MITCHELL, SD (Mitchell Now) — The Mitchell City Council will swear in three new members on Monday night in a changing of the guard for the group.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Jordan Hanson will perform the oath of office ceremony for Shaun Davis, Ken Schlimgen, and Jason Greenway. As part of the consent agenda, Davis will be appointed to the Park and Recreation Board to act as city council liaison. Greenway has been pegged for the Planning Commission and Mitchell Main Street and Beyond. Schlimgen will continue his work with the Community Services Advisory Board and Mitchell Area Development Corporation.
Other important items in the consent agenda involve backing the Mitchell Fire Department as it tries for a federal Assistance to Firefighters grant for approximately $106,902 in improvements to the agency, including replacing the Station 1 alerting system, buying a 20-foot trailer for the Dive and Rescue team, and replace radio microphones. If successful, Mitchell would only be responsible for $9,718.
The Mitchell Public Works Department got the council to include a line item for a new dump truck chassis and combo dump body/sander in the 2025 budget. The vehicle is now able to be purchased at $48,081 above what was alloted. The remainder will be covered by reserves in the Water Fund. The total cost is $288,081.
The ice arena renovation is delayed. The contractor will need to add a two-hour fire-rated wall that extends from the existing wall dividing the new and old buildings to the upper roof deck. Purlins, the horizontal beams that support roof trusses, will also have to be swapped out. The change would cost $27,705, well within the contingency set aside for unexpected developments. However, the project will have to go on hold until spring of 2027, with a likely completion date not until September of next year.
In regular session, the council will look to officially sign a pair of tax increment financing district agreements with developers. TID #46 was approved by the council in May to help with the construction of a 38-unit apartment complex with affordable housing along Lake Mitchell. TID #47 got unanimous support at the last meeting in June. Developer John Adamo is looking to renovate the property at 123 Main Street into six VRBO short-term rentals with retail space on the first floor.
A public hearing will be held to render a final decision on the request from Harris Properties to rezone a high-density residential lot to highway oriented business district, which would allow the group to build a second incubator building to provide space for burgeoning businesses to test their proof of concept and grow with the goal of relocating if their ideas end up successful. The building would be on the southwest corner of the W. Elm Avenue and S. Iowa Street intersection, a block from Havens Avenue.