 A group of Red Lake Tribal members are looking to amend the Constitution. Their Constitution, the committee has been working on the changes for years and may now be a step closer to achieving their goal. Mal Meyer has more. Since forming in 2013, the Constitution Reform Initiative has now moved forward with a series of public meetings. The Tribal members can look at what they can do for accountability like code of ethics for council people, making sure that there's checks and balances in place. The group is looking to create a new Constitution or a revised version using public comments about what should be included. According to the group, the current Constitution created by the U.S. government doesn't reflect their needs. We want to be able to change that so that people can get behind the Constitution Reform and create a document that really reflects who we are as people and doesn't centralize all the power structures at the top. So far, the group has one drafted section about the separation of powers. And our plan is to do several more about those various categories within the Constitution. Another concern that community members discussed was a line of succession which previously led to a referendum when a council member passed away. We didn't have anything in our Constitution that tells us what to do next. A new Constitution was ratified in the 50s but has not been amended since. In Bemidji, I'm Al Meyer, Lakeland News. The group hopes to have a new Constitution drafted within the next two years. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.