COAL GROVE - Nearly 38 acres of wooded property at the end of Remy Street in Coal Grove will remain vacant for at least a while longer.

The Village Council voted 3-1 to refuse all three bids on the property that the village has owned for years, a decision that sent Councilman Phil Roush angrily leaving the meeting without voting. Councilmen Kenneth Pyles, William Bryant and Joe Waller voted to reject the bids. Randy Wise cast the dissenting vote.

Eric Holmes submitted the high bid of $37,500. James Hall bid $25,201 and Deloris Bryant placed an offer of $25,005.

When contacted by phone after the meeting, Roush said that he left because the vote just did not make sense to him.

"We never use that property for nothing. We need the money," Roush said. "We could put some people back to work. It was a good bid."

Council received three bids for the property that the village has attempted to sell two other times. Each time all the bids were refused because the price was too low, but that did not seem to be the snag this time.

Councilman Kenneth Pyles said he made the motion to reject the bids because the property has never been zoned and it does not have sewer and water service.

"It may cost us more in the long run if we do sell it," he said. "We need to establish some rules or guidelines for a subdivision."

Holmes said he was interested in buying the property because he is building a home on land adjacent to the Remy Street land. If he had been able to purchase it, Holmes said the first thing he would do is clear it and then see if any of the neighbors wanted to purchase parts of it to expand their own lots. He did say a subdivision was a possibility.

"I believe with the cooperation of the village it could be developed into a larger area of homes," he said.

In other business, Council went into a nearly two-hour closed session to hear labor grievances filed by Kyle McKnight and Brian Bryant, two of the employees who were laid off late last year. Village attorney Mark McCown said nothing has been resolved yet.