Kenai’s City Council last week approved “perpetual” memorandums of understanding with the Kenaitze Indian Tribe and Salamatof Tribe to formalize plans for coordination and cooperation.

According to memos by council member Phil Daniel, who first raised the possibility of a written agreement between the city and the Kenaitze Indian Tribe during an annual joint meeting of the two groups in January, the agreements create a foundation for ongoing collaboration between the city and tribes. Areas of mutual interest, he writes, include “community development, cultural and historic preservation, economic development, environmental protection, and public service coordination.”

The two agreements read largely similarly, calling for cooperation between the city and the tribes to benefit the community. Daniel said the documents expand the efforts by the city to more directly collaborate with the local tribes — expanding the annual meeting held between the city and the Kenaitze Indian Tribe in recent years and for the first time developing a working relationship with Salamatof Tribe.

“It’s very exciting that we’re able to bring two separate MOUs with the two big tribes in our community to work on these projects,” Daniel said during the council’s June 4 meeting.

The agreement between the city and Salamatof includes more binding language. It says the tribe and city “shall” make resources and expertise available to one another and cooperate in planning and implementing project work undertaken through the agreement. The agreement describes the establishment of a liaison between the two entities as well as collaborative work to acquire project funding and proposals for economic development, environmental protection, education and cultural preservation.

The Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s agreement says the tribe and city “may” make resources and expertise available to one another and cooperate in planning and implementing project work undertaken through the agreement. There “may” be a liaison, and the parties will meet “at least annually” to develop proposals for economic development, environmental protection, education and cultural preservation.

Both agreements are set to be “perpetual, until and unless revised or terminated.” The agreement with the Kenaitze Indian Tribe includes an additional section with terms for confidentiality, dispute resolution and sovereign immunity.

A pair of resolutions authorizing both agreements were passed by unanimous consent.

The full text of both memorandums of understanding can be found at kenai.city.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.