Culvert work at Colbert 134 uncovers tangled private tile; county to seek drainage-board help

Adams County highway staff reported that culvert replacement and drop-box construction at Colbert 134 revealed an unexpected network of private field tile that increased excavation and likely raised project costs.

"If you look at that photo, there's multiple field piles that were coming in," Staff member Nate told commissioners, describing the excavation performed by Ish Excavating. "We thought there was 1 24 and 1 12. The 24...was actually immediately stepped down to 15 16, and then they found all these random pipes. I think there's 2 fours, a 6, a 10, 2 12, or 10 another 10 and a 12. It all just kinda came together. Best we can tell, it's a bunch of private tile in there."

Nate said crews reconnected tile where possible but that much of the piping was private and outside the road right of way. He told commissioners his plan is to request assistance from the drainage board: "My goal is probably just to go ahead and pay 100% of the bill because [the property owner] doesn't have a contract with Ish Excavating. And then I'm gonna come back to the drainage board with a breakdown of what we felt was something could be paid out of the drainage assessment of that fund."

County staff also described water flow observed during the work and the presence of an older tile that discharges to an open ditch likely clogged with muck. Staff said they adjusted pipe skew and length where feasible and may add an extra pipe section in future to widen the shoulder.

No formal vote was taken; commissioners acknowledged the need to work with the drainage board and property owners to resolve funding and long-term repair responsibilities.