(The following story by James Quirk Jr. appeared on the Hawk Eye website on January 27.)
BURLINGTON, Iowa — Whether to take the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad to court will be discussed by the City Council in a closed 4:30 p.m. meeting today.
Proponents hope an agreement the city made with the Missouri River Railroad Co. 146 years ago will prevent BNSF officials from moving more jobs to Topeka, Kan.
Last year, BNSF eliminated 258 local jobs and plans on moving 100 more to Topeka, leaving only 44 behind.
When about 50 BNSF employees attended a council meeting last week in support of the city taking BNSF to court, the council was reluctant to discuss details of their plans because of possible litigation.
The council will meet with City Attorney Scott Power during today’s executive session to determine if the 1858 agreement has enough legal precedence to prevent the loss of more local jobs.
The agreement stipulated the railroad would be allowed to run its track through the city as long and it kept the local shops in operation.
Immediately after the closed meeting, the council is expected to hold a work session where it plans to discuss the results of the 2003 citizen survey.