‘Get ready to go to trial'?: Lawyer for Potawatomi denies threat of litigation to force bingo development
City Editor SYCAMORE - DeKalb County officials said this week that they are preparing for the likelihood of litigation by a Kansas-based American Indian tribe that wants to build a bingo parlor on 128 acres it purchased near Shabbona earlier this year. “The attorney for the tribe indicated to us that we should prepare a budget and get ready to go to trial,” County Administrator Ray Bockman said Thursday, recounting a conversation he said he had with Sycamore attorney Jordan Gallagher last week after the county announced it had suspended negotiations with the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. Attempts to speak directly with Gallagher on Thursday and Friday were not successful, but in a voice mail message he left with the Chronicle Friday, Gallagher, who has been retained by the Mayetta, Kan.-based tribe, denied making the statement “Get ready for litigation or trial.” He added, “I have never made that statement, certainly not to you or anybody else and I know the Potawatomi are working very hard at trying to avoid the expense for themselves and the people of DeKalb County for that expensive litigation, and they are continuing to talk with people in the county and they will continue to do that.” That's not how DeKalb County State's Attorney Ron Matekaitis remembered it. He said he spoke with Gallagher on Oct. 2, the day the county released a statement announcing the suspension of talks. “It was clear based on that conversation that the tribe would litigate the matter,” Matekaitis said Friday. “I was left with a very clear impression that litigation would follow (if the county stopped negotiating).” The county board's Executive Committee held a closed-door session Tuesday to discuss the matter under a provision of the state's Open Meetings Act that allows for closed sessions to consider “imminent litigation.” The county had been talking with tribal representatives for several months about crafting an intergovernmental agreement that would allow development to go ahead on the tribe's land, located at the southwest corner of University and Preserve roads, just east of Shabbona. The Potawatomi purchased the property in April for $8.8 million. It is part of 1,280 acres that was the subject of a 177-year-old treaty between the federal government and the tribe. In 2001, the Department of the Interior ruled that the tribe still has a “credible” claim to the land. But county officials suspended negotiations on the intergovernmental agreement - which would cover details like how emergency services are provided to the bingo parlor and what the tribe might have to turn over in lieu of taxes - after a letter issued by federal officials last month led to conflicting opinions about what the tribe would be allowed to do there. State officials and Speaker Dennis Hastert's office interpreted the letter as meaning the tribe still needed to get further federal recognition of its land claim before development of a planned 750-station electronic bingo parlor and tribal government center could move ahead. The tribe, however, interprets the letter as confirmation of the 2001 ruling and further proof that the land is reservation land. “Somebody's going to file suit over this,” county board member Steve Slack, D-Sycamore, said last week. “It's just a matter of what side does it first.” He said that Matekaitis indicated to county board members that if the board were to go ahead with an agreement with the Potawatomi while the tribe's status was still uncertain, his office might be obligated to sue the county itself. “I'm not going to address an issue that was discussed in closed session,” Matekaitis said about Slack's comments, but he acknowledged that from a legal standpoint, he had concerns about the county entering an intergovernmental agreement with an entity - the tribe - whose status as a fellow governmental entity is unclear. If the tribe is actively looking to sue the county, that intention is at odds with its latest official statement, made Oct. 6 in response to the county's decision to end negotiations on the agreement. “We will continue to be good neighbors and right now have no intent to litigate,” the statement from Tribal Chairwoman Tracy Stanhoff says. “We remain focused on avoiding the necessity of bringing legal action, which would be costly to the county and its residents.” The statement was released at least two days after Bockman said he was told by Gallagher to prepare for litigation. There was no response Friday to a request for comment from Stanhoff left the same day with Liz Hill, a public relations consultant working on behalf of the tribe. A message left on Stanhoff's voice mail Friday also was not returned. County board Chairwoman Ruth Anne Tobias, D-DeKalb, said she last spoke to Stanhoff shortly after the county announced it was suspending negotiations. She said Stanhoff indicated to her that litigation was “a possibility.” “If there's any contact (with the tribe) at this point, it will be between the attorneys,” Bockman said. Chris Rickert can be reached at crickert@daily-chronicle.com.