Members of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe will pick two of five candidates for a spot on Tribal Council. The election is set for 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 4 at 285 Lakin St. in Ignacio.

Four of the candidates could not be reached for comment Friday, and Conrad Thompson declined to comment for this story. But all five candidates provided written statements that were published in the Oct. 21 edition of The Southern Ute Drum, the tribe’s biweekly community newspaper.

The candidates running for Tribal Council have a range of experiences and qualifications, plans on how to improve tribal affairs, and platform topics like heath care improvements, absolute sovereignty and economic accountability.

In addition to Thompson, the candidates include Marjorie D. Barry, Matthew J. Box, Edward Burch Box III and Marvin J. Pinnecoose.

Barry is the only candidate running for a second term this year. According to her statement published in the Drum, Barry was born on the Southern Ute Reservation and has worked several jobs for the council, including in the public relations department and the executive office. She also worked at the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Forestry, Irrigation, Administration and Superintendent’s Office. Barry has several goals she would like to accomplish during another term, including water rights and conservation, improving health care and substance-use programs and maintaining relationships with tribal elders, she wrote in her statement to the Drum.

“Working in tribal government these many years and my term on tribal council has shown me how slowly the wheels of progress turn,” Barry wrote in her statement. “The wheels must turn faster.”

Matthew J. Box, a former Southern Ute tribal chairman, is seeking to make the Southern Ute nation a complete sovereignty, entirely self-sufficient, according to his statement in the Drum. For Box, this includes control over their own power grid, maximization of all lands and water rights, a hospital and health care center with a trauma helicopter pad, an FDIC bank, and uniform building codes, Box wrote to the Drum.

“I would make sure we never veer off or backtrack from the financial plan that has provided the tribal trust we have today and look toward a future that not only helps us all today but builds a future that is secure and self-sufficient for many generations to come,” he wrote in his statement.

Thompson, a Southern Ute member and father, wants to unite a tribe he believes is being divided on economic grounds: members who are living comfortably and are happy with the status quo, and members who are struggling from month to month, he wrote in his statement. Many of the tribal organization’s policies and procedures are outdated, and the tribe’s budget is putting money toward services a majority of its members are not receiving, Thompson wrote to the Drum.

“We are facing a lot of new problems as individuals and a ‘one size fits all’ plan doesn’t work,” Thompson wrote. “If you have been paying attention, you would realize now more than ever is a moment for a change.”

Edward Burch Box III was raised on the Southern Ute Reservation but has lived all over the United States, mainly working in the hospitality industry. Since returning to the reservation, Box has worked as a culture coordinator for the Southern Ute Museum and the Sky Ute Casino Resort, according to his statement. He has also been the tribal planner, culture preservation director, planning project coordinator, and food distribution specialist for the Southern Ute tribe’s permanent fund investments. He has also served on several tribal committees, he wrote to the Drum.

“With all I have learned and gained with my return home, I am a strong advocate for the Tribal Membership,” he wrote. “I know how to conduct myself in many types of collaboration while remembering my Ute traditions and culture.”

Pinnecoose was born and raised on the Southern Ute Reservation and graduated from Ignacio High School. He later received a Bachelor of Science in business management and a Bachelor of Science in entrepreneurship from the University of Nevada, according to his statement in the Drum. After college, Pinnecoose found employment for 19 years with Nike, working his way up from a part-time sales associate to a corporate liaison of Native American projects. After he moved back home, he began working for the Southern Ute Cultural Preservation Department, Pinnecoose wrote in his statement to the Drum.

“An efficient workplace can do more with less people, and it invites a healthy, happy environment where minds can thrive,” Pinnecoose wrote. “This mindset and my passion for performance is what I want to bring while serving on OUR Southern Ute Tribal Council.”

molsen@durangoherald.com