Bassett elected as chief at Sipayik

The Passamaquoddy chief at Sipayik, Pos Bassett, narrowly retained his seat in a close vote in the tribal general election held on September 8. Bassett received 202 votes to challenger Gail Dana's 184, according to unofficial results. Dana had bested four other candidates in an August 25 primary election.

Vice Chief Evelyn Lewey also kept her position, defeating Dwayne Tomah by a vote of 203 to 174. Lewey previously defeated Tomah in a special election in May, after Ernest Neptune resigned as vice chief.

Elected as new members of the tribal council were William Longfellow with 202 votes, Christine Downing with 165 and Erik S.E. Francis with 157. Trailing were Zachary Cling with 118 votes, Madonna Soctomah with 114, Laura Jurewicz with 95, Victoria Neptune with 93, Benjamin Neptune with 70 and Viola Francis with 42. Longfellow, Downing and Francis will be replacing Cyril Francis, Shirley Mitchell and Melissa Francis, who did not seek reelection to the council.

Rena Newell, who formerly was the state representative for the tribe, received 324 votes to again serve a four-year term. For the school board, incumbents Theresa Sapiel and Tiffany Hilderbrand were reelected with 265 and 263 votes, respectively.

Advances by tribe outlined

Bassett, who had been elected vice chief of the tribe in 2022, became the chief at Sipayik after Rena Newell was recalled from that office in October 2023. In a letter to the community before the general election, Bassett wrote about some of the advances that have been made since he has been serving first as vice chief and then as chief over the past four years. He noted that there are now 145 tribal employees, with 106 being tribal members. In 2022 there were only 78 employees.

At one point, the tribal government was four years behind on its audits and was under sanction by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The tribal government is now current on its audits and is not under any sanctions. Also, the federal indirect funding rate has increased from 15% to 18% in 2022 to nearly 36% now. That means that, for every federal dollar that the tribal government receives, an extra 36 cents is also received, supporting staff and programs.

For the youth, Bassett said he would like to bring sports back into the community, including an outdoor recreation program. Preliminary plans have been completed on a new youth and recreation building.

As for the functioning of the tribal government, Bassett wrote that during the past four years "we have had the most council meetings under one administration than any other administration in the past 15 years." He noted that the tribal membership on the census list still needs to be addressed. While the joint tribal council (JTC) had voted in 2022 to have a referendum on tribal lineage, that vote still has not happened.

Other advances that have taken place under his administration include a community carpenter program; the establishment of a language and culture center; the expected reopening of the daycare center; the acquisition of thousands of acres in the state as part of a land-back effort; an update of personnel policies; a change in Maine law to allow all tribal members who work for the tribe to be tax-exempt; the award of millions of dollars for wastewater plant work; and the expected relaunching of the ambulance service.

Bassett noted that when he took office, the tribe had suffered 118 deaths in five years. "This was a true emergency, and it still is." Health issues are now being addressed by having three medical doctors, a fully staffed dental office and a new health administrator. "Our clinic doors could have been shut due to poor management, but that was not acceptable, and it is our priority to bring the best quality of care to you."

As for sports wagering and igaming, Bassett noted that the markets will be bringing millions into the community. He wrote: "As of today, we at Sipayik have not touched our 25% of gaming revenue that is allocated by the JTC outside of the monies that we gave out to the people." The sports wagering money is split, with 25% to each of the two reservations, 25% for management fees and bills up to $250,000 and the remaining share for the elders and 25% to the people.

Healing of relationships needed

Prior to the election, Gail Dana also wrote a letter to the community, in which she stated, "Healing our relationships will take real commitment to each other. We need to welcome all our people home and reassure them that together we are a strong Beskudmookudi community. Collectively, we need to figure out how to designate Beskudmookudi citizenship and the rights and responsibilities it carries." Noting that the tribe now has more funding, she feared that "we may have lost our way or got distracted by the prospect of more money and are neglecting investment. We need to decide what we want to invest in, not just what we want to spend money on."

Dana also wrote: "We must make room for respectful disagreements, so that we can come to the best decisions for the community and begin to heal what divides us. Respectful disagreement does not have to separate us." She noted that tribal citizens "will attend to the voices of our ancestors who still guide us," and she added, "Together, we can build leadership and community that are rooted in respect, transparency and responsible decision-making that holds each of us accountable to each other and our Beskutomokati values."