SANDAG approves MOU for tribal advisory membership

The San Diego Association of Governments board approved a memorandum of understanding between SANDAG and the Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association which would give SCTCA advisory membership on the SANDAG board.

SANDAG’s December 15 approval sends the memorandum of understanding to SCTCA for that organization’s approval. “I think that we’re looking forward to working with the tribes, and hopefully they will approve the MOU and we can get started,” said SANDAG general counsel Julie Wiley.

Actual voting SANDAG membership for the tribal representation is not possible without a change to state law, since SANDAG along with its voting structure was chartered by state legislation. In addition to voting members, SANDAG also has advisory members who may be added without an amendment by the state legislature. The current advisory members represent the California Department of Transportation, the US Department of Defense, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors, the consulate of Mexico, the Metropolitan Transit System, the North County Transit District, the San Diego County Water Authority, and the San Diego Unified Port District.

SANDAG has previously worked with the county’s 17 populated Indian reservations by holding two tribal summits in which both the SANDAG directors and the tribes recognized the benefits to be gained by a cooperative approach. Some of the tribal members have requested representation on the SANDAG board, as well as on the SANDAG policy advisory committees. The Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association is currently an advisory member of SANDAG’s Borders Committee.

In addition to the SANDAG board, the MOU would also add SCTCA representation on the Transportation, Regional Planning, and Public Safety committees. The MOU specifies that the SCTCA chair would serve as the board advisory member, although the SCTCA chair has the authority to select an alternate who is an official member of the SCTCA governing body and represents a recognized tribe within SANDAG’s jurisdiction of San Diego County. The SCTCA’s governing board will select regular and alternate members for each of the SANDAG committees, although all of the regular and alternate members must also be members of the SCTCA governing body and represent a recognized tribe.