BARAGA – Less than a week after voting in Warren “Chris” Swartz Jr. as tribal council president and rehiring Larry Denomie as interim CEO, the Keweenaw Bay Indian community has made about a dozen other staff changes, with the general managers of both the Marquette and Baraga casinos the most prominent losses.

Denomie would not say whether Dale Shalifoe, GM of the Ojibwa Casino, Marquette for about 11 months, and Sheryl McKerchie, who’d been on the job for just eight months at the Ojibwa Casino, Baraga had resigned or been let go, but said their departure had followed a decision to advertise for a single general manager for casinos based on a contested council resolution to advertise for a GM in October.

More changes are likely to follow, Denomie said, but “without reviewing each, I can’t give a number.”

The moves mirror widespread staff changes last year in the first month or so after Donald Shalifoe Sr. was elected Tribal President, the CEO’s position was eliminated and Shalifoe and then-council Treasurer Eddy Edwards split the CEO’s duties.

Edwards oversaw the casinos for the last year until the Jan. 10 meeting where he was replaced as treasurer and the CEO’s position was reinstated with authority over tribal businesses. He said both casino managers were forced to leave as part of a “reorganization,” despite doing a good job turning around problems at the casinos.

“In 2013 the profit was down $1.2 million,” he said. “In the last 8 months they’ve been doing a great job trying to turn the trend around.”

Edwards said the October resolution to advertise for a GM over both casinos wasn’t valid as it had never been placed on the council agenda and was deemed out of order by Shalifoe. Even if it was valid, he said, each casino should have a manager under the new GM.

“They’re taking it to another level, it doesn’t say anything about firing,” he said.

Edwards said recently re-elected Tribal President Chris Swartz’s and his allies’ priorities for the casino place job creation above profitability.

“They don’t really think of it as place to make money, they look at it as place to make work,” he said. “These people aren’t business orientated.”

Swartz would not comment on the moves at the casino.

Denomie confirmed they were “part of a reorganization effort, and the motion that was made in October,” rather than any analysis he’d made of the managers’ performance.

“I’m still delving into (the casinos),” he said. “I wasn’t privy to any of the performance over the past year. They’re profitable. Whether they’re as profitable as the year before, or the year before that, is not something I’m completely aware of.”

Denomie said he’s reviewing the employee structure throughout tribal government, particularly the changes made in the last year when Shalifoe was in charge of tribal government.

So far, just as when Shalifoe took office, some of the changes include top administrative assistants and front office staff Denomie will work with on a daily basis.

Edwards said those hires in particular were questionable, alleging that two of the assistants Denomie hired were convicted embezzlers, and noting that when the Shalifoe administration “made changes that needed to be made they bellyached like crazy. They’re turning around to do the same thing.”

While employees removed from positions wouldn’t necessarily be offered their old jobs back, “we will offer all employees the opportunity to voice their concerns, current and former,” Denomie said. “What happens after that depends on policies and procedures.”

He said other jobs within the tribe have been found for most of those replaced so far, and that he would treat all employees fairly, “with respect and professionalism.”

“I really want to create stability in the tribe for employees,” he said. “I don’t want them to be walking on eggshells.”

To Edwards, who also expressed concern future moves could make his own job as Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Housing Authority executive director uncomfortable, that sentiment seemed hard to believe.

“It’s a tough place to be in a tribal government,” he said. “They run things in a political environment. They don’t have security for all, (just) those that support them unconditionally.”