Drainage issues Ten officials from Todd and Wadena counties, along with Staples City Administrator Nate Mathews, were at the head table Feb.10 at an informational meeting about Staples area drainage issues. The session was the first meeting of a Joint Ditch board formed by the two counties, with authority over issues relating to Judicial Ditches 5 and 8, in and around the city of Staples. From left are Staples City Administrator Nate Mathews, Wadena County Commissioners Ralph Miller and Dave Schermerhorn; Mark Blessing, District One Todd County Commissioner; Todd County Commissioners Gary Kneisl and Jerry Ruda; Todd County Administrator Nate Burkett, Todd County Auditor Karen Busch, County Engineer Loren Fellbaum and Kurt Deter, ditch attorney from St. Cloud. (Staples World photo by Tom Crawford) WATER: People either have too much of it or not enough of it. Seldom if ever, just the right amount.

The subject of too much water brought out roughly 40 people to a Feb. 10 meeting in the new Staples City Hall council chamber, nearly filling the large room for the first time.

The subject was what to do with two drainage ditches, Judicial Ditch 5 and Judicial Ditch 8,which go through Staples from west to east, draining or not draining water, depending on how much it rains. They also provide drainage to township residents on both sides of the city, so the meeting attracted a fair share of both city and neighboring township property owners.

The meeting was labeled an informational session and was the first session of a Joint Ditch board, set up by the Todd and Wadena County boards to govern ditch decisions. Commissioners Ralph Miller and Dave Schermerhorn from Wadena County, along with Commissioners Mark Blessing, Gary Kneisl and Gerry Ruda from Todd County, make up the joint board. Several other county officials serve in advisory capacity, including Nate Burkett, Todd County administrator, Loren Fellbaum, Todd County engineer and Nancy Uhlenkamp, the Todd County ditch inspector.

Also on hand was Kurt Deter, an attorney from St. Cloud who specializes in drainage legal issues. He has been advising Todd County for several years on drainage matters.

Deter and Uhlenkamp helped explain the history of the two drainage ditches, how JD 5 (which runs under the football field, Fourth Street, the water tower area and to the city’s Northern Pacific Park through underground pipes) was constructed in 1907 and JD 8 in 1948. Records indicate JD 5 was dug from one to 2.7 feet deep with the main ditch having a four foot wide bottom. There are no surveyed design records on JD 8, which is much wider and deeper than JD 5. JD 8 comes from the west side of Staples, shares a short stretch with JD 5, then flows easterly just to the north of Staples Elementary, crossing under Fourth Street (Todd County 43) in an open ditch.

Staples City Administrator Nate Mathews explained the city experienced a heavy rainfall in July, 2009, that caused flooding of several homes in the area of Fifth Street and the water tower, as well as in other locations around Staples. In addition, the city has major street projects coming up, including repairing Fourth Street and building a new roadway that would be part of the proposed North-South Corridor. This proposed road on the west side of the city would connect the Warner Road on the north to the Long Prairie Road on the south side of Staples, using a proposed overpass to cross Highway 10 and the railroad tracks.

Deter explained that ditches and ditch law originally were designed with agricultural drainage in mind. The adjoining landowners paid for the initial digging of the ditches according to how they benefitted. Three judges or viewers determined benefi ts at that time. Likewise, the cost of a cleanout or repair of a ditch is divided among the benefitting landowners according to the original formula.

Over a century, Deter said, many cities have expanded, building out into rural areas where ditches exited. Most of the time no one notices as a rural area turns to urban. Now Staples has a situation much like many other cities in Minnesota.

The ditches need to be cleaned out, repaired and kept clean in order to provide sufficient drainage. But assessing the benefits among many small parcels, not the old 40 acre parcels originally assessed, seems a nightmare for all concerned. But that’s how state laws would have it.

Deter said the only other option is for the city to declare the ditch system in the city to be part of the city’s storm water system and take over ownership. A 2002 state law allows cities to take over ditches within their city limits, with the approval of the county.

“It makes more sense now for that part of the ditch to be part of the city’s storm water system, part of the city’s infrastructure,” Deter said.

Deter essentially predicted that sometime in the future the city and county will agree to do just that. The county cannot force the ditch on the city, he said. At the same time, the city must guarantee that the portions of the ditch outside the city can never be blocked off by any city project or action.

Local residents were concerned, especially those who have had wet basements or worse. Don Hermann, Brenda Kozitka and Jerry O’Keefe, among others, described past drainage problems on their property in the city.

Likewise rural residents such as Dean Holmberg had concerns about the city taking over the drainage and assessing the cost to residents. He wondered why the college Heavy Equipment students could not dig out the ditches. That practice is no longer available.

In the end, no decisions were made. Attorney Deter, however, asked a key question. Does it make sense, he said, to use agriculture law from 1907 to determine drainage practices now in the city? At some point, it was suggested, it might be more sensible to treat part of the city differently as a storm water system.