Aldermen seek legal counsel
Published 12:17am Friday, January 20, 2012NATCHEZ — Residents pleaded their cases against the recently proposed amendment to the city’s lease with Roth Hill casino developers and ultimately helped convince the Natchez Board of Aldermen to seek outside legal counsel to review the amendment before a final decision.
The proposed lease amendment outlines provisions that seemingly reduce the developers’ commitment to non-casino projects in the city and names one of the casino’s investment companies a leasehold mortgagee and a third-party beneficiary.
The amendment would allow Levine Leichtman Capital Partners Inc. to purchase part of and have equity ownership of Natchez Gaming Enterprises and would not allow the city or Natchez Enterprises to terminate the lease without notifying and receiving approval from the investment company.
The amendment is the third since the lease was originally drafted in 2007 between the city and Natchez Gaming Enterprises, which is now a Premier Gaming Group company.
The board voted after an executive session at its Thursday meeting — which continued Tuesday’s recessed meeting — to hire the outside counsel. Before the executive session, several residents voiced concerns that the city would lose significant authority in the casino’s dealings by agreeing to the amendment.
Before the executive session, Natchez Preservation commissioner Liz Dantone, who said she was speaking as a regular citizen, implored the board to hire outside legal counsel with gaming, real estate and municipal experience to review the proposed amendment.
“There are extensive implications,” she said. “You’ve been submitted an amendment that is extremely one-sided. You are facing a discussion in there that is highly technical and undecipherable to most people in this room. Sometimes you need to go outside and ask for help and get the best council you can.”
Mayoral candidate Bill Furlow asked the board if they fully understood the lease and if the provision in the current lease that says the board must authorize the sale of any portion of Natchez Gaming Enterprises would carry over if Levine Leichtman Capital Partners buys the company and intends to sell it.
Mayor Jake Middleton said he had the same question.
Kathleen Jenkins, superintendent of the National Park Service, said she was concerned about the five additional acres the developers would receive with the new amendment and how the increase would affect the public park that could be built at the site. Jenkins also said she was concerned the Natchez Trails Project might not receive its designated $300,000 with new language in the lease.
Mary Jane Gaudet said the board should be steadfast and hold onto its bargaining power with the casino.
“We are just an innocent city, but you can make the decision and if you stay (strong), they will bow to you,” she said.
Gaudet urged the board to keep the city’s preservation laws strong to preserve and protect the history that brings people to Natchez.
“No one in the nation has a 200-year-old Spanish-style city sitting atop a bluff right on the river,” she said.
The public comments were made at the meeting after their was some confusion among the board and residents about whether comments were going to be allowed.
Former mayor Larry L. “Butch” Brown, who has said he will run for mayor this spring, questioned if the recessed meeting was valid since it was not being videotaped as required by the city’s own policy.
After some discussion between the aldermen and Brown, the board allowed the meeting to continue.
Middleton said after the executive session that Alderman Dan Dillard made a phone call and Bruce Video Productions staff could not be at the meeting because of the illness.
Middleton said the board planned to hire qualified outside legal counsel by next week. He said the aldermen would probably have a specially called meeting after the amendment is reviewed and new provisions can be drafted and given to Natchez Gaming Enterprises. Mathis noted that the meeting would be videotaped.
Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said the board has also had concerns about the casino, even though it may not appear that way to residents.
“We are very cognizant of how everything looks,” she said. “We’re trying to watch the process. We have a wealth of knowledge that you may not think we possess, and we’re going to look at this line for line and point by point.”
