By Donna Hales

Phoenix Staff Writer

Cherokee construction subcontractors and workers won’t be the only ones to get a chance to work on a $5 million casino project for the Cherokees.

Nine of 17 Cherokee Nation Councilors voted against an amendment to proposed legislation on the Tribal Employment Rights Office, or TERO.

At issue — allowing only TERO vendors licensed by the tribe to be hired to get $5 million in subcontract work at the new casino in Ramona.

Councilor Chuck Hoskin Jr., one of the eight councilors backing the Indian contractors, says TERO contractors are those certified by Cherokee Nation as a majority Indian-owned company, which mostly are majority Cherokee-owned.

The $5 million would include dirt work, landscaping, concrete and asphalt work. The building will be a metal facility, much like the Cherokee casino in Fort Gibson.

Councilor Bill John Baker said it’s not fair to allow that $5 million, which will turn around seven times in the communities — to $35 million, go to contractors outside the area.

“Why send that money off to contractors in Phoenix, Dallas, Kansas City or Oklahoma City — where the money won’t reach the Cherokee people?” Baker said. “These are tough economic times.”

Flintco Construction will probably get a lot of the contracts — “and Flintco won’t hire Cherokees,” Baker said.

One of the chief opponents of the proposed amendment, Councilor Cara Cowan Watts, said “grandstanding” a last-minute proposal was not the answer. She did not want to discuss the amendment.

Baker said Watts has kept the issue from being voted on.

“She came up out of the blue with a supposedly new TERO proposal that mirrors what the chief wanted eight years ago and didn’t get,” Baker said.

He also said that plan was written by Secretary of State Melanie Knight.