One of the two Ketchikan Indian Community Tribal Council members named in a letter of complaint answered some of the allegations on Friday.
Andre “Skip” Lecornu rejects the letter’s claims, which include allegations of interference with personnel matters, including demanding access to confidential information, and encouraging employees to circumvent the chain of command.
Lecornu said that all the accusations listed come from one employee.
“The 11 people that signed never once asked the other side of the coin,” he said. “Other than to hear from one person what they thought happened.”
The Nov. 22 letter was signed by 11 KIC administrators. It doesn’t provide details related to the accusations, but it does demand that the Tribal Council remove Lecornu and Tribal Council Member Norman Arriola from their elected positions. Arriola declined to comment on the issue.
Lecornu said he and the rest of the Tribal Council were concerned about the accusations, and asked those who signed the letter to provide more details.
“When you take nebulous statements like this and try to formulate a response, it makes it very difficult, that’s the reason the Council asked for specifics, which were not forthcoming,” he said.
Regarding the issue of personnel records, Lecornu said he did not ask for any files. He said he requested a form that he and a specific former employee could sign, after which point the file would be available for Lecornu to look at with that former employee.
The KIC Tribal Council has eight members. The annual election is Jan. 20th. Four seats are up for election, and are currently held by Lecornu, Delores Churchill, Donna Frank and Rob Sanderson.
The letter was sent anonymously to KRBD, and Lecornu says he suspects the timing of the letter’s release.
“I think it could be an ulterior motive,” he said. “I felt pretty disheartened about the letter, and decided not to run, but by golly I don’t feel like I want to be run out of office, either, so I’m seriously considering another strong write-in campaign.”
Lecornu won his current term with a write-in campaign two years ago.