City Council discusses achievement award, fallen trees, and illegal dumping

The Lennox City Council met Monday, March 24 at Lennox City Hall. Mayor Danny Fergen and Council members heard agenda items including certificates of achievement, fallen trees, and illegal dumping.

Mayor Fergen opened the meeting with a certificate of achievement. 

“Mayor Fergen, we received our annual report from the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and that comes with a certificate of achievement for our operators for meeting the permit requirements for 2024,” said City Administrator, Nate Vander Plaats. 

Kyle Ramynke and Dustin Lau were present at the meeting to receive the award from Mayor Fergen. 

Mayor Fergen asked for any changes or additions to the agenda and Vander Plaats requested an addition to the consent agenda of the annual library report and to have the 2023 Audit presentation listed under new business to be deleted with no further clarification. The motion was approved unanimously.

With no items on the agenda for new business, Mayor Fergen asked the Council if any member wanted to draw attention to consent agenda items. 

“The big consent agenda tonight, mayor and council members, there are a lot of reports, but then if you get down to item L and below, we got just a number of issues here to point out. We are going to be hiring our seasonal employees at the pool, we do have five additional ones that we’re looking at yet, so I should have those ready at the next council meeting. The Mary Chilton Daughters of American Revolution grant is for $50,000 for the museum and bandshell project. The construction agreement with Schwartzle Construction for that same project that’s now been reviewed and okayed by the City Attorney. A couple of smaller agreements, Dilligent, that’s the Board Docs website we use for agenda management, a training agreement with South Dakota Governor’s Office of economic development for some meetings I’m attending there next week, they’ll reimburse us,” Vander Plaats said.

Alderman Bill Daugherty asked about the tree that fell at the tennis courts and asked if it was an ash tree that was slated to be removed. 

“No, it wasn’t ours, it was the neighboring properties tree. My guess is that it was a cottonwood, but I’m not positive,” Vander Plaats responded. 

“If there’s anything else that looks suspicious, we may want to call out some trimming and ensure that it’s handled. That’s a big-time liability if something happens when people are present,” Daughtery responded. 

Daughtery also asked Vander Plaats about concerns at the rubble site with issues of illegal dumping. Vander Plaats believes there are cases of illegal dumping and is working on solutions. 

“It’s not for lack of signage, it’s not for lack of knowledge, I think folks that do dump out there and get caught would like to claim that they had no idea, but you can’t pull in there and not know, and when we do catch them on video, we do go after and prosecute at least once a year,” Vander Plaats said.