The extension of a key casino agreement received tentative approval from a Kenosha County Board committee Wednesday night.

Members of the Legislative Committee voted unanimously in favor of a 15-month renewal of a city-county pact with the Menominee Nation.

The deal, set to expire Dec. 31, outlines how the tribe would compensate local governments if plans move forward to develop a casino at Dairyland Greyhound Park.

The full board will take up the extension Dec. 22. Meanwhile, the City Council is set to discuss the measure as a committee of the whole Dec. 15, with action likely Dec. 21.

On Wednesday, the only debate came over proposals by Supervisor Terry Rose, to add a “drop-dead” clause to the end of the 15-month extension and to ask the tribe to cover the county’s legal fees incurred in connection with the casino issue.

Rose, who ultimately moved for passage of the extension, removed those caveats due to an apparent lack of support from the committee and other supervisors who made comments at the meeting.

In calling for the drop-dead clause, Rose said he wanted to bring some closure to the issue, should the tribe go another 15 months without receiving federal and state approval of the project.

“At some point, there has to be closure,” Rose said. “There has to be closure for them; there has to be closure for the community. Fifteen months seems reasonable.”

Corporation Counsel Frank Volpintesta noted that a drop-dead clause would not carry any true weight, as it could not prohibit a future County Board from negotiating an extension in 2011.

As for legal costs, Rose said the county has paid $69,547 in attorney fees since the current casino proposal emerged in 2004. Volpintesta said that has gone to the law firm of Perkins Coie in Washington, for review of agreements and monitoring of happenings within the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Rose equated asking the tribe to pay the legal costs to the extension fees that are commonly applied to private-sector agreements.

Other supervisors said they disagreed with imposing this charge on the Menominee now, when the tribe was not required to pay for legal fees when the original agreement was negotiated in 2004.

“Doing this now is like holding them hostage,” said Supervisor Mark Modory, a member of the 2004 negotiating team.

Rose was successful in adding one provision to the extension: language specifying that the current agreement did not already expire when the federal government denied the project in January.

Perkins Coie advised the county recently of the unlikely possibility of a scenario in which the tribe could begin to operate the casino, then argue that the intergovernmental agreement was long since voided. John Wilhelmi, an attorney for the Menominee, said he believes it is the tribe’s position that the current agreement always has remained in place.

The tribe is continuing to pursue an appeal of an Interior Department denial of the project that was issued Jan. 7, as the Bush administration was preparing to leave office. In a pending lawsuit, the Menominee are challenging recently imposed guidelines that urged against off-reservation casinos outside of a commutable distance of a tribe’s reservation.

Supervisor Dayvin Hallmon said he received confirmation from department staff this week that new policies are being drafted for review by the Interior secretary, though it remains uncertain when a decision might occur.

Still, Supervisor Jim Moore — the head of a coalition that opposed the casino in 2004 — said he believes an extension is unnecessary.

“This thing is dead,” Moore said after Wednesday’s meeting. “The Department of the Interior threw it out a year ago, and we’re wasting our time.”

Wilhelmi said the project can still move forward, given a change in the federal government’s policies or finalization of the tribe’s lawsuit. The tribe believes that would lead to a reconsideration of the current application, which received a favorable review from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Minnesota-based Midwest Regional Office.

“The tribe hopes to be done within 15 months,” Wilhelmi said.