The San Jacinto City Council is asking that the Bureau of Indian Affairs suspend the application of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians that seeks to annex hundreds of acres the tribe wants to use to build a hotel and casino complex.

The June 23 letter, signed by Mayor Jim Ayres, requests that the federal agency stop processing the application until issues of public safety are resolved. In May, the city requested that the tribe voluntarily pull its application after a series of violent incidents that culminated with the fatal shootings of three tribal members by Riverside County sheriff's deputies.

Ayres wrote in the letter that tribal officials have indicated they would not pull the application to add 535 acres to the reservation. The letter stated the federal agency has the authority to act on the city's request because local governments are routinely asked to comment on reservation expansions and their effect on public services. In this case, the letter states, the effect would be on police and fire department services.

"Unless and until the City Council can be assured of the personal safety of the residents of San Jacinto, the public who would be visiting the Reservation, and the Tribe's own residents, any expansion of the Reservation would be inappropriate," the letter stated.

Tribal Chairman Robert "Bobby" Salgado said Tuesday he had seen the June 23 letter and wondered why San Jacinto officials are worried about violence on the reservation when they have their own crime to deal with.

"He (Ayres) wants to be telling us that it is not safe to be out here," Salgado said by phone. "They have their own issues they need to take care of."

Salgado said the city has gangs and criminal elements. "Why don't they deal with them," he said.

He declined to comment further.

Relations between the 900-member tribe and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department have been strained since the fatal shootings. On May 12, deputies killed Joseph Arres, 36, and Tamara Angela Hurtado, 29, in a gunbattle in a remote part of the reservation. The two tribal members were shot multiple times by SWAT officers, who said they had been fired upon by one of the two.

Four days earlier, deputies shot and killed 26-year-old Eli Morillo after they went to investigate gunfire on a remote part of the reservation and found themselves under attack, authorities said.

The letter does not specify what needs to be done to resolve the city's concerns, but City Manager Barry McClellan said Tuesday that a proposed memorandum of understanding between the tribe and Sheriff's Department now being negotiated was not sufficient. The two groups have held several meetings since the shootings and are expected to soon announce an agreement that will "facilitate communication between the two entities," said sheriff's Lt. Patricia Knudson, who has been taking part in the talks.

A contract for law enforcement services between the tribe and Sheriff's Department would be a step in the right direction, McClellan said, but the city is not trying to force that on the tribe. The department had a contract with the tribe for such services, but the tribe canceled the agreement in August 2006.

Knudson said there have been no discussions about a new contract.

The tribe wants to annex hundreds of acres of land that it owns along Soboba Road, northwest of Lake Park Drive, to its 3,171-acre reservation east of San Jacinto. An annexation is needed to give the land federal trust status so a casino can be built on it. The new casino would replace the tribe's existing gambling facility.

The tribe has said it wants to build a 90,000-square-foot casino with a 70,000-square-foot gaming floor, as well as a 300- room hotel, a multilevel parking garage, a tribal fire station and other amenities.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is part of the U.S. Interior Department, held a public meeting on the annexation request in January and heard concerns and complaints from dozens of residents who live near the property in question. Officials from the federal agency could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

While the public comment period for the proposed annexation has ended, McClellan said the city of San Jacinto could make its position known should the tribe proceed with its application.