A win-win solution for council's HQ

WINDOW ROCK, April 24, 2008

The Navajo Nation is in an uproar again, this time over plans by the council to build itself a new headquarters, which President Joe Shirley Jr. is already attacking as too costly and a misplaced priority.

No one is saying that an administration building is not needed and hasn't been needed for years.

Since the 1970s, the legislative branch has operated out of modular buildings located next to the council chamber, a monumental stone structure now on the National Register of Historic Places.

The offices are small and very hot in the summer and not very pleasant to work in, while the chamber is hard to modernize because of its historic status.

The delegates themselves each have a small workspace inside the chamber, and share 4-foot by 4-foot cubicles instead of offices. If they have to meet with someone, they search for an empty office, use the steno room or a local restaurant.

So a new administration building makes sense. It would provide needed office space and an up-to-date chamber while the current chamber, the first building constructed in Window Rock, would become a museum.

But the cost!

Shirley has been complaining that the building might cost $50 million and maybe as much as $125 million. As the process unfolds, pressure from the chapters will probably reduce the cost as backers find ways to make the project more palatable to the Navajo people.

The solution may be simpler than people realize.

The council wants a new headquarters. But what the Navajo people want is an efficient council that doesn't cost them an arm and a leg. It's possible that both sides can get what they want in this.

For at least a decade, there has been a grassroots movement to reduce the size of the council from its present 88 members to half that size, which would save millions of dollars a year in salaries and benefits.

Public hearings on government reform held in the 1990s showed that more than half the Navajos in attendance wanted a smaller tribal council, with some wanting to shrink it down to 24 members - a quarter its current size.

During his presidential campaigns, Shirley said he would push for a smaller council, but that would have to be approved by the council and, predictably, the idea has gone nowhere.

If the council could summon the grit to reduce its own size, the cost savings would pay for a new legislative complex.

As it is now, the council is looking to borrow the money from a bank and repay it out of the general operating budget, which Shirley points out would mean less funds for services to the Navajo people.

That wouldn't be the case, however, if the council agreed to reduce the number of delegates. The council could use those savings - $3 million to $4 million a year - to repay the loan.

And since the size of the council would be smaller, there could be cost savings from trimming the size of the complex.

Would the council even agree to think about reducing its size?

That's going to be the hard part. Getting the council to agree even to the principle of reduction is difficult in part because of opposition from some chapters.

While a lot of people like the idea of a smaller council, chapters that have their own delegates may not want to share them with another chapter.

As things stand, 54 of the 88 delegates already serve two or more chapters. A consolidation would mean that almost all delegates - except perhaps those that represent major communities like Shiprock, Tuba City and Chinle - would represent two or more chapters. And those serving remote areas might have to cover six or seven chapters.

And then there's the personal angle.

Reducing the council is going to mean many delegates now serving would have to find another job. If the number of seats was cut in half, it would be difficult to get re-elected and this alone is probably the main reason there is not a big push by council to even think about the idea.

Even the possibility of getting higher salaries hasn't been much of an incentive - many delegates probably figure they wouldn't be around to enjoy the pay raise.

So what Shirley needs to do now is push the idea that if the council wants a new home, all the delegates have to do is make the changes necessary so the cost will come from savings and not from services.

A win-win situation if there ever was one.

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