FARMINGTON, NEW MEXICO — Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley and Council Delegate Eugenia Charles-Newton attended the New Mexico State Tribal Leaders Summit, hosted by the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department at the Navajo Preparatory School in Farmington, New Mexico, on June 18.
The annual government-to-government meeting focused on pressing issues affecting the state’s 23 tribal nations. Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren was also in attendance for the summit.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Indian Affairs Secretary Josett D. Monette and Deputy Secretary Seth Damon, and the Governor’s cabinet members were in attendance to hear directly from tribal leaders and to provide updates regarding workforce development, public safety, elder care and services, historic building preservation and housing, and tribal capital outlay funding.
Curley’s remarks highlighted efforts to increase law enforcement presence and reduce emergency response times through the recruitment and retention of police officers and by establishing more cross-commissioning agreements to allow non-Navajo law enforcement agencies to partner with the Navajo Police Department.
She also spoke about the ongoing work to support missing persona and their families through the Naabik’íyati’ Committee’s Missing and Murdered Diné Relatives Task Force, chaired by Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty.
“The summit is critical to strengthening the government-to-government relations between tribes and the state," Curley said. "I appreciate Gov. Lujan Grisham and Secretary Monette’s commitment to working with tribal leaders to work toward tangible solutions that benefit our communities. The 25th Navajo Nation Council is fully committed to improving public safety, infrastructure development, and other critical needs.”
In regards to the capital outlay funding that the Navajo Nation receives from the state, Curley requested the state to accept one master intergovernmental agreement to cover all projects for the Navajo Nation, as opposed to the current standard that requires hundreds of individual agreements that delay the start of construction.
In accordance with Resolution NABID-60-23 which outlines the Navajo Nation’s official priorities for the state of New Mexico, Curley also requested the state to remove or amend the requirement to obligate 5% of an appropriated capital outlay amount within six months of acceptance of an intergovernmental agreement.
Prior to the start of the summit, Curley greeted the Navajo Preparatory School’s Diné Bizaad Institute’s student culture group, which provided a blessing for the summit. She also toured the school’s new student residential facility, which was partially funded through legislation, sponsored by Council Delegate Andy Nez, that was approved by the 25th Navajo Nation Council.
Curley was also called upon to provide the invocation in which she offered thoughts and prayers for state and tribal leaders, community members, and those impacted by the ongoing South Fork Fire near the Mescalero Apache Tribe homelands and the town of Ruidoso in New Mexico.
