Carbon County officials want answers in regard to the railroad the county owns.

During the monthly meeting of the county railroad commission on Wednesday, the board voted to hire K&L Gates LLP of Washington, D.C., for professional services related to the review of the current operating agreement with Carbon & Schuylkill Railroad and Reading and Northern Railroad. C&S Railroad, which was hired to manage the county railroad, is run by Reading and Northern Railroad following a 1994 agreement, which gave trackage rights to the company.The estimated flat-fee cost for the services is $20,000, which will be taken out of the railroad commission treasury.Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that the action is due to past and current disagreements regarding the agreement language that determines who manages what on the railroad owned by Carbon County."We needed someone who is familiar with working with management agreements with railroads," Nothstein said, adding that K&L Gates will review the operating agreements to better define the terms within the agreement.Nothstein said it is very difficult to determine the property lines of what is railroad-controlled property and what isn't."It's going to try to settle some of this," he said.Nothstein said in 2009 the county hired Andy Strauss of Strauss and Associates/Planners of Trenton, New Jersey, to review the legal use and occupancy rights pursuant to the C&S Railroad agreement and subsequent tracking agreements; as well as review all deeds, the title of the property, easements, engineering data, identify mile posts and the Nesquehoning Branch Line 1009, and anything associated with the rail line and non-rail real estate.The total cost for these services was approximately $17,500.Strauss traveled to Washington, D.C., to find the documents regarding the property and compiled his findings.But, Commissioner William O'Gurek said, the county was not able to sit down with C&S Railroad officials to discuss the management agreement at that time because they "politely said they didn't want to sit down with us because they were happy with the lease."O'Gurek said the county believes that "the lease we have with C&S contains vague information" and "C&S Railroad does not have unilateral right to use the property for purposes other than railroading."The reason behind the need to review the agreements is twofold.C&S Railroad recently sent a letter regarding renewing its lease in 2015, which extends the agreement to 2038; and Reading and Northern Railroad would like to purchase land owned by the county to build a new $14 million bridge over the Lehigh River to allow easier access to and from the Nesquehoning area."We want to look at all this and get it defined in writing as to who controls what and who is responsible for what," O'Gurek said. "The three of us are in agreement with Reading and Northern's plans to build another bridge up there. We understand the value of the bridge for industry and commerce purposes and have conveyed those thoughts in a letter of support to the Commonwealth Finance Authority."We are in agreement with their project; however, some of the land is in question and will be part of the discussion with the attorney," he said. "As commissioners or railroad commission members, we can't give county land away. We can't just say to the railroad, 'take it, use it, build on it.' We can't do that. We have a responsibility to everyone in this county that it is done right."Do we want it done? Yes. Are we going to work toward that? Absolutely. Do we understand C&S and Reading and Northern's vision for the future of rail? Absolutely, and we're in support of that, but it's got to be done right."