The clock is ticking on a comprehensive agreement paving the way for the Menominee Nation’s proposed Kenosha casino.

An intergovernmental agreement ratified by the tribe, city and Kenosha County nearly five years ago expires Dec. 31, creating the potential rush for an extension as the Menominee continue to seek federal approval of the $1 billion project.

Casino project spokesman Evan Zeppos confirmed Monday the tribe has had extension discussions with both governments.

But, officials said, approval may not come easy.

Both the city and county administrations have changed hands since 2005. Ten of the City Council’s 17 seats have new representation, while 12 of the County Board’s 28 districts have elected new supervisors.

County Executive Jim Kreuser believes simply renewing the agreement with those factors in mind would be an “unusual process.”

“They should hope this gets done in Washington before the end of the year,” he said.

Mayor Keith Bosman would like to see the agreement continue, but he acknowledges the difficulty of the situation.

Bosman would support a short-term extension lasting a matter of months, to give the new administrations and boards an opportunity to review the existing agreement and, perhaps, negotiate changes with the Menominee.

Zeppos said the tribe would be amenable to working with the city and county to keep the dialog going.

“We would like to see a short-term extension and certainly would welcome the opportunity to have further dialogue with them about what they see going beyond that short-term extension,” Zeppos said.

Detailed agreement

The existing agreement establishes the services the local governments would provide to the Dairyland Greyhound Park property, should the Menominee receive approval to hold the land in trust to develop the casino.

In turn, the Menominee would make payments to the city and county based on the casino’s revenues.

According to 2004 projections, it could bring $521 million to the governments over the first 22 years of the casino’s operations. It also provides for $1.5 million in annual payments to the Kenosha Unified School District, which officials have said would be used to build new schools.

The agreement also establishes policies regarding sovereign immunity, jurisdiction of courts and enforcement of criminal laws on the tribal land.

A similar agreement, tied to the tribe’s failed Paradise Key casino project in the late-1990s, was renewed by the city and county before that project stalled for good in 2001.

Strong support in 2005

The agreement was met with widespread support in March 2005, three months after voters backed the casino by a 12-point margin in a countywide referendum.

City alderman passed it 13-2. Both of the dissenters, Charles Bradley and Ken Polzin Jr., are no longer on the council.

The County Board approved the agreement on a 22-5 vote. Four of the five opponents are now off the board; William Grady is the lone dissenter who remains.

Jim Moore, who led the coalition that opposed the casino in the 2004 referendum vote, is now a member of the County Board.

Current City Council President G. John Ruffolo and County Board Chairman Joe Clark said the representatives who were elected after 2005 will need to be briefed on the agreement before they can consider an extension.

“I would think that the people are interested in extending it, but I can’t speak for the 10 new aldermen,” Ruffolo said.

Clark, a member of the 2005 agreement negotiating team, said a lot of time and effort was put into the deal. But, he added, today’s difficult economic circumstances beg scrutiny of what the Menominee plan to build, and when are they going to build it..

Times have changed over the last five years.

“Is it a complete re-do?” he asked. “No. Is it a tweaking? Yeah.”

Wait on Washington

The Menominee are continuing to pursue a lawsuit against the federal government, challenging a denial of the project that was issued in the final days of President George W. Bush’s administration in January.

In the suit, the tribe seeks a reconsideration of the project and an overturning of several off-reservation casino guidelines that were instituted months before the denial.

Among those guidelines was a bias against casinos outside of a “commutable distance” from a tribe’s reservation. The Kenosha site is about 190 miles from the Menominee reservation in northeastern Wisconsin.

Oral arguments in a similar suit, filed by a tribe seeking to build a casino in Beloit, were canceled late last week, prompting speculation the Obama administration could be close to revising the guidelines.

Zeppos said he did not have any information to that effect. He said a Nov. 23 court date outlining the future of the Menominee case remains in place.

A September court filing by the Menominee, seeking to delay an October hearing, noted that an Interior Department decision on the policy was expected to be made “fairly soon.” Zeppos on Monday said the tribe’s position has not changed since that filing.

“But I don’t know how you define ‘fairly soon’ anymore,” Zeppos added.