Feds investigating City of Pocatello for possible discrimination
The City of Pocatello is currently being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This comes after the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes said they were discriminated against by the City.
For some time now, the Tribes and the City of Pocatello have had tension. The most recent issue was a lease agreement for use of airport land.
In the lease agreement, the City states that a lessee shall not enter into any agreement with the Tribes regarding leased premises or operations without the lessor’s (City’s) written consent to do so.
General Council for the Tribes, Bill Bacon says this is discrimination, and the City could lose money depending on the outcome with the federal civil rights investigation.
“The FAA is currently investigating whether that language violates those assurances, the result of that is the City can lose its funding at the airport, which operates in the red. I would think it’s in the neighborhood of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Bacon.
After the complaint was filed by the Tribes last month, the City says they responded earlier this month saying they were in no means using discriminate language. Pocatello’s Mayor Brian Blad says the lease agreement goes for anyone, not just the Tribes.
“You know, when I first took office, my goal was to work with the Tribes but we’ve been unsuccessful for years,” said Mayor Blad.
“It is an informal part 13 that the FAA is conducting a inquiry on. We’ve responded, we’re just waiting for the decision to come after that,” said David Allen, Manager of the Pocatello Regional Airport.
In spite of the complaint filed and in spite of many turbulent years with the Tribes and the City, Bacon says he only hopes for the both of them to work together.
“There’s a lot of federal funds that the city does not have, only the tribes. If the City worked with us, we can use those funds to develop out here (of the airport area).
The FAA was contacted Wednesday and was unable to comment on the pending investigation at this time.
