Do we pay or not?
Secretary / Treasurer Alley Bragg presenting the financial report. Photo | PJ Martin
By PJ Martin
Editor | The Herald-News
The Edmonton – Metcalfe Industrial Development Authority (IDA) held its regular monthly meeting on Monday, May 18th.
The following members were present: Chairperson Lisa Boswell, Terry Garrett, Matt Gallagher, Jerry Garmon, Secretary/Treasurer Alley Bragg, Mayor Doug Smith, and PJ Martin from The Herald-News.
Those absent were Donna Caffee, Luke Wilson, and Judge/Executive Larry Wilson.
Chairperson Boswell opened the meeting and declared a quorum present.
The minutes from the regular April 20th meeting were approved with no corrections after motions by Garmon and Garrett.
Boswell then asked Bragg to present the financial report.
“On 4-21, I deposited a check from James Ritter Lumber Company for $546.20. On April 27th, we received a payment from Pennington Stave Company for $6,866.75. We added the ESB interest on April 30th for $2.41. On May 12th, we received a payment from Pennington Stave Company for $6,966.75. And that leaves us with $42,515.98 in the bank account.
Boswell then asked for a motion to approve the financial report. The motion was made by Gallagher and Garmon and approved.
She then stated, “The fence. I ran into Michael (Anderson), and I also talked to Charlotte, and yes, He is in control of that property. We have the estimate… and to his knowledge, that estimate is going to be the final cost.”
The fence, once completed, will be maintained by Anderson, who plans to run cattle on the property.
Garmon relayed that the old fence row had already been cleaned out, and none of the debris was on the Industrial property, and that cost was not on the board. He also noted that no good trees seemed to be in that part of the fence line.
After a short discussion, a motion was made by Gallagher that the board would be responsible for half of the line fence cost once an invoice was received. Garmon seconded the motion, and it was approved.
In other business, Boswell asked, “We have suspended the payments to ESP for a few months. Are we ready to start them again?”
Someone asked what the amount of the payment was. Bragg replied, “The payment is $6,866.75.”
Approximately a year ago, Pennington Stave Company requested that the payment be lowered, and that agreed upon amendment was for one year, beginning July of 2025. The original payment amount was $10,941.90.
“And that is until next month the last month of the reduced payment. And then July is back up to the full amount,” stated Boswell, who added that currently the payments are approximately six months ahead.
Garmon said, “I’d rather wait until we see if the payment’s going to go up when we pay.”
No, I mean, we need to make a decision if we’re gonna pay this month’s payment,” replied Boswell.
Gallagher then agreed, “Yeah. We’ll need to make this one and discuss it next meeting.”
Boswell, “So that’s your motion?… “Do I have a second?”
Garrett seconded the motion. The vote was 2-1, with Garmon being the no vote.
No one had any other business to discuss, so the motion to adjourn was made.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 15, 2026, at 2 p.m. at Edmonton City Hall.
