Team Mosier wrapped up business last night with report that a final agreement had been signed with Union Pacific.by representatives of the city, the fire district and the community school, the three entities that joined in an intergovernmental agreement to create Team Mosier. The idea was to produce a single group that could negotiate with Union Pacific rather than litigate in the aftermath of the derailment,oil spill and fire that took place in June 2016.
In the end, Union Pacific agreed to pay the equivalent of $2.5 million to the three entities that banded together as Team Mosier. Some of that was in cash, other portions in donations of land and in-kind services. Team Mosier leader Terry Moore reported the final agreement had been signed December 1, and that checks were in the mail.
Those included the following:
$500,000 to the fire department as partial expense of creating a new combination fire station/public building
$400,000 for contingency
$350,000 to the fire department to create a water fixture near the tracks hooked into the local creek that could be used in any future fire in the area
$250,000 to the fire department for equipment
$350,000 to Mosier Community School for capital projects.
The city would receive the donation of railroad land on which to build the new fire station/community building and some additional in-kind services
Mosier Mayor Arlene Burns noted that by acting together, the school, fire district and city received a lot more than they would have had they engaged in litigation.
“Of course, we would have rather not had this train crash,” she said at the Thursday night meeting, “but in the end, this process – even though it’s been a little laborious at times – has been a really wonderful example of how communities can work together for a common goal. And I think this negotiation and agreement, done peacefully versus with years of litigation. and has had very few prisoners, in a sense, there’s not been carnage from it, and it really will enable the city – the whole community – to be enhanced in a way that is really a lift,”
Operations now transfer to a Working Group that will consist of a single representative from each of the local entities – school, fire district and city – plus three representatives of Union Pacific. Those six people with then choose a seventh, which shall act as the chair of the group. The purpose of the Working Group is to implement the land transfer and in-kind services and make sure that the agreement is carried out.