By Kelly Young

news@jacksonvilleprogress.com

RUSK – On paper, the Rusk City Council didn’t do much at Thursday night’s meeting. After much discussion and two executive sessions, the only action taken by the city during the two-hour session was to vote in favor of paying the bills.

The main topic of the evening was the Texas State Railroad, as council members discussed a sale agreement with American Heritage Railroad. City Attorney Forrest Phifer briefed the council with the latest news regarding the trains.

According to Phifer, a draft copy of the sale agreement has been sent to AHR. Upon further review, Phifer added two amendments that he believes should be included in the finished product. AHR has yet to respond to the city of Rusk’s contract.

“Basically there were two items of concern that I felt needed to be incorporated into the amended contract. One, in the draft it had the city of Rusk transferring the property to the Texas State Railroad Operating Authority and then they, they transferred it to America Heritage,” Phifer said.

“It was my understanding from the get-go that the TSROA was the agency that was taking over the state property, and that the campgrounds and any property owned by the city was going to be a separate deal directly with AHR.”

Phifer indicated to AHR that he was uncomfortable funneling the money in that manner and asked that that language be removed.

The second issue was that extra emphasis needed to be included on the fact that the campgrounds are to be used only for specific, prescribed purposes.

“I wanted to be very, very specific in the contract regarding the restricted use of the campgrounds. That is, the campground could be used by that agency only as long as the adjacent property was being used as an operating railroad – not as a museum or a park,” Phifer said. “This restricted use runs with the land, and will be made a part of any transfer, assimilation or assignment.”

If AHR transfers the lease to another agency or is absorbed into another agency, the restricted use clause will remain in place.

“I felt that the restricted use aspect of the contract was important, so I requested that a subsection be placed in the agreement saying that this restricted use is an ‘essential element’ of the contract. If there is litigation in the future, it cannot be rendered irrelevant,” Phifer said.

According to Phifer, he sent the amendments to Ron Stupes, city attorney for Palestine, who then forwarded them to AHR.

“I don’t believe we have gotten a response from them yet. We are now awaiting word from AHR to whether they find that contract acceptable. If they do find it acceptable, the council can choose to then sign it and make it a done deal,” he said.

One bit of concern that remains is the $12 million in funding from the state that AHR has made a requirement of any sale.

“The authority has been created. The only possible wrinkle could be the $12 million. The state did not authorize a blanket $12 million. The money is coming from two places, there is actually $10 million and $2 million,” Phifer said. “You have to use up all of the $2 million before the $10 million becomes available. If this is acceptable to AHR, then we still have a plan. If not, then we are back to ground-zero.”

The governor has not yet signed the bill that would transfer the TSRR to the operating authority, but it did pass the legislation with more support than the two-third majority it would need to over-ride a veto. If the bill is neither signed nor vetoed, it will come into effect Sept. 1, 2007.

“If they send back this contract without making the changes, it will be up to you whether or not to accept it as is. My recommendation to you is to accept the amendments – they make it a cleaner contract with more teeth to it,” Phifer said.

No action was taken regarding the TSRR, and no motions were made in response to the two executive sessions.

The Rusk City Council regularly meets at 5 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month, at the city council chambers.