AGENCY VILLAGE, S.D. (AP) – The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribe suspended its chairman for ordering a surprise mass drug testing of hundreds of tribal government employees in an effort to curb drug use and will decide later this month whether to remove him.

In a letter dated Sept. 8, the tribe told Bruce Renville that his call for drug tests on Aug. 17 fell outside the tribe’s personnel policies.

According to tribal policy, the letter said, the only time employees can be tested is for: pre-employment; a mandatory annual screening; a reportable accident in which liability could be an issue; random testing that will include 5 percent of current employees; and reasonable suspicion.

But Renville, who’s been in office for nine months, told the Argus Leader the reservation has a drug problem that needs to be addressed. Twenty babies last year were born addicted to methamphetamine.

He also said the tribe isn’t following its own policies that require drug tests.

“I did the right thing. I was within my authority as chairman to do a drug test,” said Renville, 71, who faces a removal hearing next week. “But people are angry. They want somebody’s head. I guess they want mine.”

Tribal member Lee Ann TallBear acknowledged that there’s a problem with drugs on the reservation, but she said it’s not confined to the tribe.

“It’s as true across all of South Dakota as it is on our reservation. We are geographically and economically isolated from the rest of the country,” she said. “What happens is, we don’t have access to technology or resources to effectively combat the influx and invasion of illegal drugs into rural America.”

The tribe plans to hold a hearing Sept. 18 to decide whether to remove Renville.