The Lennox City Council met Monday, July 24 in the Lennox Boardroom to discuss land plats, the sound system and maintenance.
City Administrator, Nate Vander Plaats received a plat for a new tract within the planning jurisdiction and is looking for two motions. One to approve the plat of Miller Tract 1 and a second motion to approve a pre-annexation agreement. According to the memo prepared by Vander Plaats for the meeting, the City of Lennox must approve plats outside of city limits but within the City’s planning jurisdiction. The City has received a plat for a new property (Miller Tract, Tract 1) west of Lennox. This plat is being created in order to sell the property. The City of Lennox requires a Pre-Annexation Agreement to accompany such plats. Both motions passed unanimously.
Vander Plaats also requested a motion to approve plat of Brass Addition, Tract 2 and a motion to approve Pre-Annexation Agreement on the land. Both motions passed.
Vander Plaats then presented a Special Maintenance Fee to the board.
“This is a street maintenance fee that we have assessed for the last two years and next year will be the third this fee is collected on all residential and commercial properties in Lennox, the school and not-for-profit properties are exempt. The revenue from the fee is deposited in Fund 220, which is used exclusively for street maintenance projects. Up to this point, this has included slurry seal projects. In the future, it will also include mill and overlay projects and other larger maintenance projects,” he said.
Vander Plaats is requesting the City Council keep the fee at $1/linear foot of frontage, but forecasted a $.50 per foot increase in 2024.
Motion passed unanimously.
Vander Plaats continued the conversation with the council that constituents and council members alike have expressed dissatisfaction with the existing live stream capabilities of meetings. The current camera and microphone setup was installed in 2019 to replace the existing camcorder on a tripod. Vander Plaats contacted two companies for quotes to upgrade the sound and visuals.
“I received quotes from MidStates Audio & Video, as well as from Foss AVI, with quotes ranging from $35,000 - $70,000. At the City Council’s request, I contacted both vendors and requested a scaled back version that would simply improve the audio and video quality, and not make the other improvements. The quote from Foss AVI is approximately $5,500, and the quote from MidStates Audio & Video is approximately $14,000. Given that we have an established relationship with Foss as our provider for security system services, I would suggest that continuing with that relationship is valuable,” he said.
Mayor Duchene asked if everything that Vander Plaats wanted could be achieved with the $5,000 including the individual microphones and capture council and speakers.
“It will not do all that, it will only improve the audio and visual,” he said. The Council requested Vander Plaats look into seeing if any grants are available to help fund the project. Motion passed.
A maintenance agreement and schedule for the City’s two elevated water tanks is expiring.
“In 2018, the City of Lennox turned around years of deferred maintenance and executed a maintenance agreement with Maguire Iron of Sioux Falls. This agreement included a schedule that was quite expensive, as maintenance had not been regularly taking place. The annual cost for the first four years of this program was approximately $120,000 per year,” Vander Plaats said.
Utilities Superintendent, Kyle Ramynke contacted Maguire and other providers of these services. He received quotes from KLM and Midco Diving & Marine Services.
“KLM proposed a five year program at $20,800 per year. The program does not provide new protective coatings. Midco proposed inspections that increase over the courts of the agreement for five years up to $5,863 per tank. This also does not include new coatings. Maguire proposed a service schedule that includes regular cleaning and inspection, necessary repairs, and emergency service. The Maguire schedule also includes protective coatings. The fees for this program are $20,000 per tank through 2030,” he said.
Vander Plaats asked for a motion to approve Maguire to service the towers.
“Maguire is our preferred servicer for our towers, as they are the builder for both towers and they are the most local of the three companies. We have been very pleased with their work on our towers in recent years, and the inclusion of painting is a significant advantage. Continuing with Maguire will not require a new contract, simply a new schedule,” Vander Plaats said.
Motion passed.