Drainage authority orders detailed survey, appoints viewers after Nicollet County Ditch 61 hearing

Nicollet County’s drainage authority held a public hearing June 24 on a petition to improve Nicollet County Ditch (CD) 61 and voted to proceed to a final engineer’s report and to appoint viewers to assess benefits and damages.

Background and petition: Jacqueline (Jackie) Kopit, Nicollet County property and public services director, said the petition was presented to county public services on Aug. 9, 2024, reviewed by the county attorney and approved by the board on Sept. 10, 2024; Houston Engineering was appointed engineer on May 15, 2025. Kopit said notice of the hearing was mailed to landowners on June 9, 2025 as required by Minnesota Statute 103E.261.

Engineer’s findings: Chris Otterness of Houston Engineering presented the preliminary engineer’s report. He said CD 61’s main trunk is nearly all tile, drains roughly 700 acres (about 1.13 square miles), and was originally constructed about 1916. Televising identified collapsed pipe and failures along the system; the petition is limited to replacing the main trunk to achieve a 0.5-inch drainage coefficient (half-inch over 24 hours).…