The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians and Santa Barbara County in California last week signed an agreement for the tribe to fund one deputy sheriff and one community resource deputy at the Chumash Casino Resort.
At the same time the tribe prevailed over yet another legal challenge, this one protesting its expanded use of water.
Along with all of the accompanying expenses, including patrol cars, uniforms, equipment and maintenance, the annual cost to the tribe will be $408,275.32. The agreement runs for five years and can be renewed.
The tribe agreed to the deal in order to resolve two protests to its application for a liquor license for an expanded area to sell alcohol.
The tribe applied for the permit to sell alcohol last year and has been operating under an interim agreement. The County reacted by filing a protest with the states Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) board. So did Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown.
They argued that public intoxication and drivers under the influence posed a significant safety concern on the surrounding community.
The idea for the five-year contract came from Brown as a way of mitigating potential public safety impacts from the increased sale of alcohol.
A spokesman for Brown issued this statement last week: “Sheriff Brown wants to ensure there are appropriate prevention and enforcement programs in place, in order to mitigate the impacts of the ABC license expansion upon on our local communities.”
As a result of the agreement the Sheriff and the County are expected to withdraw their protests to the liquor license.
The Chumash Casino Resort has a 375-room hotel, several eateries and hosts about 6,000 customers daily.
In a related development the group Save the Valley against the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians tried to deny the tribe use of water from the Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District and Irrigation District No. 1 for its expanded casino. That case was dismissed on August 10.
The group, founded in 2000 had filed four lawsuits just since 2015. Last November it sued in federal court challenging the very legal existence of the reservation. The case was dismissed in January.
In March of this year Save the Valley tried a different tact, suing the federal government over the tribe’s application to put 1,400 acres into trust for housing and commercial. The tribe threatened the group with sanctions for filing a frivolous lawsuit.
Tribal Chairman Kenneth Kahn last week commented on the most recent lawsuit’s resolution. “Each of these cases represents a failed opportunity to invest money in the Santa Ynez Valley to make it a better place for valley residents,” he said. “Every dollar wasted on such baseless litigation could have been invested in a park for our children or any number of worthy nonprofit causes.”
