Town Council talks train track blockages, bike path funding
SHEPHERDSTOWN — The Corporation of Shepherdstown’s monthly Town Council meeting was held in Town Hall on Dec. 14.
Some of the main topics discussed in the meeting, included continued issues with the Norfolk Southern Railway blockages and the tentative completion of the town’s bike path.
At the beginning of the meeting, the final reading was completed and approved, of the ordinance to amend section 9-905, subpart ii, of chapter nine, title nine of the Code of Shepherdstown, “by expanding and further describing the legal remedies available for violations of this title,” according to Mayor Jim Auxer.
The mayor then cleared the floor for Shepherdstown Police Department Chief Mike King, to discuss recent developments, with Norfolk Southern Railway. According to King and Auxer, the longest train blockage of East German Street happened recently, clocking in at almost three hours.
“A couple weekends ago, there was a blockage that lasted almost three hours! It’s a safety issue,” Auxer said.
After much investigation, King was given information, which will hopefully help cut down on the blockages.
“[We now have] the Norfolk Southern police dispatch number. Any time we have a train that blocks our crossings for an extended period of time — 10 minutes or more — we should be calling that number,” King said. “They have to report the purpose of the call, who’s complaining and basically they’re going to try to come up with some answers over what’s going on.
“I understand, from talking to some Norfolk Southern officials, that some other municipalities and counties have had similar issues, so we’re trying to make contact with them. The mayor has made some calls — he’s waiting on return calls so he can explore what they were looking at and what they did,” King said. “Some municipalities or counties went ahead with charging people or the train. Believe it or not, it’s the train or conductor who gets charged [for lengthy blockages], in our state. In one county [in Virginia], they issued over 20 citations for train blockages.”
According to King, calls made to that number will be added to a list of those already made, regarding a specific municipality or county. The calls can be made by anyone witnessing the 10-minute-or-longer backups. The phone number was sent out to those on the Corporation of Shepherdstown email list, and can also be accessed by calling Town Hall.
“I want to make everyone aware that we have not laid this to rest. We have to keep after them, that’s our responsibility,” Auxer said. “By people calling this phone number, they’re helping us do that work.”
Auxer also noted that Norfolk Southern Railway has government relations personnel, who work with state representatives. Therefore, Auxer encouraged concerned citizens to contact their state representatives about this problem.
The Town Council unanimously approved the appointment of Sally Brasher as a trustee on the Shepherdstown Public Library Board of Trustees. They also unanimously approved for the Grants Committee to apply for grants, which would cover the purchasing of six AED machines, so each of the Shepherdstown Police Department vehicles and Town Hall would have an AED on-hand. Finally, the Town Council unanimously approved Lori Robertson’s motion “to authorize the allocation of the $200,000 from the video lottery’s reserve for the [bike] path.” The $200,000, combined with grants previously awarded to fund the building of the bike path from the outskirts of the Corporation of Shepherdstown to Morgan’s Grove Park, should be enough money to complete the path.
“In order to send the document for approval of the Bike Path Project to the Department of Transportation, it has to have the $200,000 check with it. I need the authorization to sign the check, before we can move forward with the Department of Transportation,” Auxer said, mentioning the town needed to move forward with this project, because its grant funding has an expiration date of 2024.
According to councilman and Finance Committee member Jim Ford, the project bids for the bike path’s completion will likely be requested in February.