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Some aldermen in no hurry on casino

Published 12:05am Tuesday, February 14, 2012

NATCHEZ — A couple of Natchez aldermen say they are in no hurry to vote on the proposed third amendment to the city’s lease with Roth Hill casino developers.

The board will discuss the amendment with outside legal counsel at its meeting today. Mayor Jake Middleton said Monday that the board could possibly vote on the amendment today.

Ward 2 Alderman James “Ricky” Gray said the board has not had adequate time to discuss the amendment with Scott Andress, the attorney the board voted to hire last week to advise the board on the amendment. Gray said the aldermen have also not had a chance to discuss the pros and cons of the lease with each other.

Gray said it is Mayor Jake Middleton, not the board, who has chosen to have the board meet recently to continually discuss the amendment. Gray said, personally, he is not in a hurry to vote on the amendment.

“I don’t understand why people are in such a hurry to make a decision when it’s going to affect property in the city for the next 99 years,” he said.

The board is expected to meet with Andress in a closed-door executive session today. Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said she understands that residents want an open meeting, but she said the executive session will allow the board to get the best legal advice.

“We need to take our time making this decision,” Mathis said. “And we cannot necessarily get the best legal advice in an open meeting because that would allow the casino’s attorney to hear the advice we are getting from our attorney.”

Middleton said he is not rushing a vote on the amendment, but he said he believes the sooner the lease is finalized the better.

“We need to get this behind us and move onto something else,” he said. “We have been working on this for a very long time.”

Middleton said the third amendment clarifies the “open-ended” provisions in the original lease. He said some of the amendment’s provisions have been proposed at the request of the casino’s funding sources.

“For the last few years (the developers) have been trying to get funding,” Middleton said. “Now they have it, and it’s time to clarify things that were left open-ended.”

Gray, who was as an alderman when the original lease was signed, said he believes the city should hold the casino developers to the original lease. He said he is not comfortable with the provisions of the proposed their amendment.

“I believe once you sign your name, and you say you’re financially stable, you should live up to it,” Gray said. “I’m in a position to do what is best for Natchez and the citizens, and I believe that would be to try to hold them up to their end of the bargain.”

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  • Anonymous

    another one bites the dust…it,ll fold one way or another ,when the Gone With The Wind gang gets through with the casino project it will be another busted egg.

  • Anonymous

    Show us the original lease….let’s write down just the items that need “clarifying”… …and take care of it.  If we make other changes I would hope they would be written in favor of the city and people of Natchez.  Then, Jake, and only then, we can go on to whats next on our list!

  • Anonymous

    “Middleton said he believes it is not in the best interest of the city to keep the original lease. He said, for example, the original lease states that the money for a recreation complex would not be paid until the recreation project was ready to begin, which he said could be a number of years.”

    Why would you need the money before it was ready to begin?  I’d actually prefer the City NOT to get their hands on this money until a plan is in place to spend it.  And the new amendment states that the City would receive $250,000 over four years (starting one year after the casino opens!).  What if the rec project is ready in 2 years???

  • Anonymous

    ” The city’s acknowledgement that Natchez Enterprises will merge into Natchez Casino OpCo, a company owned by Premier Gaming Group President Kevin Preston, George Lane of Lane Company and Robert Lubin, an attorney from Virginia.”

    There’s a snake hiding in this tall grass.

  • Anonymous

    Hmmmmm….I wonder….what does the Grinch Mathis and her henchman Gray hope to gain by holding out…perhaps the squeaky wheel wants some grease in the same manner that it would appear that Middleton has

  • Anonymous

    I don’t think the aldermen want to vote on this until after the election, and after the new mayor (presumably Butch) has taken office. Why would they want to be tarred with supporting the dubious legacy of the outgoing mayor? Jake just needs to let the waters of mediocrity close over his do-nothing four years, and stop trying to stick Natchez with a bad deal.

  • Anonymous

    And that, riverqueen, is about as simple to understand and execute as can be! Stand firm and tell THEM what WE want!  The city holds all the aces here. Use them wisely.

  • Anonymous

    Better get it as fast as you can, the casino may not last 4-6 years to get it all.

  • Anonymous

    Your dealing with the original lease and the possible new amended lease.    What’s funny is all of our money is down the road one to two years AFTER the opening.  Except the bribe money of $50,000 that they want to start paying next month.  Which the city will need to put toward the 100 space parking lot that we have to build or lease from someone, somewhere…..and to maintaining Roth Hill road and the cute little park (ing lot) they are providing.  Has anyone even thought about the money the city of Natchez will be spending while we wait for our payback.

  • http://www.natchezdemocrat.com khakirat

    First negative is the 99yr.lease-1 million dollar for rec. complex and what I saw in the ND it read that it will take more than that and the three pledgers are broke-Also that this money will be spent on a YMCA, civil rights museum, rec. complex, now who is going to make this decision????!! Also, why on this green earth would someone want mention Butch Brown as mayor I just don’t understand for the city I would feel that would want someone that isn’t from the past but new blood and thinking and not old history??!! Take the original lease and if the fat cat casino people don’t like it tell them to go take a hike!!!

  • Anonymous

    And i think you are right!

  • Anonymous

    Tewnty years a former, I repeat former, mayor was pushing for a quick lease with Lady Luck Casino the opening of which was going to seal his re-election (he lost). Well the city also lost by signing off on what many consider the worst deal in our city’s history. Natchez makes less off of what is now the Isle of Capri than any city in the state makes off of any casino. It is also the worst to visit and those that do block most of the parking for the other businesses  under the hill. And the Isle still has another 20 years on the deal that is as awful today as it was 20 years ago. So I pray the city takes the time and finds the advisors, legal, planning and otherwise, to do the right thing for Natchez and the last city owned stretch of riverfront property. And to consider a lease over twenty years is ludicrous for a project that should pay our in 1-2 years.

  • Anonymous

    I’m still waiting to find out just where all of the new customers are going to come from to insure the success of another casino? The Pile of Debris isn’t making a killing so what, will they divvy up the customer base between the 2 casinos? 

    If people aren’t coming here for one casino why in the world would they come for two? JMHO 

  • Anonymous

    If the new casino actually gets built, you will see the Isle weigh anchor in less than a year, thus we will have an empty space at the bottom of Silver St. for the next 19 years.

  • Anonymous

    At least there is a payback on this one – look at all the grants, e.g. Natchez Trails, that the city is inheriting the maintenance costs and no payback!

  • Anonymous

    They will probably relegate the decision on how to spend the $1MM to Mathis, Fields, and Gray – guess what the outcome will be?  I fully agree with you on choices for Mayor other than the past various candidates.

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