Sherrill takes ownership of Nation site
Feb. 10, 2000

By R. PATRICK CORBETT
Observer-Dispatch

SHERRILL — The Sherrill City Commission will decide Monday what the city’s next move will be after it took ownership of an Oneida Indian Nation factory Wednesday morning.

City Manager David Parker said Wednesday: “We are the owners of record” of the three parcels occupied by the Oneidas’ OTD textile plant.

He said the city’s deed to the property was filed formally with the Oneida County Clerk’s Office Wednesday after the Oneida Nation failed to pay $2,816 in back taxes by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The city’s move sets the stage for a possible confrontation with the Oneidas, who maintain their property is not subject to taxation. The Oneidas went to court last week over the issue.

What the five-member commission decides at its 7 p.m. Monday meeting will represent “a big next step,” the city manager said.

Sherrill Mayor Dwight Evans said Tuesday there is no deadline to act if the commission should decide to evict the textile business.

In all, Sherrill has started foreclosure proceedings on 10 parcels owned by the Oneidas for nonpayment of approximately $12,000 in city property taxes.

The deed transfer went ahead Wednesday despite a letter Tuesday from Oneida Nation attorney Michael R. Smith asking Sherrill attorney Charles King to “defer further foreclosure and eviction action.”

Smith said such a “standstill” agreement would avoid legal action and preserve Sherrill’s future right to renew its claim “that taxes, penalties and interest are owed or to claim that it has acquired title to the properties in question.”

King responded in a news release Wednesday that “the Oneidas could have gotten what they said they wanted by paying their property taxes under protest.

“Now they have lost their property and face eviction,” King said.

He added, “We always hold lines of communication open.”

Richard Lynch, chief operating officer of the Nation’s operations and said Wednesday the foreclosure and deed transfer will not affect OTD or SavOn operations.

“Business is clicking along,” he said.

OTD employs 27 people and plans to hire eight to 10 more later this year, Nation officials said last month.

Evans said the city charter requires him to collect property taxes from all owners in the city or move to seize the property “immediately” after the deadline for redeeming the property expired Tuesday night.

The Oneidas argue they are a separate government entity and not required to pay local taxes.

Lynch said he viewed the deed transfer as “kind of a shuffling of papers.” He said the question of the taxable status of Oneida Nation property will be settled ultimately by a negotiated or litigated settlement of the Oneida Indian land claim.

“The city is expending taxpayers’ dollars to fight something being pursued in the Oneida land claim,” he said.

Lynch said the Oneida Nation will not send a representative to Monday’s Sherrill City Commission meeting.

“We don’t interfere in their government activities,” he said.