Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Mineral Bids topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Steubenville opens two mineral-rights bids; council accepts bids into record and will continue due diligence
Summary
Assistant Law Director Bernie Battistel announced two bids for the city's mineral rights—Pike Petroleum ($249,456.35) and Ascent Resources – Utica (figure listed in transcript as $1,112.209). Council voted to accept the bids into the public record but did not award a lease and said it will post the bid documents online and continue research.
Assistant Law Director Bernie Battistel opened the mineral-rights bids during the June 11 special meeting, saying, "We have two bids, one is from Ascent Resources – Utica, LLC and Pike Petroleum, LLC. Pike Petroleum’s bid was $249,456.35 and Ascent Resources – Utica’s bid was $1,112.209." He said the process "was followed pursuant to statute, with an ordinance being passed to let our mineral rights out to bid," that the advertisement ran once a week for five consecutive weeks in the Herald Star, and that any award would be made in writing and approved by two-thirds of the legislative body.
Council member Walker moved to accept the bids and make them part of the record; Council member McManamon seconded and the motion passed on a roll-call vote (all ayes). McManamon told the public, "we are not going to vote on the; who we would accept if we're going to accept either one of them. We're going to continue to do our due diligence... and then also one of the things that we, I asked our law director, we will post these bids on our website, so they will be available on our website." Battistel added that the leases were prepared by "Mr. Maestros’ office and an outside oil and gas company," that bidders were bidding only on bonus money per acre, and that the royalty rate in the lease documents is 20% (Albaugh: "That’s gross right?" Battistel: "Correct").
Mayor Petrella opened a public forum on the subject; Paul Macdonald and Suzanne Macdonald each spoke briefly with opinions about the leasing process (the transcript records they "gave a brief speech on his/her opinions" but does not include verbatim remarks). The council adjourned after the public forum; no lease award or final action on which bidder would be selected occurred at the meeting.
