Chehalis-Centralia Railroad & Museum Appoints New Leadership

The Chehalis-Centralia Railroad & Museum is under new management, after board members asked the president and treasurer-secretary to resign in late September.

Bill Deutscher, who was previously the vice president of CCR&M, is now acting as the president of the organization. He said board member Rick Burchett is acting as the treasurer, while volunteer Jack Eppert is acting as the secretary.

“We have a lot of work to do both because of the transition and just as a normal part of doing business,” Deutscher said. “A lot of things are up for review because we have people in positions that are somewhat new to them. We will be reviewing a lot of stuff, but we have to continue doing our normal business and operations.” 

Deutscher said the organization intends to stick with its usual schedule of events. It will hold elections for people to permanently fill the president, treasurer and secretary positions in January 2019.

The Port of Chehalis, which owns the rail line on which CCR&M operates, said it would no longer work with the organization if something didn’t change with the nonprofit’s management, in a letter from CEO Randy Mueller dated Sept. 6.

At the Port of Chehalis Commission meeting on Thursday, Deutscher updated the commissioners on the CCR&M’s organizational changes.

“We’re working on fixing a lot of things,” Deutscher told the commissioners.

Port of Chehalis Commissioner Mark Giffey asked Deutscher if the organization had any issues finding assistance to come into compliance.

“I think we are okay at the moment, but if we are not, we will look for help,” Deutscher said.

Mueller said at the meeting that he was not requesting action from the commissioners at that time.

“It’s a really important project for the community and we want to see it succeed,” Port of Chehalis Commissioner Mark Anders said. 

The Port of Chehalis currently leases the rail line to the CCR&M for $1 per year. 

In addition, Mueller wrote in an email that he and the auditor spend a few hours each month on administration and correspondence. The senior director of operations spends an average of 10 hours per month managing the rail property. The port also handles bridge and track repairs.

Last year, the Port of Chehalis paid $5,000 toward the CCR&M’s insurance costs, but Mueller noted that the insurance costs fluctuate annually. The Port of Chehalis is named in the CCR&M’s insurance policy as an additional insured and the port’s regular insurance coverage excludes all rail-related claims. 

“... if a claim exceeded the coverage amounts of the CCR&M’s insurance the port would be liable for the rest out of pocket,” Mueller wrote.

These changes at CCR&M came after Mueller wrote a letter to the nonprofit that said for the port to continue working with CCR&M, something within the organization’s management needed to change.

“Recently, the CCR&M fell many months behind on required filings with the state Department of Revenue and the state Department of Labor and Industries,” Mueller wrote in a letter to CCR&M. “While we understand that personal health issues contributed to this, the issue was made worse by the lack of computerized financial records and no backup bookkeeping volunteers. This was not an isolated incident. Year after year, the CCR&M has also repeatedly been behind on required submittals to the port that are part of the agreement allowing you to operate on the port’s rail line.”

At the time, Bill Thompson was the president of the organization. Wanda Thompson, who is married to Bill Thompson, was acting as the treasurer-secretary. 

“The contributions of the Thompsons to this organization are huge,” Deutscher said. “They sacrificed a great deal over a long period of time. It’s unfortunate that bumps in the road were encountered. … They are largely responsible for the success of this organization. They did quite a lot — a huge amount. We came to a fork in the road, but their hearts were always in the right place.”