KENOSHA, Wis. — New documents obtained by Kenosha County Eye are raising fresh questions about transparency in the renewed push for a proposed Menominee Tribe casino in Kenosha, just days after KCE reported that Kenosha Mayor David Bogdala and Kenosha County Executive Samantha Kerkman appeared to have privately coordinated with tribal leaders on a press release touting the project’s progress.

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That concern is now being sharpened by newly released correspondence from County Supervisor Laura Belsky, who says key documents and project analyses were being reviewed by county staff long before they were ever shared with the full County Board or the public. In a March 18 transparency request sent to Kerkman, county staff, municipal leaders, and the full County Board, Belsky said she had been asking for more than a year about traffic impacts, environmental review, infrastructure, and the project’s true scope, but that important materials were still not being disclosed in a timely way.

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Belsky said recent communication made clear that the project’s Traffic Impact Analysis had been received, reviewed, and commented on by Kenosha County staff as early as November 2024, yet it was not shared with the Public Works and Facilities Committee or the full County Board. She said that omission raises broader concerns about process, communication, and whether local elected officials are being cut out while staff and top officials continue working behind the scenes on a project with major implications for roads, development, and long-term planning.

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Belsky also challenged the idea that county involvement largely ended once an intergovernmental agreement was approved. In her request, she said the county still has direct responsibility over infrastructure, traffic, environmental impacts, and long-term planning, and that any studies being reviewed at the staff level should be promptly shared with the County Board.

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The timing of Belsky’s email is significant. Earlier this week, the Menominee Tribe issued a celebratory press release after the Bureau of Indian Affairs published a Draft Environmental Assessment for public comment. That tribal press release included supportive quotes from both Bogdala and Kerkman, giving the impression that local officials were not merely reacting to the federal development, but were likely involved in helping shape the messaging before it was released publicly.

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Now, the new documents suggest that while supportive public statements were being coordinated, broader project information may not have been shared with other county officials who were asking for it.

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Belsky pointed to a project timeline presented publicly in November 2023 that projected mid-2024 land-into-trust approval, late-2024 federal approvals, financing in early 2025, and construction starting in 2025. She noted that none of those benchmarks have been met. She also said regional casino market conditions have changed substantially, citing the near-completion of Beloit’s Ho-Chunk Casino, Waukegan’s advancing American Place development, and Rockford’s expanded Hard Rock Casino, yet no updated feasibility study or revised market projections have been provided to the County Board or local governments.

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In addition to Belsky’s concerns, another document released Wednesday by anti-casino group Citizens Against Gambling accused the Menominee Tribe of overstating federal support for the Kenosha project. That release says the tribe’s March 13 announcement misled the public by implying that the Bureau of Indian Affairs had already confirmed the project met all regulatory requirements and posed no significant environmental threat. The group says that is not what happened at all.

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According to that statement, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has only opened a 30-day public comment period on a draft environmental assessment running from March 13 through April 12, 2026, and has not made a final determination on the project. The release further states that the environmental assessment was prepared by a private consulting firm retained by the tribe, not by the federal government itself, and that public comments will help determine what happens next.

The anti-gambling group also said the tribe has a history of making optimistic public claims that do not materialize, including past promises of federal approval within 12 months, pledges in November 2023 to share key documents with Kenosha County officials within weeks, and projections that Department of the Interior approval would come by the end of 2024. It says none of those promises have been fulfilled.

Belsky is now asking for a lengthy list of materials to be produced, including the Traffic Impact Analysis and all related WisDOT and county comments, the Environmental Assessment submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, any feasibility or market studies, site and phasing plans, documentation showing Hard Rock’s contractual commitment, an updated timeline, and a summary of communications made by county staff to outside agencies. She is also seeking clarification on what county staff has received but not shared, whether more studies are underway, how the public is being notified about the Environmental Assessment process, and when complete project documents will finally be made available.

Taken together, the records paint a picture of a project that is again being publicly promoted as momentum builds, while serious questions remain about who knew what, when they knew it, and why local elected officials and residents were not given fuller access to the same information sooner.

With the public comment period now open through April 12, the new documents are likely to intensify scrutiny over whether the casino proposal is moving forward through a transparent public process — or through carefully managed messaging backed by private coordination among a small circle of supporters.