In addition to electing a president, Gray residents could vote in November whether to provide funding to make the town the home of the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum.

The exact sum to be voted on is still under consideration, although the preliminary figure is $500,000. Also to be determined is whether voters will be asked to borrow the funds or if they will be voting on whether to use money from the town’s operating budget. Those decisions must be made relatively quickly in order to meet state deadlines for the November election.

At their meeting Tuesday, Gray town councilors gave Town Manager Deb Cabana the go-ahead to work with the town attorney, Bill Dale, to develop language for an agreement between the town and the railroad, and to write the ballot question.

The ballot wording will be discussed at the council’s Sept. 6 meeting and must finalized on Sept. 20 in order to meet state-mandated deadlines, Cabana said.

The Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad is a nonprofit organization that runs 2-foot narrow gauge railcars on a track on the waterfront in Portland and features a museum on the history of the narrow gauge railroad in Maine.

Five years ago, Gray was selected by the company’s board to be the railroad’s new home. Other towns under consideration included Bridgton and Monson.

The project to relocate and expand services provided by the railroad is estimated to cost between $10 million-$12 million. That includes the construction of a roughly 11,000-square-foot museum, which will have space for a library, administrative office and functions, and a covered platform where visitors will wait for trains.

The cost also includes developing some two miles of 2-foot-wide rail behind the Gray Plaza along the Portland-Lewiston Interurban Railway corridor. Central Maine Power gave the Narrow Gauge Railroad a deed to use the land it owns for the new line.

The company wants to operate at the site along Route 100 behind the Gray Plaza by 2018. It will be allowed to continue operating trains on the Portland waterfront until 2023, but will likely forfeit the ownership of the museum property there in a year and a half.

Donnell Carroll, executive director of the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum, told councilors Tuesday that its board of directors had deliberated on whether to ask for the measure to appear on the November or June ballot, but ultimately decided to petition for inclusion on the November ballot.

Councilor Lynn Gallagher said although she supports the railroad’s efforts, she had concerns that four weeks was not enough time to develop an agreement between the company and the town.

The council has four scheduled meetings before the November ballot, and Gallagher said she wants “to make sure we do this right and not rush into it.”

Carroll said his board had committed to putting the measure on the November ballot, and “if we didn’t think we could do it, we wouldn’t be here.”

If the language cannot be developed in the next month, the council may move to hold a special election or include the measure at the municipal elections in June.

The railroad company proposed the funding, if approved, be disbursed in chunks through the course of eight months, starting in January. Roughly half of the funds, to be used for land purchase and design development, would be disbursed on Jan. 1.

Councilor Peter Gellerson, who ultimately supported the measure, said he had concerns that “if this $500,000 is used in the next six to eight months and this dies” because the company cannot fund the rest of the project, “then the town is on the hook for half of a million dollars.”

To alleviate his concern, the council discussed developing a payment schedule whereby the town’s funding would be tied to the company’s performance benchmarks. For example, the company would only receive funds when it successfully completed all of the necessary permitting, or reached a fundraising goal.

Carroll said Wednesday the railroad has raised roughly $500,000 in cash and in-kind contributions so far.

The railroad is having “ongoing discussions on almost a daily basis” with corporations, businesses and foundations who have expressed interest in donating.

“Fundraising is definitely a process,” he said, and donors can hesitate to be “the first person in the pool.”

The board hopes to be able to point to Gray’s commitment to the railroad as encouragement for other potential donors, Carroll said.

The fundraising process has been ongoing for roughly a year and a half, Carroll said.

Next steps for the railroad include negotiating a purchase agreement with the landowner, Dan Craffey, and conducting a final site analysis before starting the permitting process, Carroll said.

Councilor Lew Mancini said although $500,000 is a lot of money for the town, “I look at it more as an investment the town is making in itself.”

Using an economic impact analysis, the railroad estimates the Gray location will generate roughly $2.2 million of economic impact for businesses in Gray and surrounding towns. This includes revenue generated from visitors to the railroad purchasing meals, gas and other various items during their trip.

In concert with the region’s destinations, including the Maine Wildlife Park and Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, councilors have expressed hope that the addition of the Narrow Gauge Railroad could help encourage economic development in the area.

A car from the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum & Co. is on display along Route 100, near the Gray Plaza. Residents of Gray may vote in November on whether to help fund the railroad project’s move to Gray.