The Lennox City Council met Monday, July 8 in the Lennox Boardroom. Council members heard agenda items including public comment, lot negotiations, and pay applications.
Mayor Danny Fergen began the meeting with public comment and welcomed anyone to take the podium to address the council. The first to speak was Brett Wynia.
“I come to you tonight with a small concern and hopefully a suggestion as to the way we could remedy it. I’ve noticed a lot in Park Drive between Main and Elm that since there’s two-way traffic and nowhere for people to walk, you know, no sidewalks or anything and it’s kind of an issue. I was wondering if we could maybe turn it into a one-way with traffic only going from Main to Elm and put a pedestrian lane in on the other side. A lot of people like to walk through the park, and we have no sidewalks in there. I think that would be a good way to cut down on the amount of traffic through there, people speeding and give people a safe place to walk,” Wynia said.
Alderman Britney Mower agreed that it is something that needs to be looked into and discussed with the local law enforcement to see what the options are in that area.
The City of Lennox has been negotiating a price and terms on the two lots at the corner of South Main Street and 6th Avenue.
“Initially, we offered $45,000, that was countered with $56,500, which is $1,500 over the listing price as well as the city covering all realtor fees instead of just our buyer’s representation fees. On July 1, I countered that counteroffer and offered $50,000 and keeping the original terms, they countered later that day proposing a price of $55,000 and I asked for additional time on that one so that we can get this in front of you,” City Administrator, Nate Vander Plaats said.
Alderman Lauren Van Driel asked if the City would be taking action on the property right away or if they would be waiting to see if further properties become available.
“I think we’d have to add it to our Capital Improvement Plan. Initially, for this parking lot, I don’t see that happening in the next year or even two years, but in the future, absolutely. If it means that we should probably visit about a property next door, we can certainly do that as well. We’ll just kind of let that property be and make decisions as we need to,” Vander Plaats said.
Mower made a motion to approve the purchase at $55,000 and split the fees, seconded by Van Driel, motion carried unanimously.
Engineer Mitch Mergen joined the meeting for board action to approve Pay Application #12.
“Right now, they have the current contract price at about $8 million. The total working place is about $6.7 billion, so they are nearing the end of the project here, there is just one more phase left to construct. We’re continuing to withhold and retain 5.9 percent, which is $400,000 and you subtract everything out of what we’re recommending a payment of $400,945.96” he said.
Mergen also requested board action to approve Pay Application #2.
“This is a contract with Parkway Construction, you can see again on the right side we have a current contract price of $243,310. They roughly have about half of that work in place as of June 21. We’re retaining 10 percent on the contract, which equates to 10,410.16 and so with all the deductions there, we’re recommending the payment of $65,263.77” he said.
The project is currently behind schedule and the next pay application will reflect that. Motion carried with Mower abstaining.
The City of Lennox completes a utility rate study that recommended new rates to meet approved utility financial policies.
“This resolution comes at the end of our utility rate study completed by HDR Engineering and the rated contained herein will meet the recommendations in that rate study. One thing to know is that we’re implementing the 2024 proposed rates in 2025. That should not impact future rates much, if at all, as the future CIP projects have been delayed by a year The delay until January of 2025 should allow staff plenty of time to establish the new rates in our accounting software, test the billing system on the new rates, and allow the City additional time to make residents and businesses aware of the new rates,” Vander Plaats said.
Motion approved unanimously.
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