Next Tuesday will mark the beginning of a two-day “emergency meeting” of Association of Village Council Presidents’ board of directors in Bethel, called by the Akiak Native Community.
Mike Williams Sr., an AVCP board member from Akiak, distributed the invitation to other board members and says he hopes tribes will attend the meeting to, in his words, “take hold of AVCP.”
“We’re not after anybody, but it is up to the 56 leaders to decide the future of our own organization,” Williams said.
Williams claims that AVCP is operating illegally by shutting board members out of the decision-making process.
Akiak Native Community’s invitation comes a month after some board members raised concerns that AVCP was in financial trouble, and that the executive board had concealed the information from the larger body.
“I think the overall goal is to resolve these issues, put them behind us, and move forward,” Williams said.
The agenda included in the invitation calls for a vote on the removal of the board chairman, the president, and the executive board.
According to AVCP’s by-laws, it would require two-thirds of all board members present, or 38 delegates, to establish a quorum and make votes count.
A similar meeting was held earlier this year in April, but a quorum was not met.
AVCP did not recognize the last meeting as legitimate and Williams says he suspects the same may happen next week.
Telephone calls and e-mails sent by KYUK to AVCP seeking comment on both its by-laws and the meeting were not responded to. AVCP also received a copy of this story before it was published, which it did not comment on.
