After five consecutive terms as chairman of the Cowlitz Tribal Council and a retirement that didn’t last, Bill Iyall has been elected to another stint as Cowlitz Tribal Council chairman. He took office immediately after the vote at the tribe’s semi-annual general council meeting June 1.
Iyall, 77, became Cowlitz council chairman in 2008, and was reelected four times. He retired in August 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to tend to health and family, he said. Now, he’s back as chairman.
It was under Iyall’s leadership the Cowlitz tribe established its reservation in Ridgefield in 2015 and opened ilani in 2017.
At the June 1 meeting, the tribe also reelected William Erickson as its general council secretary and filled six open seats on its council. In July, the six new tribal council members to be sworn in are Steve Barnett, Dean Vernon Reynolds, Tim Van Mechelen, Stephen Henry Kutz, William McTurnal and Michelle Lawrence.
Learn more at cowlitz.org.
