Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Drainage Districts topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Supervisors discuss BD11 ditch cleanout; staff recommend public hearing before next‑year work
Summary
County staff reported that a roughly two‑mile section of the BD11 open ditch is heavily silted (2–3 feet in places), estimated cleanup cost about $50,000; staff recommended scheduling a public hearing early next year because projects above the $50,000 threshold trigger a required hearing.
Supervisors heard a report from Travis Peterson on the condition of the BD11 main open ditch and a roughly two‑mile section that appears not to have been cleaned in 20–30 years. Peterson said the stretch contains significant silt and sand that can create a holding‑pond effect upstream and lead to bank failures if left unaddressed.
“...my main concern was what's gonna happen to the walls if that top end just fills up with water and sits there because that's where we see really the biggest problems,” Travis Peterson said, describing silt depths of roughly two to three feet in many locations and a pile up at an outlet that was about five feet deep.
Peterson estimated the cost to dig out the highlighted section at roughly $50,000, but said the final cost could be higher or lower depending on buried outlet pipes and other unknowns. Board members and staff discussed the county’s administrative thresholds: projects that exceed $50,000 generally require a public hearing for the drainage district. Supervisors recommended scheduling a hearing early in the new year to “cover all your bases” and to notify landowners in the drainage district.
Board members also discussed construction season timing and practical limits of working in frozen ground; Peterson and other staff said the work would likely be a next‑year project and that scheduling the hearing now would allow outreach to landowners and reduce schedule pressure in spring.
Supervisors and staff did not adopt a formal construction contract at the meeting. Instead, the board agreed that staff should prepare the public notice and hearing procedures required if final estimates approach or exceed the threshold that triggers a hearing.
The transcript records multiple technical details Peterson raised about the site — box culverts under roadways, buried pipe that may be discovered only after cleaning, sandy bank material adjacent to the gravel road, and spots where large boulders had been dumped into the channel — all of which could increase complexity and cost.
