ADAMS TWP — When horizontal drilling under 172 acres at the Mars School District was rejected on March 11 by the school board, a few important legal reasons for the move went without public discussion.

In an executive session immediately before the 7 p.m. meeting, district solicitor Tom King told board members that he had turned up a handful of potential title issues if the district agreed to the $1 million lease with Rex Energy.

King said about 5 acres under the primary center school was donated to the district in 1950 by the United Presbyterian Women’s Association of North America. That is the group that founded the MHY Family Services, known for years as the Mars Home for Youth.

King said a clause in the donation documents mandates that the land be used only for school purposes, which means the possibility existed that MHY Family Services could have asked for the land back because Rex Energy gas drilling does not abide by the documents.

“Then you have the issue of whether you own the gas or they own the gas,” King said.

King said a potential problem also existed related to the land where the Centennial School was built.

He said the McMeekin family, which owns the adjacent Quality Gardens, allowed the district to use its land with the stipulation that should the district sell the land, the McMeekin family would first have the opportunity to buy it back.

King said if the land were leased, the McMeekins might have made a case that they were not given first rights of refusal and the agreement would have been breached. If the case were successful, the district could have been faced with returning the land.

He did not know how many acres were involved in the McMeekin agreement.

King also turned up a deed for 26 acres of district property that references a prior conveyance of oil and gas rights at some time in the past.

King said Rex Energy gave the district a deadline of March 11 to decide on the lease, but had not done a title search on the district’s property. That would cost about $3,000 per title, and the district has nine tracts, King said.

He said Rex Energy officials told him they would not complete title searches unless the board agreed to the lease.

“That’s a big deal for the school district,” King said.

He said it is entirely likely that an in-depth title search would have turned up other issues similar to the few King discovered in his informal title search.

“These issues were the only ones evident at first blush,” King said.

He said that while it may be appropriate for a private land owner to sign a lease before a title search, it would not be for a school district.

King said he told the board of the potential title issues at an executive session the week before the vote, and shared the preliminary results just as the board prepared to face a large crowd of residents, parents, anti-fracking group members and teachers who were against horizontal drilling beneath the school property.

School board President Dayle Ferguson said that the board considered a plethora of information, both individually and together, before the important vote.

“Many factors weighed into the decision-making process, but it is fair to say that the legal red flags were very compelling,” Ferguson said.

Rex Energy officials are now waiting for the permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection to construct six wells on the Bob and Kim Geyer farm, which is within a mile of all five Mars school buildings.