I would like to take this opportunity to address the Board and the Town and explain my position on the Mashpee Wampanoag Resort-Casino proposal. I have been quiet on this issue since it was proposed, because I wanted to look at all of the potential impacts, to the best of my ability, prior to taking a position that, either way, will affect this town forever. There is a phenomenal amount of information available in reference to Indian Casinos all over this country. There has also been a lot of information recently published here regarding this issue, some of which is factual and true and some of which has been embellished and simply is not true. This has caused a reaction that in some cases borders on emotional hysteria. There are clearly some people who are and will continue to be opposed to an Indian Casino being located in Middleborough and others who just as passionately favor the project. There are others who have no position, want to understand the proposal more fully or are plainly apathetic towards the whole thing.

 Let me attempt a brief overview of what has happened to this point. When the news broke that the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe had finally received recognition from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Board decided that a meeting with the tribal leaders should be attempted to try to define the intentions of the Tribe. The Town Manager was instructed to contact them and set up a meeting. As a result, Tribal Council Chairman Glenn Marshall and three others came to Middleborough and met with the Town Manager, Adam Bond and myself. At that meeting I commented to Chairman Marshall that I understood that because they had gained recognition, it was a reasonable assumption that they would be building a Casino and secondly that that Casino would be located somewhere in southeastern Massachusetts. He emphatically agreed that my assumptions were correct. Also at that meeting, he indicated that Middleborough was a location of great interest to them due to the historic connection to the Tribe. There were no offers made by either side, but we all agreed to keep the lines of communication open. He also made it clear at that meeting that the Tribe wanted to be good neighbors with whomever the host community ended up being and work to mitigate any and all concerns generated by a Resort-Casino. There weren’t then and haven’t been since any “back-room meetings” or “back-room deals” with any member of this Board and the Tribe.

 Earlier in the year, when the Board was dealing with budget problems, we were made painfully aware that our projected local receipts were probably not going to be met for this fiscal year. Building permit fees and excise taxes in particular, were off substantially. We knew that if we didn’t do something to adjust for this, we would have an even bigger financial problem going into FY08 than we already were facing. Therefore we asked the Town Manager to work with the Collector-Treasurer and see what land that had been taken for Tax Title might be available to auction off as an attempt to mitigate this expected shortfall. The decision was made to advertise a number of parcels of land for auction on two different dates. We also agreed to post opening bids which were higher than the assessed value of these parcels, knowing that we probably would not have any bidders on some parcels because of the size of the opening bids. One of the parcels of land was located on Precinct Street. Although I was not in attendance at the auction, we have been informed that there were two bidders on this parcel-one being a developer and the other being someone representing the Mashpee Wampanoags. The Mashpee Wampanoags were the successful bidders on this parcel and as we know, they have optioned other land contiguous to this parcel. At that time, the Tribe clearly indicated their desire to locate a Resort-Casino on this site. They have been up front with the Town every step of the way.  At that time, the Board contracted with Attorney Jon Whitten to represent us in talks and/or negotiations with the Tribe. Shortly thereafter, an erroneous newspaper report indicated that the Board of Selectmen had signed an agreement with the Tribe, when in fact, we had not even been presented with a draft copy of the contract until the afternoon of that report. We then proceeded to hold a public meeting to try and get public input, explain the content of the proposal and take further action to get the facts, try to understand the will of the people and move forward towards a final decision. At this time we also retained the services of Attorney Dennis Whittlesey  from a Washington, D.C. law firm, who had negotiated an agreement with a Tribe in Michigan while representing the City of Detroit. It was agreed that Attorneys Whitten and Whittlesey would work together and try to improve on the proposal both in content and language. That is the stage we are at right now.

 Now the big question- Is this an Opportunity or a Fiasco? In trying to define an answer to this question, we must look at the impacts, both positive and negative to our Town. If you will indulge me, I will attempt to explain my views on any number of issues facing us here. First, we need to be concerned with potential traffic problems. To be completely logical about this, the Tribe is not about to build a Resort-Casino that they can’t move the people to in a relatively easy and orderly fashion. People probably wouldn’t return if they had to sit in massive traffic jams for extended periods of time. As part of the proposal, they have committed to spending $160M to rebuild Route 44. We have been told they have engineers working on this as we speak and once in place the mess at our rotary and the deadly intersections at Old Center St.; Plymouth St.; and E. Main St. would be eliminated with a fly-over and overpasses. This type of plan would also keep local traffic away from Casino traffic. This project is something the town has been trying to accomplish for roughly twenty years. The State recently put it out to another ten year study, meaning if we wait for them, it will be at least twenty more years before we gain relief. Also, a few months ago, Saxon Partners announced they had purchased the Southpointe property(former drive-in theater)and would develop a shopping center with big box stores similar to their Colony Park project in Plymouth. We have recently been told that this project will not be going forward because they can’t find tenants interested in it due to location. One of the major problems is traffic. They simply can’t move the volume needed to that location with the current road configuration. Also, if the rotary flyover became a reality, we could then finish commercial development in the industrial park and with the so-called “ring road”, develop commercially the property across from the Stop and Shop supermarket on W. Grove St. All of this would help in building our commercial tax base at no additional expense to the Town.                        

Next we need to look at our water, wastewater gas and electric infrastructure. The Tribe has agreed in their proposal to pay for any and all upgrades to our systems necessary for the completion of their project. They would also become a ratepayer for those services at whatever our current rates are which would enhance the profitability of the Gas & Electric Department and help with our Water and Wastewater enterprise funds. We have long recognized the need to expand our water system by building new wells, obtaining DEP approvals, increasing water main sizes and locations, completing looping in the system to improve volume and pressure and making water available to new customers and building a new storage facility. Town meeting last year approved bonding of $10M for some much needed improvements to the system, but much more is needed to keep up with the growth occurring in our town. This proposal would answer many of these problems without reaching into the ratepayers pockets. The same scenarios play out in both the wastewater enterprise fund and with gas & electric infrastructure improvements.

 Next, I would like to address some of the moral issues surrounding a Casino. I would include addiction, crime, prostitution and gambling in general. On the addiction issue, no matter where a Casino is located, there will be some people who are addicted to gambling. It is already with us and is dealt with through a number of counseling agencies in the area. I don’t believe that it would grow appreciably in our town because of the close proximity of a Casino. However, I would suggest that a fund be created from any mitigation monies received by the Town and made available to the Middleboro-Lakeville Clergy Association to be used to help mitigate some of the family problems potentially caused by a Casino being located here. I believe this is something we have a need for right now, but have no way to fund at this time. While researching crime statistics associated with Casino host communities at different locations across the country, it became abundantly clear that there was not an appreciable increase in crime anywhere that a Casino had been located. In communities that had Tribal Police, they dealt with it very effectively and in communities where the Casinos were policed by local Departments, the statistics were about the same. The same can be said about prostitution becoming an issue. It became apparent to me that there was a clear difference between Indian Casinos located alone in a community and the type of problems experienced by Las Vegas, Reno or Atlantic City style gambling cities. The other moral issue that is somewhat troubling is gambling itself. But if you stop and think about it, gambling is nothing new! When I was somewhat younger, we had two dog tracks in the immediate area, and there was pari-mutuel betting on horse racing at the local fairs in Plymouth County. Then there was the Jai-Lai craze in Rhode Island and there was always a numbers game of some sort if you wanted to play. Then one day a few years ago the Grand and Glorious General Court decided that the State should be in the gambling business. So began the State Lottery! Today you can’t walk into a convenience store, grocery store, drugstore or a bar without being exposed to multiple scratch tickets, multiple daily, weekly, monthly and even annual ticket games. On top of this you can play Keno almost everywhere and now they have introduced a new NASCAR racing game. Our children are already exposed to gambling every day right here in our little rural community of Middleborough. And we don’t always get the money returned from the State that we are supposed to get!

 Which brings me to the next issue. I have heard some opponents espouse the feelings that Middleborough will lose its rural character if a Resort-Casino is located here. This is also a concern of mine, but have we looked around lately? Middleborough is growing so fast that we are losing our rural character a piece at a time as we speak. Statistics also indicate that these types of impacts will be felt everywhere within a fifty mile radius of a Resort-Casino. So we would probably experience more of this loss even if this were to be located in New Bedford. And we would not get any monetary benefit for our trouble.

 And what about impacts to our schools and housing?  Because a Resort-Casino is a destination, it will have relatively little impact on either our schools or our housing. However, over time, as the number of jobs increase, housing needs will also increase and possibly speed up the eventual build-out of the Town. Historically, when this happens, it increases the value of the housing stock due to supply and demand. This type of growth could certainly have an impact on our schools over time. But even if a Resort-Casino were built on land in another community nearby, we would experience the same type of impacts. Once again, with no mitigating revenue source. If we were to see an influx of Indian children in our schools as a result of a Casino, we would be able to avail ourselves of Federal money to help educate these children. The Tribe has indicated publicly that they will want to create a hospitality school for employees of this venture. As we know, Massasoit Community College and Cambridge College are in the process of finalizing plans to open a satellite campus downtown at the site of St. Luke’s Hospital. This will help in revitalizing our downtown and could also play host to the hospitality school.

 Now let me take a minute and talk about environmental concerns and open space. The Tribe has indicated a strong desire to maintain and care for open space, particularly along the Taunton and Nemasket Rivers. This is something, we as a town have been trying to accomplish for years, but with little success due to money problems. The Mashpee Wampanoags are known to have always been good stewards of the land. And further, as one resident mentioned recently, wouldn’t it be nice if we had a few million dollars sitting in a fund so that when a developer comes to town and wants to put another large unwanted 40B project in our town, we could buy the land and keep it in open space or better yet, purchase development rights like we just did with the Parks property in South Middleborough and keep it on the tax rolls.

 Another aspect of this proposal is obviously the jobs it will create. As it is being built, it is estimated that there will be 2,700 construction jobs created. Once it opens, it is estimated that between 5,000 and 7,500 permanent jobs will be created. Minimum salary is expected to be $35,000 plus benefits. I would expect that unemployment in Middleboro would be zero and anyone who wanted to work could work.

 One other consideration to think about. Remember when SEMASS came and Middleborough didn’t want it? They located it in Rochester just over the line. Rochester got the revenue and Middleborough got the headaches! And then there was Ocean Spray, but that is another story. The fact is that if the Tribe wants to locate here, they can, either with us or without us! But, we do have choices. We could say “No” to the Tribe-We don’t want you here! And have them site a Casino here anyway. We could say “No” to the Tribe-We don’t want you here! And have them develop housing or some other use on the land they own. We could say “No”-We don’t want you here! And have them sell the land to a developer. Or we could welcome them, work with them to mitigate and compromise problems and sign an agreement that would provide us with a sustainable long term revenue source. If we as a Town do the latter, maybe we could turn some things around and start providing the services, once again, that we all expect. Maybe we could give our children a little better education, because we wouldn’t be struggling to meet net-school spending instead of giving them what they need. Maybe we could enhance our programs for the elderly by having a better Council On Aging. Maybe we could re-open all of our Fire Stations all of the time. Maybe we could have our own ambulance service, rather than be dependent on someone else. Maybe we could roll back the temporary trash fee that was imposed last year. Maybe we could take care of our youth the way we should be by properly funding the Park Department. Maybe we wouldn’t have to worry about losing certification at our very good library. Maybe we could build the new Police Station and DPW facility which are so desperately needed without relying on a debt exclusion or a Proposition 2 ½ override. And just maybe we could do a little better job taking care of our roads and plowing snow earlier rather than later. Maybe, just maybe, Middleborough might be the community we would all like to find once again!

 So, in summation, Is this an Opportunity or a Fiasco? I believe we have a golden opportunity to enhance the Town of Middleborough by welcoming the Mashpee Wampanoags and their Resort-Casino. We need to work co-operatively with the Tribe to create and adopt the best deal possible for the residents of Middleborough. I strongly support the Mashpee Wampanoag Resort-Casino proposal for Middleborough and will work diligently to finalize a contract with the Tribe to present to you at Town Meeting as soon as possible.

 Wayne C. Perkins, Selectman

July 2, 2007

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