An Uneventful Meeting
By PJ Martin
Editor
The Herald-News
The Edmonton City Council met in regular session on Monday, December 1st, at the Edmonton City Hall. Those in attendance were Mayor Doug Smith, Councilmembers Teresa Hamlett, Curt Estes, Cathy Nunn, Faye Word, Tommy England, and City Attorney Brian Pack.
Others in attendance were City Clerk/Administrator Dawn Devore, Public Works Superintendent Moe Hensley, Police Chief David Robertson, ABC Administrator Fred Ray, Park Director Brian Garrett, Fire Chief Jerry Clemmons, and from the Herald-News, PJ Martin.
The mayor declared a quorum present, and the minutes from the special-called meeting on November 3rd were approved with no changes.
Each department head presented their November activity report.
Public Works Supt. Moe Hensley presented the water, sewer, and gas report, “For the month of November, we had two water taps, six fixed leaks, and replaced one box. Had one gas tap, our routine stuff that we do every month, we also started the leaf pick up, took flags down, returned to the VFW people. They bring them every spring, we put them up, and in the fall, we take them back down, begin laying the new lines, the upgrade for the rendering plant, and we started the Christmas decorations. Black topping is well on its way. I think they only like one more, two more sites, and they will be done.”
“I had asked you all for a truck in the budget, and I’m calling, if you want to let me do that,” added Hensley, explaining that a truck was available from a dealer with the state contract for under $40,000, so it would not require bidding. It was approved.
Next, Edmonton Police Chief David Robertson presented the departments November activity report with 15 arrests, 9 non-injury accidents, 3 alarms, 4 animal complaints, 3 domestic violence, 1 DUI, 5 EPO, 3 new investigations opened, 5 motorist assists, 10 medical calls, 1 drug complaint, 31 traffic stops, 6 warrants, 3 escorts (funerals), total complaints were 52 and total citations were 24. The department patrolled 4,146 miles.
The 911 Dispatch Center’s Director, Jordon Crump, stated, “We dispatched approximately 36.71% of our total calls went towards the city. 59 almost 60% was the county, and then loosely, we had some for the state police and for the school police for Edmonton.”
The full report lists the following dispatches: Edmonton PD -210, Emergency Mgmt. – 3, KSP – 13, Coroner – 3, School Police – 7, Sheriff’s Dept. – 193, Edmonton Fire Dept. – 72, NM Fire Dept. – 34, and SS Fire Dept. – 37.
ABC Administrator Fred Ray reported that everyone was in compliance. Following Ray was Park Director Brian Garrett, who reported, “We winterized Pedigo Park restrooms. We shut them down. They don’t have heat in the winter, so we winterize them. Shut them down. We took our shade, top off, our canopies for the bleachers, stored up for the winter. Put down all backstop pads back, case nets, everything’s been stored put up. Winterized both irrigation systems. Drained all the water out of the irrigation. And we also reseeded one field, the back softball field.”
The mayor introduced Resolution # 2025-2026-05, the CDBG project grant, which will be used to construct the community building at the Edmonton Memorial Park. The motion was quickly approved.
Mayor Smith asked Devore to explain the resolution, “We’re still waiting to hear back from ARC. There, they approved our prime preliminary application, which made us do a full application for ARC. In the midst of our waiting, we’ve had to redo this CDBG resolution. We’ve already done it once, and while it says that anything over that $750,000, the city understands that they are responsible for any cost overruns.”
ARC stands for Appalachian Regional Commission Grant, and the City of Edmonton has applied for $1,000,000 in grant funds.
Edmonton Fire Chief Jerry Clemmons reported that for November, the department had 17 medical runs, 1 hazmat, 1 fire, and 2 lift assists for a total of 21 runs.
City Attorney Brian Pack announced, “Mister Moore and I met this past week… We’re going to take all of our ordinances and put them in a way that they can be found, you know, organized, and we’ve got a company that’s helping us, and this is an ongoing project… We’re going to be asking you to revise a lot of oral ordinances. We just need to clean up. We record. Statutes have been repealed long ago, things like that. So, we’re going to be coming to you probably in the next several months… It’s more of a let’s clean up what we do have, and let’s organize them so people can look it up, yeah, and find it, you know. And the hope is it will be on our webpage, it would be accessible to everyone, and they should be able to see it and be able to find it.”
Pack also reminded the council that the deadline to file for mayor or council is June 2, 2026. He also reminded the council that any changes to the salaries need to be done now, since it requires an ordinance with two readings and publication.
Mayor Smith then gave a short update on the grocery store situation. “I would like to say that we have stayed in contact with Mr. Worley’s group (Houchens Industries) to offer any assistance and to get an update for you…If one was available. We did reach out today, but haven’t heard anything back yet. I just want you to know we are still working tirelessly to help with anything we can do to get a grocery store located here.”
With no other items, the motion was made to adjourn.
