BL, casino dropping lawsuit By Matt Kapko Eye Correspondent The Arcata Eye 09-10-2002 The lawsuit filed by the Blue Lake Rancheria against Blue Lake has been dropped. After some meetings and discussion between the two parties, the city and Tribe both agreed to a “reservation of rights” agreement. By passing resolution 716, the Blue Lake City Council adopted a Mitigated Negative Declaration, pertaining to the city’s agreement with the Blue Lake Rancheria to provide water and sewer services to the casino. The Mitigated Negative Declaration is the result of the city’s environmental review of the project under the California Environmental Quality Act. By adopting the resolution, the city imposed “mitigations related to the construction and development of the casino,” the Tribe stated in the lawsuit. The city’s decision to approve the Mitigated Negative Declaration prompted the Rancheria to file suit in Humboldt County Superior Court, challenging the city’s authority under previous agreement to impose any mitigations on the Tribe. City Manager Duane Rigge said, “If the city had no enforceability over the environmental legal document, it would be null and void.” “Since the Rancheria is out of direct rule from the city, the only control over the Rancheria would be to deny water/sewer services if they didn’t fulfill the agreement,” said Rigge. According to Rigge, the city was most concerned with operation issues at the casino such as lighting and police services. As the 30-day time limit neared for the Tribe to contest the city’s Mitigated Negative Declaration, they made an offer to the city in hopes to avoid a lawsuit. The Tribe suggested that the city sign a “reservation of rights,” to allow an open-ended timeframe for the Tribe to contest the city’s right to enforce the agreement through shutting off water/sewer services. The offer was initially refused by the City Council, only to be later approved after the Rancheria filed suit. The “reservation of rights” agreement puts no time limit on allowing the tribe to contend the city’s enforcement of cutting off water/sewer services. The “reservation of rights” agreement further states that the “Tribe shall dismiss the action without prejudice.” It also calls for both parties to pay their own legal fees, which arose from the lawsuit. According to Tribal Vice Chairperson Arla Ramsey, the city retains its right to address issues with the Tribe, while the Rancheria retains its right to contest the city’s actions indefinitely. It reserves our right to contest the city later down the road, Ramsey said. The Tribe doesn’t believe the city has authority to deny water/sewer services as means to address concerns over the agreement. Both parties agreed under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the water and sewer services agreement between the city and Rancheria, to “cooperate on a government-to-government basis in furnishing water and sewer services to the Tribe.” According to the Rancheria, under terms of the MOU, the city agreed to provide water and sewer services to the Rancheria in exchange for user fees, connection fees, reimbursement for the costs of police services and environmental review services, specified improvements on Chartin Road and a discretionary impact mitigation payment. According to Rigge, there are currently no environmental issues with the Blue Lake Casino. Transit service update In its second week of operation, the Blue Lake public transit service is averaging 19 passengers a day. According to Ramsey, the Rancheria has not begun advertising, and plans to further inform the public of the new service in schools and community activities. The casino recently purchased another bus – this time to pickup prospective gamblers in Arcata, McKinleyville, Eureka and hopefully Fortuna. The casino hopes operation will begin once the bus is registered and painted. Home