The Lennox City Council met Monday, March 10 at Lennox City Hall.
With Mayor Danny Fergen absent, City Council President Sam Bowers called the meeting to order to hear agenda items including speed limits, alderman positions, and added agenda items including nominating election officials.
The Council continued discussions on speed limits throughout town.
“This has been an item under consideration for a while now. Following the Council meeting on February 10, changes were made to the ordinance according to the council’s direction. The first reading was approved at the February 24 meeting, and no changes have been made since that time,” said City Administrator, Nate Vander Plaats. Motion approved unanimously.
In new business, no petitions were filed to fill the Ward I Council seat at the April 8, 2025 election.
“With no one running, state law permits two methods for filling that vacancy, either appointment or special election. The item is up for discussion tonight for input on how you would like to proceed. Please note if that special election is chosen, we must have in place an ordinance authorizing that and that would take time to put in place. Please note the current office holder remains in place until a successor is sworn in. I did ask Mayor Fergen for his input tonight, and he had a couple of notes that he included,” Vander Plaats said.
Notes received from Mayor Fergen included that candidates come at the recommendation of current members of the City Council, the names are vetted by individual City Council members, personal calls be made to each candidate, and the final vetting is to be done by the full City Council, followed by an appointment.
“I agree, I think last year was a little bit awkward with some of the unclear processes and whatnot. I think getting alignments on a nominee makes sense. I would, maybe ask that we at least post that hey, we’re looking for people and give our names so people can reach out if they’re interested and get more information or just raise their hand like yes, I’m interested,” said Alderman Chad Swier.
No motion was needed.
Vander Plaats added two additions to the agenda before the meeting began. The first was regarding election officials. “We need to name election officials, so I’d make a recommendation appointing Kim Boe Precinct Superintendent, Lynnette Vargas Deputy and Joshua Chase, Precinct Deputy.”
With no questions or comments, the council approved the appointments unanimously.
The next item Vander Plaats added to the agenda was a letter from Mayor Danny Fergen.
“This is just a letter from the Mayor appointing me as the delegate representing the city at the Dakota Main Stem Regional Water System annual meeting next week Friday,” Vander Plaats said. Motion approved unanimously.