Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Thursday, December 13, 2007

Pehdzeh Ki/Wrigley - The Pehdzeh Ki First Nation has a new set of band councillors.

Mary Clille, Angus Ekenale, Tim Lennie, George Moses and Lisa Moses all became councillors by acclamation on Dec. 11 when too few people put their name forward to hold an election, said Shawn Alli, the election officer.

The chief and council will need to appoint one more person to fill the sixth seat, Alli said.

A byelection for a new council had to be called after three people stepped down from the previous council, said Chief Darcy E. Moses.

A total of five councillors were put in place during the last election held on Feb. 27, 2007. Jessie Clille and Kyle Clille both had to resign because they became band employees, said Moses. Councillor Derwin Clille also resigned for personal matters.

A decision has been made to no longer allow band employees to be councillors because it creates a conflict of interest, said Moses.

The decision to hold a byelection was made approximately two weeks ago during a public meeting so that the band would have a full set of councillors, he said.

The 10 months that the council was in place were fruitful, Moses said.

"I think we accomplished a lot," said Moses, who was made chief during the February election.

Achievements include ownership of the store and the hotel by the band and taking over the operation of the gas station. The band has also been working on joint projects with other First Nations, Moses said.

The band took ownership of the hotel and decided to open a store when Arctic Co-op Ltd. left the community at the end of July.

The store has been open and fully stocked since the end of October.

"It's been really good," said Moses.

Renovations at the hotel are almost complete with only some plumbing and changes to the kitchen left. The plan is to have the hotel open by Christmas, said Moses.

Looking forward, Moses said the community will be dealing with a number of issues including the water treatment plant and the Blackwater bridge.

The community currently has a water treatment plant but are in discussions with the territorial government to construct a new one.

"It's not in as good of shape as it's supposed to be," said Moses.

The band is also in discussion about the possible construction of a bridge over the Blackwater River north of Wrigley.

If the government is going to build a bridge the band would like to be part of the contract, said Moses. If the band gets the contract with the help of their joint venture partners it will keep the revenue in the community instead of having it go to the south, he said.

After 10 months in office Moses said he plans to fulfil his full term as chief.

At the time of his election, Moses was the fourth person to hold the role of chief in Wrigley in a 13-month period.