The Wilton Miwok Rancheria, a local Indian tribal organization, was granted federal recognition last June, but recent legal filings from Elk Grove and Sacramento County could change that.

In court documents filed last month, the city and county are petitioning to reopen and intervene in the lawsuit between the Miwok tribe and the federal government, making several complaints and requesting the claim for federal recognition be dismissed.

Elk Grove and Sacramento County say in the documents, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, that the court granting the Miwok tribe federal recognition doesn’t have jurisdiction over the case, and that the statute of limitations for the tribe to apply for recognition has long since expired.

According to the motions filed with the court, the Miwok tribe lost federal recognition in 1964 under the California Rancheria Act, which eliminated 41 tribes across the state.

The claim goes on to say that since they challenged the act in 1979, the latest they could have filed for federal recognition would have been in 1985.

“The tribes’ challenge to their termination under the Rancheria Act was subject to the six-year statute of limitations in (U.S. code),” the documents say.

The motions filed with the court say at this point, the only way the Miwok tribe can be given federal recognition is if Congress approves it.

The documents also say the court that granted the tribe federal recognition doesn’t have jurisdiction over the case.

They argue that the correct court is the district court for the Eastern District of California, which includes Sacramento, Fresno, Yosemite, Redding and other areas. It says the tribe purposely moved the case to the wrong district so people who might oppose the case wouldn’t find out about the lawsuit.

“By all appearances, (the Wilton Miwok tribe has) steered this case so as to avoid opposition to their efforts to remove property from the regulatory jurisdiction of the county, which they had to know would be controversial …” the motions say.

Paul Hahn, Sacramento County’s municipal services administrator, said the city and county are “not trying to fight (the Miwok) recognition as a tribe.

“The process was flawed,” Hahn said.

Hahn said Sacramento County wants to continue to have authority over the development in the Wilton Miwok area so that the county’s general plan can be followed.

“We allow or don’t allow zoning after (holding) a public hearing, and that’s what we would like to continue to (do),” he said. “The general plan shows that whole area as more rural in nature. We don’t see anything large-scale in nature, similar to a casino.”

Elk Grove officials declined to comment for this story.

The documents say the city and county should have been included in the lawsuit because they have “taxing and regulatory interests” they would want to protect.

Wilton Miwok Tribal Co-Chair Mary Tarango said that the governments of Elk Grove and Sacramento County would have been included in the process in a year or two – once the tribe had established an official government.

“It wasn’t timely,” Tarango said. “This was a federal process. It had nothing to do with the city and county.”

Tarango said the legal battle of trying to restore the tribe’s federal status has been ongoing for decades, and she has been involved in it for 20 years.

She said the court where the Wilton Miwok’s case was filed is the same court that in the late 1970s handled a 34-tribe case involving the Wilton tribe known as Tillie Hardwick v. United States, and called Elk Grove and Sacramento County’s arguments “all untrue, premature, half-baked and uneducated.”

Tarango said the tribe tried to be diplomatic with the city and county, sending a letter to them offering to sit down to discuss what the tribe’s new federal status could mean.

“We sent out the good-faith hand to say, ‘Here we are,’” Tarango said. “Then to be slapped with this litigation – that doesn’t feel good.”

She said the motions filed by the city and county aren’t just a way for them to be involved in the discussion.

“It’s (an attempt at) undoing our restoration … that needs to be emphasized,” Tarango said.

Tribal attorney Christina Kazhe said an initial hearing set for Sept. 18 is currently being rescheduled.