Officials in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, knew about the Kialegee Tribal Town casino as far back as September 2011, The Tulsa World reports.

The casino stirred significant controversy in early January. At the time, officials said they had only become aware of the plans in December 2011.

But an e-mail obtained by the paper shows that the city manager had discussed the possibility of providing services to the gaming site on September 9, 2011. The e-mail indicated that discussions with the tribe's attorney had been ongoing for some time.

"There were certainly discussions at some point in time that they'd like the city to provide police and fire and water and sewer and all those things. That certainly may have been proposed at some point in time, but the specifics have never been proposed," Mayor Mike Lester told the paper.

Residents said they only became aware of the casino through news reports.

Get the Story:
Casino contacts began early (The Tulsa World 2/19)
BA Casino Flow of Information (KTUL-TV 2/19)

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BIA seeks approval over Kialegee Tribal Town casino project (2/17)