Tribal Council session exposes rift between community, leaseholder interests
Attorney Rob Saunooke addressed Tribal Council on April 9.
A special April 9 Tribal Council session was entirely dedicated to a single resolution meant to protect a general contractor by asserting an easement for the right-of-way over leased Qualla Boundary properties involving “a reasonable and common ingress, egress and utilities.”
While the resolution reiterated a clause that had already been established, the meeting exposed a growing rift, present also at the April 2 regular meeting, between business interests and tribal members.
It also showcased public distrust in closed negotiations concerning issues that affect every Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians member.
The resolution was written as a response to EBCI enrolled member Collete Coggins’ claims that utility construction had overstepped its easement on her leased parcel.
There are two ongoing projects on the land in question: tribal operations is working on a re-healing circuit in conjunction with Duke Energy, and a Tribal Bingo Enterprises’ general contractor is constructing a bingo hall. EBCI Secretary of Operations Anthony Sequoia said the main pole behind Coggins’ Native Brews Tap & Grill must have safe ingress and egress, but because the only access to the pole is through the back of the establishment, encroaching on her development plans, the groups involved instead created a new access point.
According to TBE project lead Tommy Lambert, this route also allowed the general contractor to regrade the slope, solving the problem with the bingo hall’s retaining wall and eliminating the need for the originally projected $1.1 million improvement. Coggins’ attorney, Rob Saunooke, said the new route encroaches beyond the terms of the lease, while Attorney General Mike McConnell argued the easement dimensions remain undefined.
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Likening the slope-clearing to eminent domain, Saunooke criticized how and why it was carried out.
“For whatever reason, individuals here went to the people that were doing the work and said, ‘Take the mountain down.’ Period. They didn’t talk to Ms. Coggins. Didn’t reach out to her, knowing full well there was a lease and that she had development plans for that mountain,” he said, describing the resolution as a way for the tribe to “cover up the dead body they’ve left behind.”
Others spoke against the resolution, though it wasn’t because they agreed with the leaseholder. They argued the legislation was not only unnecessary but also entertained Coggins’ willingness to halt tribal operations.
Consequently, her existing right to the land and related tribal government actions were heavily scrutinized, dominating much of the conversation.
Coggins, no stranger to controversy, first came under fire nearly two decades ago. Former game show host Bob Barker, on a tour with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, publicized the dismal conditions of the bears kept confined at roadside shows including Cherokee Bear Zoo, owned by Coggins and her husband.
During a press conference, Barker recounted that bears at each zoo were housed in small concrete pits, unable to escape. The campaign raised awareness, but while authorities closed Chief Saunooke Bear Park, nothing was done about Cherokee Bear Zoo or other similar attractions.
Barker notwithstanding, the loudest opposition to the establishment has come from EBCI members. In December 2013, elders Amy Walker and Peggy Hill sued Cherokee Bear Zoo on the grounds of violating the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit, initially dismissed in April 2016, dragged on in a federal appeals court until fall 2017, when the ruling was partially vacated due to “incorrect legal analysis” and remanded to the lower court.
Around that time, the tribe sent out a request for proposals concerning a 25-acre parcel. According to Saunooke, the RFP was advertised five times, but “nobody made an offer” — that is, until Coggins and her husband.
In 2017, the business committee — then-Principal Chief Richard Sneed, Vice Chief Alan Ensley, Dennis Taylor, Travis Smith and Anita Lossiah — approved Coggins as leaseholder of the property upon the condition that she build a bear sanctuary within 18 months. Tribal officials seemed to envision she’d move the bears currently housed at the zoo to the larger and more humane parcel property.
“The discussion before I got on council here was, you know, to move [the bear park] from down there up here, to improve on what it looks like now, and improve for the — well — for the care of the bears, as well,” said council member Boyd Owle (Birdtown).
Instead, Coggins built a restaurant.
Her original failure to fulfill the contract led some tribal council members and public commenters to argue on April 9 that her lease should’ve been terminated. They lamented the business committee’s subsequent decision to renegotiate, rather than nullify, her rights to the property.
“I wanted for that to go on record that I did object to the renewal or renegotiation of the terms of this lease, because I felt very strongly that she was in material breach of the original lease. We shouldn’t have even been here today, because that lease should never have existed because of her failure to follow through,” said tribal council member Shannon Swimmer (Painttown).
Saunooke, however, said achieving the terms of the agreement would’ve been impossible.
“It’s prohibited to have any sanctuary or bear park or anything like that within two miles of the of the park down back here, within two miles of the parkway. So even if we had wanted to, it could not have been built. And whoever negotiated that lease at the beginning should have known that, and they did not,” he said.
The amended lease removed Coggins’ claim to an old building within the parcel so the tribe could use the land to construct a bingo hall. It also scrapped the bear sanctuary provision and awarded additional time to submit development plans for the leased mountain-side area — which she has yet to accomplish.
Some attendees decried the process of the renegotiation on the part of both Coggins and the business committee, especially after the document was labelled confidential by Attorney General Mike McConnell. Hill, one of two filers of the 2013 bear zoo lawsuit, asked why, if tribal members are stakeholders, the amended lease wouldn’t be publicly available.
“You are a stakeholder. That is correct. The tribal culture has treated those documents as confidential for decades,” said McConnell.
“How many decades? Because [Bureau of Indian Affairs]—” she started.
“May I answer?” Interrupted McConnell.
As Hill told him to continue, a call for the Attorney General to “watch your tone” was shouted from the audience.
“The confidentiality provision grew out of federal law when the BIA ran the realty office. The Federal Privacy Act imposed restrictions on the disclosure of that information,” McConnell said.
The tribal elder had another grievance concerning the amended contract. Out of ongoing concern for the bears and the original lease’s bear-sanctuary requirement, Hill said she and Walker had approached the business committee during the re-negotiations. She recounted first being “kicked out” and that she and Walker were unable to address the group until Coggins had exited. Her comment touched on a common sentiment among commenters — Coggins’ interests came first at the decision-making table.
“She’s had that privilege to serve on boards and entities and be able to have a business and to be up there making good money for herself. She’s privileged in that. Nothing personal, that’s just a fact. But where’s the privilege of the entire tribe?” asked enrolled member Mary Crowe.
In the end, the resolution was withdrawn and the conversation circled back to Coggins’ concerns about EBCI lease encroachment. Saunooke, unable to sue the EBCI because of sovereign immunity, threatened to file a lawsuit against TBE’s general contractor instead, spooking the business off the job.
“GC has said that even with the easement that y’all have in front of you, he will not return to the job site. The reason he won’t return to the job site was statements that were made by Mr. Saunooke here that he would sue the general contractor, with or without an easement,” said Lambert, adding that the project would be put on “indefinite hold” pending a contractor.
The Cherokee One Feather on April 10 announced bingo hall construction would be resumed at the same site with the general contractor, following discussions, contract additions and an agreement to slightly shift one side of property. But the big-picture concern among many EBCI members — that living conditions on the Qualla Boundary could depend on the interests of a single individual — will likely be harder to resolve.
“We are all shareholders in this land. I know it. You know it, she knows it. But to have one person block us from moving forward is wrong,” said enrolled member Lisa Montelongo on April 9.
