On the same night the Plymouth City Council was grappling with the specter of ballooning water rates because of a new pipeline, residents were demanding to know why a letter from the Ione Band of Miwoks, which offered to shoulder the cost of the project, had gotten no response or acknowledgment from their representatives.

The news that average Plymouth residents might see their water bills jump came from developer Bob Reeder, who said the original estimates for building the pipeline were outdated by two years and now significantly higher. "When we first did the numbers it looked like it would require about 2.7 million," Reeder said in a public presentation. "The current revised estimates are now 4.7 million. We're looking at a potential of the cost exceeding the funding, which could amount to new rate increases to Plymouth residents."

Reeder went on to lay out a number of strategies he'd come up with to minimize the impact on Plymouth pocket books - but what members of the public wanted to talk about was a letter from the Ione Band.

On Aug. 5, Matt Franklin, chairman of the Ione Band of Miwoks, had a message hand-delivered to Plymouth City Hall, as well as mailed to each member of the council and the city manager. In the letter, Franklin states that as part of a municipal services agreement offer, the tribe would be willing to pay the upfront costs of the new pipeline and upgrades to the wastewater treatment facility once it takes land into trust.

Once the meeting was open to public comment, resident and city council candidate Maria Simon-Nunez chided the council for not responding to Franklin's overtures. "I would like to know why you haven't answered the tribe," she said. "There's a saying that Plymouth has a long history of sticking its head in the sand and acting like trouble is not coming. Well, trouble is here. Every time I come to a meeting, all I hear about is how there's budget troubles and no money for anything. Get your heads out of the sand and start protecting the citizens of Plymouth."

Tribal consultant Peter Tateishi then stood up and asked if the council had actually received the letter. "I know all of you get a lot of messages and there can sometimes be confusion," he observed. "I just wanted to make sure you received the letter. We've been waiting for a reply for over a month. We're hopeful we'll get one soon."

"I can't believe you even have the nerve to stand up here in front of us tonight," Mayor Jon Colburn barked. "Especially after you assured me in the past that you'd never appear before this council as a lobbyist." Colburn's reference was to a private conversation he'd had with Tateishi after the young consultant left Congressman Dan Lungren's (R-CA) office to work for the Ione Miwoks. Tateishi claims he'd merely remarked that he had no plans of working as a registered lobbyist.

"I'm not lobbying the council or anyone to take a course of action," Tateishi responded. "I'm here on behalf of the tribe to keep a dialogue open and to answer questions for the council and the citizens. I've not asked, nor pressured, anyone to do anything."

City Manager Dixon Flynn calmly explained to Tateishi that he'd made attempts to contact Franklin about the letter, but that he was not authorized by the city to meet in a government to government capacity. Conversely, Franklin is not authorized by his own tribe to hold meetings with officials unless it's in a governmental context.

"I'd be willing to meet with you," Flynn told Tateishi, "but not in an official capacity."

Tateishi agreed to speak with Flynn, adding he felt both sides would benefit from any communication. Tateishi later told the Ledger Dispatch the tribe was firmly committed to helping Plymouth solve its problems once their land was in trust. "We want this project to happen 'with' the community," he said of the proposed casino, "not 'to' the community."

As public discussion at the meeting shifted back to the issue of water rate increases, the atmosphere in the room became heated again. Colburn talked at some length about an elderly widow he knew who could barely afford to pay her bills. This, he explained, was exactly the type of person who would suffer most if Plymouth's water rates were to shoot up.

However, Colburn's rationale drew sharp criticism from fellow council member Patricia Fordyce, who turned in her seat and exclaimed, "I'm sick of hearing about this mysterious elderly widow you're always bringing up, Jon! For over 25 years, every time the city tries to do anything all we hear about are all these old widows who will starve if we take any action. I'd personally like to know who exactly this 'widow' is, because after three decades of hearing about her, I figure she ought to be dead by now!"