Franklin County’s administrator recently made an overture to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation to transform Pasco’s HAPO Center into a tribal casino.

Brian Dansel made a presentation to the Yakama Tribal Council on Aug. 4 pitching the opportunity for a partnership with Franklin County to pursue the proposal at the events venue, according to the Toppenish-based tribal newspaper Yakama Nation Review. 

The county has recently asserted ownership of the facility and the adjacent Pasco Sports Complex after its contract expired with the city of Pasco.

Franklin County’s pitch also addressed the resort-casino project being pursued by the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Colville Reservation just north of Pasco’s King City area. That project has been criticized by Yakama Nation leaders as well as those with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, saying the Colville casino would be on their ancestral lands and violate their treaty rights.

“The city of Pasco is on your ground, and it doesn’t fly with Franklin County officials,” Dansel told Yakama leaders, as reported by the Yakama Nation Review. “It is important for our board to get this right.”

The presentation was reportedly informational only with no further discussion by tribal council members.

Pasco has disputed the county’s assertion of ownership of the HAPO Center since its contract with the facility lapsed. 

City Councilman Leo Perales raised questions in a social media post regarding the impacts of such a facility on the area around the HAPO Center and the events and organizations that routinely use the facility. His post was accompanied by a dual image showing the facility and sports complex as it appears today alongside a “future” image of the area as the villain’s casino portrayed in the movie, “Back to the Future, Part II.”

“Any proposal that could fundamentally change the future use of this facility deserves a transparent public discussion,” Perales said in the post, adding, “This is clearly something our community should be paying close attention to.”