Commentary: Of ditches and the right of drainage

A partially collapsed culvert under an alley entrance in La Cygne highlights a problem with not maintaining city drainage systems. (Photo by Roger Sims / Linn County Journal)

By Roger Sims, publisher

linncountyjournal@icloud.com

Sometimes journalists get drawn into being a part of the news. We hate when that happens. After all, our mantra is (at least should be) objectivity. But sometimes the issue of the lowly ditch (pun intended) just has your name written all over it and you’ve got to speak up.

Last Thursday the Parker City Clerk LIsa Leach said that despite the city’s ads soliciting a bid from an engineering firm to conduct a study on stormwater runoff in the city, no bid was received.

After fielding a complaint by former Councilmember Gary Earley about heavy rain flooding his yard, the council last year solicited bids for a stormwater study and received only one bid. That bid was for more than $40,000. That bid was put on the back burner for a couple of reasons: other more pressing projects and lack of money.

Before this newest ad soliciting bids went out last May, Kathy Harrison, city treasurer, told the council it had less than $30,000 for the project.

When the council didn’t appear likely to take action, Gary and Charlotte Earley asked that the council to publish the ad for bids in newspapers in Miami and Anderson counties to see if it would get a response. Because the request came during a public comment period, the council didn’t take any action.

During the heavy rains last spring, I happened to be on Park Street in front of the Earley’s house. The storm clouds lined up, the rain came down in buckets and pretty soon the Earley’s yard was partially underwater.

But the problem wasn’t the lack of a study, it was the fact that runoff from several large lots east of Park Road collected at a culvert on one side of street, and that culvert funneled all of the water, flooding Earley’s side and backyard on the other side of the road.

It was an easily observable occurrence: Poor planning of the culvert placement resulted in a flooded yard.

Parker is a small town and for all intents and purposes, it is flat. However, historically the city is drained via a creek than runs from Heritage Park, just south of the old high school and into a field where it courses into a series of ditches that funnel the runoff to the city’s lake about three-quarters of a mile south of town.

The main problem is that the system of ditches has not been maintained. Ditches have partly silted in, or been purposely filled by residents looking to smooth out their yard. The ends of culverts have been smashed down to a fraction of their original size.

Cities in Linn County, except for main streets or highways don’t have curbs, gutters and storm drains. The just have ditches. And when those ditches aren’t maintained they can cause numerous problems, particularly in Parker, La Cygne and Pleasanton, all of which are flat for the most part.

Kent Wade is a member of the La Cygne City Council, and before he was elected last November, he had appeared before the council numerous times to complain about lack of maintenance on the city’s ditches. Now he is in a position to push for effective drainage of storm water, and he is doing just that.

At the July 1 council meeting, Wade said he wanted the city to be responsible for the ditches. That’s because he has seen them being filled in with yard waste or allowed to grow over with weeds. From his perspective, the only way to solve the problem is to have the city crews perform regular maintenance.

But the city attorney and the mayor advised against the city taking on that kind of responsibility, and instead the attorney said he would draft new language for the city code requiring property owners to maintain ditches and culverts, this time with some teeth for enforcement.

At the Parker council meeting, the city maintenance supervisor questioned how homeowners would react if the city required them to dig a ditch deeper or replace a culvert. That is likely the case in any city where the ditches have not been maintained.

But water standing along side streets can seep into and cause deterioration of the road base and eventually the street itself. An in extreme cases a ditch that doesn’t drain property can pose problems for adjacent property owners as well.

La Cygne about three years ago commissioned a citywide survey of its stormwater drainage system with an engineering firm and has specific recommendations in hand.

Parker doesn’t have the money for that kind of plan, so instead it should look at solving problems as they arise, such as the case on Park Street. There are contractors and equipment operators who live in or close to the city who could give advice on how to address drainage issues.

A cruise around the small town during a heavy rain would easily provide city officials with a list of drainage problems that need to be addressed, and they should be addressed instead of being ignored.

The county's right of way extends beyond the edge of the road, and so when it uses equipment fo dig out a ditch, there are few questions asked. The same is true with cities. Their crews have access to easements as well, and while conferring with the property owner should be the best way to approach drainage problems, cities will undoubltedly be forced to make unilateral decisions if a property owner is uncooperative.

The Linn County Journal welcomes letters to the editor and commentary essays from a variety of viewpoints. The Journal reserves the right to make editorial decisions on letters submitted for publication. The letters or essays should be based on factual information. Opinion essays and letters can be sent to linncountyjournal@icloud.com complete with the writer’s name, city of current residence and a telephone number where we can determine that the writer did, in fact, write the piece.