Ivins • During his bid to become chair of the Shivwits Band Council, Phillip Bushhead ran on stopping a golf resort planned for the reservation and related congressional legislation that he argued would undermine the tribe’s sovereignty.

Bushhead’s tenure as chair may be short-lived. Less than a month after winning the March 26 special election, the 40-year-old Paiute leader said the Shivwits Band Council voted unanimously in a contentious, closed-door meeting Tuesday to remove him for alleged misconduct and bylaw violations.

But Bushhead said he won’t leave quietly. He and his supporters say Tuesday’s hearing was aimed at protecting the resort and that they are appealing his ouster to the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah in Cedar City, which oversees the Shivwits and four other constituent bands.

“I’m still the band chairman,” Bushhead told The Tribune. “I’m still recognized under the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah as the chairperson, and I’m going to keep doing my job.”

Hope Silvas, who is now the council’s acting chair and presided at the disciplinary hearing, did not respond to requests for comment. Other council members also did not respond to requests for comment.

Power struggle

Bushhead’s removal follows the January resignation of former chair Tina Gonzales, who left amid a wave of complaints. His dismissal happened despite an April 24 email from Paiute Tribe Chair Laurel Yellowhorse, who demanded evidence of misconduct and cautioned Shivwits leaders that a unilateral firing would violate the tribal constitution, according to a copy of the email obtained by The Tribune.

Relations between the Shivwits Council members and Bushhead and his supporters have been contentious. At the heart of the dispute is the Shivwits Band of Paiutes Jurisdictional Clarity Act. Introduced as companion bills by U.S. Sen. John Curtis and Rep. Celeste Maloy, the legislation seeks to grant state courts jurisdiction over civil matters on trust lands involving the band and would authorize the tribe to lease that land for up to 99 years.

Shivwits leaders have previously said the act is essential for facilitating economic growth on the reservation. A primary example of such development is a joint venture established in October with Reef Capital, the firm behind Black Desert Resort. This partnership aims to build an extensive sports and retail destination on roughly 1,250 acres of tribal land that could include three 18-hole golf courses.

Bushhead opposes the resort, calling it a desecration of sacred land and claims that many of the band’s members are opposed. Critiquing the legislation, he argues state jurisdiction would erode Shivwits self-governance, and he petitioned Curtis and Maloy to withdraw their support.

Prior to the election, Bushhead was active in the Red Mountain Land Preservers, a group fighting the resort proposal and trying to stop the legislation they assert is unnecessary because federal law already allows the band to grant legal jurisdiction if a majority of its members approve the change through a special election.

Bushhead said he was sworn in as chair on April 6 at the tribal headquarters in Cedar City. However, he said his second swearing-in attempt at the Shivwits reservation failed a few days later. According to Bushhead, he refused to sign a new set of bylaws presented by band leaders because they hadn’t been approved by the full membership, which he said led to the meeting’s abrupt adjournment.

“They told me if I wasn’t going to finish signing them, they were not going to recognize me as the band’s chairperson,” he said. The threats to remove him as chair ramped up soon thereafter, he said.

Despite that dispute, Bushhead said he was officially sworn in by the council on April 17 after consenting to sign a previous version of the bylaws. Three days later, a notice on the Shivwits website announced Bushhead’s suspension and the appointment of Silvas as acting chair, pending a council review of potential charges against him.

On April 22, according to Bushhead, Silvas and the council notified him about the April 28 removal hearing. The notice claimed he had violated Shivwits’ bylaws by opposing official “policies, initiatives, and economic development” without council authorization.

Among the allegations was that Bushhead acted improperly when he petitioned Curtis and Maloy to withdraw their support for the congressional bills. They further accused him of using his position as chair-elect to threaten, intimidate and give orders to staff at the band’s convenience store on the reservation.

Bushhead denies the allegation, explaining that his store visit was a friendly introduction to the new manager to share suggestions for improving service.

“That was it,” he added. “Council members later accused me of throwing my weight around because, in their view, I hadn’t been officially sworn in by the band.”

Following the instructions in the letter he received from the council, Bushhead said he arrived at Tuesday’s hearing with three witnesses: his mother, Darla Bushhead, along with Rik’l Razo and Mary Snow. He stated they were there to testify on his behalf and film the proceedings.

Mary Snow, a Red Mountain resistance leader, reported that Silvas grew agitated upon seeing the three witnesses. Before the hearing began, she said Silvas told them to leave because it was a closed-door meeting, then called the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and directed arriving deputies to escort the trio from the hearing.

“I told a deputy that I was a band member and this was a Shivwits building and I had a right to be there,” Snow recalled. “He said, ‘I’m here under the direction of the Band Council, and if you don’t leave you are going to be arrested for trespassing.’ ”

After their removal, Bushhead said the meeting got more heated and he yelled at council members that they had no right to remove the witnesses.

“They accused me of acting erratic and crazy and told me, ‘Hey, we are voting to remove you right now,’ and voted unanimously to do that,” he said. “I responded by telling them I was still recognized as the chair by the Paiute Indian Tribe and walked out of the meeting.”

Bushhead, the Paiute tribe’s vice chair, said he has discussed his dismissal with tribal authorities. Yellowhorse, the Paiute Tribe chair, declined to comment on the Shivwits’ vote or the tribe’s potential response.