BARNESVILLE — Barnesville Village Council recently voted to accept a gas and oil lease agreement from Gulfport Energy.

During its Sept. 8 meeting, Village Solicitor Richard Myser explained that he had reviewed the two bid proposals that had been opened during the Aug. 25 meeting, saying that the main difference between the two was that Gulfport had offered an $8,250 per acre bonus, while Grenadier Energy’s proposed bonus was $7,000 per acre.

Myser said that otherwise the two proposals were “about the same,” with both being for five-year periods with five-year renewals, along with 20% gross royalties.

He went on to say that there was a 200-acre discrepancy between the two, which Mayor Jake Hershberger explained was due to some of the parcels already being “partially leased” and that the actual acreage available to be leased was estimated at 600 acres despite the fact that Gulfport’s proposal referenced nearly 800 acres.

Hershberger added that he had compared the parcel numbers between the two proposals and that they did all match up.

Councilman Terry McCort expressed his desire to make sure that village property owners were able to sign leases as well, but Councilman Brad Hudson pointed out that the bid proposals on which they were voting was for village-owned property only so that should not be part of their considerations.

Hershberger said that both companies had indicated that they were committed to including property owners within the unit being explored, noting that Grenadier had stated so in writing while Gulfport had agreed to that verbally.

Resident Mark Lucas said that he had been approached by a representative who was working on leases for Grenadier who offered a $5,000-per-acre bonus.

Council discussed whether they had to pass the ordinance to enter an agreement that night, and Myser pointed out that both deals had expiration dates prior to their next meeting with Hershberger expressing confidence that the deals would still be on the table if they wanted to do three readings.

After further discussion, council voted to suspend the rules and accepted the lease proposed by Gulfport.

Council also suspended the rules requiring that legislation be read on three separate occasions in order to pass a resolution to apply for Ohio Public Works Commission Clean Ohio grant funding “for the preservation of Long Run Reservoir,” as read by Myser.

Council approved the village’s purchase of 406 acres in Wayne and Goshen Townships during their August 25 meeting in order to obtain the reservoir in hopes to eventually tie it into the village water system, with Hershberger saying at the time that the village would be pursuing grants to pay for the land.

Hershberger said if they would get the Clean Ohio grant there would be some restrictions on what they could do with the land, but that those restrictions would only apply to the Goshen Township portion of the land which did not include the body of water itself.

Councilman Tim McKelvey expressed concern over the possible restrictions that would come with the grant.

Village Administrator Roger Deal explained that “things had changed” since the village was sued by the OPWC for land use violations in the vicinity of their Slope Creek Reservoir, which was purchased in part with OPWC funding, while Hershberger explained that there was less concern since the access road and the body of water were not within the scope of the grant application.

Councilman Les Tickhill pointed out that they would know more before the grant was approved and that if there was a conflict discovered before then they could simply turn down the grant.

Hersheberger also informed council that an Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization that they had discussed for the land purchase seemed to be off the table since the mine on that land had been active after the 1977 cutoff date for eligibility, but that he planned to do some more research on that.

Mark Lucas grilled council about their frequent practice of suspending the rules to pass legislation without going through the three readings as required by state law, to which Myser responded that the ordinances and resolutions they had just passed all had deadlines that made doing so necessary and acceptable.

Myser also explained that the three-fourths threshold required to suspend the rules was in place to prevent abuse of the practice since five of six members of council had to agree to the suspension.

Meanwhile, council held the third reading and passed an ordinance establishing a new lease agreement between the village, the Barnesville Community Foundation, and the Barnesville B&O Depot Committee after removing a clause in the agreement that gave the Community Foundation and the Depot Committee sole authority to determine or restrict how the property would be used.

Hershberger said that he along with Deal and Bruce Yarnall from the Depot Committee had met with representatives from a roofing company about the depot roof as they were still looking to get the roof repaired despite the fact that a recent bid on the project was rejected by council.

Deal informed council that additional manhole work would be needed on S. Chestnut Street following the recent paving of that street as part of an Ohio Department of Transportation paving project.

Deal also said that the street paving and improvement project on certain village streets would begin soon and should be completed before the Pumpkin Festival which begins on September 25.

Fire Chief Tim Hall reported that the EMS had responded to 107 calls and performed one transport for WVU Barnesville Hospital while the Fire Department had been dispatched 20 times during the month of August.

Hershberger reported mayor’s court figures for the month of August, saying the village had received $794, the state $362.50, and the county $13.50 for a total of $1,170.

In other business, council approved paying bills in the amount of $226,713.22 and approved a building permit for Camden Hill to construct a new porch at 443 E. Church Street.

Barnesville Council will meet again at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23 in the Municipal Building on Arch Street.