Buffalo City Council Rejects the Pokagon Fund Changes

The Pokagon Fund, a non-profit foundation which has granted over $16 million to good causes since it began receiving a percentage of Four Winds Casino’s revenues in 2007, has survived an attempt to change the way it operates.

The New Buffalo City Council rejected four amendments proposed by an ad hoc committee to change the way the foundation distributes the money it receives from the casino revenue. The vote took place after a number of audience members defended the status quo.

One local resident and president of Chikaming Open Lands, Steve Smith, said “Don’t kill the golden goose that has done so much good in this community.”

The changes were calling for The Pokagon Fund to approve grants to municipalities with no questions asked.

However, as they came under the Open Meetings and Freedom of Information Acts, the fund’s bylaws and policies are subject to the approval of the city, township and tribe.

One of the fund’s three directors, Robert Carpenter, said that the changes would “risk the fund’s relevancy and create an impediment to disbursing its funds.”