City Council reviews development plans

The Lennox City Council met on Monday, Mar. 9. Mayor Danny Fergen and council members discussed agenda items, including city ordinances, DOC funds, and vacuum trailer purchase.

A second reading was held for Ordinance 665 – Discretionary Formula, as the City of Lennox wishes to make the discretionary formula available to new commercial multi-family and affordable multi-family residential properties and must come into compliance with SDCL concerning other classifications of property. With no changes to the ordinance since the first reading, a motion was made by Bill Daugherty, seconded by Chad Swier; the motion carried.

A second reading was held for Ordinance 666 – Septic Systems, as city staff is requesting that the ability to construct septic systems within city limits be prohibited. The first reading was tabled at the Feb. 23 meeting for additional information on the cost to connect the current known septic system to the main system. 

“Utilities Superintendent Kyle Renke put that around the $7,000 to $15,000 range for a new system and to connect in the $5,000 to $11,000 range. Those are rough estimates that haven’t been confirmed,” City Administrator Nate Vander Plaats said. Motion to approve first reading by Daugherty, seconded by Swier; the motion carried.

The City Council requested additional information regarding Home Rule Charters and the City Manager form of government. The council asked Vander Plaats to research what the home rule is and how it operates in South Dakota, what the difference is between a City Administrator and a City Manager, and what the processes are for adopting one or both of the options. 

“There are ample examples of city charters available in the packet as well as information from South Dakota Code, South Dakota Constitution, and information from the National League of Cities,” Vander Plaats said. 

Vander Plaats reminded the board that, in their current form, the mayor does have veto power. 

“I want to give this the attention it needs and to think it through well. But I think for now, it’s just to put it down and talk to others to bring it back up later,” Mayor Fergen said.

The City of Lennox has received an application for a Preliminary Plan for an extension of the existing industrial park, named Kuper Addition. 

“This Preliminary Plan is the result of years of discussion on the subject property. The property is currently in crop production, but Mitch has reviewed everything, and he’ll go through an update,” Vander Plaats said. 

“All public infrastructure that’s going to be part of this plan is to be dedicated for the city to ultimately maintain, and that includes the storm water retention facilities, the sanitary sewer, and the water that would be part of this plan,” he said. 

Mayor Fergen asked Mitch Mergen to explain the phasing, asking “is that just the infrastructure or is that actually buildings going up there?” 

“It’s the infrastructure likely, they might do the earth work, it’s the one thing that they might do more earth work than what they’re showing in phase one just because they may have to rob some dirt from one to build up another area, but typically the first phase would be the street components first and the infrastructure to serve those two lots and see building permits,” Mergen responded. 

Motion to approve the preliminary plan by Billy Welch, seconded by Swier; the motion carried.

Vander Plaats requested a Nelson Addition Subdivision Construction Agreement as the City of Lennox continues to work through the subdivision process with respect to the Nelson Addition. 

“The City’s subdivision regulations require execution of a subdivision construction agreement prior to making improvements in a planned subdivision. This agreement is typically submitted with the developers’ engineering drawings, which have not yet been received for this project but are anticipated to be distributed in the coming week or two. Once that happens, the developer would prefer to be able to move forward without waiting on a following City Council meeting for approval of the agreement,” Vander Plaats said. 

The agreement has been reviewed by the City Attorney. A motion to approve subdivision construction agreement pending approval of engineering drawings was made by Daugherty, seconded by Welch, motion carried.

The introductory rate on the City’s $10.5 million in DOC proceeds is coming to an end. 

“You will recall that in 2025, the City Council chose Security Bank to house the City’s DOC proceeds. The proposal was on a money market account at 4.15% interest, dropping to 3.15% in April, 2026. As that date nears, I would appreciate discussion on whether the City Council wishes to again maximize that rate by issuing a new banking RFP,” Vander Plaats said. 

“Seems like a no-brainer to me,” Swier said. 

Alderman Laura Thiesse asked if it will be updated annually, to which Vander Plaats responded, “It’s a 12-month CD, we can go longer, but your rate changes depending on length of time.” 

Motion to approve renewal of certificate of deposit at Security Bank was made by Daugherty, seconded by Welch, motion carried. 

Vander Plaats requested the council consider Resolution 2026-3-09-01 Vacuum Trailer Purchase. 

“An item like this wouldn’t typically come up under a resolution. What we’re doing here is purchasing a vac trailer that was budgeted for this year, but comes in above the minimum bid requirements under state code. Kyle’s proposed to purchase this through Sourcewell, a cooperative purchasing agency, which one part of state code exempts and the other just isn’t quite as clear. So working with the city attorney, the best way to make this happen was to do a resolution that explains the reasons why we believe it’s exempt, which is laid out in the resolution, and give Kyle the authority to go and purchase this,” Vander Plaats said. 

The budgeted amount for the trailer was $90,000, and the price from Midwest Undergrounds is $90,945. Motion to approve Resolution 2026-3-09-01 was made by Swier, seconded by Welch, motion carried.