Drainage District #37 Meeting of Private Trustees
9:00 a.m. December 4, 2025
Clay County Administration Board Room
The December 4, 2025 meeting of the Drainage District #37 Trustees was held at 9:00 a.m. in the Clay County Administration Conference Room.
In attendance in person were trustees Bill Gerdeman, John Metcalf and Rod Dillard, and clerk Connie Swan. In attendance by phone were guests Linda Carter, Brent Swart and Steve Swan.
Bill called the meeting to order at 9:00.
The minutes of the June 19, 2025 meeting were approved as presented and will be emailed to the distribution list and posted on the pickerelrun.com website.
The following bill was presented:
- Connie Swan $80 for Iowa Drainage District Association registration for annual meeting
John moved to allow the bill. Second by Rod. Motion carried.
Old Business
Bill followed up with Timewell Drainage Products in Sibley, Iowa and learned that the maximum available size of aluminum culvert is 10 inches.
Tabled from last meeting
Summit Carbon Solutions Connie Swan reached out to five other counties in Iowa that will be affected by the proposed CO2 pipeline project to ascertain how they are addressing the situation. The responses ranged from complete resistance, resulting in lawsuits and counter lawsuits, to a wait and see approach, to resolutions that specify permit fees. The question before the trustees is whether to negotiate with Summit Carbon Solutions, or wait to see if the project proceeds. Negotiating in advance could result in an inflow of funds that could be used for future repairs/maintenance in the district, regardless of whether the project happens. Rod moved to ask Connie Swan to draft a resolution that would include wording making it clear that it would only pertain to district tiles/ditch on properties that have already signed an agreement with Summit Carbon Solution. Second by John. Motion carried. The proposed resolution will be reviewed at a future meeting.
Reclassification
Rod moved to table the conversation regarding reclassification until the need arises. Second by John. Motion carried.
New Business
Election Per Iowa state code the annual election is to be held the third Saturday of January, which for this year will be January 17, 2026. Rod moved that the poll be open from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at 2965 300th St, Dickens, IA 51333 (Gerdeman residence.) Second by John. Motion carried.
Rod Dillard’s 3-year term is coming to an end. Rod expressed an interest in running for another term. If anyone else is interested in running, a Petition for Trustee and Affidavit of Candidacy must be completed and submitted to the clerk of DD#37 on or before December 24, 2025 in order to be included on the ballot.
Repair project updates
Steve and Connie Swan flew the drainage ditch and took video footage to look for repair needs. There are two downed trees and four beaver dams that need to be removed. John moved to ask Jon Winterboer to complete the removal in December or January. Second by Rod. Motion carried and Bill will communicate with Jon.
Matters/questions from owners
The next meeting is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. Saturday January 17, 2026 immediately following the election if there are bills or other business to address.
John moved to adjourn the meeting. Second by Rod. Meeting adjourned at 9:40 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Connie Swan, Clerk Bill Gerdeman, Chair
Spencer Daily Reporter: Controversial drainage repair completed
by Nick Lowrey, Staff Writer
June 7, 2024
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.
Below are photos of the rip rap project that was completed in December 2024 along Pickerel Run (the drainage ditch) on the Wyatt property.
Note from the contractor and trustees: While in the photos it appears there is a lot of bare dirt, there is a significant amount of concrete under the dirt.
