ELLENVILLE – Things have sped up around the Nevele as everyone starts counting down the days the state legislature has to pass a mandatory second resolution needed to ensure that a proposition to allow non-Indian casino gambling in New York State gets on the ballot come November.

Up in Albany — where the legislature is slated to end its current session next Thursday, June 20, but may stay open for business until June 29 (with a more distant possibility that it could come back to deal just with the gaming issue sometime before the clock runs out on November ballot measures in early August) — state senator John Bonacic has put forth a bill for two casinos in the Catskills. Governor Andrew Cuomo's saying he wants one. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who keeps a summer home in the Sullivan County town of Woodbourne and whose former chief of staff Pat Lynch is now a major Albany lobbyist many are eying, has kept mum on his plans, although local assemblypersons Claudia Tenney and Kevin Cahill have spoken in favor of Bonacic's bill, and the aid a Nevele casino would lend the lower Rondout Valley, Ulster County and environs.

Over at the Nevele's main offices on Liberty Square in Ellenville, chief spokesperson Michael Treanor said on Monday that he's pushing on all fronts, including a new commitment to purchase the Shawangunk Country Club, plans for a big, free community block party this Saturday, and was on his way to meet with Cuomo's staff that very afternoon.

"Why is it in the best interests of New York State for us to go away," Treanor asked, rhetorically, after announcing new endorsements for his casino bid from the Dutchess and Orange counties chambers of commerce. "We know the governor's been focused on working a deal with the Senacas to get them to drop their lawsuit and pay the taxes they owe; we're hoping his focus on three casinos was a means to maximize the state's position in those negotiations."

Treanor's gambling on a $400 million plus investment into the long-closed Nevele as a means of boosting the local economy by means of providing the region with the closest casino to New York City. He said that he is purchasing the Shawangunk Country Club, founded in 1918, as a means of expanding his Nevele property. All 55 current country club members will become founding members of the new Nevele Golf Club. Treanor would not disclose the price or terms of his country club deal.

The Nevele's new owner pointed out how the purchase of the country club would give him access to another nine hole golf course beyond the Nevele's 18-holes, which he plans to revive with the aid of a noted golf course designer. He added that he would also be starting discussions with the owners of Honor's Haven, the former Fallsview Resort located between the country club and Nevele and had been conjoined with the latter at its founding and then briefly in the 1990s, about possible tie-ins to their 9-hole golf course.

"We'd like to control all 36 holes at one point," he said.

Sources at Honors Haven said on Wednesday that no discussions had started with the Nevele, to their knowledge, and seemed surprised at the suggestion, noting a pall in the two properties' relations.

Treanor said when taking ownership of the historic resort last year that he would walk away from the Nevele and its $18 million mortgage should gambling not get passed this year; however, he has since said he was confident he could find ways of maintaining his interest in the property beyond such stark choices should the state fail to okay gaming, or allow it at the Nevele, in the coming months.

As for his view of his and the Nevele's chances in the coming weeks, Treanor spoke this week of the governor's recently-released details on how he expects possible casino owners to pay to play.

Under Cuomo's 176-page proposal, casino developers would have to pay up a $50 million licensing fee and 25 percent of gross gaming revenue to the state, with 80 percent of such funds going to public schools and 10 percent to the municipalities and counties where the new casinos are located, with yet another 10 percent to be split by the counties in the same geographic region as the casino. Criteria for choosing his proposed three casinos statewide include a 65 percent emphasis on economic activity and business development, 20 percent on local impact and siting factors, and 15 percent on workforce and overall societal factors.

"Genting, which owns Monticello and Aqueduct, can afford tons of lobbyists and major campaign contributions. The same is true for the people at Tioga Downs near Binghamton, which has been mentioned as a shoo-in," Treanor said. "Our question is whether we can do anything with lobbyists and grass roots support but no campaign contributions. Does that hurt us? It seems to me that the way things are being set up could kill off any healthy competition in this industry. And where, we ask, is the same sort of grass roots support for Monticello that we're seeing here in Ulster County and beyond?"

In addition to its country club purchase and Albany trips, Treanor noted that the Nevele has also struck a deal to house a museum charting the region's resort history, via the Catskill Resort Foundation's Jack Godfrey, at the Nevele, and has been pushing a growing letter-writing and petition campaign through a new Ulster Needs Nevele campaign.

Stay tuned...