An emergency filing rapidly brought the town of Aquinnah and the Wampanoag tribe back to federal court via conference call on Monday afternoon, with Judge Dennis Saylor 4th telling the embittered sides they need to work together to come up with a “good faith” solution to safely secure the site of a proposed bingo hall in Aquinnah.

In June Judge Saylor ruled the tribe could not begin construction on the facility without first obtaining state and local buildling permits.

The tribe had sought a stay pending its appeal of Judge Saylor’s decision, which would have allowed them to work on the facility despite his order.

The stay was denied on July 26, but last Friday the tribe filed a 12-page emergency motion pressing the judge to allow them to secure the site by pouring concrete and laying footings and steel rebar at the facility.

“The danger is current and immediate,” attorneys wrote in the brief that accompanied the motion. “An untenable situation has unfolded . . . the tribe seeks relief from this court to allow cement to be poured such that the rebar steel is not exposed and the open trenches are filled.”

The latest surprise court scrap comes after Aquinnah town officials reported construction activity on the site of the proposed bingo hall last month. Building inspector Lenny Jason issued a cease and desist order requiring the tribe to halt all work at the facility. The tribe complied, but continues to press in court for permission to secure the site by pouring footings and other work.

In a telephone conference call with lawyers from both the tribe and the town on Monday afternoon, counsel for tribe Scott Crowell promised that the tribe merely wants to fill exposed trenches, which he said pose a public safety concern.

“We’re not looking to build and complete a sprung structure,” Mr. Crowell said on the call, which was open to the press. “We are not looking to do anything other than make the site safe.”

William Jay, a partner at Goodwin who represents the town, took another view.

“Of course the town does not want there to be an unsafe situation in the town of Aquinnah,” Mr. Jay said. “But we’re concerned that much of the unsafe situation, including anything having to do with rebar, all refers to work performed after the [ruling by Judge Saylor in June]. And at no point has the tribe . . . come to the town and sought a permit.”

After listening to arguments from both sides, Judge Saylor said he couldn’t make a decision without being on the ground in Aquinnah. In so many words, he asked the town and tribe to work it out.

“I am not on site. I am not in a position to conduct fact-finding. I don’t know what, if any work, was performed after the injunction was issued ” Judge Saylor said. “But I do want to make sure that the site is safe. The idea is to maintain the status quo while this issue is appealed. The site needs to be safe. And what I am going to direct the parties to do is to work together in good faith — and by that I mean the tribe and the town — with the town being permitted to have people on site to observe the conditions and come up with a plan to make sure the site is safe.

“. . . If you can’t agree, then I’ll have to decide it.”

The judge also said:

“There’s a bit of a penumbra — pardon the word — around some of this. Sometimes when you pull the plug on work, you put in a piece of electrical equipment, you need to put a cover on it if site work stops . . . Not only do I not want the site to be dangerous, but I don’t want whatever work has been done to be ripped out because it hasn’t been preserved properly.”

Attorneys agreed to try to enter into a good faith dialogue. Judge Saylor said he appreciated the commitment to discuss the issues with “lower temperatures,” saying that ultimately the matter of state and local permitting was now in the hands of a higher court.

“I understand, emotions are running high,” the judge said. “I am going to ask everyone to put all those sort of feelings on hold until you work out a safe and sensible solution in the short-term. My goal is to get this up to the Court of Appeals and have them decide whether I was correct or not.”

Meanwhile, the tribe has filed a notice of appeal on Judge’s Saylor’s June ruling. No hearing date has been set.