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Worth County supervisors authorize multiple drainage projects, set landowner meeting for DD18
Summary
Supervisors approved a DD11 work order, authorized cleaning of DD46 to the state line, accepted a petition to consider a lateral, and filed an amendment for DD18; staff will notify landowners and set a June 29 informational meeting.
The Worth County Board of Supervisors authorized several drainage-related actions during its May 13 meeting, approving a work order for DD11, accepting a petition regarding a tile lateral, authorizing estimates and cleaning for an Interstate 35 outlet (DD46), and filing an amendment for DD18 with a landowner meeting scheduled for June 29.
DD11: Chair Nina introduced concerns about concrete work in DD11 and the board unanimously approved a motion to bring forward the DD11 G work order. The motion carried on a voice vote with no recorded roll-call.
Petition: A petition from landowner Doug Meyer asking that an existing tile be adopted and made a district lateral was accepted; supervisors directed staff to contact two neighboring landowners (identified in discussion as Chad and Steve Anderson) to obtain tile maps and clarify hookups before proceeding with annexation or final classification.
DD46 (Interstate 35 outlet): Staff recommended cleaning the channel downstream of the interstate to the point that the Corps of Engineers previously stopped work. Staff estimated that cleaning the currently accessible channel to a safe natural outlet would cost about $40,000, below thresholds requiring public bidding or a hearing, and the board authorized staff to obtain estimates and proceed along the existing channel alignment to avoid regulatory problems.
DD18/D23: For DD18 (southwest of Joyce) and connected districts, staff presented five drainage options, including open-ditch and various drainage-coefficient tile schemes; one combined option was estimated at about $1.75 million. The board voted to file an amendment and schedule a landowner meeting for June 29 at 9:30 a.m. to collect landowner input on options and next steps.
Regulatory cautions: Staff repeatedly warned that straightening channels or unpermitted stream work can trigger substantial mitigation costs and regulatory penalties; staff cited a mitigation rough-order-of-magnitude figure of about $1,000,000 per mile and asserted an example regulatory fine of $56,000 per day if violations were ongoing.
What happens next: Staff will seek contractor estimates for DD46 cleaning, collect tile maps for the petition, file the DD6 and DD18 matters as discussed and issue notices for the June 29 landowner meeting.
Votes at a glance: The DD11 work order, acceptance of the petition, authorization to seek estimates for DD46 cleaning, and the DD18 amendment filing and meeting schedule were each approved by voice votes during the meeting.
