Worth County orders elevation survey after residents report high water near Mallard and Mockingbird roads

The Worth County Board of Supervisors directed county staff to conduct elevation surveys on a drainage run between Mockingbird Road and Mallard Road and from Mallard to 450th Road after staff and residents reported standing water and limited flow through a box culvert.

County staff reported that Colton Kissinger inspected the site and could not find historical records indicating when the road was blacktopped. Kissinger told the board that "the water depth going in on Mallard is the same depth as it is coming out" and that the culvert appeared to have been installed level. Staff also said there was "very little water moving through Mockingbird," which is upstream from the section of concern.

Board discussion noted possibilities including over-excavation at one side of the culvert, a box cover set too high, and natural changes in the drainage system over time. Staff described that a local landowner is using a sump pump to move water from a field outlet into the ditch, and board members discussed options including cleaning the channel, placing spoils on the bank to raise the field edge, or deeper inlet adjustments.

A motion passed to have county surveyor Edgar Vio shoot elevation shots across the run between Mockingbird and Mallard and along Mallard to 450th while survey crews are in the area. The survey is intended to determine whether the culvert or channel elevations need adjustment or cleaning to restore flow. No specific timeline or cost estimate for the survey was given on the record.

Board members said follow-up work could include cleaning the channel and, where appropriate, having landowners consider forced outlets or private drainage improvements; they emphasized that placing spoil or otherwise altering banks by the county would be constrained by policy and right-of-way rules.