Board approves Sand Hill ditch redetermination process, hires H2O Viewers for Polk County ditches

Polk County commissioners voted to proceed with a redetermination of ditch benefits for systems within the Sand Hill River Watershed District and accepted staff recommendations to hire H2O Viewers (H2O Viewers, LLC) to conduct the viewer work for county ditches related to that project.

Brian Murphy of H2O Viewers presented maps and explained the proposed scope: the initial group (the Sand Hill group) covers the ditches inside the Sand Hill watershed boundary plus one Polk County ditch that drains to the Wild Rice watershed. Murphy said doing those contiguous systems at once improves efficiency and avoids duplicate costs because protection benefits and contributing acreage can overlap across systems.

Rich Sanders (Highway/Drainage staff) and Sand Hill Watershed District representatives described coordination plans; Sand Hill indicated it seeks to coordinate bonding and financing so payments for buffer acquisitions and other damage payments could be packaged to lower borrowing costs. Sand Hill staff said the district hopes to complete its portion within roughly 18–24 months and would coordinate schedules with the county.

Commissioners approved a motion to begin the redetermination for the light‑blue group (the Sand Hill area) and then approved a separate motion hiring H2O Viewers to serve as Polk County's viewers for the ditch work. Board members discussed broader, countywide options (several additional groups labeled light green, dark blue and dark green on the presenter’s map) and agreed to continue planning on those segments; county staff and the consultant will return to the board with a proposed plan for the remaining groups at the June 3 meeting.

During discussion consultants and officials emphasized these points: redetermination uses current law and modern mapping and can change benefit allocations compared with century‑old roles; the work creates a buffer strip valuation that will generate damage payments to adjacent landowners and those costs are typically paid from benefits or through financing; and counties commonly amortize buffer or damage obligations over multiple years to reduce one‑time impacts on property owners.

Board action was recorded as motions to: 1) proceed with redetermination of benefits for the ditches located within the Sand Hill River Watershed District (including the one Wild Rice watershed ditch); and 2) retain H2O Viewers to perform viewer duties for Polk County ditches associated with the project. Commissioners set a follow‑up review of countywide grouping options for the first meeting in June.