OCALA, FL (352today.com) – An update was provided by Marion County Attorney Matthew “Guy” Minter regarding the Dunnellon railroad tie fire and fallout at the Marion County Board of County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, April 7, 2026.

Marion County Assistant Attorney Linda Blackburn has taken the lead working on the Dunnellon railroad ties issue, preparing and filing a lawsuit against CSX and Track Line Rail, said Minter.

“However, when we filed that lawsuit, because we had been in ongoing communications and negotiations with the general counsel of CSX regarding the removal of the rail ties, we did not actually serve them, we kind of held the lawsuit in abeyance because getting into that litigation would’ve been very expensive and would’ve required all kind of expert witnesses on both sides,” said Minter.

The essence of the memo to date is that CSX has accomplished the vast majority of removal of the rail ties within the unincorporated county, although there may be more within the City of Dunnellon, over which Marion County doesn’t have any jurisdiction. But the county does believe that CSX is moving to get rid of all the rail ties, said Minter. The Department of Environmental Protection, as a result of their intervention in this case, believes the remediation efforts to this date have satisfied their regulations. However, DEP is going to continue to monitor the cleanup operations on the site.

At this point, the county recommends not withdrawing their lawsuit, and keeping it filed with the court; however, by July of this year they will have to make a decision about moving forward with the lawsuit or withdrawing it.

“We think for the time being, it’s prudent to keep it filed with the court,” said Minter. ‘That’s our recommendation to you (to the BOCC).”

Marion County Commission Vice Chair Matt McClain agreed that the lawsuit should be left in place, but the county should still be trying to work on getting reimbursed for the cost for Marion County Fire and Rescue going to the site to put out CSX’s fire.

“I think we should at least leave the option of the lawsuit in place,” said McClain.

The fire department was still doing some monitoring on a weekly basis to see how many railroad ties have been removed and how many remain, said Mounir Bouyounes, Marion County administrator. It appears CSX will have finished removing the ties within a couple of weeks.

“I think we’re bringing that to a closure, and we should probably finalize the cost and bill them,” said Bouyounes.

Marion County Commission Chair Carl Zalak, III, asked Marion County Fire and Rescue Chief James Banta, with Zalak’s thought being, whether the railroad ties are in the county or the city, it’s good to have a track record once a week, or once every other week, just to have a record of the ties being moved.

“I think the direction that started from the beginning stays the same,” said Kathy Bryant, Marion County Commissioner Dist. 2. “I know that they’re monitoring it. Everything that we asked them to do, we’re doing. We just need them to get that bill to CSX.”