Government Proposals to Acquire Properties

Procedures for Submission of Written Proposals by Federal, State and Tribal Governments to Acquire RACER Trust Properties

Under Section 2.15.1 of the Trust Agreement, "The United States, the State in which a Property is located (or the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in the case of the Massena Property), or a governmental unit that is a designee thereof, may at any time propose in writing to take ownership of any of the Properties or any part thereof." 

To ensure the fullest possible consideration of such governmental proposals -- while also minimizing potential discouragement of offers from non-governmental prospective purchasers, or disruption in the negotiation of such offers -- the Trust urges interested governmental entities to submit their proposals at the earliest possible time.

Sales or dispositions of any property owned by the Trust must be consistent with the Sale and Transfer provisions of the Settlement Agreement. Thus, as required by Paragraphs 64 and 65 of the Settlement Agreement for all proposals, government proposals: 

I.    must address each of the six criteria the Trust is required to consider when divesting Properties; and
II.    will not be finalized into a sale or other transfer until the Trust has provided at least 30 days’ notice to (and consulted with) the United States, the relevant State, the Tribe (if applicable), and affected communities. 

Because a 30-day consultation period may not be sufficient for optimum consideration of a newly-presented government proposal, governments that are interested in obtaining a Trust Property should not wait until the Trust provides notice of a proposed non-government sale before submitting their own.