
Wednesday, July 19 the Lennox City Council held a special meeting; the bulk of the meeting was a presentation of the proposed pool plan that the citizens will be voting to support in the August 22 Bond Election.
City Administrator, Amanda Anglin said the council was given a recap of how the design was arrived at, citing public input from meetings, etc.
In research done by this newspaper, articles date back to 2008, when the first swimming pool committee was formed. On and off for nearly 10 years, Lennox has pursued building a new swimming pool. Most agreed that it was needed. The problem? Financing. With plans running from $1 - $3.5 million and the City of Lennox striving to maintain and improve essential infrastructure, there has never been enough money in the budget for a new pool. The City has struggled to maintain the current pool, but this summer it was discovered they could no longer make the repairs necessary to open the pool.
Once again, they looked at building a new pool, but without enough funds in the budget, the citizens will have to decide if they are ready to pay higher taxes to afford a $2.8 million pool. The tax implication for a $100,000 home would be $225.60 per year for 15 years.
To better inform the public and answer any questions, The Lennox City Council will be holding two open houses on Aug. 7th and Aug. 8th at 7 p.m. in the Intermediate School Cafetorium (on 5th and Cedar). A presentation of the swimming pool plan will begin at approximately 7:10 p.m. with a question and answer session to follow. The City will be sending out brochures outlining the plan next week.
The bond election vote will be held on August 22. You must be registered to vote by Aug. 2nd to vote in this election. If you are in doubt about whether you are registered, call the Lincoln County Auditor at 605-764-2581. You may register to vote at Lennox City Hall or the County Auditor’s office. You can also register at the Secretary of State’s office and those locations which provide driver’s licenses, SNAP, TANF, WIC, military recruitment, and assistance to the disabled as provided by the Department of Human Services. You may contact the County Auditor to request a mail-in registration form or access a mail-in form at www.sdsos.gov.
Lennox Finance Officer Jerry Jones encourages everyone to come out to vote on Aug. 22. For more information, attend one of the open house meetings on Aug. 7th and 8th.
In other business at the Special meeting on July 19 the Council heard from City Engineer Mitch Mergen regarding the Main Street Project, Mergen addressed the council in regard to a temporary access easement from Highway 44 for Dollar General. The SD Department of Transportation has approved the access easement application and the cost to build is $8,000 - $10,000. Council agreed the temporary access should be constructed and a change order presented at a future meeting.
Also approved at the meeting was a motion to advertise for the position of Finance Officer. Anglin clarified that the position is not a replacement for Jones, but will be trained by Jones.