OWASCO -- An orange bucket awaiting the names of "yes" speakers sat empty.
The Cayuga County Legislature took public comment Wednesday night regarding a proposed settlement with the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York. Legislature Chairman George Fearon, R-Springport, had wanted to strike a balance between positive and negative viewpoints of the proposed settlement. But public comment in the Emerson Park pavilion was a landslide of opposition.
On Monday, the boards of the town of Springport, the village of Union Springs and the Union Springs School District voted unanimously in opposition to the proposed settlement, which was negotiated by Brian Laudadio, of the Harris Beach law firm and the county's attorney for tribal affairs.
Robert Bower, the Springport town supervisor, said the proposed agreement discusses allowing the Cayugas sovereign land so they can have a community, but it takes away from the existing community.
"It is ruining our community and the village of Union Springs will be gone in 20 years," Bower said. He noted that the Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppe and gas station in Union Springs -- which burnt down in February -- is not being rebuilt because the shop is not profitable with the Nation's Union Springs gas station's untaxed gasoline and cigarettes.
When the Nation's 25-year-old land claim was dismissed in federal court in 2005, the Cayugas applied to the federal government for about 180 acres in Montezuma, Seneca Falls, Springport and Union Springs to be held in sovereign trust status.
If the agreement is accepted by both Cayuga and Seneca counties and at the state and federal levels, the tribe would be capped at having 10,000 acres of sovereign, restricted fee land.
Under the agreement, no more than 20-percent of any municipality could be held in sovereign status by the Cayugas. That would amount to 3,920 acres in the town of Aurelius; 116 in the village of Aurora; 174 in the village of Cayuga; 6,090 in the town of Ledyard; 2,398 in the town of Montezuma; 3,240 in the town of Springport; and 226 in the village of Union Springs, Laudadio said.
Ed Trufant, Union Springs mayor, said his municipality had not been informed or involved in the negotiations. Laudadio said it had not been an intended slight, but that he worked directly for the county and reported to them since negotiations were opened last fall over the tribe's land-in-trust applications.
"They're going to lose our rear end in this deal," Trufant said.
Still, the audience was low-key. Around 70 people were at the begining of the meeting. Many chairs were empty. The meeting finished 45 minutes before it was scheduled to end at 9:10 p.m. Around 10 speakers from the public gave comment, but many signed-up speakers passed on their turns to speak.
Auburn Mayor Tim Lattimore gave a tepid endorsement of the agreement, but he was alone in any favoritism toward it.
Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Citizen.
On Monday, the boards of the town of Springport, the village of Union Springs and the Union Springs School District voted unanimously in opposition to the proposed settlement, which was negotiated by Brian Laudadio, of the Harris Beach law firm and the county's attorney for tribal affairs.
Robert Bower, the Springport town supervisor, said the proposed agreement discusses allowing the Cayugas sovereign land so they can have a community, but it takes away from the existing community.
"It is ruining our community and the village of Union Springs will be gone in 20 years," Bower said. He noted that the Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppe and gas station in Union Springs -- which burnt down in February -- is not being rebuilt because the shop is not profitable with the Nation's Union Springs gas station's untaxed gasoline and cigarettes.
When the Nation's 25-year-old land claim was dismissed in federal court in 2005, the Cayugas applied to the federal government for about 180 acres in Montezuma, Seneca Falls, Springport and Union Springs to be held in sovereign trust status.
If the agreement is accepted by both Cayuga and Seneca counties and at the state and federal levels, the tribe would be capped at having 10,000 acres of sovereign, restricted fee land.
Under the agreement, no more than 20-percent of any municipality could be held in sovereign status by the Cayugas. That would amount to 3,920 acres in the town of Aurelius; 116 in the village of Aurora; 174 in the village of Cayuga; 6,090 in the town of Ledyard; 2,398 in the town of Montezuma; 3,240 in the town of Springport; and 226 in the village of Union Springs, Laudadio said.
Ed Trufant, Union Springs mayor, said his municipality had not been informed or involved in the negotiations. Laudadio said it had not been an intended slight, but that he worked directly for the county and reported to them since negotiations were opened last fall over the tribe's land-in-trust applications.
"They're going to lose our rear end in this deal," Trufant said.
Still, the audience was low-key. Around 70 people were at the begining of the meeting. Many chairs were empty. The meeting finished 45 minutes before it was scheduled to end at 9:10 p.m. Around 10 speakers from the public gave comment, but many signed-up speakers passed on their turns to speak.
Auburn Mayor Tim Lattimore gave a tepid endorsement of the agreement, but he was alone in any favoritism toward it.
Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Citizen.
