This footage of the COMPLETED REPAIR PROJECT begins where Pickerel Run crosses 300th Avenue, to Dickens. (The segment from 300th Avenue to Trumbull Lake is largely unchanged from the footage that was taken shortly after the project began.)
Reminder of upcoming election!
Dates to keep in mind as the election nears:
December 24, 2024 Deadline for filing of candidacy papers in order to be included on the ballot
December 29, 2029 Opening date to request absentee ballot
January 18, 2025 Election 1:00-4:00 p.m. at 3060 310th Ave, Dickens, IA (McGranahan Farm)
Spencer Daily Reporter: Controversial drainage repair completed
by Nick Lowrey, Staff Writer
After 5 years, 2 lawsuits and almost $1.5 million spent Drainage District 37’s major maintenance project is complete. By unanimous vote, trustees of Clay County’s Drainage District 37 approved the completion report for major cleanup and repair of its century-old main open drainage ditch on June 6 and marked the end of a five-year-long legal drama. The trustees’ vote came during a special board meeting and after a hearing on the project’s completion report presented by Collin Klingbeil of Jacobsen-Westergard and Associates, the engineering firm hired to oversee the nearly $830,000 project. Later, during the board’s regular meeting held the same day, the three trustees, Allen McGranahan, Bill Gerdeman, and Rodney Dillard, also voted to settle an unfinished lawsuit related to the project and approved a tax levy of $843,930.10 to be assessed to Drainage District 37 (DD37) landowners. The series of votes marked the end of a yearslong saga. It began when a group of local landowners originally filed a lawsuit against the Clay County Board of Supervisors in 2019. In 2018, landowners in DD37 asked Clay County to investigate the tile drainage lines in DD37, located in eastern Clay County about 2.5 miles west of Lost Island Lake. At the time, the County board of supervisors was responsible for maintenance in the district, and the 100-year-old main ditch wasn’t draining efficiently. In 2018, the Clay County Board hired the engineering firm Bolton and Menk LLC to investigate the drainage issues and recommend a potential fix for any problems found in its investigation. Ultimately, Bolton and Menk engineers proposed a $3.6 million project that would remove trees and other vegetation and deepen and widen the ditch. The project’s cost would be covered via a tax levied on landowners in DD37. The district’s landowners, McGranahan, Gerdeman, and Dillard among them, found the project’s cost to be too high and the scope of work to be too broad. They filed formal objections to the plan. The County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing about the Bolton and Menk plan on Jan. 14, 2019. They found that the objecting landowners didn’t own enough property in DD37 to stop the project under Iowa law and voted to move forward with it. Iowa law requires that at least 50% of landowners owning at least 70% of the property in a drainage district must file objections before a maintenance project can be stopped. In February 2019, DD37 landowners Robert Swan and David Wyatt, with backing from their neighbors, appealed the board’s decision to the Clay County district court. They argued that the county had miscalculated the amount of land they owned and that the project wasn’t necessary, desired, or feasible. In a summary judgment dismissing the case, the court ruled against the objecting landowners. The court found that despite some miscalculations on the county board of supervisors’ part, not enough landowners had filed objections to the project. On appeal, the Iowa Court of Appeals found that the objecting landowners didn’t own enough land in DD37 to stop the project. However, the appeals court also found that the case shouldn’t have been dismissed outright because the objecting landowner’s claim that the project wasn’t feasible or desired hadn’t been answered. That portion of the case was sent back to Clay County’s district court. In May 2019, 75 DD37 landowners signed petitions calling for an election to allow private trustees to take over management of the district. The Clay County Board of Supervisors denied the petition, claiming that some people who signed it only had fractional interests in their land, so they couldn’t be considered landowners. The petitioners appealed the county board’s decision to the Clay County district court. The county board’s argument didn’t hold up. Both the Clay County district court and the Iowa Court of Appeals found that if someone has a fractional interest in a piece of land, they are indeed a landowner and are entitled to the same rights as any other landowner. Landowners in DD37 held their election, took over management of the district, and elected a three-member board of trustees in 2021. In taking over the district’s management, the new board also took on all the costs associated with the Clay County Board of Supervisors’ actions on behalf of the district. The costs amounted to about $600,000 between legal fees and the Bolton and Menk contract. The DD37 board of trustees approved a tax levy to cover the costs and an extra $50,000 for maintenance in 2023. In September 2022, the DD37 board of trustees hired Jacobson-Westergard to evaluate the district’s main open ditch and devise a less costly maintenance plan. During the June 6 Board of Trustees meeting, McGranahan described the Jacobson-Westergard plan as the bare minimum amount of work needed to ensure the ditch continues to function. The new plan consisted of removing large trees from the ditch and adding new access lanes for future maintenance. The DD37 trustees accepted a low bid for the new project of $828,376.50 from Reutzel Excavating Inc. of Burt, Iowa. Reutzel finished its work in April 2024. All told, DD37 landowners will collectively pay about $1.49 million, less than half of the original project’s $3.6 million price tag
Drainage District #37 Meeting of Private Trustees
November 14, 2024
Clay County Administration Board Room
The November 14, 2024 meeting of the Drainage District #37 Trustees was called to order by Chairman Allen McGranahan at 10:00 a.m. in the Clay County Administration Conference Room (lower level).
In attendance in person were trustees Allen McGranahan, Bill Gerdeman and Rod Dillard. In attendance by phone were clerk Connie Swan, and guests Linda Carter and Steve Swan.
The minutes of the October 10, 2024 meeting were approved as presented and will be posted on the pickerelrun.com website.
The following bills were presented:
- Lair Tiling & Excavation, Inc. $1594 Mini Excavator Work, Labor, Jetter Truck, Silt Fence. Freeman Township Section 5. ($855 was paid in October; balance of $739 outstanding.)
- Connie Swan $75 reimbursement for registration to Iowa Drainage Association annual meeting, which is December 6, 2024.
Allen contacted Lair Tiling & Excavation to get clarification of the two bills reviewed at the October 10th meeting in the amounts of $855 and $1594. Both bills were for repairs on the Swart property; $855 was for repair of private tile; $1594 was for repair of the district tile. The district had approved payment of $855, leaving a balance due of $739. Rod moved to approve paying the balance of $739. Steve and Brent Swart will pay their portion directly to Lair Tiling & Excavation. Second by Bill. Motion carried.
Bill moved to allow the bill from Connie Swan. Second by Allen. Motion carried.
Matters from landowners
The drainage district tile serving the Galbraith, Sorenson and Toland properties has been repaired; the bill has not been received.
Allen worked at the polling location in Dickens on election day and took the opportunity to follow up with landowners on the repair project. All comments were very positive. The seeding on the Groenewold property looks good.
Steve Swan has been in contact with Jon Winterboer regarding the district tile repair along N14 and the rip rap on the Wyatt Farm. Jon has been working in the southern part of the county, but will be moving to our area and plans to complete the tiling repair before the ground freezes and the rip-rap after ground freeze.
Election
As required by Iowa Code, the annual election will be the 3rd Saturday of January, which will be January 18, 2025. There will be an open seat on the board, as Allen McGranahan is not seeking reelection. Candidate nomination papers are available by contacting Connie Swan, and must be returned between November 14, 2024 and December 24, 2024 in order to be named on the ballot. Write-in candidates are also allowed. Eligibility rules, per Iowa Code 468.506 are as follows:
Each trustee shall be a citizen of the United States not less than eighteen years of age, and one of the following:
1. The bona fide owner of agricultural land in the election district for which the trustee is elected, and a resident of the county in which that district is located or of a county which is contiguous to or corners on that county.
2. The bona fide owner of nonagricultural land in the election district for which the trustee is elected, and a resident of that district. This subsection applies only when the election district is wholly within the corporate limits of a city.
3. A stockholder of a family farm corporation as defined in section 9H.1, subsection 15, which owns land in the election district who is a resident of the county in which that district is located or of a county which is contiguous to or corners on that county.
4. In a district which is a levee and drainage district which has eighty-five percent of its acreage within the corporate limits of a city and has been under the control of a city under subchapter II, part 3, a bona fide owner of benefited land in the district. If the owner is a family farm corporation as defined by section 9H.1, subsection 15, a business corporation organized and existing under chapter 490 or 491, or a partnership, a stockholder or officer authorized by the corporation or a general partner may be elected as a trustee of the district.
The next meeting will be December 12, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.
Rod moved to adjourn the meeting. Second by Bill. Meeting adjourned at 10:21 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Connie Swan, Clerk Allen McGranahan, Chair
The videos below show the BEGINNING STAGES of the repair project