A bid meeting to determine the fate of three former Martins Ferry school buildings concluded without much action Friday, as proceedings for two of the three locations closed without a bidder.

Both the South School and the site of the former Martins Ferry High School were without a bidder. Only the high school extension property had an interested party. That parcel went to Wilson Blacktop Corp. of Martins Ferry for the minimum bid of $11,000.

The South School building, which was appraised at $75,000, had a minimum bid of $125,000 for the building plus the 1.13 acres of property.

According to Stanley Stein, the city's Director of Development, a couple of parties were interested in the South School, but those plans never came to fruition.

"We had several parties express interest in the South School, and there was one where I was pretty sure it was a done deal," Stein said. "But I hadn't received any inquiries about the high school."

The high school's 2.118-acre lot had a minimum bid set at $100,000, but it, too, was unwanted.

Councilman Paul Riethmiller, who was in attendance at the meeting in Mayor Phil Wallace's office, speculated to those in attendance that the current economic situation likely played a large role in the lack of interested parties.

Now, it's up to City Council to determine the next avenue regarding the two available properties.

According to both Stein and Wallace, the city was informed that legally, the bid process was the first step that needed to be taken in getting rid of the former school locations.

"My feeling is that if we had a public auction, at least we could have gotten people here," Stein said about the result. "We could have set a minimum bid and then gone from there, but we were told that we had to have a bid for the properties (first)."

Council will now explore other avenues, but two that are available are turning the properties over to either the Belmont County Department of Development Community Improvement Corp. or the Belmont County Port Authority to serve as legal land agent, similar to the deal worked between the CIC and the Belmont County commissioners involving the Fox Commerce Park industrial property.

Another possibility is leasing each property.

"It's now up to the council with what they want to do with it, and that will likely be discussed at their next meeting (Thursday)," Wallace said.

Nickles Bakery, which has a location directly across the street from the South School, was rumored to be interested in the property but never made a formal bid.

Local plant managers were unable to comment as to the company's interest. Calls to Phil Gardner, vice president of marketing at the corporate office in Navarre, Ohio, were not returned.