By ANDY GARDNER

Massena and Brasher town supervisors are not saying much about their meeting Tuesday with tribal and state officials in Albany to discuss issues surrounding the Mohawk land claim and casino compact issues.

Although he declined to comment about what specifically was discussed, Massena Town Supervisor Joe Gray said it was “a positive first meeting and I look forward to future meetings.” Brasher Town Supervisor James Dawson said they agreed to a gag order while negotiations are ongoing.

“We understood where all the sides are coming from,” Gray said, noting that St. Lawrence County Legislature Chairman Jonathan Putney, several state representatives including one from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office, and a representative of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe attended.

“The governor, we were told, would like to see them resolve this with a settlement,” according to Gray.

The land talks come on the heels of a May agreement the tribe and state struck to start the negotiations in exchange for the tribe resuming its paying the state 25 percent of its annual slot machine revenue, 25 percent of which goes to St. Lawrence and Franklin counties. They also agreed to pay half of $60 million they have held in escrow since 2010, citing an allegedly illegal casino operating on Ganienkah territory in Altona.

This week, Gov. Cuomo signed the Upstate NY Gaming Economic Development Act which will allow four destination casinos to be built in New York state pending a fall referendum, but they cannot be situated in an Indian gaming exclusivity area. St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Franklin, Clinton, Hamilton, Warren, and Essex counties are not eligible. A county and municipality that get one of the casinos will each receive 5 percent of the state tax on its slot revenues either to fund education or offset property taxes.

During a phone interview, Dawson said there is a misconception that part of the land claim involves significant acreage in Brasher.

“There’s never been a claim in Brasher,” he said. “If Brasher is involved at all, it will be voluntary.”

In 1977, then-Congressman Robert McEwen announced at the former Flanders Inn in Massena that the Mohawk land claim case would be settled by giving the tribe 10,000 acres of Brasher state forest land, Dawson said. He theorized it never came to fruition for two reasons.

“Apparently the Native Americans did not want the land,” Dawson said. He also noted that the 10,000 acres was a part of land bought by the state through a public referendum in the 1930s or 1940s. But since it was purchased with general fund monies, they couldn’t transfer it due to state law.

Fast forwarding to 2005, Dawson pointed to an attempt to settle the claim that also fell through that would have allowed Native Americans or the tribe to purchase land from willing sellers that would then become part of the reservation. He said the state would pick up the tax bill, keeping the municipality financially whole. The pieces would have to be contiguous and in an eligible zone close to the current reservation border.

“It can’t be a checkerboard,” he said.

If the tribe, state and municipalities can come to an agreement, Dawson said Brasher may agree to the 2005 provision if there are incentives. He said they agreed to the 2005 deal because the town would have received a large sum of money in exchange.