June 10, 2021 at 1:12 p.m.
Committee formed to develop plan to clean Cass County Ditch 9 for board consideration
The farmland drainage ditch was constructed and assessed to benefitting property owners in about 1918 to 1919, Anderson told the board Tuesday. It is believed the ditch never has been cleaned since that time.
The ditch follows Hay Creek from the west through Cass County to a point where it goes through a culvert under Highway 371 just north of Jenkins, then travels through Crow Wing County into the Whitefish Lake watershed.
Currently, there are beaver dams and extensive vegetative growth in the ditch, according to Jim Rice, who owns land along about one mile of the ditch. The blockage in it causes water to back up onto his and neighbors' pasture land and hayfields, he said.
Rice told the board he obtained an estimate of $6,000 to clean the ditch across his property, but he said that will not solve the problem also caused by the beaver dams downstream.
He noted and County Engineer David Enblom confirmed that the backed up water from the ditch has caused land under county roads to become saturated and has affected road stability. It leads to unnecessarily repeated road work, Rice said.
Anderson has spent the winter investigating state laws on ditches and Ditch 9 history. She said Tuesday, if the improvement will cost under $100,000, property owners can have the work done themselves or the county could have the work done and assess it to benefitting property owners.
If the cost will exceed $100,000, it would fall under a different state law, which requires public hearings and more formal action.
A Minnesota Department of Natural Resources hydrologist would need to look at the ditch cleaning plan in either case, she said. Beaver dam removal should not trigger a U.S. Corps of Engineers approval, but they should review the plan, she said.
Anderson is working to develop a list of current affected property owners, based on original legal descriptions for benefitting property owners in 1918-1919.
In other auditor-treasurer office business Tuesday, Anderson reported the county earned more interest income on investments the first three months this year than last year, $223,277.82, compared with $209,581.46 in 2012. Second publication rights after Brainerd Dispatch.[[In-content Ad]]
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