Kizer named new Washoe chairman

Stewart resident Darrell Kizer was named the interim chairman of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California at a meeting on Wednesday.

Kizer was serving as vice chairman of the tribal council after a March 25 meeting where they accepted the resignation of former chairwoman Wanda Batchelor.

He’s the son of Marie Kizer, who was one of the founding members of the Dresslerville Baptist Church. He is one of Marie Kizer’s 13 children.

Kizer was one of a handful of candidates for the office, according to a source who attended Wednesday’s Tribal Council meeting.

Kizer is expected to serve until elections in October 2014, when he could seek election to the office.

Batchelor, the first woman to lead the tribe, was the subject of a recall petition circulated earlier this year.

The tribe’s previous vice chairman, Lloyd Wyatt, was removed from the council by a two-thirds vote of the Dresslerville Council that was later ratified by the tribal council.

Batchelor was elected in 2010, defeating former chairman Waldo Walker. That election saw only one tribal council incumbent return to office.

In 2006, Walker defeated longtime chairman A. Brian Wallace.

At the time of her resignation, Batchelor pointed out that most of the accusations in the recall petition were for things the tribal council approved.

“Every issue on that recall petition was done with the tribal council,” she said.