A large group of vested constituents filled the board room during Tuesday’s county commissioner meeting. In discussion was County Ditch 22. A preliminary meeting was held March 15, 2018. The initial proposal from the petitioner John Meyer was to close the open ditch and replace it with tile. Tuesday’s meeting was to view the final engineer’s report and viewer’s reports on the petition for the improvement to County Ditch 22 as well as a re-determination of benefits. Bill Helget with Bolton and Menk shared the final engineer’s report. The proposed area cover sfour sections in Shetek Township and four sections in Holly Township for a span of 865 acres upstream of 240th Avenue. The ditch was petitioned for establishment on March 21, 1911 with original benefits of $4,885 = 263 acres. It was extended in 1999 and a redetermination of benefits was conducted tallying $848,286.69 to include 2,437.11 acres. From 2001 to 2016 approximately $80,000 in repairs were made.
Helget said some portions of the ditch are unstable and prone to sloughing. He stated the improvements start at 211th and drain across to 240th. He shared the proposed tile would be 36” on the south side of 211th Street to the east side of 240th Avenue. He shared the plans as well as a couple of other options.
Also on hand was Chuck Brandel, engineer from ISG, with options as requested by the other six landowners. He suggested a 2-to-1 versus the 4-to-1 side slope as suggested by Helget. This would save approximately $12,000 and also fix the worst spots for an additional savings of $90,000. His option was to clean the ditch, repair sloughing, establish a buffer strip and do a soft armor bank at a cost of $110,000 versus the $280,000 as presented. He believes this is a less separable maintenance and if this option was chosen and when the viewers report is presented, the benefit ratio would not work. One of the viewers in attendance spoke of the situation stating the only part of the ditch that has problems is the east/west portion. He said the ditch functions, but does need repair and believes there needs to be some buffer and berm established so the side walls won’t slough. He continued by stating there are 18 landowners on the system with 17 of those wishing to have it maintained as is. Another view asked if the ditch could be over-cleaned? According to the records, ten out of the 15 times the ditch was worked on in the last 10 years, the ditch was cleaned. With over cleaning, it can cause the sloping and the sides to give way. Brandel did mention some of the ditches he’s worked on they’ve used hydro mulch and blanket to make sure there’s something established on the side slopes.
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