In a quick meeting on Monday night, Lennox City Council approved the second reading of Appropriation Ordinance #627 for 2022. Lennox City Administrator Nathan Vander Plaats explained that the budget presented that evening had been updated to include the amendments passed by the City Council prior to approval of the first reading on September 13, 2021. He also noted that the 2022 budget had a budgeted net gain of $72,225 in the general fund. Appropriation Ordinance #627 can be found online below (PDF) with this article and will be published in the paper at a later date.
Council also approved the Lennox Fire Department Roster, which includes: Wayne Fischer, Mike Fodness, Micah Strasser, Gene Mayfield, Roger Strasser, Johnnie Fischer, Jason Bultena, Derek Fischer, Harold Timmerman, Craig Fodness, Scott Timmerman, Justin DeCou, Aaron Sather, John Kirchner, Brock Hoogestraat, Joshua Fischer, Chris Shoffelman, Tanner Tipton, Jordan Fischer, Brandon Klinger, Clayton Haan, Tyler Abbas, Kris Kuper, Kale Bossman, Tyler Lesinger, and adding Terry Weber.
Council considered an agreement with Hegg Real Estate under new business. Vander Plaats said this was in consideration with the Boynton Ave. project and the City’s need to acquire some property for drainage. The agent would be Sharese Ihnen. One of the council members raised a concern about a conflict of interest since Ihnen is president of the Lennox Area Development Corporation.
Council approved the agreement pending verification from the city attorney that there is no conflict of interest.
Under personnel, council considered a wage increase for the Street Maintenance Specialist. Vander Plaats suggested Council move to executive session to discuss. Council entered Executive Session at 7:14 p.m.
Following Executive Session Council approved a wage increase for Jesse Gage to $19.60. Council also directed the City Administrator to develop a merit increase policy and to prepare a wage report against local and statewide pay rates.
Prior to all of this, the consent agenda was approved, which included minutes of September 13, 2021 regular meeting, claims, and reports from Economic Development, Water/Wastewater, Ambulance, Police, Library, Streets, and the May 2021 Performance Management Report.
Under the Street Report, the public works projects included details on the Aug. 28 - Sept. 3 storm damage cleanup. It was noted that the baseball field fence along Main St. has been scheduled to be repaired. Under parks, coordination on West Evergreen and Petal Pals parks projects has begun. Layout and construction of sand volleyball courts to begin asap. Under Streets, the 2021 Asphalt Project to date, repaired areas include: Cherry St., E. 2nd Ave., E. 3rd Ave., W. 3rd Ave., W. 5th Ave., S. Elm St., N. Elm St., S. Main St., N. Main St., Oriole Ave., Park Dr., S. Blaine St., Boynton Ave. Roughly 45 tons of asphalt have been applied.
Within the Police reports there were 200 citations/warnings for the month of August. There were 11 records of arrests for the month, including:
Aug. 1 - Taken Into Custody for Violation of Protection Order;
Aug. 15 - Taken Into Custody for Unauthorized possession of controlled drug or substance as felony (Schedule I or II) ; Lane Driving
Aug. 18 - Taken Into Custody for Eluding -Aggravated; Passing in No Passing Zone; Reckless Driving; Speeding
(26+ MPH)
Aug. 22 - Taken Into Custody for Failure to Maintain Financial Responsibility; Speeding (6-10 MPH); Open Alcoholic Beverage Container in Motor Vehicle; DUI 1st Offense
Aug. 21 - Taken Into Custody for DUI 2nd Offense
Aug. 25 - Taken Into Custody for Simple Assault; Felony Hit And Run-Injury Accident; Aggravated Assault
Aug. 25 - Taken Into Custody for Aggravated Assault - Domestic
Aug. 29 - Taken Into Custody for Burglary 3rd Degree Enter or Remain in Unoccupied Building to Commit Crime; Ingestion of Controlled Drug or Substance; Theft; Unauthorized possession of controlled drug or substance as felony (Schedule I or II)
Aug. 27 - Taken Into Custody for Driving While Suspended; Failure to Maintain Financial Responsibility; Open Alcoholic Beverage Container in Motor Vehicle; Possession or Use Drug Paraphernalia; Speeding (11-15 MPH); Unauthorized possession of controlled drug or substance as felony (Schedule I or II)
Aug. 28 - Taken Into Custody for Speeding (21-25 MPH); DUI 1st Offense
Aug. 31 - Taken Into Custody for Trafficking in license plates-Counterfeiting-Alteration-Substitution of License
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