Point Hope City Council unanimously votes to remove mayor from office

The Point Hope City Council unanimously voted Thursday evening to remove the city mayor from office. The decision follows accusations from the city’s former finance administrator that the mayor misused public funds, as well as escalating tensions between the mayor and the council over the resulting investigation.

Tariek Oviok, who was elected as the Northwest Alaska city’s mayor in 2020, was at the center of an investigation into the alleged misuse of public funds last year. In the past year, Oviok has tried to dismiss several council members from office and, according to several council members, refused the council access to the city’s financial records. This week, Oviok — who has repeatedly denied the allegations against him — shut down the city office before an emergency meeting proposed by city council members.

Six city council members on Wednesday agreed to hold a special meeting Thursday to vote on whether to remove Oviok from the position of mayor. Council member Henry Nashookpuk said the council wanted to remove Oviok as mayor because he is unable to perform the duties of the office and violated the city code “by knowingly refusing to disclose a financial interest.” Nashookpuk also said that according to city code, no elected official or city employee shall use his office for the primary purpose of gaining financial gain for himself or his family.

“Those are the grounds right here for removal,” Nashookpuk said Thursday afternoon. “The way people see it now, it’s just a dictatorship. ... We are here today to take control back of our city and move it in the right direction.”

On Thursday, the council members voted to remove Oviok as mayor.

“It’s been a long time coming. I’m glad that you guys put this meeting together and have this discussion because, like you’ve seen, it not only affects this council, but it affects our whole village,” said Eva Kinneeveauk, the president of the Native Village of Point Hope. “That’s what’s needed to happen ... even though this has been very difficult for everybody.”

Oviok pushed back on his removal from office after the meeting, describing it as “an insurrection” and alleging that the city council meeting was unlawfully held.

Alleged misuse of public funds

The accusations that the mayor misused public funds spilled into public view during a North Slope Borough Assembly meeting in August.

The former finance administrator for the City of Point Hope, Lauren Margaret Kowunna, said that the mayor violated city procedures by spending tens of thousands of dollars from the city budget on his personal needs.

In follow-up interviews, Oviok said that some of the spending was justified because it was a personal emergency. Such a justification doesn’t appear in city code or city policy, and Oviok did not provide documentation of a city policy indicating such expenditures were allowed.

Kowunna said that during her employment at the city office, she produced a 68-page financial report showing that Oviok used city funds on personal trips and needs over the first six months of 2023.

“Everywhere he went when he traveled, he was using the company credit card,” she said. “In order for me to make this community a safer place for my children, ... I have to speak on behalf of my community and I have to make a difference in the community of Point Hope.”

Kowunna said that the total amount of unauthorized transactions from January to August last year totaled over $36,000, with expenses including plane tickets, car rentals, and charges at restaurants and clothing and gear stores. Kowunna said that the mayor’s spending was not authorized by the city council, and transactions did not have supporting documents such as receipts.

During the borough assembly meeting, Oviok denied that he misspent the funds.

“People have voted me to be the mayor. I’m a whaling captain — that in itself is an honor, a humbling feeling. I have my children that I take care of. I’ve been out of prison for 11 years,” he said during the August borough meeting. “I am not an individual that would be blessed with all that opportunity to decide in the 11th year that I’m going to start stealing money from my people.”

(Oviok went to jail for attempted murder and has had several civil protective orders filed against him, the most recent one in June 2024 by a former city clerk.)

During a follow-up interview, Oviok explained one of the trips highlighted by Kowunna in her report. Oviok said that in August 2023, he used the city credit card to purchase tickets for himself and his children because one of his sons needed to see a heart doctor.

Oviok said that this trip also included work meetings — one with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and one with Tikigaq Corp. Tikigaq Corp. President Ryan Rock said the corporation held no meetings with Oviok in Anchorage during that time. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation said they had a routine check-in call with the grantee in mid-August of last year.

When asked how much the August 2023 trip cost him, Oviok said he did not know.

“That I couldn’t tell you,” he said.

“I don’t sit there with a notepad or have an assistant by me documenting every single detail,” he said. “If I feel that I’ve done wrong, then maybe I might be paranoid and like, ‘Man, how much did I (spend)?’ To me, that’s not even an issue. There’s no stealing, there’s no embezzling.”

While the city requires officials spending public money to submit receipts, Kowunna said Oviok did not provide those to the city.

Oviok said he spoke to a city council member about the August trip but did not get formal approval from the council in advance. He said the approval was not necessary because the situation was a personal emergency.

“It’s in the code of ordinances, it’s in the policies and procedures,” he said. “The purchases that I did during meetings and trips were no different than what other mayors had done.”

The Point Hope City Code and city policies do not mention personal emergencies as justification for spending public funds.

According to the section on city funds policies, an employee should obtain approval from the department head before incurring any expenses. The city council is the body keeping the city mayor accountable.

The code says that the mayor and members of the council can travel on city business with their immediate family, but the city covers the transportation cost for only the mayor and council members. The city may advance funds to an official or employee for a work-related trip only if the mayor or council has previously approved the advance, the code states.

Following Kowunna’s report, the city invited an independent agency from Anchorage, Business Boutique, to conduct a financial review to help the city prepare for the pre-audit.

Oviok said he planned to invite an agency in December to conduct an audit — which is also required for the city to receive more than $500,000 from the borough’s Economic Impact Assistance Program.

Former city clerk Janelle Tingook said she was aware of the issues surrounding the mayor’s spending.

“He would make excuses for the council to know the business of what was going on at the time. He held onto the company credit card,” she said. “We all tried to confront him at a staff meeting (about his use of the city credit card). He was being very stern and stated why he had to use it as an emergency and that he would pay back every penny he had spent,” though she said he did not do that while she was in office.

Tingook also said she was aware of an FBI investigation into the city mayor’s actions and spending. Ryan Rock with Tikigaq Corp. also said he knew about the investigation and was contacted by the agency. Several other residents referenced an FBI investigation.

“As a matter of longstanding Department of Justice policy, the FBI can neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation unless, if and until charges are filed,” said Chloe Martin, spokeswoman for the FBI Anchorage office.

Rising tensions between mayor and council members

After Kowunna produced the report, she was placed on administrative leave twice. She said she then resigned.

Oviok said that in November 2023, he and two other council members, Nashookpuk and Luke Conley, terminated four council members involved with approving Kowunna’s investigation — Phyllis Frankson, Sally Killigvuk, Kristi Frankson and Caroline Cannon.

In a later interview, Oviok said the dismissal was due to council members’ “consistent behavior and threats to our staff,” as well as meeting absences. In a letter dated May 2023, Oviok wrote that the council members were dismissed back in November 2023 because they disrupted city council meetings.

City code says that city council members are elected by voters, and their seat may become vacant if they are recalled by voters; if they resign, and the resignation letter has been accepted; or if the two-thirds of the council finds them unable to perform their duties.

Conley said he was persuaded by Oviok to vote to dismiss the council members during one of his first meetings as a council member. He said he did not realize then that the meeting did not have a quorum.

Nashookpuk said he was misled and might have indeed signed by mistake the document to dismiss Phyllis Frankson, Killigvuk and Cannon. He said he was not present when Kristi Frankson was dismissed.

Nashookpuk also said that Oviok has not provided financial reports to the council in over a year, which is one of the mayor’s duties, according to city code.

This month, Nashookpuk submitted a letter to the mayor requesting a special meeting on Sept. 11 and asking, among other things, for minutes from the meetings in the past two years, monthly financial reports and an update on the status of the city audit.

Oviok posted an emergency order Monday notifying the public about the office closure, effectively prohibiting the council from meeting in the city office.

Oviok also alleged that since only two of the four council members requesting the special meeting were still on the council, the meeting request was not valid. Oviok shared a letter written by city attorney Craig Richards — the former Alaska attorney general — that appeared to support that interpretation, if only two of the members were currently on the council.

Richards resigned as Point Hope city attorney Wednesday. Richards said in his resignation letter that while he believed he could help the city overcome procedural problems, he has “not been brought up into matters far enough in advance and with full information sufficient to give competent advice.”

Later on Wednesday, Oviok shared a document listing what he has accomplished as the city mayor, as well as a special election notice to hold a recall election for himself on Friday. According to city code, a recall election happens after a member of the public files a recall petition, which cannot happen within 180 days of the end of the elected official’s term.

Oviok wrote a letter to the public Friday, saying that he and his family were on an emergency lockdown after the Thursday meeting.

“That is not a legally binding quorum,” Oviok said about the meeting where council members voted to remove him as mayor. “That is an insurrection and willful attempt to interfere with the upcoming elections.”

Oviok said he felt threatened by the presence of a borough police officer in the room during the meeting. He also said that the council members had no authority to ask Oviok for the keys to the city office, company credit card and access to the city’s social media account, or to order him to stay away from the city office. Among other accusations he made against city council members, Oviok also said he has been in contact with the FBI.

After removing Oviok as mayor, several council members apologized to the public for not acting on the issues within city government sooner.

“For our people, for all of you, I’m sorry I failed you guys — I’m real sorry — multiple times,” said Nashookpuk.

Luke Conley expressed his regret as well.

“I was misled and very easily persuaded,” Conley said. “I would like to apologize for slip-ups that I might have. ... We are going to make some very much-needed changes here at the city. It’s been a long time due.”

The city council elected Nashookpuk as acting mayor until the October election. Nashookpuk said the city will conduct a proper investigation into the financial situation and the former mayor’s actions.