Government & Forms
About Aneth Chapter
It is composed of the Chapter Membership who acts as the legislature, the elected Chapter Officers who act as the executive, and the Chapter Administration Office who carry out the policy enacted by the Chapter Membership. The Chapter Manager is the chief executive officer and the head of the administrative office. He oversees all Chapter Departments and programs and advises the Chapter Officers.
The Chapter serves as a liaison between their constituents and the internal/external resource entities to provide governmental services. Chapters provide opportunities, through town hall-style meetings, for local leaders to keep residents informed and to express their opinions and to decide on matters concerning their community.
The “Local Governance Act” was enacted by the Navajo Nation Council in 1998 which withdraws certain authorities and responsibilities from the Central Navajo Nation Government to be conveyed to the local Chapter in the spirit of self-governance and local empowerment.
OUR MISSION
Empowering our communities by providing and promoting quality public services for local planning and development, strengthening and fostering collaboration with local community, public and private organizations to ensure the growth of our communities.
OUR VISION
Advancing our people by promoting a stronger community through comprehensive planning for an economically self-sufficient and politically self-determinate government for the present and future.
Our Story
The Navajo name T’aabiich’iidii (Just like the Devil) was the term applied to the business practice of the community’s first anglo trader. So the community was given the same name in Navajo. Oral history places Navajo homelands as far north as Moab, Utah and Delores, Colorado. However, when the original Navajo Reservation was created as part of the 1868 Navajo and United States treaty, Utah portions of the Navajo country were not included.
The Christian concept of “the devil” is not applicable to traditional Navajo thought, but is used here as the closest inference; “Ch’iidii” is much like “ghost” and is a very negative connotation.
The Aneth Chapter conducts meetings monthly to keep residents informed; residents have a forum to express their opinions to their Navajo Nation Council Delegate or to decide on matters concerning their chapter.
Several land transactions lead to the inclusion of the Utah Navajo Lands to the Navajo Reservation. A United States Presidential Executive Order added the southeastern part of Utah south of the San Juan River to the Navajo Nation on May 17, 1884. On March 10, 1905, the area north the San Juan River was added. The “Paiute Strip” was also added to the Navajo Nation in the same executive order of March 10, 1905. Later, a land exchange between the Navajo government and the United States Park Service was conducted due to the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam and the City of Page, Arizona. The City of Page land site and the eventual lands, which would be covered by Lake Powell, were exchanged for McCracken Mesa and other lands referred to as the “Aneth Extensions”.