At their most recent meeting, the Washington City Council reviewed and accepted a tabled counteroffer from Canadian Pacific Railroad. Washington Mayor Jaron Rosien shared with those in attendance, the work done by city officials in talking with the company regarding the circumstances of the offer. Rosien said, “I wanted to absolutely make sure that we get the best deal possible and I believe this is that. This is the last, best, and final offer. Our relationship has been good and we have been honest and they were honest with me that this is a good offer and that it’s not going to get any better. We’re kind of one of the last ones on the table. My concern was, I don’t want hindsight to be 20/20, that this wasn’t the best offer. I have been led to believe that’s not the case. This is a good offer and that we should be confident in our vote to accept it if council sees fit.”
The proposal includes a $200,000 general cash contribution from the railroad that the city can use as they like. A $225,000 payment from Canadian Pacific Railroad to the City of Washington for each crossing the city agrees to close. A contribution in the amount of $55,000 from Canadian Pacific to the City of Washington to fund a quiet zone study, and for Canadian Pacific to wave removal costs of crossing surfaces, signals and signs at any crossing location the city decides to close.
Further questions from council members included discussion about future closings of crossings and how long the monetary incentives would be available. Larry Lloyd with Canadian Pacific said that while the monies from the railroad company are available into the future, the possibility of the state’s $100,000 match going away is there. Council also asked about the possibility of reopening a closed crossing, to which Lloyd stated, the industry standard right now is to lower the quota of crossings from state and federal officials to those in the railroad business, meaning that if the city would want to reopen a closed crossing later, they would likely need to close two others. While the approval vote was unanimous, council members Ila Earnest, Elaine Moore and Steve Gault shared their comments on the vote. Earnest said, “I would like to make a motion to approve the merger counteroffer because, we’re not going to improve the offer, we may have questions that come along later but it’s not going to influence what the offer is right now. Take it now or whatever.”
Gault said, “I feel like I’m being held with a gun to my head over this. This is being railroaded.”
Moore finished with, “I want to say that we’re accepting this in ‘good faith’ that they will continue to talk to us.”
The proposed merger between Canadian Pacific Railroad and Kansas City Southern will increase train traffic through southeast Iowa by more than 300%.