The Lennox City Council met Monday, January 27 at Lennox City Hall. Council heard agenda items including a public hearing, buffer zones, and Department of Corrections updates.
At 7:01 p.m., Mayor Danny Fergen opened the public meeting on the Community Development Block Grant. Harley Ferguson was present to give context to the matter.
“The City of Lennox is submitting an application for funding to help finance the East Oriole Avenue. The total cost of the project is approximately $1.9 million. The City of Lennox is submitting an application to the Governor’s Office of Economic Development for grant funding throughout the Community Development Block Grant. The requested funding would be around $840,000. These funds are provided as a grant and there’s no requirement for paying those back,” Ferguson said.
According to Ferguson, the City of Lennox will be partnering with the Economic Development Corporation to discuss future developments for a housing needs study. With no public input, motion was approved. Mayor Fergen closed the public meeting at 7:07 p.m.
Mayor Fergen asked for public comment before the regular meeting started. Landon Poppens took to the podium to express his concerns.
“I just found out about the proposed buffer zone between Elm and Juniper. I just got an email about it, and then I read the paper today. $623,000 for a buffer zone that goes two blocks to nowhere right alongside the railroad tracks. That’s hard for me to wrap my mind around how you can spend $623,000 on a sidewalk going nowhere,” he said. “I didn’t request this buffer zone, I know none of the other joining landowners requested this buffer zone, I’m pretty sure no other taxpayers in town requested it for $623,000. I can’t believe we’d even be considering doing that to be honest with you. I know there’s no other buffer zones like that along the railroad tracks in town, so I don’t know why this two block section here is so important that we would need to spend that kind of money on it. I know this property has been trying to be vacated in the past and the City decided they wanted to keep it. I’ve maintained it for a lot of years, last year you guys did mow, I have it documented, I think it was three times after I complained,” he continued.
Poppens stated he discussed with City Administrator Nate Vander Plaats that the land couldn’t be sold, only vacated to joining landowners on both sides.
“It’s dedicated for a road, it’s that way at the Lincoln County Courthouse, it’s that way on the GSI, so how can we make it in a road and not a buffer zone? The other thing is snow removal, Court Avenue butts up right to Juniper and Cedar and dead ends right there,” he said.
The Council stated that all agenda items are available in their packets and can be viewed by the public.
The council asked Utilities Superintendent, Kyle Ramynke for an update on the cold weather impacting plans.
“Essentially, that arctic blast that we received last week knocked out the ammonia removal of our wastewater treatment plant. Essentially, you have a nitrifying bacteria in there that pretty much feeds on ammonia, they’re very temperature sensitive bacteria, and what happens is if you get below 50 degrees, they start to slow down. That’s all integrated with our compliance with the state because they see the struggles with colder climate,” he said.
Ramynke stated this is a yearly battle they face but is concerned with the lack of winter events and is cautious planning for the future with unknown weather forecasts.
In new business, Mayor Fergen asked for discussion on the preliminary plan: Lot 7A Stakes Addition. Mitchell Mergen from Stockwell Engineers was present to give a presentation to the council.
“What we’re looking at here is a preliminary plan for Drove Addition which is where Wind Song ends. The developer is proposing to add a cul-de-sac at the end of the roadway and develop three additional lots there,” he said.
Mergen stated there are several steps the developer must go through to be able to develop the sites.
“I see that this proposal has sidewalks on it, but I don’t see approaches. I’m just curious, is there enough space on each of those proposed lots to insert an approach or will these people be parking in the cul-de-sac? “The size and radius of the cul-de-sac meets your standard, so it’s the same size as most of them in town,” he responded.
Motion to approve the preliminary plan was approved.
Mergen next presented to the Council the wastewater treatment facility improvements.
“Tonight, you have a work order in your packet from us to begin work on wastewater plant upgrades for the Department of Corrections facility. We have broken it into phases, we have phase one being in survey, we’ve got guys out there doing topographic survey of that entire site so we can bring that into our design of when it comes to the drying beds and the equalization tank,” Mergen said.
“For public interest, I just want to have it be said that Stockwell Engineers has had quite a bit of experience with wastewater treatment facilities in Harrisburg, Hartford, Dell Rapids, and I just want to get that out there that it’s not something new for Stockwell Engineers, they’re very much our experts in that facility,” said Alderman Britney Mower.
Motion to approve the work order was approved unanimously.
Mayor Fergen and the Council asked staff to study the new speed zones at the January 13 meeting.
“After discussion, we recommend the following map of speed limits be adopted orange is 25 mph, red is 15 mph. This map preserves the existing 15 mph school zones, as well as the slower speed limit from 1st Avenue to 3rd Avenue. To make these changes, the Streets Department will need to remove several 20 mph signs throughout town, and place new 25 mph signs. The cost of these signs is estimated at less than $1500,” Vander Plaats said. Motion tabled to gather more information.
The City of Lennox is seeking to fill a vacancy in the position of Finance Director.
“We’ve gone through our hiring and interview process. I’d recommend a motion to hire Tyson Dahler as finance director at $70,000 per year, pending completion of the background check,” Vander Plaats said.
With no discussion, motion approved.