Supervisors talk drainage district repair concern

Kent Cramer appeared before the board to talk about repair work done to drainage district #125-49-1. In July of 2018, a work order was generated to repair the dirt cover over the tile that was swept away in this area. The district authorized $7,400 of work for repairs. They could not authorize work to construct a waterway because waterways are not district assets. An invoice for about $29,000 was presented to the county for dirt work fixing the area, which created a waterway. The drainage trustees had not previously approved this level of work. Cramer argued that he had wanted to fix the area correctly so the problem never happened again.

Supervisor Kluss voiced his concern, “Work done was not authorized. Waterways are not district assets. You’re asking the district to pay for work that is not an asset for the district.” Chairman Rasmussen noted that a price needs to be decided that will be fair to the district and fair to the landowner for the work. The board decided to have engineer Lee Gallentine re-estimate calculations for quantities of dirt to accommodate the washout and coverage of the tile and revisit the issue at a later meeting once a price has been refigured.

For the full story, see the May 2nd edition of the Monitor