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Pocahontas County approves DD41 tile petition; drainage official warns of higher engineer-report threshold
Summary
The Board of Supervisors approved a petition to replace and upsize roughly a half-mile of DD41 Br. 1 tile and appointed the county engineer as engineer in charge. Iowa Drainage District Association officials also warned the legislature raised the expenditure threshold for required engineer reports above $196,000.
The Pocahontas County Board of Supervisors voted on Oct. 29 to approve a petition to improve about a half-mile of DD41 Br. 1 tile and appointed the county engineer to oversee the work.
Gary Atherton, assistant to the engineer and the county drainage clerk, told the board the improvement would replace and increase the size of approximately ½ mile of tile. Clarence Siepker moved to approve the petition and named the county engineer as the engineer in charge; Jeff Ives seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
John Torbert, executive director of the Iowa Drainage District Association, updated the board on statewide drainage matters. Torbert said the IDDA annual conference will be Dec. 6, 2024, and noted a recent legislative change that raises the expenditure threshold that triggers a required engineer’s report to over $196,000. He asked supervisors to identify local concerns for the association to raise with legislators, and several supervisors requested changes including a multi-signature requirement on petitions and a provision that solar farms provide a corridor for tile access if necessary.
Atherton also reported progress on televising work on DD84, saying crews removed a 7-inch rock by jetting, found a broken tile, and discovered 1½-inch river rock inside the tile. He said the televising will be finished and a follow-up meeting scheduled to decide repairs.
The motion to approve the DD41 petition and appoint the county engineer carried on a unanimous vote. The board handled the petition and televising report as part of routine drainage business and did not set a construction start date during the meeting.
