The Cherokee Tribal Council voted unanimously June 1 to confirm Heather Younce as the newest member of the Tribal Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission following the resignation of former TABCC Chairman Pepper Taylor.

The body held a brief confirmation hearing Wednesday, May 24, in advance of the June 1 vote. Younce told Tribal Council that she’s from Painttown and graduated from Cherokee High School in 1994 and Montreat College in 2015, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She has been working in the compliance field since 2003, when she was hired by the Tribal Gaming Commission. From there she went to the compliance office at the Tribal Employment Rights Office, where she was employed at the time of her appointment to the TABCC.

Taylor resigned his post following a 2022 investigation from the Office of Internal Audit and Ethics that turned up a parade of red flags, including debit card transactions for food and beverage purchases totaling $76,421 over 15 months and $133,039 on travel and training in the same period. As chairman, Taylor was solely responsible for overseeing the Commission’s day-to-day operations, and according to Principal Chief Richard Sneed all the questionable debit card purchases were made by Taylor. After seeing the results of the investigation, Sneed asked for Taylor’s resignation.

Sneed had also sought the resignation of a second TABCC member, Shannon Ross, who in a separate Internal Audit and Ethics investigation was found to have, on multiple occasions, falsely identified himself to a casino bartender as an alcohol law enforcement officer. He was attempting to get the bartender to serve him a second drink while he already had his first in hand, the investigation found.

Ross refused to resign, prompting Sneed to submit a resolution to Tribal Council for its Feb. 2 meeting seeking to remove Ross for cause. However, Tribal Council showed little appetite for facilitating Ross’s removal. After a meandering 45-minute conversation, Sneed saw the resolution was not likely to pass and requested that it be withdrawn, a move Tribal Council approved unanimously. The move was intended to leave the door open for the TABCC to request Ross’s removal itself, but no such resolution was ever submitted.

Ross remains on the board, but his term expires on July 30, as does that of current chair Mara Nelson. Sabrina Arch is serving a term that expires in July 2025, and Mitch Littlejohn was appointed a term lasting through July 2026. Younce’s term will expire on July 30, 2024 — pending ratification from Principal Chief Richard Sneed — as she was appointed to Taylor’s unexpired term rather than to a full term of her own.