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Please be advised that Virgil S. Smith was sworn in as Vice-President of the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe on Monday, March 31, 2025.

This appointment was made in accordance with article VI, section 5 of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Fort Yuma Reservation, which provides for the filling of vacancies by the Tribal Council.

Our letter dated March 31, 2025, to Mrs. Ina Hall regarding the forfeiture of the former Vice-President's position was intended as a courtesy notice of the vacancy and our explanation that Tribal Council has an affirmative duty under the Constitution to appoint and install a new Vice-President.  Namely, if a Tribal Council member is absent from three meetings and is not able to fulfill their obligations, our Constitution considers that office automatically forfeited and obligates the currently sitting Tribal Council to appoint someone to that office.

Although absences were approved and Mrs. Hall was excused from meetings, the Tribal Council did not approve the duties of the Vice-President to be neglected or deviate from what the Vice-President is obligated lo perform under the Constitution.

Here, the formerly elected official has expressed obligations set forth in the Constitution, none of which were being met, therefore, upon the neglect of office coupled with the consecutive absence from meetings, the office was automatically forfeited and vacated.

Our government should provide the members with Tribal Council representation consistent with the duties which we swear to uphold and protect in our oath.

We understand there are medical reasons why someone may not be able to attend, but so long as Tribal Council members' duties expressed under the Constitution are not being handled, those excused absences are considered without reason.

Given the automatically forfeited office of the Vice-President, the currently presiding Tribal Council will now be fulfilling our constitutional obligation to install new members to fill the vacancy and ensure the government continues to operate in a manner consistent with our Constitution.

To be sure, although Mrs. Hall was provided with approval to miss meetings due to medical conditions, Tribal Council did not relieve the Vice-President from engaging and satisfying the Constitutionally required obligations of that reason. The absences of Mrs. Hall caused hardships in running the government in the way the Constitution intends us to govern. To protect the Quechan Tribe from having a dysfunctional government due to failure to satisfy requirements coupled with not attending meetings, the drafters of the Constitution made clear that the office is forfeited and obligates us to prevent that from happening.

Thank you.
Quchan Tribal Council