Atmore Mayor Howard Shell said Tuesday the possibility exists of a land trust agreement between the City of Atmore and the Poarch Creek Indians.

Although no agreement has been reached, Shell said PCI has inquired several times into the possibility of using land set aside by Atmore in a trust.

Shell said the exact location and acreage of the land, as well as what purpose it will serve, “they have not indicated.”

Shell said, right now, the talks between Atmore and PCI are just that – talks.

“They had requested some land be put in trust and I’m working with them,” Shell said. “The council authorized me to work on behalf the council. All I can say at this point is that we’re looking at that.”

Shell said the process for solidifying the agreement would reach to the congressional level.

“The process they have to go through is with congressional legislation through congress,” he said. “It puts land a in trust for them. It takes it off the tax rolls and they become the sole manager and the proprietor and administer all rules, regulations and fees of the trust land.”

Shell said the proposition has been raised once before by PCI, but the City of Atmore “had some questions” about the arrangement.

This time around, Shell said the city is examining the options before making a determination.

“We told them we would like to step back and take a look at it, and work with them on what we felt like we could work with. And kind of that’s where we are.”