Deja Vu
By PJ Martin
Editor
The Herald-News
The Edmonton – Metcalfe Industrial Development Authority (IDA) held its October meeting on Monday, October 20th.
The following members were present: Chairperson Lisa Boswell, Terry Garrett Jerry Garmon, Matt Gallagher, and others in attendance were Secretary/Treasurer Alley Bragg, Judge/Executive Larry Wilson, and PJ Martin from The Herald-News.
Absent were Luke Wilson, Donna Caffee, and Mayor Doug Smith.
The minutes from the regular September 15th meeting were approved as written after motions by Garrett and Garmon.
Secretary/Treasurer Alley Bragg presented the financial report for the period of September 15 through October 20. “Okay, on September the 19th, we had a deposit. It was actually a wire for Pennington Stave Company for $13,733.58.”
“We added the ESB interest on September the 30th for 80 cents. And I have a check ready to pay the ESB loan payment in October for $6,866.79 and that will leave us $7,972.51.”
Chairperson Boswell asked Bragg, “This is October, and we have not had an October (payment). Alright, can we have a motion to accept?”
The motion to accept the financial report was made by Garmon, seconded by Gallagher, and approved.
Boswell then stated, “So we had sent him a letter (Pennington)… We had it served, because we are a quasi-governmental agency. I um, I am not comfortable writing this another month, because we’re going to be right back where we were two months down and we don’t have money to pay. So, do we send another letter? Do you want it to reflect what the other letter…Jerry.”
“No, it’ll just be for October, right?” said Garmon.
The question was asked when or on what day of the month the payment is due. Bragg replied that it is due on the first of the month.
“Apparently he’s trying to sell it,” was commented by one of the members. Garmon replied, “Okay, well, that’s not what I read in the paper last week. I think, I thought it said it’s trying to get it up and going,” looking at the Herald-News reporter for an answer. “That’s what he told me. Yeah, he’s trying to get it up and going. He’s trying to get the contracts to get them up and going,” she confirmed.
Boswell asked, “Do you want me to have it served again?”
Garrett made the motion to serve another letter to Pennington Stave, which was seconded by Garmon and approved.
In other business, Boswell stated that when the new agreement was recorded, she had to pay the $50 fee and would like to be reimbursed for it. The motion was made and approved to reimburse her.
Boswell asked, “Before we adjourn. Let’s just take a moment for these poor kids who lost their life over the weekend.”
After a moment of silence, the motion was then made to adjourn.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 17, 2025, at 2 p.m. at Edmonton City Hall.
Update
On Wednesday, October 22nd, the Herald-News was contacted by Chad Pennington of Pennington Stave Company (PSC). He stated that the letter referred to above was delivered to his home late Tuesday night by a Sheriff’s Deputy.
He explained to us that he was unsure why the letter was even sent, because in the past, the company loan payment was paid closer to early to mid-month, and the board’s payment to Edmonton State Bank for the loan is not due until the 28th of each month.
The Edmonton State Bank payment date was confirmed to be the 28th of each month. It was also confirmed through IDA account paperwork from past months that payments from PSC were sent mid-month.
As of 3:30 p.m. on Friday, October 24th, it was verified that the October payment from PSC to the IDA board’s account had not been received.
