Tulsa City Council Creates New Tribal Affairs Committee

The Tulsa City Council has formed a Tribal Relations Committee to help foster cooperation and understanding between governments.

Councilor Kara Joy-McKee pushed for the committee after meeting several tribal Chiefs this summer when President Biden visited Tulsa.

Tulsa already has the Indian Affairs Commission, and McKee says the new committee isn’t meant to be a substitute, but rather a complementary group to directly communicate with tribes at the council level, and draft policy as needed for the City.

In an organizational meeting Tuesday, Councilors reviewed maps of reservation boundaries to compare them with their overlapping districts. “We're learning about these reservations and how they interact with state, tribal and federal government,” said McKee.

Most of Tulsa is inside the Muscogee Nation Reservation, while the rest is Osage and Cherokee. The Council will soon verbally recognize that before each meeting.

The new committee expects to meet each month, for several months, as they start their work, and meet quarterly after that.