Lansford Borough Council has greenlit a lawsuit against Carbon County over the sale of the Panther Creek Railroad, but it has no time frame for filing it.

Council voted last week to authorize Slusser Law Firm of Hazleton to “commence legal proceedings on behalf of the borough against the county, regarding the sale of the railroad.” Jay Doyle was the only member to vote against the action.

Council members have raised multiple issues with the county’s sale of the railroad to Reading Blue Mountain and Northern, which took place last May.

Council President Bruce Markovich said he hopes the commissioners will meet with the borough’s attorney before it resorts to filing the suit.

“Attorney (Christopher) Slusser is going to meet with them again to try and explain our position. If it becomes necessary past that point, we’re going to file a lawsuit against the county,” Markovich said.

Slusser was not in attendance at the meeting and did not return calls for comment.

Borough council members say that Lansford did not receive the full amount it was due when the railroad was sold.

Lansford received $500,000 up front from the deal, and will get another $250,000 over the next eight years. The borough was part of the deal because it helped the county purchase the railroad in 1981. At the time the county and railroad agreed that Lansford would receive 25 percent of any “surplus funds” it created, because Lansford helped them secure funding to buy it. The commissioners also agreed to appoint a Lansford resident to the Railroad Commission.

Over the years, the deal has provided the borough with hundreds of thousands of dollars from the lease of the railroad.

When the county sold the railroad last May, they announced that Lansford would get $750,000 - one quarter of the $3 million sales price.

Markovich said he believes the actual sales price is $4.7 million, because RBMN promised that it would complete $1.7 million in improvements to the rails and crossings after the deal closed. 25 percent of the $1.7 million would mean an additional $425,000 for the borough, he said.

“They’re taking $425,000 out of the pockets of the taxpayers of Lansford and using it for projects that benefit the county,” Markovich said.

Markovich said the county has not followed the original 1980 Carbon County Railroad Commission agreement when it comes to spending its share of the proceeds from the railroad. The agreement says that the county’s proceeds should be used toward economic and industrial development projects, with priority given to projects that are located closer to Lansford, and promote business on the rail line.

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that the county never made a profit on the railroad during its years of ownership, up until it sold it to RBMN. He said that the county will spend the money on economic development projects.

Nothstein said that he does not believe a meeting with the borough is needed, because council’s action implies that it is ready to take the case to court. The commissioners already met with borough council members in August to discuss the sale, before Lansford hired Slusser to review the transaction.

“If they have a lawyer, I don’t know why they want a meeting. Our position is not going to change,” Nothstein said.