Yolo County and the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians will likely enter arbitration after an impasse in negotiations related to the Tribe's plans to triple the size of the Cache Creek Casino.

Yolo County has attempted for months to negotiate with the Tribe to achieve a comprehensive and global approach to the expansion. Instead, the Tribe has chosen to negotiate by limiting the discussion to the narrowest scope possible.

As negotiations have reached an impasse, both sides are now required to exchange their last, best written offer, which by necessity is a "bare bones" offer, leading to arbitration.

The Tribe's Cache Creek Casino Expansion plan calls for:

n tripling the size of the Casino;

n increasing hotel rooms from 200 to 694; and

n by tripling the size of the Casino, the Tribe can expand the existing 2,600 slot machines to at least 8,000 slot machines because its compact with the State allows an unlimited number of machines. At this size, the Cache Creek Casino would equal the size of the largest casino in the world.

"Yolo County has always valued its relationship with the Tribe and wants to continue working together as partners," said Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Mike McGowan. "In the past, this partnership recognized a vision for the entire Capay Valley including preserving its rural character for an enhanced quality of life for all county residents. Unfortunately, the Tribe's latest proposal to mitigate the impacts from tripling the size

 

of the Cache Creek Casino does not reflect the spirit of this past partnership. We believe the magnitude of the casino expansion requires looking far beyond the Tribe's limited view which only addresses impacts to individual county services."