County, tribe dicker over casino patrol

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — The McKinley County Commission is still waiting to talk to officials for the Navajo Nation Gaming Commission.

The two entities have been talking about the McKinley County Sheriff’s Department providing backup for the Navajo Nation Police Department at the Fire Rock Casino, and the tribal gaming enterprise is willing to provide the county compensation if they do.

At last month’s meeting, the commission passed a resolution asking county officials to negotiate an agreement with the enterprise that would give the county the cost of two deputies plus two police cruisers in exchange for an agreement to be backup.

County Attorney Doug Decker told the commission that he has sent the gaming enterprise an e-mail outlining the county’s request but so far has received no response.

The county is facing two problems with the negotiations.

The first is that the enterprise has already turned down that request down and has offered instead to reimburse the county one deputy and one cruiser, a deal that would provide the county with about $100,000 extra for its sheriff’s department.

The second problem and one that was mentioned by County Manager Tom Trujillo Tuesday is that the county would be providing the back up services anyway at no cost to the enterprise because of an agreement that is now in effect between the sheriff’s department and the tribal sheriff’s department which requires each to provide back up services to the other when needed.

Trujillo recommended that the commission go back to the offer made by the enterprise and sign that agreement so the county would have the funds as soon as possible.

According to officials, the sheriff’s department has responded to six accidents, one report of an intoxicated person and one report of a family leaving their child in their vehicle while they went inside to gamble.