Kossuth County supervisors approve tighter drainage repair rules requiring maps or GPS before payments

The Kossuth County Board of Supervisors on an undisclosed meeting date approved revisions to the county's drainage repair request policy that require landowners or tenants to provide a map or GPS coordinates identifying a repair location before invoices will be paid and to submit private trustee assessment requests by a firm April 30 deadline.

The change, approved by roll call vote, was framed by supervisors and staff as a step to make the county's repair and assessment records more accurate and transparent and to reduce errors where private tile work was mistakenly billed or treated as county work. Supervisors also discussed alternatives to in-person submission, including starting requests by phone and attaching photos or emailed location data to the Auditor's Office record.

Under the approved language: landowners or tenants must fill out and sign the drainage repair request either in person at the Kossuth County Auditor's Office or by phone through the Auditor's Office; a map of the requested repair location is required before the Auditor pays an invoice; GPS coordinates are required on repair requests and must be recorded before invoices are processed; private trustee drainage assessment requests must be submitted to the Auditor prior to April 30 and must be approved by resolution and signed by the clerk and chairman of the private board of trustees. The policy retains that supervisors (trustees) handle repair requests in their districts and that the office will continue to verify whether a tile is county or private before proceeding.

Supervisors and staff discussed practical details and exceptions at length. Several supervisors said they were willing to accept a repair request that had been initiated by phone if the Auditor's Office appended the map/GPS evidence and documented the call. Some supervisors and staff said they would still go to field visits and could accept photos and emailed GPS points when travel to the auditor was impractical; others said in-person submission remains the preferred method because it ensures the Auditor's Office has reviewed maps before work begins. The Board rejected the suggestion of a permanent shared mailbox for incoming repair-location emails and discussed using the Auditor's Office as the initial point of contact to route requests.

Other specific provisions supervisors discussed and approved or clarified in the policy draft include unaltered scale tickets for billing, stronger emphasis on fitting and connections when private laterals tie into county mains, and suggested improvements to contractor/engineer notification for future bid lettings. The policy also includes a template resolution for private trustee assessment requests to standardize what is returned to the Auditor's Office.

The Board recorded a roll call on final approval; the motion carried unanimously.

The revisions take effect immediately and staff said they will distribute the updated policy to contractors and engineers and post notice of the changes. The Board asked that the Auditor's Office attach supporting location information (photo/GPS/map) to any request initiated by phone so records will show the source and verification steps.

Details and next steps: the Auditor's Office will include the approved policy in the minutes and circulate it to contractors and engineering firms; supervisors asked that the office consider publishing a short public notice about the change.

The drainage-policy discussion began during the meeting's drainage items and was followed later by votes and related repair requests and district items.