Blue Earth County approves repair plans, select ASI approach and financing resolutions for multiple ditches
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Summary
The county heard engineer reports for County Ditches 88, 93 and Judicial Ditch 32, approved a field-verify/prioritize approach to water-quality side-inlet measures (option 3), and passed resolutions enabling potential bonding for repairs and agreed project scopes and estimated landowner costs.
The Blue Earth County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 17 conducted a series of repair hearings for county drainage systems and voted to approve repair reports and financing steps for multiple ditches.
County Ditch 88: ISG engineers presented an inspection-based repair report describing sediment deposition, washouts and culvert deterioration across the roughly 5,700-acre watershed. The engineers proposed cleaning and targeted repairs, tree removal and 13 alternative side-inlets (ASIs) and seven ASIROs to reduce sediment and phosphorus loading; the total project estimate was $1,072,650 with road authority costs of $196,000 and an estimated landowner share of about $876,000 if all water-quality components were included. Commissioners discussed three options for ASI inclusion and voted to adopt option 3 — a field-verification and prioritization approach that would include roughly 40–70% of ASIs as prioritized and reapply for grant funding.
County Ditch 93: Engineers described similar problems across the CD 93 watershed (~3,300 acres), proposed cleaning and 27 ASIs (one ASIRO), and estimated the landowner cost at approximately $736,000. The board approved the repair report and agreed to pursue the same three-option approach for ASIs, with preference for field verification and targeted inclusion.
Judicial Ditch 32: ISG and county staff reported that MnDOT-installed liners had reduced culvert capacity at Trunk Highway 30; replacement options included a single 48-inch culvert (recommended) or restoring dual pipes comparable to the original 42- and 24-inch configuration. MnDOT agreed to cover its portion of costs and an estimated project cost was reported at just under $180,000 with a $36,000 tile crossing cost for landowners. The board approved a plan to proceed with the 48-inch approach while exploring a bid alternate to upsize the tile under the road (a possible 36-inch tile) if permitted by MnDOT.
Financing: The board also passed resolutions to set financing (bonding) mechanisms, with staff citing not-to-exceed figures used for resolution purposes: approximately $1.4 million for CD 88 and about $1.2 million for CD 93 to cover estimates and provide bonding capacity.
What happens next: staff will prepare construction plans and bid documents if the board's approvals stand; grant reapplications for water-quality ASIs will proceed with the possibility of adjusting the number of ASIs depending on award results.