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DeKalb County board debates how to pay for dozens of ‘not-on-maintenance’ laterals left out of past drain combinations
Summary
Surveyor and board members said multiple laterals and spurs were excluded from maintenance when parent drains were combined years ago, leaving costly repairs unfunded; the board asked staff to return with maps, cost estimates and to seek a joint meeting with Noble County.
The DeKalb County Drainage Board spent the bulk of its March 19 meeting discussing long‑standing funding and maintenance gaps for laterals and spurs that were left off maintenance when larger parent drains were combined in the early 2000s.
The county surveyor told the board that when the Ed Haynes drain was combined into what is now called the Frankyard, the hearing record limited maintenance funding to the Frankyard main and explicitly excluded many tributary laterals. "When it was established as on maintenance it was put in the hearing that only the money would only go to the Ed Haynes which is combined to the Frankyard. So the money would only go to the Frankyard main none of its tributaries would be funded from that account," the surveyor reported.
That historical decision means dozens of smaller laterals and spurs now show signs of deterioration but do not have a maintenance account to pay for rehabilitation, staff said. The board discussed the John De lateral as an example: staff described flooded fields, degraded tile and an open ditch that is "not on maintenance" and estimated repairs would be expensive.
Board members and staff explored three possible approaches: 1) combine laterals with parent drains where code criteria allow (which would expand the parent drain’s billing base), 2) create per-acre or per-collection dollar thresholds so only laterals that can generate a minimum annual assessment become stand-alone accounts, or 3) leave arrangements case-by-case. Participants discussed example thresholds — e.g., situations collecting only $1,500 annually may be too small to sustain independent maintenance, while systems approaching $5,000 a year might be viable on their own — but no threshold was adopted.
Inter-county complexity complicates the options. Staff recalled that Noble County refused to accept the cost of laterals on the DeKalb side during the prior combination hearing, which is why many of those laterals were excluded in the first place. Board members agreed to try another joint meeting with Noble County and asked surveyor staff to return in two weeks with maps, watershed delineations and cost estimates for alternative approaches. "Let's put the laterals with the main drain and that would make life easier," one board member said when summarizing a favored approach.
The board did not adopt any new policy at the March 19 meeting; instead it directed staff to produce data and return for further consideration. If combined approaches are pursued, any changes that affect assessments or inter-county billing would require additional proceedings and, where applicable, Noble County agreement.
