County cancels rules against working with tribe on casino

The Clark County council has decided to fold ’em.

Realizing that the Ilani Casino and Resort will almost certainly open in April, the county council directed legal staff to revise resolutions that oppose the casino and bar staff from speaking to the Cowlitz Tribe about the $510 million project, which it is jointly developing with the Mohegan Tribe of Indians in Connecticut.

In the past, the county has worried that the casino would strain housing, the environment, social services and roads. The county has tried to block the casino in court and at one point threatened to arrest construction workers installing a stormwater line for the casino on a county road.

At the council’s Wednesday board time meeting, Councilor Julie Olson, filling in as chair for Marc Boldt, suggested a new approach.

Although Olson noted that a subsequent resolution passed last year allowed staff from the county’s departments of public health, public works and others to speak to the tribe regarding the casino, she suggested it might be pragmatic to open up communication more.

“I don’t know that there is a reason to keep this first resolution in place,” she said.

Deputy County Manager Bob Stevens said that the tribe wants to be a “cooperative player” and has already used the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds for a recruiting event and plans to use the facility for employee training. Stevens said he has had to talk to the tribe in his capacity as the chair of Fairgrounds Site Management Group, which manages the fairgrounds. Stevens called the need for the workaround “foolish.”

The only councilor who objected was Jeanne Stewart.

“I don’t think we’ve reached the end of our negotiations with them on the issues related to the sewage system and the aquifer,” she said, referring to concerns that the project could pollute the Troutdale Aquifer, the county’s sole source of drinking water. “That’s not their sovereign property,” she added.