The Economic Development Joint Powers Board (EDJPB) for Casper/Natrona County is a quasi-governmental entity created in 1987 for economic development. The EDJPB receives and disperses funds that come from local revenue as well as state and/or federal grants. There is also an investment component with every economic development entity that happens behind closed doors. The EDJPB uses these funds to financially support economic development projects. They also have the power to reject any economic development projects they determine not worthy. Who their board members are, who their investors are, an accounting of their funds and assets, and how they arrive at their decisions remains a mystery to the general public.
While a 2026 budget published by Natrona County verifies the EDJPB receives funds from both Natrona County and the City of Casper, any official details beyond that are opaque or hidden from the public. Even though they are the two “Joint Powers” neither Natrona County or the City of Casper websites officially recognize the EDJPB board at all. As such there is no identification of who the board members are, or when and where they have meetings. Hoping to find a repository of economic development files housed with either entity has proven to be a fools errand.
Official interoperable communication between the two governmental entities appears nonexistent. Even worse, it seems that neither Natrona County or the City of Casper can even agree on the official name of the economic development organization that they share joint powers with. Either Natrona County and the City of Casper are at odds with one another in regards to the EDJPB or the administrative capabilities of both government entities lack transparency and professionalism in profound ways.
Name Changes, Name Confusion
During it’s forty-plus years of history the EDJPB appears to have gone through an unknown amount of name changes – whether intentional or not. At one time it was referred to as “Natrona County Economic Development”; at another time it was called “Natrona County Economic Development Joint Powers Board” – names which are still sporadically used by some Wyoming news sources. At another time it appears that the Casper Area Economic Development Alliance (CAEDA) might have been acting on behalf of the EDJPB.
We did find a random City of Casper meeting packet online from Nov 15, 2024, that includes EDJPB meeting minutes. That document reveals the board members at that time were: Jim Milne (Natrona County Commissioner), Dave North (Natrona County Commissioner), Ray Pacheco (City of Casper Councilman), Mark Pepper, and Amber Pollock (City of Casper Councilwoman). With the exception of Mark Pepper, the remaining four board members are publicly elected officials.
While we are still searching for data, it appears that Natrona County is the sole entity of the “joint powers” that provides any publicly available EDJPB financial records, however what they do provide is vague and scant. Thus far we have found zero publicly available EDJPB financial records provided by the City of Casper.
Both the Natrona County Commission and the City of Casper Council fail miserably at living up to their fiduciary and ethical duties as elected officials, as well as moral obligations that any average citizen would expect from them.
Natrona County, the City of Casper and the EDJPB, as well as Advance Casper (below) are in dire need of a thorough public audit that dates back at least fifteen years.
NATRONA COUNTY
The Natrona County government website does not recognize the EDJPB on their Boards & Commissions page. EDJPB meetings/minutes do not occur in Meeting Agendas and Minutes that link to all other county boards. Because we found the “2026 EDJPB Proposed Budget” tucked away on the page for Special Districts Budgets one might assume that the EDJPB is considered a Special District by Natrona County, however it is uncertain if that assumption would be correct.
Presently, running a search at their website for “Economic Development” brings up three hits: An old defunct 2017 CAEDA (Casper Area Economic Development Alliance) link; a Property Complaint Form, and the following:
The Natrona County Planning & Zoning Commission page, which describes their responsibilities as:
The responsibility of the Commission is to provide necessary services to implement sound land use planning and economic development policies to protect and enhance the quality of life for present and future inhabitants of Natrona County.
Nothing further is provided on “economic development policies”, which should be outlined for public knowledge and public input.
Additionally, “quality of life” is a subjective term that can be used to support a myriad of economic development changes that local citizens might strongly disagree with. “Protecting quality of life” was completely ignored by a majority of Natrona County, Casper, and Bar Nunn elected officials when they supported Radiant Industries proposal for storing spent nuclear fuel on the outskirts of Bar Nunn residential neighborhoods. Economic development chases revenue and jobs for “quality of life”; the health concerns of small communities of taxpayers is simply swatted away like an annoying fly.
Back to Natrona County website – searching with the acronym “EDJPB” brings up several hits, all being Natrona County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Agendas. In the June 3, 2025 meeting minutes there is Natrona County Resolution No. 17-25, with supporting documents (pages 23 – 28), identifying the Casper Area Economic Development Joint Powers Board. These documents state that the City of Casper and Natrona County entered into a joint powers agreement on Feb 17, 1987, and that the agreement has undergone six amendments, with the seventh amendment awaiting review/approval by the Wyoming Attorney General and all other parties.
The June 3, 2025 Natrona County Resolution #17-25 is the only document we have found anywhere that uses the name “Casper Area Economic Development Joint Powers Board”. Before the end of that same month, Natrona County went right back to using the acronym EDJPB.
On June 26, 2025 the one page EDJPB 2026 Budget was approved and posted by the Natrona County Government. Income expected by the EDJPB for 2026 includes:
| $455,104.00 Public Revenue from Casper |
| $128,235.11 Public Revenue from Natrona County |
| $235,486.44 Budget Funding from Reserves |
| $65,000.00 Interest and Dividends from Bank Accounts |
| $6,000.00 “Pyrite Rent Income” |
| $889,825.55 TOTAL INCOME |
Because EDJPB does not present a public accounting of their budget entries, every line item in the EDJPB 2026 Budget is highly problematic and questionable. For example there are several references to “Bishop Rail” and a “Bishop Rail Car”. The amount for “Administration” under “Subcontractor Expense” is $560,005.55 – notes for that item state “96% of city, county and bishop rail estimate”. Additionally, the Bishop Rail Car appears as a credit ($4,800) of some sort for Advance Casper. What is going on with the “Bishop Rail” and “Bishop Rail Car”? Is the Bishop Rail Car an asset owned by EDJPB? Casper/Natrona taxpayers deserve to know what involvement EDJPB has with the Bishop Rail, and they also deserve to know what assets are owned by the entity they have been funding since 1987.
Another eye-catching expense is $13,000 for “audit fees”. EDJBP could resolve some of these transparency concerns by publicly releasing their audit records.
Note on the $6,000.00 “Pyrite Rent Income” mentioned above:
- In April 2023 the Wyoming Business Council (WBC) recommended $600,000 for purchase of a manufacturing building at 2199 Pyrite in Casper for Phoslock Environmental Technologies, which SLIB approved. In August 2023 the EDJPB purchased the building for Phoslock. By November 2023 Phoslock had changed their mind – which left the EDJPB with an empty building partially bought with taxpayers funds. Because the EDJPB does not provide any public accounting of this project, and the WBC does not acknowledge this failure anywhere – no one really knows if the EDJPB paid the $600,000 back.
Not only did the EDJPB purchase a building outright for a private business using taxpayer dollars, EDJPB is now collecting $500 in rent per month for a manufacturing building that WY taxpayers contributed $600,000.00 towards.
We intend to search through more Natrona County BOCC meeting minutes that discuss the “EDJPB” to provide more documentation to this page.
While the EDJPB has a liberal 2026 budget of over $889,000, and approves or denies funding for economic projects typically hidden away from public awareness and input, additionally a webpage or website accounting for all of this business activity cannot be found anywhere. Aside from the scant details in their 2026 budget, Natrona County government website provides NO explanation for expenditures made by the EDJPB, much less regularly scheduled and publicized EDJPB public meetings with public comments before any expenditures were voted on and spent.
Additionally, the EDJPB lists 2026 revenue at $889,825.55 and itemized 4 quarterly payments to “Advance Casper” (for unspecified reasons) for a total of $560,005.55. This leaves $329,820 in the coffers of EDJPB for unexplained reasons as well.
CITY OF CASPER
According to the second page of the June 3, 2025 Joint Powers Agreement the City of Casper has earmarked the following sums for economic development through fiscal year 2035:
| 2026 | $455,104.00 |
| 2027 | $459,655.00 |
| 2028 | $454,212.00 |
| 2029 | $468,854.00 |
| 2030 | $473,543.00 |
| 2031 | $478,279.00 |
| 2032 | $483,062.00 |
| 2033 | $487,893.00 |
| 2034 | $497,772.00 |
| 2035 | $502,750.00 |
| Total | $4,761,124.00 |
As if those unaccounted dollar amounts are not scandalous enough, the rising 1% values are directly tied to Rocky Mountain Power Franchise Fees that the City of Casper will be cashing in on – while Casper/Natrona residents electricity bills continue to increase, and Rocky Mountain Power continues to threaten further rate increases!!
City of Casper Website
Running searches at the City of Casper government website with “Casper Area Economic Development Joint Powers Board” or “EDJPB” one runs into a brick wall – you do get hits but all of the links lead to an error page.
As mentioned above, we did find a random City of Casper meeting packet online from Nov 15, 2024. The two pages of information provided in that packet are scant on financial details – for example, references of a SLIB loan and WBC grant never mention $$ amounts. Invoices are discussed, also with no dollar amount mentioned.
The City of Casper does have a page specifically devoted to Economic Development Agencies, however “Casper Area Economic Development Joint Powers Board” or “EDJPB” appear no where on the page. While they have several links to quasi-governmental entities, the link to “Advance Casper” is specifically relevant to our discussion on Casper/Natrona. Once again we see the name-confusion-game: When you click through to the opening page it states both “Advance Casper” and “Natrona County Economic Development”.
We intend to search for more City of Casper meeting packets that discuss the “EDJPB”, or the “Natrona County Economic Development Joint Powers Board”, or the “Casper Area Economic Joint Powers Board (etc) to provide more documentation to this page.
Advance Casper (formerly known as Casper Area Economic Development Alliance (CAEDA))
Their website states they are “a public-private organization devoted to growing Casper with you and for you. We contract with the City of Casper, Natrona County, and the Economic Development Joint Powers Board to not only serve as the leading catalyst for economic and workforce development; but to enhance the quality of life for all who work and live in the heart of Wyoming.”
Note when they say are devoted to growing Casper “with you” they actually mean with your money.
On their Board of Directors page they state:
Meet Our Board
The Economic Development Joint Powers Board (EDJPB) was created and is funded by the City of Casper and Natrona County to drive economic development in the area. Representatives from the County Commission and City Council sit on the EDJPB board.
Advance Casper is a public-private partnership contracted by the EDJPB to serve as the economic development organization for the City and County.
Forward Casper is the private membership side of Advance Casper comprised of businesses and individuals who have invested in the organization to spur economic development across the County. Forward Casper members are eligible to sit on the Advance Casper Board of Directors by election or by becoming an Investment Level member.
EDJPB contracting Advance Casper places a private party between public elected officials and their constituents, who they are legally (and morally) accountable to because of their sworn Oath as a public servant. The unconstitutional actions carried out by private entity Advance Casper removes elected officials one degree away from their constituents. The unconstitutional actions carried out by private entity Forward Casper removes elected officials two degrees away from their constituents. In this way public elected officials hope to appear to have clean hands.
The public-private partnership status of Advance Casper and the Forward Casper private membership is the legal maneuver that avoids constitutional compliance, public transparency and accountability of economic development plans, funding and expenditures. This is in fact how Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) are legally argued – they demand confidentiality and privacy for the private entities in a public-private partnership. (This is exactly what is happening in Gillette right now with an NDA being signed with BWXT.)
This is the same strategy we see with all quasi-governmental entities, whether it is the Wyoming Business Council, the Wyoming Energy Authority, or any other economic or energy development organization that purports to represent the state or any other government entity.
One more constitutional violation to point out: Despite “being funded by the City of Casper and Natrona County” Advance Casper has only one actual elected official:
On their Board of Directors page they identify:
- Five Executive Officers (all are business representatives, none are publicly elected officials)
- Seven Investment Members (all are business representatives, none are publicly elected officials)
- Six Elected Members (all are business representatives, none are publicly elected officials)
- Four Appointed Members (only one is a publicly elected official)
On their Contact page they identify:
- Four Team Members (none are publicly elected officials)
Out of 26 positions at Advance Casper only one is held by a publicly elected official.
At their website there are no meeting announcements. There are no meeting minutes. There are no financial or administrative documents.
Their page for economic development ironically says:
Advancing Casper’s Future. Protecting Wyoming Values.
How does Advance Casper “protect Wyoming values” while simultaneously hiding the taxpayer money they’re using in an economic development monopoly game??
The EDJPB has maybe 1% transparency because of an actual available budget, whereas Advance Casper has zero transparency. Neither have any accountability that can be found online at this point. According to the EDJPB 2026 Budget, Total Admin costs are $590,905.55 and a large portion of that is going to Advance Casper. If the EDJPB is subcontracting Advance Casper because they cannot handle the economic development mission they originally set out to do in 1987, then maybe its time to close it down?? The EDJPB needs to open their books so that Casper and Natrona County taxpayers can weigh in on the future of EDJPB.
Timeline of Publicized Actions or Funding Details Related to the EDJPB
Sep 5, 2025
Oil City News: Radiant undeterred by $25M grant application withdrawal
The Natrona County Economic Development Joint Powers Board has rescinded its application for a $25 million grant that would have aided nuclear energy company Radiant in its plans to build a factory near Bar Nunn for portable nuclear microreactors…
Jun 26, 2025
EDJPB Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2026
Apr 24, 2025
Radiant Nuclear plans factory in Casper Wyoming to produce microreactors
…The Economic Development Joint Powers Board is currently working on an application for funding, with estimates suggesting a need for around $6 to $8 million for infrastructure improvements…
Nov 15, 2024
City of Casper Information Packet
Natrona County Economic Development Joint Powers Board Meeting Minutes, pages 9 to 10.
…Renovations have started at the FTZ building located at 7450 Werner…
.…Justin Farley and Mark Pepper met with City Manager Carter Napier and started discussing renewing the city’s contract with the EDJPB…
…Copies of all materials presented to the board are filed in the board’s permanent file in the CAEDA office…
2024
FY 2024 Community Project Funding Requests – Congresswoman Harriet Hageman
…The City of Casper requests $2 million in THUD EDI Funds to support the North Platte Sanitary Sewer – Phase II project…
…The Economic Development Joint Powers Board, in close partnership with the non-profit WYO Complex, Natrona County, and Advance Casper, seeks $1,613,917 in Community Project Funding under the THUD Economic Development Initiatives account to construct the public infrastructure components of the planned, new WYO Complex indoor sports facility…
Apr 17, 2023
$600K Business Committed grant to aid business plant relocation from China to Casper
Australian-based Phoslock Environmental Technologies will be able to relocate one of its manufacturing plants from China to Casper with the aid of a $600,000 grant.
The request was made by the Casper/Natrona County Economic Development Joint Powers Board to the Wyoming Business Council, which presented requests for funds to the State Loan and Investment Board at its April 6 meeting, a news release states.
Mar 23, 2023
Find Out How Casper Lands Key Companies
…C/NCIA is part of a 60-mile active Foreign Trade Zone. This is beneficial for companies because merchandise in an FTZ does not require a formal customs entry and is not subject to U.S. duty or excise taxes. Also, within the FTZ is Casper Logistics Hub, which allows freight from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail line to be offloaded duty-free. “A community is only as good as its accessibility, and rail is a big part of that,” Farley says…
…“Advance Casper has done everything from helping to pay for moving costs for large equipment, and our Economic Development Joint Powers Board has done some low-interest loans for business expansion,” Farley says…
June 22, 2021
2021-2022 Economic Development Joint Powers Board Final Budget
Natrona County seven page budget document (FY 7/1/21-6/30/22) that identifies 5 board members and verifies if board meetings are publicly announced and accessible. Entity name specified as: Casper Area Economic Development Alliance, dba Advance Casper
2021
U.S. Economic Development Administration / Casper Area Economic Development Alliance, Inc.
Advance Casper seeks to catalyze deployment of three tiers of early-stage capital in Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZs) in the Casper Metro region and throughout the state of Wyoming. Advance Casper will partner with Breakthrough 307 (BT 307), Ride for 8 Venture Capital, the University of Wyoming (UW) Wyoming Technology Business Center (WTBC), and other public, private, and non-profit partners to administer, market, and vet three complimentary investment funds to be headquartered in Casper…
…Regional coordination on marketing and vetting these funds will help streamline the process of raising funds for local startups and businesses seeking to locate in Casper. With EDA B2S funds, Advance Casper will hire a new capital manager to activate its economic development network and serve as a navigator for startups seeking seed funding, angel investment, and VC capital. The project will address regional needs for strategic, early-stage capital deployment, attract new startups, and spur home-grown economic diversification, including through the launch of a Casper Biosciences Innovation Hub.
Jun 30, 2016
WBC Board Meeting
City of Casper – $15,000,000 total in encumbrances (pg 41); Economic Joint Powers Board – approx. $24,000,000 in encumbrances (pg 42).
Oct 5, 2004
LSO Memo: Funding for community economic development organizations
Casper Area Economic Development Alliance (CAEDA) – The CAEDA organization is funded primarily by a portion of revenues collected from the Natrona County fifth cent sales tax and private donations. CAEDA does not charge a membership fee to participate in the organization, rather, members are encouraged to pledge donations over a four-year time span so that the organization can effectively plan and implement long term developmental projects. Though the funds received by CAEDA from the county sales tax goes primarily toward operating costs, a representative of the organization explained that the excess dollars left over from this allocation are invested in interest earning accounts. A Joint Powers Board made up of county, city, and at-large representatives appropriates the funds to CAEDA. CAEDA receives $2 million over four years, and any funds in excess of the operational costs each year but less than $500,000 will go into an interest bearing account. Historically this has amounted to roughly $100,000 to $150,000, annually. These investment dollars are set-aside in the event that the organization must access money for a particular project. For example, these “excess” public funds have been used to provide incentive loans such as participatory loans for equipment and machinery. CAEDA then deposits the loan payments back into the interest bearing account for use in future projects.
No Date
Casper Area Economic Development Alliance Inc
EIN: 83-0279892
Main address
139 W 2nd St Ste 1d
Casper, WY 82601 United States
Source: https://www.guidestar.org/profile/83-0279892
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