City Council addresses rezone, budget, and city operations

The Tea City Council met Dec. 15 for their last meeting of 2025.

At the meeting, they held a public hearing on the first reading on a rezone for the property at 1601 E. First Street from R1 single-family residential to L1 light industrial district. Ellen Martin, assistant planner, presented on the subject in the absence of community development director Albert Schmidt. The rezone would match properties to the east and west. They did not receive any comments from the public.

Councilman Lynn DeYoung wanted to know how much dirt would be trucked in and was concerned about the impact on infrastructure.

The council also discussed the pinch points on Sundowner for trucks moving off the property.

The council will hold a second reading at the Jan. 5 meeting.

They approved the second reading of ordinance 332, 2025 supplemental budget. The areas having overages that needed to be supplemented included $25,000 for the EMS study, $800,000 for the portion of the 85th Street project that were not completed in 2024, $20,000 for recreation, $70,000 for street maintenance for paving both lanes on Heritage Parkway, $405,000 for TIF #1 to reimburse the developer for their share of the TIF proceeds.

The council approved the purchases of a pickup for $48,616 and a mower for $30,575 for the street department. Both items came in slightly lower than what was budgeted.

They approved the engineering on-call agreement with HDR Engineering.

The council discussed vehicle purchases for the police department. City administrator Justin Weiland said he received communication from police chief Jessica Quigley noting that they have budgeted to purchase one vehicle in 2026, however, she noted they could save $20,000 if they bought two in 2026. Councilman Jim Erck was not in favor of the idea of purchasing two vehicles. He questioned why they are jumping around between Tahoes and Explorers and was looking for consistency.

The city has been budgeting for one vehicle purchase for the department per year.  DeYoung suggested looking at the order timeline to see how long it takes to receive the vehicles since he would prefer to save $20,000. Weiland was going to talk with Quigley about the timeline on ordering and receiving.

Weiland presented the animal control agreement for 2026 with the Sioux Falls Humane Society. He noted the fee has increased from $800 to $1,000 a month with additional fees for after-hour calls. The council requested what the city actually had for calls and fees they paid in 2025 before making a decision on the agreement.

In the community development director report, Martin said they have had eight complaints and one instance where they sent a contractor our to remove snow. Some council members expressed the need for the city to also be getting city sidewalks cleared in a timely manner.

The council adjourned at 7:15 p.m.