City extends Sunnyside license, approves utility policy changes

The Lennox City Council met Monday, June 8. Discussions continued on Ordinance 669 – Peddlers Permits in which the City of Lennox is considering an amendment to Chapter 4 of the Municipal Ordinances. 

“This is the second reading of this ordinance, the first reading was at the last meeting in May and no changes have been made since that time,” said City Administrator, Nate Vander Plaats. 

Motion was made to approve by Lauren VanDriel, seconded by Rob Peterson. Motion carried unanimously.

Discussions also continued on Utility Policies in Lennox. 

“The item I worked on with the City Attorney was the shut off timing. What we ended up doing is following the state code with the requirements on shut off of gas and electric in the winter, not necessarily water, but we did end up lining those dates to reflect the same. So it’s November 1 through March 1 where we would not do shutoffs. Which is just as much about our ability to turn those off as anything else,” Vander Plaats said. 

President Chad Swier asked questions on the payment plans. “If someone gets on one of these payment plans, do we monitor their water usage? I am thinking of a scenario where a resident is behind and then using a ton of water for pools or irrigation. Should we let someone water their lawn if they’re way behind on their water bill,” he asked. 

“I guess I would want to look at it as when I think of frequent shutoff’s, I don’t think of irrigation, but we can monitor anyone’s usage,” Vander Plaats responded. 

Motion was made to approve by VanDriel, seconded by Peterson, motion carried unanimously.

In new business, City Finance Officer, Tyson Dahler presented to the council the annual financial report. 

“Property tax revenue increase was $165,000 and sales tax decreased by $36,000, building permits decreased by $140,000, interest income decreased by $8,200, special assessment revenue increased by $45,000, contributions and donations decreased by $21,000,” he said. 

Dahler reported the council that the overall expenses from 2024 to 2025 increased by 5%. Motion was made to approve the annual report by VanDriel, seconded by Laura Thiesse, motion carried unanimously.

Vander Plaats asked the council to consider a 2026 sewer cleaning and televising proposal. 

“This year’s project is slightly different from previous years in that we are updating our televising as well. The most recent televising was completed in 2019, and it is time to update those reports again. Rather than issuing a full project, we are combining this with the annual cleaning project and kill two birds with one stone. The original quote for the project came in at $63,000 which we thought was way higher than what we expected. We asked for a second quote from vendors which came in shockingly close to $63,000 as well and we had only budgeted $25,000 for this,” said Vander Plaats. 

“Kyle and I talked again today and we can set aside the funds for this year’s sport repairs but were probably bot going to do that until the next big underground utility project,” Vander Plaats continued. 

The company was used last year and did one third of the city of Lennox in one day. Alderman Billy Welch asked which part of town would be worked on and was informed Meadows and everything South of Fifth would be completed. 

Motion was made to approve by VanDriel, seconded by Peterson, motion carried unanimously.

Vander Plaats asked the council to consider the Mobile Home Park License renewal. 

“We are recommending approval of three of the four mobile home parks here in town. The fourth, Sunnyside, we do not recommend approval. Kyle reported to me on Friday that the owners of Sunnyside did reach out on Thursday or Friday and committed to making whatever changes they needed to make by today. I drove through it today and I suppose some improvements have been made to the siding of one of the buildings and the decks have been repaired finally. But my concerns remain that this in only a priority for this ownership three days before the license is up for renewal and there’s simply no commitment to standards, enforcing those standards, and working with residents to keep the park in a safe and sanitary condition,” Vander Plaats said. 

“It’s tough to discuss this because I remember coming on last year and this was hard, it was hard to push that back and not give them that extension. Then we did, and we felt better about it, but they once again waited until the very last day,” said Alderman Thiesse. 

“We’re trying to strike a balance here. We understand the role and utility of these mobile home parks in providing a living situation that is achievable for those who need it. We do meet a low-income housing need in this town that we don’t otherwise have,” Vander Plaats said. 

“Every park meets that need, and can do it by meeting the minimum standards. Why that’s different in this case, I don’t know,” he continued. 

“It’s a tough call because there are people that take care of their property while there and the people that don’t are ruining it,” Mayor Fergen said. 

“I’ve been through a few of these before and I think the fact that nobody is here speaking on this out of over 30 speaks volumes to me,” Alderman Welch said. 

President Swier asked what would happen with the land if the park was unable to use it, 

“Would it get dilapidated and be no better than it is right now,” he asked. 

“My gut says we’d probably have to go through the condemnation process,” Vander Plaats responded.  

“Why aren’t we holding these mobile home parks to the same standards as other homeowners with code inspection and code enforcement?” asked VanDriel. 

“I think we do have some that have been sent out, what we’re looking for is ownership and accountability from the park owner,” Vander Plaats clarified. 

VanDriel questioned whether the trailer owners had been contacted regarding the violations or if just the park owners were contacted as call records show only the owners and property managers were contacted.

 “Yes, that is my understanding. Our process is to contact the ownership license. While they may own the home, they may not own the lot,” Vander Plaats said. 

A motion was made to approve mobile home park licenses for Hammerly, Lennox MHP, and Long Creek by Swier, seconded by VanDriel, motion carried unanimously. 

Motion to extend the mobile home park license for Sunnyside for 60 days was made by Swier, seconded by Thiesse, motion carried unanimously.