Lake Ozark Split Over Support For Osage Nation Casino: Mayor Defeats Resolution In Tiebreaker Vote

LAKE OZARK, Mo. — A controversial resolution that would have officially given the City of Lake Ozark’s support to the Osage Nation’s plans to build a casino in the city was narrowly defeated last week, following a debate among aldermen and pushback from local citizens.

At the Tuesday, June 13 Lake Ozark Board of Aldermen meeting, the resolution (Resolution 2023R-17) came to a tie vote: Aldermen Judy Neels, Carol Denny, and David Ridgley voting in favor, with Pat Thompson, Sherry Jackson, and Krista Watts voting against. Mayor Dennis Newberry broke the tie by voting no, and the resolution was defeated.

The resolution had been initially proposed by Alderwoman Neels; it was tabled at the board’s previous meeting, and Neels proposed at the June 13 meeting that it should be tabled again. But Newberry pressed the board for a vote on what he called a “convoluted” resolution in an interview with Lake Expo. He says he wanted to see it defeated rather than delayed.

“I am definitely not opposed to the Osage Nation and their intent,” said Newberry, who owns Ozark Realty at Lake of the Ozarks. “What I’m concerned about is: as a businessman, I don’t make decisions based on little to no information. And as of right now, I have little to no information.”

Newberry says the Osage Nation has been pressing city officials for an official show of support but has not provided enough data for him to feel confident supporting the tribe’s stated plans to build a $60 million casino at the intersection of Bagnell Dam Blvd. and Osage Beach Pkwy.

“They won’t give us any projections, impact study, feasibility, cost to the city of the effects on the interchange… examples of what a compact would look like for city services… They’ve been totally dismissive to my requests and I’ve been requesting this stuff for 18 months,” he lamented.

Neels told Lake Expo when she proposed city staff draw up a resolution and it be put on the meeting agenda, her aim had not been to articulate support of specifics, but rather to extend a welcome to the Osage Nation. “I just felt like we owed them a welcome... greeting, and that our city staff and representatives would be working with them in the future,” she said, noting the city had voiced its support for the (ultimately failed) resolutions in the Missouri legislature that could have opened the door for a private investor group to develop a casino in or near Lake Ozark, on the Osage River.

Neels acknowledged the issue became more complicated than she meant for it to, as some city officials opposed the resolution over the ambiguity concerning the Osage Nation's plans, while it also stirred up members of the community, who showed up to both board meetings to speak against not only the resolution, but the Osage Nation's casino plans altogether.

Some have opposed the casino on moral grounds, voicing concerns over potential negative impacts to the region. Others — including elected officials and many business owners — have taken umbrage to the fact that the Osage Nation would not pay the myriad taxes that other local, competing businesses are subject to, thus giving a significant advantage to ancillary businesses the tribe might open on the property.

Newberry says the Osage Nation’s attorney has suggested the supportive resolution was merely a symbolic measure, though the mayor wonders whether a lack of local support could wind-up stonewalling the tribe’s efforts to bring a casino here. For the time being, the Osage Nation is working its way through the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. Osage Casinos CEO Kimberly Pearson told Lake Expo in a previous interview she has no idea how long that process will take.

Once the Osage Nation receives its federal stamp of approval, it still would likely need Missouri’s governor’s signature to fully operate, according to multiple individuals who have studied federal and state law on the issue. Newberry wonders: would a state governor sign-off on a project that locals oppose? As the stakes grow, time will tell who has the money — and staying power — to see that question through to the end.