COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — The Council Bluffs City Council has voted to join two lawsuits opposing the Ponca Tribe’s plans to build a casino in Carter Lake.

The council voted Monday to join lawsuits filed by Iowa and Nebraska.

City Attorney Dick Wade says the city has the legal standing to join the lawsuits because a casino in Carter Lake would harm neighboring communities.

Iowa claims in its lawsuit that the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska shouldn’t be allowed to build a casino in Carter Lake because it deceived the federal government to get land in Carter Lake placed in a trust. The tribe had previously said it planned to use the land to provide health care services.

Councilwoman Lynne Branigan said by shifting its plans, the tribe has shown it is untrustworthy.

“I don’t trust them to do the right thing and run the right facility,” she said.

The Iowa attorney general’s office is asking a federal judge to overturn a decision by the National Indian Gaming Commission, allowing the tribe to move ahead with building a casino in Carter Lake.

The tribe had the land as “restored lands,” opening the door to building a casino. Federal law allows Native American tribes to offer gambling that is legal in a state where the tribe owns land.

Iowa allows gambling but Nebraska does not.

Nebraska claims it has an interest in the case because of Carter Lake’s proximity to Omaha, Neb.

Carter Lake originally sat on the east side of the Missouri River but shifting and flooding in the late 1800s left the city on the west side of the river, northeast of Omaha, but in 1892, the U.S. Supreme Court said it still belonged to Iowa.

The Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors decided last week not to get involved in the Iowa lawsuit because the state’s arguments would be the same as the county’s.