Menominee Tribe waits on federal approval for proposed Kenosha casino
KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The idea to build a Kenosha casino has been in limbo for the past year. After the Menominee Tribe gained intergovernmental agreements with the City of Kenosha and Kenosha County, the deal now lies at the federal level with some hurdles ahead and opponents just as adamant that it fails.
"And it's really kind of head scratching that they want to bring a casino in that by the way, is gonna be sovereign land that they don't have control over, any of the stuff that's going to occur on that. And we don't really know who's gonna police it. I mean, there's a lot of questions that haven't been answered here," said Lorri Pickens with Citizens Against Expanded Gambling.
In 2015, then-Governor Scott Walker vetoed a similar Kenosha casino proposal, but the Menominee Tribe's hopeful this plan will work.
The tribe tells us they spent several months in 2024 preparing the necessary studies and paperwork required by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Now, they're waiting for that office to make public their environmental assessment. After that, the tribe's hopeful it will move on to Governor Tony Evers' desk.
The Menominee proposal to bring the $360 million casino to Kenosha's still on the table, but with a number of hurdles still ahead. As they wait for answers, we saw what an additional source of revenue might do for the tribe.
About half of the nearly 9,000 Menominee membership live on 262,000 acres in the Keshena, Wisconsin area. Most homes are owned by the tribe, and upkeep is on them.
"I mean, even replacing a small roof such as that, you're looking at in the ballpark of $5,000 to $6,000," said Chairman Joey Awonohopay, Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.
Despite leaky roofs, plumbing issues and tainted aesthetics, the housing waiting list is long. They're doing their best to fix what's needed.
"Costs a lot of money, yeah, so flooring, depending on what kind of flooring, put a new flooring in here, could be a couple thousand dollars for something like that," said Chachi Mendez, Maintenance Manager, Menominee Tribal Housing.
Chairman Awonohopay sat in the backseat as his driver led us around the entire reservation showing us ranch-style homes in desperate need of repair with little money to do so.
"We want everyone to understand we will continue to work hard and utilize every penny in a positive way to impact positively the lives of our tribal membership," said Chairman Awonohopay.
Besides housing, Chairman Awonohopay tells us social services are hurting. This is the Community Resource Center where staff do their best to get recipients what they need.
"But it gets to be a struggle to keep staff and to advance staff because there's no extra money to do that with that so, and my staff see over 16,000 Badger Care and food share clients monthly," said Sue Blodgett, director, Community Resource Center.
Another struggle is health care.
"We are ranked as the 72nd poorest health care county in Wisconsin out of 72 counties. You know, we're got heart disease. We've got substance abuse problems. We've got mental health issues. We have high incidence of diabetes in the Native American population," said David Waupoose, assistant health administrator, Menominee Tribal Clinic.
Drug addiction also continues to be a factor. Tribal housing crews have to keep an eye out for it.
"So, we test for meth and fentanyl in our units. We test the walls. So, we actually swab certain spots, and we send it to a third-party facility. Those ones are extra costs - we have to have our special guys go in and remediate go in there and scrub the walls," said Mendez.
And while drug concerns go up, the police force has gone down.
"We just don't have the financial stability to be competitive with a retirement package, and with a salary for law enforcement," said Chairman Awonohopay.
Chairman Awonohopay pointed to home after home, many with children inside. He noted the early childhood programs do what they can, but they too don't have enough staff to meet the need.
"Just in one classroom, I know we have over 16 children that are on a waiting list to just get into the classroom, because of the room, we don't have the funding," said Awonohopay.
The Menominee operates a smaller casino near the reservation, where a number of tribal members work. Profits, though, just aren't enough and that's why Awonohopay says Kenosha dollars are so needed.
"Would change the lives of thousands of tribal members and non-tribal members that utilize our clinic and utilize our resources that we have here," said Chairman Awonohopay.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs tells us the department will be reviewing all draft environmental assessments. Once that's done, the public will have a chance to look it over.