Tulsa tribal commission reviews Muscogee settlement workgroup, school mascot plan and Native American Day logistics

The Greater Tulsa Area Indian Affairs Commission met Aug. 19 at City Hall and heard reports on the city's settlement process with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, a recent Oklahoma Supreme Court decision affecting tribal jurisdiction questions, planning for Native American Day, and a Tulsa Public Schools branding proposal for Webster High School imagery.

Commission Chair Linda Lee Berlin called the meeting to order and the panel approved its June 17 meeting minutes by voice vote.

The commission's director of tribal policy and partnership, Amanda (title in meeting record: Director of Tribal Policy and Partnership), reported that the city and the Muscogee Nation had reached a settlement agreement and submitted it to the court the week of June 19. "We were able to finally come to a place of settlement agreement and get that submitted back to the court," Amanda said, and she said the commission and the nation have scheduled the first workgroup meeting established by that settlement for the day after the commission meeting to begin implementation planning. She told commissioners some court rulings in the case remain pending, including whether the judge will accept the agreement and whether the state or governor will be allowed to sign on as a party.

The commission also discussed several city-nation partnership items Amanda described as moving forward: implementation progress on a Southern TIF district that had planning-commission approval; outreach and early coordination on the South Tulsa Dam project, which city staff said remains roughly a decade from…