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Local farmer urges county to survey and restore Lateral 12 waterway
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Summary
Landowner Lawrence Doden petitioned the board to order a comprehensive survey and repairs for Lateral 12, saying the waterway has been silted and farmed in and no full survey has been done in decades; the board agreed to have the county engineer inspect and report back.
Lawrence Doden, a landowner in Grant Township, told the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors he is petitioning the county to restore Lateral 12 to its original engineered condition and requested a full survey of the waterway.
Doden said parts of Lateral 12 are "severely clogged," that the waterway has been farmed in and that internal tile systems are overwhelmed by standing water. "I'm petitioning the commissioners to restore the Lateral 12 with original engineered condition as constructed in 1955," he said while reading a prepared statement.
He told the board a short work in 1999 provided temporary relief but no comprehensive survey has been performed for decades. Doden and other attendees described areas where surface water stands for long periods, and he argued those conditions prevent internal tile drainage from functioning properly.
Board members and staff discussed jurisdiction — much of Lateral 12 lies in Winnebago County, with the open ditch outlet in neighboring Kossuth County — and whether ordering a survey counts as a "repair" (which affects whether remonstrance is permitted). Members noted prior inspections were visual and not full surveys.
The board did not record a formal vote at the meeting but agreed to have county engineer Jacobsen Westergaard or staff inspect the waterway and provide scope/cost estimates. One supervisor said the board could put the item on a future agenda to authorize a survey or further action after the engineer’s assessment.
Doden asked that, if a full restoration is necessary, it be returned to the condition landowners originally paid for and implied it would benefit all landowners on the system.
Next steps: county engineer to visit the site and report back with recommended scope and cost so the board can consider whether to authorize survey work or maintenance.
