Cole County to sign one-year operating agreement with Capital Oil Terminals for transload facility

Cole County commissioners approved a one-year operating agreement with Capital Oil Terminals LLC that will allow the company to operate the county'owned transload facility and handle marketing, offloading logistics and customer coordination.

County staff described the arrangement as a pilot period to let officials "learn" how operations perform before committing to a longer-term contract. Project staff said a track wheel to move railcars is already on site and that the operator expects railcars to arrive as soon as next week. "So the day has come that we're about ready to have cars on the rail tracks," said the staff member leading the presentation.

The agreement requires the operator to submit periodic reports detailing numbers of transloaded cars, fees collected, new customers and revenue and expense summaries. Staff told commissioners the county will continue to maintain the track for now while the operator covers marketing and handling; the one-year term was chosen to give the county time to evaluate the arrangement before considering a multi-year renewal.

A commissioner moved to sign the operating agreement and the commission approved the motion. The commission directed staff to circulate an updated signature page reflecting a corrected date before final execution. No amendment to the agreement term was made at the meeting; commissioners said they may revisit term length after the pilot year.