Tribal Council approves moving forward with International Falls casino project

By Michael Barrett

Freelance Writer

            In June of this year the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians Tribal Council were approached by the Koochiching County Board wanting Red Lake to build a casino in the International Falls area.

            At the Tuesday, Regular Tribal Council Meeting of September 9, 2003, the Council unanimously approved moving forward with a proposal to build a gaming facility in Koochiching County.

            Adrian Omen of Red Lake’s Tribal Business Development Department, said their department has met with Council members, County Board members, state Representative Anderson’s committee members, and others about the project. They also put together a little study and some basic numbers.

            “The numbers we’ve got in the weeks we’ve had, have been pretty positive,” Omen stated to the Council.

            Also with Tribal Business Development was Eugene McArthur. He explained they had resolutions of support from the Chamber of Commerce, the Convention and Business Bureau, Koochiching Economic Development Authority which was a joint powers entity of the city and county, Rep. Irv Anderson, unanimous support of the County Board, and 7 of 9 members on the City Council of International Falls.

            “The community also supports the project,” McArthur stated. “Traffic counts were in the packets, at points of entry, availability of apartments and etc.”

            “All in all, you put the numbers together and you have the cost and population,” Omen explained. “Just in International Falls with the traffic, it’s more than Thief River, Warroad or Red Lake.”

            McArthur explained the Casino Study of International Falls and Surround Area presented to the Council and how it was completed. He said there were 36,000-plus people in the area of International Falls and Fort Frances.

            They also discussed lang acquisition, putting land into Trust, and the procedures.

            To put land into Trust, according to McArthur, it was determined by the Secretary of the Interior. He approved or disapproved a lang acquisition for gaming purposes.

            One of the elements they use to base their decision is the local support from a community, which is the state, county and city–which they already have, McArthur said.

            “We had a preliminary conversation with the Bureau,” McArthur also stated. “There’s two kickers in this whole process for us to make this acquisition. One, is the local support. If we choose to move forward, this will be the first time that this Area Director has ever moved forward with an application on behalf of local support going into the application. That’s never happened. Usually that’s the most difficult part and that takes some time to acquire.”

            The second thing was the Environmental Impact Statement.

            A marketing study was also discussed, as well as financing of the project. Secretary Roy brought up one of the companies bidding to do the marketing study, Marquette Advisors, who in their assessment and feasibility study of the Seven Clans-Thief River Casino expansion project, said they would have 1000 people a day using the Water Park–which never once did happen.

            “What happened when we did River Road–our famous Tin Shack–when me and Butch approached Norwest Bank, the opportunity was so great there that they used our slot machines as collateral before we even purchased them,” Omen said.

            McArthur suggested they move on getting the land into Trust first of all.

            To accomplish, the first of many phases, Tribe must first justify its request by establishing that existing Tribal land is inadequate for gaming because of size, location and market condition.

            Secondly, the Regional Direction of the BIA must then make a conclusive statement regarding the impact on the state and any political subdivisions expected to result from removing the land from the tax rolls. He must also include an independent assessment of the impact on the BIA should the land be acquired in trust.

            The fourth item is that the acquisition package must include a pre-acquisition environmental site assessment.

            The greater the distance the acquired land is from the Tribe’s Reservation will require that the Regional Director’s analysis more fully justify the anticipated benefits to the Tribe. Then, the Regional Director must review the Tribe’s comprehensive economic development plan required under 25 CFR which specifies the anticipated financial benefits associated with the acquisition.

            Finally, the acquisition package must include an Abstract of Title or Commitment for Title Insurance Policy covering the property, and after the Abstract of Title has been submitted by the Tribe for the title evidence, an appraisal of the property by the BIA is requied.

            According to the Casino Study presented by the Tribal Business Development Program, gaming can be conducted on newly acquired land if the Secretary of the Interior: Consults with the Tribe and appropriate state and local officials, including the officials of other nearby Indian Tribes; issues a two-point determination that the gaming establishment on newly acquired land will be in the best interest of the Indian Tribe and its members, and secondly, will not be detrimental to the surrounding community; and secondly, obtains the concurrence of the Governor of the state in which the gaming activity is to be conducted in the Secretary’s two-part determination.

            The consultation process must then be completed by the Regional Director at the Regional Office level. Consultation will be conducted by letter inviting the applicant Tribe and appropriate state (including the governor), local and other nearby Tribal officials to comment on the proposed acquisition.

            Some of the specific information that must be in those consultation letters included projections of income statements, balance sheets, fixed assets, accounting and cash flow statements for the gaming entity, project tribal employment, job training and career development, projected benefits to the tribe from tourism and the basis for the project, projected benefits to the tribe and its members from the proposed uses of the increased tribal income, projected benefits to the relationships between the tribe and the surrounding community, possible adverse impacts on the tribe and plans for dealing with those impacts, and any other information which may provide a basis for the Secretarial determination that the gaming establishment is in the best interest of the tribe.

            To assist the Secretary in determining whether the gaming establishment on newly acquired land will not be detrimental to the surrounding community the officials consulted, the tribe would have to address items such as evidence of environmental impacts and plans for mitigating adverse impacts; reasonably anticipated impact on the social structure, infrastructure, services, housing, community character and land use patterns of the surrounding community; impact on the economic development, income and employment of the surrounding community; costs of impacts to the surrounding community and sources of revenue to accommodate them; proposed programs, if any, for compulsive gamblers and the source of funding; and any other information which may provide a basis for a Secretarial determination that the gaming establishment is not detrimental to the surrounding community.

            As one can easily notice, there is quite a lengthy process in placing land into Trust for gaming purposes.

            The major plans for the gaming facility include just the construction of a casino, yet officials have said one factor in choosing a site included room for future expansion.

            Further meetings and discussions are scheduled to take place on this matter, and when more information is known, it will be provided to the public. So far the opinions of Red Lake members is somewhat mixed, with some supporting it and others skeptical because of the financial troubles caused by the recent expansion projects of the Tribe’s other gaming facilities, Seven Clans-Thief River Falls, Seven Clans-Warroad and Seven Clans-Red Lake.