Supervisors in Santa Barbara County, California, voted 3-2 to deny a law enforcement contract with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.

The tribe and Sheriff Bill Brown negotiated the contract to provide additional services on the reservation. The tribe agreed to pay $849,131 a year for a deputy sheriff position and for a vehicle and maintenance costs.

But supervisors claimed the agreement was too vague and said it failed to include a waiver of sovereign immunity issues. They recommended that it be renegotiated but the tribe said it wasn't going to do that.

“It’s amazing to me that we have to ask you to take our money to provide services that are extremely important to not only the reservation but the entire Santa Ynez Valley,” Chairman Vincent Armenta told the board, according to a tribal press release.

“The tribe is asking to pay for a service that we are providing,” Brown told the board, according to the press release. “The reality is that we are going to provide that service whether you approve this contract or not.”

Get the Story:
Supervisors deny sheriff contract with Chumash (The Lompoc Record 6/5)
Chumash Chagrined Over Deputy Position (The Santa Barbara Independent 6/5)
Chumash Reservation Contract With Sheriff's Dept. Rejected (KEYT 6/4)