From the Battle Creek Enquirer:
Officials at Pine Creek Reservation, the Emmett Township Department of Public Safety and FireKeepers Casino are scrambling to get public safety agreements in place before the casino’s early August opening.
That’s because the agreements “have hit a last-minute snag,” township Supervisor Gene Adkins said at the board’s meeting Thursday.
The township board on Thursday postponed approval for the second time on a cross-deputization agreement between their public safety department and the Huron Potawatomi Police Department. In June, trustees wanted the township attorneys to review the language before voting on it.
The contract would deputize tribal police to act with authority on township property. Without the agreement, tribal police couldn’t leave the casino grounds, which are sovereign Indian land, in pursuit of criminals.
Friday afternoon, tribal spokeswoman Donna Halinski said the cross-deputization agreement is not needed before the casino opens, and that the postponement of an agreement on the issue is not affecting public safety preparedness at the casino.
On Thursday, Adkins said Huron Potawatomi Police Chief Craig Schwartz was mostly OK with the agreement but had a few questions about the contract.
Adkins said that was because the attorneys had gotten the agreement confused with an earlier $1.1 million contract the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi had signed with the township for Emmett to police the casino for three years.
He said it was mostly small details about word choice and language that needed cleaning up.
“I’m just not in a position to present this to you for a vote,” Adkins said.
Trustee John O’Connor agreed, saying, “It’s not even close to what I looked at before.”
O’Connor was most concerned with the fact that the contract had no provisions for either party to exit the agreement.
Township public safety was deputized by the tribe in the earlier agreement.
The township also looked at a rough draft of an in-house policy order that would set policy for how Emmett Township polices FireKeepers Casino. Adkins said small tweaks needed to be made and a final OK still needed to come from Schwartz, the Tribal Council and FireKeepers security officials before the township board could approve it.
The board meets next Aug. 12.
Turtle Talk 