Nesquehoning Borough Council has major concerns about Carbon County looking to sell its railroad.

During the monthly council meeting on Wednesday, a number of council members spoke out about the county railroad commission's 3-1 vote on Tuesday to seek a proposal for professional land surveying services of all county railroad property.Nesquehoning Councilman Don DeMarco questioned why Lansford would get 25 percent of the sale proceeds if the Panther Valley Rail Line is sold when the line doesn't even run through that borough."This railroad runs through Nesquehoning," he said. "We're not going to get left out of this again."Councilman Frank Jacobs agreed, suggesting council send a "strongly-worded" letter to the railroad commission and the commissioners."Nesquehoning should be brought to the table," he said. "We are the only municipality that is affected so much by this railroad, so we have to start voicing it."He said the borough has a lot of sewer and water lines running along the rail bed and DeMarco interjected that he wondered how this would be affected if the county did not own the railroad anymore.Borough Emergency Management Coordinator John McArdle, who also is the Nesquehoning Hose Company fire chief, added that borough needs to not forget about railroad crossings in the borough. He said Reading and Northern recently removed a crossing in the Hauto Valley Estates that was utilized by emergency services.Councilwoman Mary Fox reminded council that the borough needs to resolve ongoing drainage issues along a portion of the railroad line.Nesquehoning Mayor Sam Kitchko said if a sale goes through, the railroad would charge for utilities crossing the line."The railroad is charging the cogen (Panther Creek Partners) for a telephone line crossing the rail," he said, asking what would happen for the borough.Council President David Hawk said the borough currently pays the railroad for the sewer lines running along the rail, but has been fortunate over the years that the county, once it receives the fees from the railroad, reimburses Nesquehoning those fees."But if they are no longer involved, that source of reimbursement goes away," he said.Hawk said a sale of the railroad would have a "tremendous amount of impact on our sewer lines, water lines and crossings.""We have a very grave concern with all this and if there is an agreement of sale, we definitely need to be part of those negotiations," he added.Council agreed that a letter will be sent to the railroad commission and Carbon County commissioners regarding this matter, voicing their concerns and their desire to be part of the negotiations.Jacobs recommended that the borough water authority also send a letter because it would also affect that department.The matter came up on Tuesday after the county received a verbal offer from Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad for the purchase of the nearly 20-mile Panther Valley Rail Line, which Carbon County Railroad Commission has owned since 1981, as well as the former Packerton Yards.The railroad offered a combined $1.3 million for both properties - $1 million for the railroad and $300,000 for Packerton.