanship has become detrimental to my health,” the statement says.
Swett took office Jan. 14, 2010. Since then, his administration has been marred by a lengthy power struggle with the Lumbee Tribal Council, with the two sides arguing over matters such as government spending and employee contracts.
They have faced off in the Lumbee Supreme Court twice this year.
In March, the Supreme Court struck down an ordinance that would have given the Tribal Council authority to review and block midyear spending decisions by the tribal chairman because the ordinance was too far reaching.
A second court case between the two branches centered on the contract of then-Tribal Administrator Rose Marie Lowry-Townsend, whom the council said Swett hired without their knowledge. The council argued that Swett’s intention to extend Lowry-Townsend’s term as administrator was unconstitutional.
Lowry-Townsend’s term as tribal administrator culminated May 7 at the end of her one-year contract and following a ruling by the Lumbee Supreme Court that the tribal chairman could not extend the administrator’s contract without council consent.
Lowry-Townsend’s term as tribal administrator was addressed in the HUD report, as was her time as a contract consultant prior to be hired as tribal administrator.
As a consultant, Lowry-Townsend was paid $30,312.48 to write a membership handbook for the Lumbee Tribe Boys and Girls Club.
Swett declined to comment on the nature of the health issues forcing his resignation, but council member Louise Mitchell said that the issues were serious enough that Swett had been admitted to the hospital while in office.
“I’m aware of Mr. Purnell’s health issues,” Mitchell said. “He has been hospitalized during his time as chairman, and I think that his decision is in the best interest of the tribe.”
Terry Campbell has served on the Lumbee Tribal Council for two-and-a-half years. He said the announcement of Swett’s resignation did not come as a surprise, but said the signs he saw were related to the troubles within the tribal government.
“I knew this was coming, with the issues of what went on with Rose Marie and her contract and consulting fee,” Campbell said. “Some of the council members had no idea that any of that was going on. I was totally unaware of the consulting arrangement that they had.”
Campbell said he doesn’t think Swett’s resignation marks the end of the tribe’s troubles.
“There’s still a rift within the Tribal Council,” Campbell said. “Information isn’t shared within the council like it should be. I don’t think this is the end of it.”
Staff writer Jaclyn Shambaugh can be reached at 609-0651 or shambaughj@fayobserver.com.
Source: http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/05/13/1094073?sac=Home
