City of Ione Says No To Meeting With Buena Vista Tribe

Friday, 23 March 2007 05:03

City of Ione Says No To Meeting With Buena Vista Tribe

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Earlier this week, the Ione city council rejected a request for a meeting from the Buena Vista band of Me-Wuk Indians. The tribe had intended to meet with mayor Jerry Sherman and members of city staff to discuss the City’s comments regarding the Tribal Environmental Impact report. Specifically, the comments responded to the TEIR’s proposed mitigations for police and fire protection, traffic and circulation, noise and air quality, pedestrian and bicycle safety, and city administration, deeming the mitigations inadequate. Ione had received support from the county and supervisor for Dist. 2 Richard Forester.

City administrator George Lambert reported that the county would not have any issues with a meeting between the city and the tribe, as long as the county was represented. Lambert advised that the council stay coordinated with the county in handling the casino. He said, “We will not allow the tribe to mitigate heavily for county issues and bend on city issues and vice versa; this also applies to the school district.” Council member Jeff Barnhardt stated, “This whole situation has left a bad taste in my mouth. This council does not want a casino, but if it is going to be shoved down our throat, we must be absolutely certain to mitigate properly.” Although the city did not decide to meet with the tribe at this time, negotiations between the tribe, the county, and the city of Ione will begin once the tribe has submitted their final TEIR.