The annual Chelatchie Prairie Christmas train in Yacolt, Wa. Dec. 15.
The dispute over a contract between Clark County and Chelatchie Prairie Railroad operator Portland Vancouver Junction Railroad (PVJR) has come to a head as the operator filed a suit against the county in order to have a longstanding agreement honored.
PVJR President Eric Temple announced the filing of the suit March 15. The suit alleges the county had violated a contract between it and PVJR over the operation of the railroad. The lease has drawn scrutiny from county officials.
“In numerous public statements, the County doubts the Lease’s validity,” the lawsuit states. The suit seeks to have the contract, which Temple says has been in place since 2004, honored as-is, either for the full timeline of potentially 90 years or at least until a fallback term of 50 years.
Last week the county and PVJR had a mediation session over the contract. Though Temple said he could not speak about what was discussed during mediation, he pointed to the lawsuit filing as evidence of how it went.
PVJR’s suit points out that the operator has put more than $6.2 million in investment to the railroad. Temple said that should the county prevail in this suit, it would assert that the county breached a warranty section in the contract, after which PVJR could file another suit on those grounds — potentially in the range of $100 million or more.
Essentially, Temple wants PVJR and the county to “go back to working together, hopefully as a team, to bring jobs and economic development to Clark County.”
“We had a great relationship for a number of years, and if the county had simply gone forward under the contract with what we agreed to and what we’ve always talked about, they stood to make probably about a billion and a half dollars over the course of the contract,” Temple said.
“By blowing this whole thing up,” he added, the county could stand to lose, both from potential development and damages that could be requested in a subsequent suit.
Temple said that part of the issue between PVJR and the county had to do with the current charter government system. He said that unlike the past commissioner system where elected officials had executive power, with an appointed county manager residents have lost their ability to have a say in county work.
“Basically the citizens of Clark County, by voting for this (charter system), transferred their power as voters to a bureaucracy,” Temple said.
As a response, the county has filed its own complaint against PVJR. The complaint alleges that the lease was entered without the approval of the then-board of commissioners and is therefore invalid.
In a statement provided to The Reflector by Clark County Manager Shawn Henessee, the county noted that it “hopes the parties can work together to efficiently and effectively address the legal questions that must be resolved.” Henessee declined to give further comment given the county is now in litigation.
The contract dispute has arisen during a time when the county has been attempting to implement a change in state law allowing for industrial development along railroads like Chelatchie Prairie. The county postponed its work in October in order to wait until new council members had been sworn in, though with the current dispute no work has been done since.
