Tuesday, 14 August 2007 01:29
Plymouth City Council Meeting
The Municipal Services Agreement between the City of Plymouth and the Ione
band of Miwok Indians was originally adopted in February of 2004. Shortly after that adoption, in March of 2004, two complaints were filed with
the Amador Superior Court saying the city had wrongly adopted the MSA. One
complaint was made by Amador County and the other by the No Casino in Plymouth organization (NCIP).
The Amador County
superior court then found in favor of both organizations, overturning the
agreement and the City was ordered to repeal the MSA. City attorney Mike Dean
had originally advised the current city council to avoid taking a stance, for
or against the casino, until the all appeals over the Amador County
court decision were exhausted s to avoid "major legal issues" for the
city. Attached to the MSA was a letter from the city supporting the casino; Dean told the council, now
that all appeals were exhausted and the MSA was officially dead, the city would
be free to withdraw or uphold their letter of support for the Ione Band
of Miwok Indian's casino application. There was, however, no policy decision at
last week’s city council meeting as the item was on the agenda for discussion
or action.