Lebanon City Council appears ready to approve an extension with LM&M Railroad that would keep the train in the city for another two years while officials attempt to put a definitive value on the attraction’s value to the city.

Following another tense meeting in which heated words were exchanged, three council members sponsored a contract that would agree to continue funding track maintenance for two years. LM&M in return would pay an annual fee of $3,000, down from the $5,250 it had been paying previously. LM&M would also pay the city a fee of $0.50 per ticketed rider. LM&M had requested a reduction in its annual fee because it has to pay for inspections required by the Federal Railroad Administration that it had previously been receiving for free.

The city of Lebanon owns five miles of track that is used exclusively by LM&M Railroad, a private business, for hour-long tourist excursions starting in downtown Lebanon.

The debate over the railroad is whether the visitors and economic dollars the tourist train brings to the city are worth the approximately $794,000 the city has put into maintenance and repairs of the track since 2008. That city will have to pay an estimated $50,000 more in 2013 for a Bridge Maintenance Management Plan required by the FRA.

Councilman Jim Dearie proposed the two-year extension, saying he wanted to conduct an independent economic impact study on the train’s effect to try and get a solid value on its worth to the area as well as find the answer to several other questions.

“Are there other train companies that might be interested in doing business in Lebanon? Mr Rodriguez has brought up the possibilities of expanding or maximizing the impact of the train service…What that means, I don’t know, but I’d like to get answers to that before we make a decision to stop investing in the rail infrastructure under circumstances that would likely make that a permanent decision,” Dearie said.

Some council members expressed their desire to not go forward. Councilman Jeff Monroe questioned how much worth the train provided to the city, particularly given the amount of tax dollars used to fund the track. Councilman Mark Messer said he felt council had been “played” by LM&M.

“I feel the negotiation has been egregious,” Messer said. “Negotiation are supposed to have two parts. We come to him, he back slaps us and we say, ‘Sorry. Please don’t take your toys and go home.’ We give him exactly what he wants. We did it before and we’re doing it again.”

After Messer questioned whether members of council cared about taxpayers, he and councilman Matt Rodriguez had a heated exchange until scolded by Mayor Amy Brewer, who said council’s actions in the debate over the train were “terrible.”

“We all have different perspectives on this issues … We have strong feelings, it’s emotional, but we’re not going to be doing any of that, got it?” Brewer said.

It appears the contract will have enough approval from council members to pass by a 4-3 vote, but not enough approval for a super-majority that would make the contract pass immediately. Instead council will have to have two readings of the contract and vote on it at its Jan. 2 meeting.