Tribe expects key decision in July Casino relocation process currently in the Office of Indian Gaming Indian Affairs stage

The relocation of the Eagle Mountain Casino is moving along with an anticipated decision from the federal government expected in July of this year.

Neil Peyron, the chairman for the Tule River Tribe, as well as several others associated with the tribe, met at the Porterville Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs Meeting in Porterville’s Centennial Plaza multi-purpose room to give an update on where the tribe currently is with regard to the relocation of EMC.

Peyron said the actual process is now in the Office of Indian Gaming Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. The Tule River tribe wants to construct a $180-200 million, multi-story casino/resort near the Porterville Municipal Airport. In order to relocate the casino, the tribe must have the 40 acres of land it has near the airport put into federal trust.

“They are getting comments,” Peyron said.

Tom Rodgers, who has worked for the tribe for nearly 20 years, said the tribe has already submitted an environmental impact statement. He said the protocols in process are “extremely involved and also extremely expensive.

“There’s a long involved process here,” Rodgers said, adding, “We are talking millions of dollars just to get through this process.”

Rodgers said, however, that if all goes well, it will all be worth it as the relocation of EMC will create more jobs in the community and help lessen the impact of the water crisis.

“If we are going to continue job creation, continue growing this economy, especially here in this part of the state, we need to move this forward,” Rodgers said.

Porterville resident Greg Shelton felt that the tribe was closer with the project five years ago than it is now, a statement Peyron, as well as many others at the meeting, didn’t quite agree with.

“This is the farthest [along] we’ve ever been,” Peyron said, adding, “This is the first time we have ever filed a 292 application for that property.”

In addition to working on MOUS (Memorandum of Understanding) with representatives with Tulare County and the City of Porterville, Peyron said the tribe has hired Sovereign Finance as its financial adviser.

He said the Arizonabased

company will look at preliminary studies regarding financing to determine exactly what the tribe has to negotiate with.

“Those negotiations are kind of on hold right now, pending that study to find out what we have to work with, what kind of debt the tribe is going to look at,” Peyron said, adding that this will probably be the first time the tribe has been in debt in his lifetime.

The tribe is proposing a 105,000 square foot casino, approximately 250-room hotel, 36,000 square feet of food and lounges, administrative space, 29,000 square foot convention center, a 1,700 seat entertainment center, banquet hall and meeting space and associated parking, including a parking structure.

As far as the proposed new casino, Peyron said there will be around 530 full- and part-time jobs on the casino side. He said that is not counting

the gaming commission, which he said would be another 50 jobs, or security, which would result in another 50.

“We are looking at around probably 600 to 700 employees at the current facility, and they will be transplanted down here should the relocation go through, and probably another 500 jobs on top of that,” Peyron said.

Currently, Peyron said the tribe is self-funding the project, but noted that it may look to other tribes and banks to help finance it.

Peyron said the tribe is also looking to build a fire station on the proposed property itself, a potential move that would require working out MOUS and agreements with the county and the city on mutual aid and auto aid agreements.

“That will be a part of the negotiation process,” Peyron said.

In terms of who is going to have jurisdiction on the property with regard

to law enforcement, Peyron said the tribe has yet to decide.

“Normally the jurisdiction that you are in, they are the ones that have the concurrent criminal jurisdiction on the reservation,” Peyron said, adding, “In this case, that would mean the City of Porterville’s police department, but there is an argument that the county, historically, is the one that provides law enforcement services on Indian reservations in the state.”

Peyron said the tribe “pretty much gets to pick,” but noted that there will be mutual aid agreements between the two.

“If something happens I am pretty sure they will work that out,” he said, adding that the tribe also has its own police department. “Our officers have the special law enforcement credential issued by the Department of Justice through the Bureau of Indian Affairs so we have four of those officers now currently on the

reservation and they will have federal and tribal jurisdiction.”

Although marijuana is legal in the state, Peyron said it is still illegal on federal land, and is talking with the county and the city on how to deal with the issue.

“There’s those types of things we have to work out because there are going to be jurisdictional issues even with the agreements,” Peyron said.

Peyron said the tribe is also looking at providing ambulance service.

As far as construction costs for the proposed casino, Peyron said the tribe is looking at between $180 and $200 million.

“That is not talking about operating costs and all that other stuff once it opens,” Peyron said, adding, “We are looking at acquiring a lot of debt for this.”

City Manager John Lollis said the city enjoys the partnership it has with the tribe and added that if a fire station does get built

on the casino that it would be a great addition.

“We look at that as a huge benefit in our community, further protecting the community as opposed to looking at paying the city to constitute another fire station here,” Lollis said, adding, “We see the benefit of having the tribe step forward and constitute that.”

Lollis also noted that the potential relocation of the casino would not impact the city’s water mains and would actually benefit them.

“By partnering with the city, using city water that is currently used on the sports complex, there is a net reduction of about 60,000 gallons that, in the end, meets our SGMA (Sustainable Groundwater Management Act) goals,” Lollis said. “By using recycled water at a net subtraction of 60,000 gallons a day, I think is a very unique approach and it has been a great opportunity to be able to partner with the tribe.”