An agreement between the Gun Lake Tribe of Potowatmis and Hopkins Township Board on services by the Hopkins Area Fire Authority appears to be nearing ratification by both sides.
Hopkins Township Supervisor Mark Evans told board colleagues Monday night that, “Things are looking good, according to (tribal representative) John Shagonaby. We should have an answer next month.”
The Tribe has one property, the Jiajk Foundation Camp, and potentially another, located within the township, so some kind of arrangement is being sought to compensate the Hopkins Area Fire Authority, which includes Hopkins, Monterey and Watson townships, for firefighting services.
The issue has been one of three areas of contention between the tribe and the board. Another is distribution of funds by a Local Revenue Sharing Board and a proposal by the tribe to take a 130-acre parcel in Hopkins into a federal trust.
Tribe Chairman Bob Peters, in the letter, suggested a donation of $4,000 annually to the Fire Board, besides expenses incurred in fire incidents. It was not disclosed whether that was part of the near agreement.
Evans, representing the Fire Board, last November, proposed the agreement be between the tribe and Hopkins Township and payment of taxes to the township based on valuations of the land. Also proposed was establishing a “Land in Trust Use Board.”
Peters said the tribe is opposed to all suggestions, particularly because insistence on taxation does not recognize the Tribe’s standing as a sovereign government.
Evans and Allegan County Commissioner Gale Dugan earlier this year attended a Casino Revenue Sharing Board meeting, maintaining the funding arrangements with local governments doesn’t square with the original local compact agreement. The Revenue Sharing Board came up with a plan to distribute 2.5% each of total Gun Lake Casino gaming revenue for Hopkins, Dorr, Leighton, Martin and Yankee Springs townships and the City of Wayland, 50% to Wayland Township, 25% to Allegan County, 8% to Wayland Union schools and 2% to the Allegan Area Educational Services Agency.
Evans and Dugan asserted the arrangement leaves out, for example, Henika Public Library in Wayland, which has taxing authority.
The issue between the tribe and the Township Board about a 130-acre parcel near 129th Avenue and 12th Street continues to be at a stalemate. The Township Board last year hired Thaddeus E. Morgan of the Fraser Trebilcock firm in Lansing to do battle in court over land the tribe wants to take into federal trust.
The Gun Lake Tribe filed a request with the U.S. Department of the Interior to take the parcel into a trust for undisclosed purposes. The land, currently being used for agriculture, is zoned commercial. It is located across the expressway from the Gun Lake Casino, owned by the tribe.
Township officials have opposed the move on the basis it will remove the land from the tax rolls and cause hardship on Hopkins Township’s coffers.
Evans produced figures Monday evening that indicated the Jijak property being in trust has cost Hopkins Township $4,383.19 annualy in tax revenue and an adjacent property has resulted in $416.87 in less revenue.
The supervisor’s figures asserted the if the Nowak property is taken into trust, the township will lose $2,482.37 annually in tax revenue. Another nearby property would mean a loss of $243.46.
The Gun Lake Tribe has indicated it provided Hopkins Township $18,979 in its twice a year revenue sharing payment announced in July, which amounts to nearly $38,000 annually.
Hopkins Township has spent more than $14,000 in public tax dollars on legal fees with the Lansing firm.
Below is another false statement in your article!
“The Township Board last year hired Thaddeus E. Morgan of the Fraser Trebilcock firm in Lansing to do battle in court over land the tribe wants to take into federal trust.”
Hopkins Township Attorney, Robert Thall, recommended in a letter to the Hopkins Township Board to hire Thaddeus E. Morgan of Fraser Trebilcock to handle the administrative appeal to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Michigan Office and file the appeal to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Regional Office. The Hopkins Township Board has NOT filed a lawsuit against the Tribe. The Hopkins Township Board filed an appeal objecting to the decision of the United States, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of Interior. We are appealing the decision of Federal Bureaucrats. When land is taken into trust, it’s forever, or at best, a really long time!