Kossuth supervisors face landowners' questions over DD4 assessments; public hearing set

Kossuth County supervisors agreed to set a public hearing to address a petition from landowners over Drainage District 4 after residents urged the board to produce the accounting behind recent assessments.

The hearing was tentatively set for the nineteenth (the board directed staff to publish notice on the seventh), and county staff said they will continue assembling reports, ledgers and project files so that landowners receive the same material in a public meeting. The auditor's office provided a timeline of projects and general-ledger reports but acknowledged a separate spreadsheet used last year to justify a $700,000 assessment has not yet been located.

Why it matters: landowners said they were told different explanations for the assessments and want a clear, auditable trail showing what projects and outstanding warrants the assessments funded. Supervisors said they want to provide the documents in a consolidated public presentation so every landowner hears the same explanation.

At the meeting, landowner Charles (identified in the record as a resident of the affected lateral) described changes to the construction plan he said were never presented to property owners and warned of potential CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) penalties. "I think this is very poor engineering when they don't come back on this big of a change and let people know what's going on," he told supervisors.

Tammy, an auditor's office staff member, outlined records she had compiled for the board: project completion numbers, FEMA reimbursements received and outstanding warrants. She said the county's general ledger shows flows of revenue and payments but that matching the ledger to the assessments requires digging into year-by-year entries and outstanding stamped warrants.

Supervisor Josh (board member) and other supervisors pressed for faster production of the missing spreadsheet and for a public session where county staff and the engineer can explain line-by-line why the 2023–24 assessments were set as they were. "If we assess landowners and we assess them expect them to pay that money, we should have it right in front of us," one supervisor said.

Next steps: staff will prepare a packet (including the timeline draft, general-ledger extracts and FEMA paperwork) and share it with supervisors; the board scheduled a preparatory meeting the week before the public hearing so supervisors and staff can align on the presentation. The board advised landowners they can request the electronic records; county staff said it will also prepare flash-drive copies for anyone who wants them.

Provenance: the transcript records extended discussion of DD4 finance and the spreadsheet request; county staff repeatedly referenced a "timeline draft" and general-ledger extracts. The first discussion of missing documentation appears when a landowner raises concerns about engineering changes; the board later directed staff to prepare a public hearing notice and compile the files.