A. All Board members have an obligation to provide guidance and advice during their term, and shall be fully prepared to discuss issues before their board, share the workload, participate in decision making, and act in the best interests of the Osage people with respect to their service.

B. Board members may be present in person, telephonically or by other electronic means at any meeting. A fifty percent (50%) absence from regularly noticed and called meetings in a fiscal year shall constitute “cause” and may be grounds for removal as provided by the Osage Constitution. Absences which are excused by the Chair for personal or immediate family illnesses or other excusable reason should be noted in the minutes.

C. Board members have the duty to maintain the public trust, and, therefore, personal, professional, business, familial or monetary considerations must never interfere with a board or commission member’s duty to act in the interest of the Osage people. All members are subject to the Osage Nation Ethics Law. Board members and the business entities they own or partially own are prohibited from contracting with the Board on which they sit for goods or services. Boards are prohibited from donating, sponsoring or contributing philanthropically with money, goods or services to any entity owned or partially owned by a Board member, or to any entity with which a Board member is affiliated.

D. Each Board must elect a Chair and Vice-Chair on or before October 31st of each year. The Chair of each Board must ensure that minutes are kept and made available to the public, and that the entity he or she is chairing complies with the Osage Nation open meetings and open records laws.

E. Board members shall comply with all duties set forth in the Act that created the Board unless they directly conflict with the Act codified in this section.

F. All business boards, nonbusiness boards and commission boards with a managerial function over an entity with more than One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00) in annual revenue or annual appropriations require all Board members to be bonded for a minimum of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00).

G. All Boards of the Osage Nation shall submit a copy of the minutes of each meeting of the body to the Osage Nation Congress and the Principal Chief within twenty (20) days of the date the meeting minutes are adopted. If the meeting minutes are not adopted within forty-five (45) days of the date the meeting took place, then the Board shall submit the draft meeting minutes to the Osage Nation Congress and the Principal Chief immediately.

H. All meetings must be recorded by an electronic audio device. The audio file must be submitted to the Osage Nation Archives Department within twenty (20) days of an official meeting on a storage device compatible with the Department’s policy.

I. Each Board of the Osage Nation shall provide orientation training to its new Board Members within sixty (60) days of appointment. ONCA 15-94, eff. Oct. 5, 2015; ONCA 23-50, eff. Apr. 21, 2023; ONCA 23-55, eff. Apr. 20, 2023.