Luzerne County sends cease and desist letter regarding rail line

Luzerne County sent a cease and desist letter to the county Redevelopment Authority on Wednesday to temporarily halt any further action related to selling, transferring or disposing of railroad property owned by the authority.

While emphasizing there is no implication of wrongdoing, county Manager Romilda Crocamo said during Tuesday’s council meeting that the county administration is seeking a 60-day pause so it can conduct a comprehensive review of past agreements involving the rail.

This review was sparked when Redevelopment Authority Board Chairman Scott Linde, while speaking about another matter last month, gave county council an appraisal of an inactive Kingston area stretch of rail property that county officials viewed as an indication of a possible sale. The authority owns a network of tracks totaling approximately 55 miles, and the appraisal involved one section.

The redevelopment authority is a separate entity governed by a five-citizen, council-appointed board. However, the county has an interest in the rail line because prior commissioners loaned the authority funds in 2001 so the authority would not default on its mortgage and risk losing infrastructure that serviced 25 businesses.

Since then, the authority must forward money it generates from the rail operation to the county to repay the loan. The authority owes $1.475 million to the county community development business loan fund and approximately $1.8 million to the county.

Linde said Wednesday that all proceeds from land sales are forwarded to the county to repay the loan.

He intends to honor the county’s demand and said he welcomes county input and involvement in both the status of the loan and options to redevelop abandoned rail line.

“We want them as partners,” Linde said.

The appraisal he supplied to council was recently completed as part of a potential future rail-to-trail project, although the appraiser dated it with the year 2022 based on the time it was initiated, he said.

Linde said he can’t say much about the possibility of a rails-to-trails because the concept is still in the initial exploratory stage.

This Kingston area portion of rail line is inoperable because it was cut off on both ends by the Wyoming Valley Levee flood control system, he said.

The appraisal indicates hundreds of thousands of dollars could be generated from the salvage value of the rails that are left. Linde said the authority would not have to abandon ownership rights to the underlying land for a trail project.

Signed by county Chief Solicitor Harry W. Skene, the cease and desist letter said the appraisal is an indication the authority intends to sell a portion of the line.

“Upon reviewing the appraisal, original agreement and note, my office embarked upon an investigation of this matter. Several alarming issues have been uncovered, but as the records are voluminous, we ask that all matters relating to the railroad except for ordinary operations cease,” Skene wrote.

The 60-day halt will allow the county’s law and budget/finance offices to conclude their investigation, the letter said.

“After it is concluded, we would like the opportunity to review our findings and propose solutions with you and your board so that we can arrive at a satisfactory resolution, if possible,” it said.

Failure to comply will force the county to take appropriate legal action against the authority and Rail Corp., with the county seeking all available damages and remedies, it said.

The redevelopment authority owns the rail line, and its affiliated Rail Corp. maintains a lease agreement with the rail operator — a structure set up for liability purposes, officials said.

Skene emphasized no railroad line can be sold without the county’s permission.