Lac du Flambeau shopping casino to Caledonia

Sunday, Aug. 13, 2000 | 8:58 a.m.

Tribe spokesman Dick Matty said officials from Caledonia and the tribe met Thursday, but Lafayette County remains in the forefront after tribe officials visited there Tuesday.

"To be frank, they have been searching all over the place," Outagamie County Executive Toby Paltzer said.

The Lafayette County Board and many county municipalities have passed resolutions supporting a casino, Matty said.

"Lafayette County is definitely on the fast track in the running for a casino," Matty said.

The tribe has not decided which of the 12 sites looks most appealing, but a proposal could go to Gov. Tommy Thompson this week, he said.

The tribal council is expected to vote Monday on whether to contract with the Lafayette County Board to build a $100 million casino, convention center and hotel, Matty said.

The tribe's gaming compact with the state also requires approval by Lafayette County and is expected to go before the Committee on Committees, which is to meet later this week, County Board Chairman Jack Sauer said.

The agreement would then be forwarded to the governor who, if he approved, would then send it to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Approval from the BIA could take six months to a year, Matty said.

A spokesman for the governor's office said Thompson will not comment at this time.

Thompson has said that local governments must approve the opening of a casino before he will consider it.

Lafayette County is located in southwest Wisconsin on the Illinois state line. The tribe Flambeau has discussed paying the county $4 million per year over 20 years as part of the contract.

The tribe's trip there came the day after opponents of the Kaukauna proposal presented the Common Council with a petition bearing more than 1,000 signatures calling for a referendum banning for-profit casinos in the city.

A referendum is set for Sept. 12. But Matty said that despite the interest shown by Lafayette County and officials in the Town of Caledonia, Kaukauna and the Town of Lawrence in Brown County are not out of the race.

Mayor John Lambie said Saturday that Kaukauna officials don't plan to change their plan.

"We've just got to get our homework done and keep working on this as if we're the only ones in the running," he said. "The Lac du Flambeau always said if we went to referendum, they were going to pull out. We haven't heard from them. We don't want to adjust our game plan to adjust to something someone else is doing."

Matty said the tribe must move quickly because its five-year gaming compact with the state is already in its second year.