Box Elder council approves park rehabilitation grant, mitigation plan and several vendor contracts

The Box Elder City Council on April 15 approved a series of resolutions and contracts affecting parks, infrastructure and public notifications, and advanced a municipal tree-management ordinance to a second reading.

Rob Timm, the city’s grant writer and administrator, presented Resolution 25-17 to secure a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant administered by South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks to rehabilitate Denali Park near the Northern Lights subdivision. "What you see before you is resolution that's proving the box holders, cost share commitment for the South Dakota Game Fish and Parks Land and Water Conservation Fund grant," Timm said. He described the total project cost as $203,500 and said the city’s portion would be $103,500, consisting of $53,500 in cash and $50,000 in labor and equipment. The council approved the resolution on a roll-call vote.

Council also approved Resolution 25-18 to adopt the county natural hazard mitigation plan and the community wildfire protection plan. Council was told the plan has been accepted by FEMA and the state and is presented in an online story map. Staff said the combined plan expands mitigation and wildfire-protection funding and must be updated every five years; the council authorized the mayor to sign the documents.

Officials approved several purchases and contracts: an agreement with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development to reimburse up to $875 for two staff to attend a Meet the State event; a $1,679.70 contract with Pixie Dust Party Company to provide face painting at three 2025 city events; and a subscription for Code Red (OnSolve by Crisis24) for $6,069.31 to restore an enterprise notification platform and migrate the city’s user database.

Finance Officer Renee Baker recommended awarding Guardian Fleet Safety to outfit two Dodge Durango police vehicles purchased in February; Baker cited an updated quote of $18,822.23 per vehicle for a combined total of $37,644.46 and noted a $400 combined transport fee. The council approved the purchase.

City Engineer Scott Lang presented a professional services agreement with Bros Engineering, Inc. for construction engineering services on the Bennett Road bridge project, which is funded in part by a South Dakota Department of Transportation bridge improvement grant. Staff advised the grant covers 80% of eligible costs and the city’s obligation is 20%. The transcript contains conflicting numeric references to the contract amount; council approved the agreement on roll call.

The council also heard a staff report and moved to the consent agenda items, approved the committee reports and introduced an ordinance amending sections of the municipal code related to tree management on its first reading.

Votes at a glance: all recorded motions and contract approvals on the consent and action agendas passed on roll call with all members recorded voting "aye." Specific votes taken included the motion to approve the Denali Park cost-share resolution (Resolution 25-17), approval of Resolution 25-18 (adoption of the natural hazard mitigation plan), the GOED reimbursement agreement, the Pixie Dust contract, the Guardian Fleet Safety vehicle-upfitting purchase, the Bros Engineering construction engineering agreement, and the Code Red subscription.

The council moved into an executive session under South Dakota Codified Law 1-25-2 for contractual and legal matters and later announced no public business resulted from the session. The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.