Regionalization plan gets cool reception in Many Farms

Posted by Cindy Yurth | Dec 10, 2015 | Politics |

MANY FARMS, Ariz.

A proposal to regionalize some chapter functions, possibly even reduce the number of chapters, got a cool reception at Many Farms Chapter Thursday.

The general feeling seemed to be that if Window Rock wants to eliminate waste and duplication, it should start with itself.

“What about the savings we were supposed to get when the council was reduced from 88 to 24?” asked former Hard Rock Chapter president Percy Deal. “What’s the savings? We want accountability and transparency from the council as well.”

Dubbed the Local Governance Act Annotation Amendments, the proposal would combine a number — possibly three to eight, depending on population — of geographically contiguous chapters under a region. The chapter would retain its structures (Head Start, senior center, etc.) but the region would be governed by an elected regional commission rather than each chapter having its own officials.

Each region would have its own staff: a regional manager, senior planner, accountant, grant writer, maintenance technician and extension agent.
Each region would develop a land use plan, consolidating existing plans developed by the chapters, Navajo Housing Authority, Division of Community Development and others.

The proposal, which would require major amendments to Title 26 of the Navajo Nation Code, was refined over the past year by a task force appointed by the Office of Navajo Government Development, explained Jamie Henio of that office.

The task force included representatives of nearly every Navajo Nation department, as well as volunteers who were interested in the project, he said. Input was gathered in every chapter, with the help of area universities.

“Many chapters say the present system doesn’t work,” Henio noted. “The main complaint we got from the chapters is that Title 26 is too vague … there are no guidelines for post-certification.”