During public comment on Dec. 23, Jay Mitchell, Sioux Empire market president for First Interstate Bank in Sioux Falls, asked Lennox councilors to reconsider moving the city's daily banking services away from First Interstate.

Mitchell said his team has served the city for more than 24 years and that First Interstate submitted competitive RFP responses. He told councilors his staff was volunteering at a community "Santa night" on the night they were unable to attend the RFP presentation and asked that absence not be treated as disqualifying. "We had the best proposal in that group," Mitchell said, and he noted the city administrator had recommended keeping daily banking with First Interstate.

The public comment closed without immediate council action on the RFP during the Dec. 23 meeting. Staff and council previously discussed banking RFP responses at an earlier meeting; no motion to change the RFP outcome was recorded on Dec. 23.