Cowley County commissioners will meet in a special session at 6 p.m. Tuesday for a joint work session with the Arkansas City Commission and then move into regular session at 7 p.m.
A request by the Ponca Indian tribe to fund improvements to some Cowley County roads near the site of a new multi-million casino and hotel the tribe plans to build this year has prompted the special meeting at the county courthouse in Winfield.
Ponca tribe officials are interested in a network of county roads that connect U.S. 166 west of Ark City with U.S. 77 near an area that was once the site of the historical Chilocco Indian School.
Nearly nine miles of county roads would be involved in the improvement project at no cost to Cowley County and would serve the $360 million hotel-casino project the tribe plans on 800 acres along the Kansas-Oklahoma border.
Many of the roads are already being used by Wichita residents traveling to the casinos located on U.S. 77 south of the border.
The agenda for the regular commission meeting includes an agreement with CBM Food Service for food service for the county jail.
Both the special and regular sessions are open to the public.
