On the reservation, the General Council is comprised of all registered members of the Arapaho tribe over the age of 18. The General Council is the supreme authority of the tribe and has resolution authority over entities like the Northern Arapaho Business Council.

On Sept. 14, the General Council met and had a quorum for the first time in over two years, according to one review of the meeting. General Council meetings are not open to the public, but agendas are published in advance.

During the meeting, Nicole Wagon brought forward two resolutions for the removal of individuals under the General Council’s purview.

The first resolution, which passed, demands the Northern Arapaho Business Council to terminate Clare Johnson from her position as in-house counsel for the tribe immediately.

The second resolution, which also passed, recommends the termination of casino general manager Patrick Lekrone.

Lekrone is still serving in his role as general manager at the casino.

Johnson has been officially moved to a different position, but Wagon and others have been told that she is still sitting in meetings as the in-house counsel.

Wagon and several others protested on Thursday because they believe that the Northern Arapaho Business Council is failing to comply with the resolutions passed by the General Council.

A main concern of protestors was that the Northern Arapaho Business Council is an elected body that is supposed to work for the people and proceed with their wants and demands.

Wagon and other protestors feel that the business council should remove Lekrone based on their recommendation because it came directly from a vote of the people.

The casino is regulated and overseen by the tribe, meaning the business council can remove higher-ups and the gaming agency can have a say in policies.

Gloria Willow has worked at the casino in various roles on and off since 2006. In her last stint with the casino, she served as a manager on duty for about one year.

She said that in that position, she was required to be up to date on policies and oversaw every department at the casino while working.

Willow said she witnessed firsthand how the casino supported favoritism, would not be held accountable and allowed for unfair enforcement of policies under Lekrone’s oversight.

The casino currently uses a “no fault” point system for attendance. If workers receive 15 points, they are supposed to be terminated.

Per the policy, workers are supposed to receive disciplinary actions ranging from warnings to write-ups based on the number of points they have acquired.

When Willow was terminated, she wasn’t even aware that she had gotten even close to the 15 points. In fact, she said that she inquired about how many points she had prior to her termination, but has not heard back.

According to Willow, the only people who can remove points are Lekrone and human resources.

According to the attendance policy, points can only be removed for verified COVID leave or approved medical leave, one year from the date of the incident and one point for every three months of perfect attendance.

Willow said that her absences were mostly only due to approved medical leave or bereavement, and that she was under the impression that she would not receive points for either.

She also said that points were not distributed evenly. As the manager on duty, she was required to stay on until her relief clocked in. She said that her relief was consistently late, and he was still working when she was fired.

Lekrone told her that she would be welcomed back after six months and that he “wouldn’t fault her” for the termination. However, another manager was denied when she requested to have Willow back, and Willow was never contacted when she applied after her 6 months.

While Willow believes that something needs to change at the casino, she does not believe that immediately firing Lekrone is the right move.

“I also think there are some things that they are doing great. I just know there are a lot of things that need to be fixed,” she said.

She said that she hopes this resolution acts as a wake-up call to the casino and forces them to fix their issues.

Clare Johnson has served as the in-house counsel for the Northern Arapaho Tribe since September 2020, according to her LinkedIn.

Per the resolution, Johnson should have been immediately removed from the position.

Liz Hodge, a tribe member, said that she has been told that Johnson was moved to a different division but still sits in on meetings as the in-house counsel.

The Business Council was not immediately available for a comment, but posted a response to the protests on Sept. 27.

“For these reasons, while we deeply respect the opinions of the General Council, we cannot follow its recent recommendations for personnel action,” read the letter to tribe members.

The letter went on to say that the federal Secretarial Procedures does not leave these decisions up to the General Council. The Business Council also said that the decisions were “neither wise nor warranted.”

It is unclear whether Johnson still stands in her role as in-house council or not.