SUQUAMISH — The Suquamish Tribal Council has two new members.
Rich Purser was elected to the position 1 council seat, vacated by Irene Carper, who chose not to run for reelection. Sammy Mabe defeated incumbent Bardow Lewis and other candidates for the position 2 seat in the March 15 election. Council member Luther “Jay” Mills, position 3, was reelected.
No officers’ positions were on the ballot this year.
The Suquamish Tribe is led by a seven-member council elected each March by the Tribe’s voting body, known as the General Council.
Mabe, 32, is a diver for Suquamish Seafoods. He was born in Kitsap County and raised in Suquamish. He is a graduate of Academy Northwest, is a member of the Sacred Water Canoe Family, and is active in many cultural activities including carving, singing and skippering Tribal canoes. Mabe is committed to providing Tribal members with access to services and continuing to improve the Suquamish community.
Purser first became involved in Suquamish Tribe business operations when he was 22, working as a carpenter on the Suquamish Museum and then as general contractor for the Masi Shop on Highway 305. He was elected to the Tribal Council in 1988. As a council member in the late 1980s and early ’90s, he facilitated the original gaming compacts between Washington State and the Tribe. He also negotiated financing for the casino property and served as chairman of the Suquamish Tribal Gaming Commission for several years.
Purser spent several years overseeing economic development for the Tribe as a member of the Port Madison Enterprises Board of Directors. He served on the board for nine years and stepped down as board president to become casino general manager in 2006.
Mills has served on the Tribal Council for more than 20 years, including two years as vice chairman. He is a former Leadership Kitsap board member and serves on the board of directors of Suquamish Seafoods and the Suquamish Foundation.
Mills was the first employee of Port Madison Enterprises and has spent the past 38 years working for Suquamish’s economic development arm. He is manager of Kiana Lodge. In his spare time, Mills works as a commercial fisherman alongside his family members.
The Tribal Council consists of four officers — chairman, vice chairman, treasurer, secretary — and three at-large council members. The chairman only votes in case of a tie. Tribal Council officers and members serve three-year staggered terms. The Tribal Council meets on alternate Mondays and as needed.
The Suquamish Tribe’s jurisdiction — the Port Madison Indian Reservation — is 7,657 acres, of which 1,475 acres are owned by the Suquamish Tribe, 2,601 acres are owned by individual citizens of the Suquamish Tribe, and 3,581 acres are owned by non-Indians.
Government departments: Administration, child support enforcement, community development, court, early learning center, education, fisheries, human services, legal, natural resources, police. (The Tribe contracts with local fire districts for fire protection service.)
Port Madison Enterprises, the economic development arm of the Tribe, is the second-largest private-sector employer in Kitsap County with 752 employees, surpassed only by Harrison Medical Center.
In 2012, the Suquamish Tribe paid $52.2 million in wages and benefits, purchased $46.8 million in goods and services purchased, invested $18.6 million in capital projects, and awarded $694,033 in grants to 201 organizations.
