Although the Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling boom has increased profits for some public bodies, groups are finding that the deals they make vary greatly and leave little room for negotiation or outside bids.
In the past year, the Wheeling Park Commission entered into a contract with Chesapeake Energy for gas drilling at Oglebay and Wheeling parks.
Also, the Marshall County Board of Education last month entered into an agreement with Chesapeake for land it owns in Sherrard.
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Even though the groups signed with the same company, their deals are very different.
Chesapeake Energy has paid the city of Wheeling and the park commission $750 per acre through a lump sum payment to lease drilling sites at Oglebay and Wheeling parks. The company also will pay a 14 percent royalty on any gas produced at the parks.
The Marshall County Board of Education, meanwhile, agreed to an oil and gas lease on 177 acres of property located in the area of Sherrard Elementary School. That agreement called for $2,800 per acre and 18.75 percent of gross production on wells.
At the time of the agreement, Superintendent Fred Renzella said the lease "exceeds original expectations."
G. Randolph Worls, president of the Oglebay Foundation, is not quite as content with the deal his group made.
"Other companies have now come into Ohio County, which has nearly doubled the lease amounts," he said.
"In hindsight, maybe we probably should have waited, but at the time we signed the lease, that number was consistent with what other properties were getting."
As far as companies bidding for the gas leases, both groups say they handled the bidding as they do with any of their contracts - but it didn't make a difference.
"We contacted virtually every known drilling company and Chesapeake was the only offer we got," said Worls.
Assistant Marshall County Superintendent Wayne Sims said his board faced the same issue.
"We knew that our property was surrounded by four other properties that Chesapeake had already made leases with," said Sims.
"We were landlocked, so Chesapeake was the only one that showed interest."
According to Sims, the board's attorney, Chris Riley, worked with a consultant experienced in oil and gas lease agreements.
Riley and the consultant worked together to develop a bid lease that fit the board's criteria, Sims said.
Sims explained that because there is a school on the property and children involved, the board had very strict guidelines as to how the lease agreement would be worded.
Among other guidelines, Chesapeake Energy has agreed to not place an actual gas well on the board's property, Sims said.
"Once we had our bid lease developed, we did send it out to several companies such as TransEnergy, American Electric Power as well as Chesapeake, but we got no response from anyone but Chesapeake," he said. "We do feel that our attorney did his job and got us the best deal possible."
Worls said that the Wheeling Park Commission also had a bid process it followed.
"We attempted to contact about four or five different companies ... but we got no response," he said.
"Chesapeake was the company, and under no conditions would they offer us more than what we got."
Marshall County Superintendent Fred Renzella on Friday said that much of the agreement is determined by the market.
Renzella added that they are aware of other public properties in Marshall County that have been offered more than what they got in February.
"These deals do change depending on when they happen," said Renzella.