Mashpee land deal worries town
Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell, left, and Medicine Man Earl Cash Jr. lead the Grand Entry dance at the 89th Mashpee Wampanoag Powwow in 2010.Cape Cod Times File/Steve Heaslip
MASHPEE – Town and Mashpee Wampanoag leaders will sit down Friday morning to talk about a clause in the tribal-state gaming compact that has some in town on edge.
The deal negotiated between Gov. Deval Patrick and Mashpee Wampanoag leaders, which is scheduled to be voted on by the Senate today, includes a provision in which the state agrees to help the tribe settle claims to public lands in and around Mashpee.
Tribal leaders have said they are eyeing town and state land, though they haven't specified any locations. In a previous interview, tribal council Vice Chairman Aaron Tobey Jr. said beaches such as South Cape Beach could be in play.
The tribe is already seeking to have the federal government take the 170 acres it owns in Mashpee into federal trust for an initial reservation. The town owns 3,051 acres, and the state holds 1,189 acres in Mashpee, 2012 assessors records state.
Patrick Costello, the town's attorney, said he is “perplexed” by Patrick's agreement to help the tribe with land claims in Mashpee given an agreement the tribe reached with the town in 2008.
The town's position, Costello said, is it has a legally binding agreement with the tribe – voted on by both town meeting and the tribal body – that deeded certain lands to the tribe in exchange for the tribe not seeking a casino in Mashpee.
“I'm quite surprised by the comments I'm hearing,” Costello said. “The town has not been contacted by the tribe or the commonwealth. ... We are hearing things secondhand.”
Tuesday night, tribe Chairman Cedric Cromwell declined to answer specific questions, saying he wants the opportunity to sit down with town officials first.
“It's only fair, and it's very important that I speak with the town of Mashpee first. I have to be respectful of that, so I can't comment to any of those things at this time,” Cromwell said about whether the tribe was attempting to reopen negotiations with the town. “It's very important that the tribe and Mashpee sit down. We'll have a meeting in the very near future, sit down and talk about many things.”
Michael Richardson, chairman of the board of selectmen, said the meeting Friday will likely include representatives from the tribe; an attorney who has been representing the town in Washington, D.C.; Costello; Town Manager Joyce Mason; Selectman Wayne Taylor; and Selectman John Cahalane, who is the board's liaison to the tribe.
The meeting is not a posted public meeting and will be held behind closed doors.
“It's a really complicated issue, and we don't have all the information we should have,” Richardson said.
Selectmen hope the meeting will be a chance to “sit down and go back and forth across the table” and hopefully figure out a good way to work through the tribe's requests, Richardson said.
“We've had a long-term good relationship with them, and I think no matter what happens we want to keep it that way,” he said.
The agreement between the tribe and the town was reached by a previous administration of the Mashpee Wampanoag. Cromwell was on the council at the time but abstained from the vote, and Tobey, who was also on the council, voted against the deal.
“The tribe is a government body just like the town is,” Costello said. “Individual board members and tribe members can have their personal opinions, and that's their right, but the only thing that can be binding are the votes of their executive and legislative bodies.”
The agreement gives the town the authority to take the tribe to arbitration if it feels the tribe is violating provisions of the pact, Costello said.
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