Scott City prepares for fight with UP

Scott City officials thought they had smoothed over their rocky relationship with Union Pacific, but now the city's mayor is preparing a confrontation with the railroad on issues ranging from tall weeds to speeding trains.

Mayor Tim Porch said at a city council meeting Monday night he would be contacting local officials and state and federal legislators to set up meetings to discuss the issues. On Thursday he said he was prepared to send an e-mail to railroad representatives addressing several points of contention the city has with the way UP conducts business.

Porch's disagreements with the railroads are ongoing. Porch rails against UP on a regular basis about its lack of weed control on its property inside the city limits.

But lately Porch's ire has also focused on other issues, such as the railroad blocking crossings for maintenance without advance warning required by state regulations, the railroad's alleged lack of maintenance of its drainage ditches and culverts and a lack of communication from the rail carrier.

"The issues are basically the same," Porch said. "We still don't have a contact person, and we still don't have answers,"

In recent weeks city officials thought they had established proper communications with UP officials after being assigned a contact person in UP's St. Louis office. But Monday the railroad closed down the crossing at Daugherty Street, a crossing essential to commercial and residential traffic. Porch said the city only received 25 minutes' notice the crossing would be shut down.

State regulations require 72 hours notice be given before a crossing is closed for repair work.

UP spokesman James Barnes said extensive crossing repair has been happening in Scott City and "to the best of our knowledge, they were appropriately notified."

City officials also received a response to a long-standing request to purchase a plot of land the city currently leases from the railroad along Main Street. The land is used for parking, and a historic caboose owned by the city sits on the property.

The railroad responded with an offer that was unacceptable to the city, Porch said.

Scott City sought to purchase all of the 90-foot-wide plot, but the railroad only offered a 20-foot-wide section for purchase. That 20 feet of property includes curbs and sidewalks.

Porch said the property would be of no use to the city unless Scott City widened Main Street, which it doesn't have plans to do. He said the city will not renew its $1,500 annual lease for the property but will ask businesses and civic organizations that use the property to pitch in for the payment instead.

"We've done too many improvements to just let it go," Porch said.

Porch and city council members have also complained about the speed of trains traveling through Scott City and are exploring ways to control their speed.

However, the city may be powerless to control rail speed. Local and state regulations on rail speed are pre-empted by federal regulations, said Dennis Yachechak, an official with the Federal Railroad Administration's Office of Safety.

As warm weather approaches, Porch said, two issues are of top importance -- the railroad's weed control and its maintenance of culverts and drainage ditches. Porch said the city's campaign to clean up nuisances like tall weeds applies to the railroad as well as residents, and that UP's track record in controlling weeds is lacking.

"I want to be all over these nuisances, and that includes the railroad, too," Porch said.

Barnes said UP spends $40,000 per year on "vegetation control," which includes mowing railroad property three to four times per year during warm months.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182