The Lansford Borough Council raised concerns over the recent sale of the Panther Valley rail line and hired a lawyer to review the agreement.

According to the agreement created when the line was purchased decades ago using grant money Lansford secured for Carbon County, Lansford will receive 25% of the sale, resulting in a total amount of $500,000.

Council President Bruce Markovich announced that the council was considering hiring an outside law firm to review the sale of the railroad. He expressed his belief that they had not been treated fairly throughout the sale.

Markovich’s first issue with the sale was that he believed that the railroad was worth more than the scrap value of $2 million.

His second issue was the lack of communication with Carbon County Railroad Commission Treasurer and Lansford representative Richard Forgay II.

“I’ve never met with Richard Forgay at all about the sale. He was appointed to represent us and he has never spoken to us once about the sale of this railroad,” Markovich explained.

In general, Markovich expressed that the council deserved to have more opportunities to make negotiations regarding the railroad prior to its sale.

“I would be more comfortable if we had been included in the negotiations at the very beginning or if somebody would have at least told us at the very beginning that they were gonna sell this railroad,” Markovich said.

Vice President Bob Silver opposed the immediate need to hire an outside attorney considering a meeting was already scheduled with the Carbon County Railroad Commission for August. He suggested to the council that they should wait on hiring an outside law firm until after this upcoming meeting in order to potentially save money.

“I don’t wanna spend more money. We’re spending money like water in this borough and I don’t see any reason to spend money to get money,” Silver said.

Silver went on to explain that he did not understand the point of spending money on a law firm considering the sale had already been completed.

“I still don’t understand. The sale has been completed. Finished. We had nothing to say about it,” Silver said.

Markovich responded by asking the question of whether the council had more rights regarding the sale than they had previously realized.

“But that’s the question: Did we? Did we have the right to say anything about the sale since we were 25% owners?” Markovich asked.

He emphasized the importance of fair treatment considering the large sum of money in question.

“I just want to make sure that we’re being treated fairly since we were left out of these negotiations,” Markovich said.

Silver stood his ground though, believing that hiring a law firm would be a waste of money and that it would not make a difference considering the sale had already taken place.

“They sold it for what they sold it for. We can’t change that,” Silver concluded.

A motion to hire an outside law firm to review the sale of the railroad with a cap of $5,000 was made by Councilman William Chuma and seconded by Councilman John Turcmanovich. With just two oppositional votes from Councilman Martin Ditsky and Silver, the motion passed.

Lansford Borough Council’s next meeting will take place Aug. 11 at 6 p.m.