The drama between the Tuolumne City Sanitary District and the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians has spilled over from the boardroom into local sheriff’s reports.

The district’s sewer plant manager Danny Tuel was booted off casino property over the course of his duties on Sunday, according to the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office log.
 

   In a telephone interview this week, Tuel explained that he had to get a manual meter reading at the tribe’s Black Oak Casino, the sewer district’s largest client, because the Web site that relays information to the district headquarters was down.
    The problem is, per a settlement agreement reached this fall between the tribe and the district regarding a past due bill, Tuel is not allowed on tribal property. But the agreement makes an exception in the case of emergencies.
    “I thought it was an emergency,” Tuel said. “There are things out there I need to check.”
    Tuel claims he has already been kicked off casino property once last year, after tribal officials threatened to call federal marshals to have him removed.
    The reasoning for Tuel being barred appears to be an accusation by a former district employee that Tuel has doctored the casino’s sewer samples so the district could over-charge the tribe. But subsequent sampling cleared Tuel, district officials say.
    “I was found innocent,” Tuel said. “I think it’s a personal issue.”
    Tuel said the situation has made it tough for him to do his job. Though, he noted, he has an assistant who is allowed on tribal grounds.
    Tribal representatives have declined to comment on the issue.
    The issue is somewhat muddled, despite the settlement agreement. District rules, according to Tuel, require district clients to allow workers on their property for necessary upkeep. In addition, the district’s board no longer recognizes the legitimacy of the settlement agreement with the tribe.
    Adding to the drama is the tribe’s status as a sovereign entity. Federal and tribal representatives have authority on tribal lands, but not the state and local governments.
    Just two members on the five-member board — brothers Jeff and Kevin Burns — were around last fall when the settlement agreement was reached after months of closed-door negotiations with the tribe. Three members — Walt Harris, Clay Peterson and Charles Mosley — have quit since December.
    Two of the three new board members — Chairman Evan Royce and Charles Conn — have slammed the agreement, with Royce going so far as to call for the resignation of the Burns brothers. The Burns brothers, meanwhile, took back their support for the agreement after it was released to the public last fall.
    The district has since hired a new attorney tasked with the job of trying to find a way for the district to get out of the agreement. Questions currently swirl around whether the district’s previous attorney, Patrick Greenwell, adequately represented the district, whether board members knew what they were approving and whether former chairman Kevin Burns acted outside of the scope of his authority by signing it.
    Board members agree that the agreement appears one-sided in favor of the tribe.
    In addition to barring Tuel from tribal property, the agreement zeroes out a $2.9 million bill the district once said was owed by the tribe; gives the tribe an ex-officio member on the board; stipulates that the tribe and district agree on a new billing formula if the tribe needs to purchase more sewer capacity; and allows the tribe to put connection fees that were once a part of the tribe’s Westside subdivision toward casino operations.
    The agreement stems from the tribe’s refusal to pay the $2.9 million bill. The tribe contends that there was no contract authorizing the charge. The tribe also points to the roughly $4 million it has paid in the past for, in part, the construction of a new sewer plant designed largely to accommodate tribal economic growth.