Last week’s spat between the Clark County Council and the Cowlitz Tribe seemed a distant memory Tuesday, as the council at last adopted a resolution reopening communication between the two parties.
The decision, which was approved unanimously, effectively reverses the county’s long-standing policy against working with the tribe, which is building a casino near the Interstate 5 junction west of La Center.
“We never intended to stop that dialogue with the Cowlitz Tribe,” Councilor Tom Mielke said.
The council considered a similar resolution last week, but did not adopt it at the protest of the tribe, which said the language in the resolution was politically motivated. Tribal representatives asked, for example, that language referencing “environmental degradation” resulting from the casino be removed. That language had been removed from the resolution approved Tuesday.
The tribe and council also butted heads last week over efforts to declare a proposed injection well wastewater disposal system the tribe is building to serve the casino a public health risk. Doing so would have enabled the tribe to connect the casino to the city of La Center’s sewer system, but tribal officials said the injection wells and water reclamation plant are already more than a third complete.
“It’s an insult to the tribe,” tribal member David Barnett told the Clark County Board of Health, made up of the Clark County Council, last week.
But there was none of that same animosity Tuesday, as Bill Iyall, chairman of the Cowlitz Tribe, thanked the council for its efforts on the resolution, calling the resolution a “phenomenal message.”
“We have great plans for this community and we really think this is the best step forward we’ve seen in some time,” Iyall said. “We will build the trust that will build this community.”
Clark County — along with operators of La Center’s cardrooms and a group called Citizens Against Reservation Shopping — remains in the midst of a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s approval of the Cowlitz Indian reservation. That lawsuit is currently under appeal in the District of Columbia Circuit Court. Oral arguments in the appeal were heard March 18, and a ruling is expected in mid-summer.
The city of Vancouver voted May 16 to overturn a 2007 resolution opposing the tribe’s casino project, thus ending the city’s participation in the current lawsuit.
