BETHEL — A two-day gathering of Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta tribes this week had been billed as a special convention of the Association of Village Council Presidents.
Organizers wanted answers from leaders of the long-standing Yukon-Kuskokwim organization on a series of issues including layoffs. They also intended to examine how to move forward with a regional tribal government.
But the Bethel meeting, which ended Wednesday, didn't draw enough tribal delegates for official business, nor did the group get their answers. AVCP, the regional Alaska Native nonprofit, said the meeting was no convention and it didn't participate or provide requested reports on layoffs, welfare grant money that was transferred to a flight school, or the closing of AVCP's hotel and restaurant, among other matters.
Gathering organizer Mike Williams said the tribal activists will keep working. They plan to attend a special convention called by AVCP June 8 and 9.
As the first of two planned meeting days wrapped up Tuesday, three tribal delegates went to the office of AVCP president Myron Naneng to make a personal appeal for him and his staff to take part. They were told he was in a meeting and didn't have time to meet with them, Nick Andrew Jr., the delegate from Marshall and vice chairman of the meeting, said Wednesday.
"We're not here to point fingers or to cause any more divisions in our region," Andrew said earlier in the meeting. "We're here for answers."
It takes 29 delegates, each from a different tribe, for a quorum, but the number at the multipurpose building of Bethel's tribe, Orutsararmiut Native Council, fell short over the two days.
An early leader of AVCP, Harold Napoleon, phoned into the meeting from Anchorage to give the 25 or so tribal members encouragement.
"We are AVCP," said Ivan Ivan of Akiak, a former state representative who chaired the meeting, summing up what Napoleon said.
The time is right to strengthen the tribes, said Williams, who also leads a tribal coalition, Yupiit Nation. "That is the goal."
For-profit Calista Corp. led a recent effort for a regional tribal government or a reformed AVCP but it faded out last year. This was an effort to revive it, but it faded too, for now.
The tribal representatives are not making a power play for control of AVCP, Williams said.
"We're not after anybody," he said.