Board of Supervisor - Regular Meeting

Good morning to y'all and welcome. Glad to see you all survive the weekend blizzards. We'll start off today. I'll start off today by opening a public hearing for DBO 06 improvement column. So there's a for any land owners here in the back on the back table there's a engineers report uh we'll kind of go through pick one up on your way in. So, guess to kind of set, we've gone through a fair amount of this stuff because we did have a hearing on just repairs on uh the January 6th. But prior to that, prior to that hearing on possible repairs to the main open ditch of drains district 6, a petition was filed for to look at to look at doing improve. And essentially the thought behind that was if we're going to be digging out, you know, doing a clean out of a portion of the ditch uh at the upper end. I had kind of put in my report that the that the main tile right now anyways is is basically buried under silt. And that tile is a 12-in tile that's really pretty severely undized for today's standards. And if you put in something bigger, then you'd have to put it lower and there's already problems with that. So having the ditch potentially being deeper would would help facilitate a potential pile pile improvements in

the future. And so that that's that's sort of how we got to today. So we didn't at the at the hearing in January, no decision was made and essentially I just updated the report to to look at, you know, possible improvements. Um, and essentially if we do improvements, it's not it's not like uh some giant addition to the project. It's it's more or less for the first the northernmost reach of the of the open ditch for the first mile. We would just lower the grade couple hundredth of a percent and then that would gain you addition an additional about a foot of depth at the very upper end of the ditch. So it's not like we're deepening it five feet or something for or something like that. but trying to potentially help for if if a if a tile improvement is done in the future. So that that's kind of the back that's the background of it. I'll go through kind of go through again, you know, what where this repair petition came from. So at the at the upper end of the ditch, as I said already, it's kind of silted in the tiles buried. there's a tile outlet pipe that is basically wrecked. And in this report, uh on page two, you can see a couple pictures. at the top of the page. The very top of the page is a Vul that that's a picture from 2008 or 2009

that or well I think it was put in in about 1928. It was the outlet for the main tile of DD6 and also it allowed surface runoff. You can kind of see there's this triangular or trapezoidal cutout in the top of that.

It's kind of a mess at that point in time, but that was to allow surface runoff also to to come off of adjacent lands and dump into the ditch. So when that that basically was a wreck and it got removed and replaced with a corrugated metal pipe, well, nothing really was done to handle the surface runoff. And so over the last 15 years or so, water has been able to just dump over the bank and it has slowly eroded some soil away and made a mess a mess in that area. So that's that's kind of where the repair request came in. And at a minimum, you know, we're talking about possible repairs or improvements today for drainage districts. Uh typically with with a few exceptions, typically repairs are required. Um you you kind of have to keep the drainage district facilities in in good repair. So if there's if there's a if there's a problem, it has to be addressed. Improvements, on the other hand, are optional. Um, so kind of at a minimum, we need to do something about all the silt that's buried the that tile outlet. Uh, the tile outlet itself that that corrugated metal pipe is busted and sideways and not not used at all. And also that erosion problem, we need to do something about that. So, what I would recommend for that is kind of a a simple rock shoot. And really, that may be the fancy sounding term, but it's it's basically just putting some rip wrap down so that

when the water comes runs off the lands to the north uh into the ditch, it is going over rocks instead of dirt. So, it's not cutting through them. Uh just for reference too that on the back very back page of the report there's a map. So the this open ditch is kind of it's northeast of Lake Park in Silver Lake Township. And what if we do a repair you see the the blue line on that map? It's the first half mile of the ditch. That's what we would be recommending kind of for the extent of a clean out. If we did the improvement where we would be digging a little bit more out, we would need to extend that the additional half mile down to 125th Street. So, it' be about a mile point. Um, as far as costs go for the repair on page on page three, I've got a total cost estimate of $52,000. And over the entire drainity district of 28 2,835 acres approximately, that'll be $18.34 an acre on average. Um, if we were looking at doing the improvement, I'm estimating that'd be an additional 15 to $20,000 and and that's primarily from the additional uh material that would be excavated from the channel and then also that additional half mile. So, we wouldn't be

have been touching that if we do the repair, but they'd have to dig some out of that additional half mile and then spread, you know, spread the spoils out and do some seating. So, there'd be additional cost when it comes to that. Um we at the last meeting we did talk a little bit about okay if we look at an improvement and the primary purpose of that is to deepen the ditch for a possible main tile improvement would it be fair for the entire drainage district to help pay for that or really should those lands that are served by that tile and that's about 300 some acres should they pay for it. And uh I think there's some merit to saying that a higher proportion of that imp the additional cost to do an improvement could go against those lands because it that is kind of the primary purpose of lowering it would be to to to give a better outlet for a tile improvement. However, deepening the ditch would help everybody some. Um, so I guess what I'm recommending is if we just do a repair that we use the existing assessment schedule for the main open ditch pay for the basis for the basis for payment. And if we do an improvement, we do a reclassification because actually that the main tile does not have its own separate assessment schedule. So we could we could do that as part of as part of that work as well. Uh that's that's kind of it in a

nutshell. I guess I can open it up to public comments or questions or board comments or questions as well.

Board, do you have any questions? You going to put a bulkhead in again or you just going to stick with roof rack? Um, I was not planning on putting a bulkhead in. Okay. What is the advantages? What would be the advantages of having a bulkhead there or disadvantages?

Yeah. So, and I'll I'll kind of give you a halfway long- winded answer on that because part of it you got to understand that a 100 years ago when they were they that's how they did tile outlets was bulkheads all the time because they didn't have corrugated metal pipe. Um, and so they were using those and and sometimes it was just for the it was just for the tile outlet. So you had an outlet spot that was could could hold up because they've used, you know, these short sections of pipe and that could fall into the ditch. So they needed something firm that would stay in place for a long period of time and not have a problem. So they use those bulkheads and at times if there's surface water that comes they would use them to help drop water into the ditch as well. Um when corrugated metal pipes became a thing pretty much the bulkheads unless you had they're not completely you know not used ever but they're not used very often for drainage for drainage ditches anymore. Um they it could be used here. It would be more expensive than the rip wrap. So I guess we have a we have corrugated metal pipes that we can use to handle the the tile outlet and then put rip wrap around to help stabilize that drop in instead of instead of a bulkhead which would be more costly. It's my understanding that bulkheads were used back when they used uh just clay and

concrete tile and they came in that the biggest sections they came in was 4 foot and corrugated metal pipe you can get that up to I don't know how long you can get but it's more stable so they don't need to hold the end of it up like they did with uh some of the old you know um especially uh clay tile when they were putting that in to stabilize the end of it. They had to uh to put a bulkhead in to support that.

Yeah. The corrugated metal pipes typically like for tile outlets, you use a a a s a continuous 20 foot section. So it sticks out of the bank and into the ditch and then it sticks back, you know, 16 18 feet continuous so that it it holds in there pretty well. They still can bend and break it and rust out in time, but they're relatively cheap and they they do pretty well. They've kind of replaced bulkheads in a lot of cases. If

I remember correctly, there was maybe some concern about driving over this. Would the repairs, you know, alleviate that concern in the future?

Yeah. So if you look at that math, not really zoomed in completely, but the open ditch, there's a there's parcel lines there at the very north end of the open ditch. Um the ditch actually starts I don't know how many feet. I want to say 30 it's supposed to start about 30 feet south of the fence line. But with the erosion and stuff that's happened over the past 15 years and it's kind of cut some of that out and the landowner had used that because they own on both sides of the ditch. They had used that 30 30 feet or so to at the north end of their property to to get to the other side of the ditch. and now it's kind of a gully and almost part of the ditch. And so we do need to fill that in some. That's that's part of the cost estimate is is filling that in um and then putting some rip wrap down so that it can be used again for a crossing. And I say a crossing, it's not really because the ditch hasn't even started. It's not it's it's just around the the end of the ditch basically. So once that's repaired then it wouldn't matter down down the street but that did other end of the ditch. It wouldn't affect the flow. No,

Colin. My only concern with I guess this project going improvement over repair is as I look at the pictures obviously is the I I'm always in favor of excuse me doing deeper cleanouts for the main tile. It makes sense. Is it going to be enough down the road that mile to make a difference here for that difference of say 20 grand?

Yeah, that's an excellent question. And I don't know that I have a a perfect answer for that, but I do know that to to look at that. I didn't just I I looked at, okay, if we were going to do an improvement on that tile, what size would it need to be, how deep would it need to be, all of that stuff to try to figure out how much depth in the ditch do we really actually need? And you know, a different engineer could look at it and and think something different than than I concluded, but basically in my evaluation, lowering it a foot uh would be enough to accommodate a tile improvement that would, you know, adequately drain those 300 and some acres of that serve that main tile. Uh whether it's worth it, I think it depends. It depends on how quickly something may or may not be done for that main tile. You know, if I kind of talked about this in the report, if something's going to get done there in the next five years, well, if we're if we're having somebody out there digging anyways because a repair is has to be done, kind of might as well just do it. But do the improvement. I mean, do the extra extra little bit of digging. But if that if that isn't going to come around until for another 20 years or something by that time we almost may need another clean out anyways. And so you know you could pay for it now or pay for it later and it it doesn't really matter one way or the other. So that and I don't I don't have a crystal ball to

know when a possible improvement would be done on that main tile. So, I guess you know if there's any land owners that would have some input on on that. Sure. Like to hear it. That's that's kind of where I'm at with that. Kim,

I think that's the challenge we've been faced with, right? Is what what's best for the land owners, especially if we're going to look at reclassifying and and assessing differently for the folks closer to where we're doing the cleanout. That changes things. And and so I guess I'd like to hear too. I think a repair obviously has to be done. That's evident. We can make we can make that happen today. Is it worth we can't predict if something's going to happen 5 years from now. We can only handle what we what we're dealing with today. And if we're not seeing a big enough impact just doing that without the additional size tile, I'm not sure it's worth the improvement. That's all I'm asking. I'm trying to get some advice from the people whose money we are spending. That's all I'm asking.

Any input?

Yeah. Any comments from land owners? I had one letter that was submitted from Brad Graham. Um Brad and Francis maybe uh Brad and Francis Graham are in favor of um well he says repairs but this was also for the improvements and I did have an email from a landowner that was concerned with adding the improvements on there and at the end of the conversation he was in favor of doing the improvements. I think with the additional cost and the amount of parcels that are associated with this district, their cost was not very much adding on that improvement. I for um how many parcels are included with this? Is it quite a few?

It's quite a few because you get actually into Lake Park a little bit. Yeah, there's a lot of little lots of the north part of Lake Park that are included in DD6. But it's it's 2,800 acres. There's a lot of little parcels included on that northeast side of Lake Park that are actually city um zoned. Why are they included? I'm just curious. Well, yeah.

I mean, like there's a search in there. Yeah, there's there's plenty of drainage districts where if the if the town drains into them, they're they're part of a drainage district. There's actually like in Spirit Lake, there's drainage district, I believe it's 22. It's right in the middle of town. So the town and drainage districts I know on the surface it sounds like well this is to help agricultural land drain but it also there are cases where there are parts or you know large parts of towns that are included in these drainage districts to carry the excess water away. Um, so I I wasn't part of, you know, setting up this drainage district initially or the last reclassification, you know, to know all the details of why those were included, but presumably they're they're in the watershed and they cast water into this. So they benefit from this um open ditch and helping carry the water away

generally. back in uh the 20s, you know, the teens of 1900 when these drainage dis districts were established. Uh the periphery of these small towns was still agriculturally used for farms and stuff like that. And so the drainage districts went into those areas

to to allow for drainage from them. As the towns grew and houses moved out and stuff, uh they don't do away with drainage districts. you are just absorbed into it. The land is the same as it was when the drainage district was set up. You know, it was originally part of the you know agricultural region that that set up the drainage district and and uh the land wanted to be drained the property owners. So there was no accommodation made when the cities expanded that far. You know, it's now some cities have used that drainage. This, you know, still have drainage tiles throughout those. I don't know if this one does, but they uh they have drainage tiles hooked up to drainage, you know, to the county tiles to allow for better drainage in there those areas.

Yeah, good point. I really haven't heard anything from our land owners which way they'd like us to go on this, whether they want just the repair or whether they want the improvement with the repair. Are there any feelings about that? The one with the uh the improvement and the repair would raise that to about $25 estimated $25 an acre. Some would be higher, some would be lower.

Yeah.

Right. You know, if you're talking about a quarter acre lot in town and it's $25 an acre, you're assessment isn't going to be that high. If it's if you're out close to the ditch, you know, and have 100 acres, it's going to be a higher higher assessment. Uh those don't all have to be paid at once. If it's anything every any parcel is over $500, then they can elect to uh pay it over a number of years with a interest rate that the district sets. So,

do you have an um I I guess an ETA on completion?

Well, what? So today, obviously, I was expecting that a decision would get made about whether we're doing a repair or improvement and then basically put together plans and specifications and and get competitive quotes. I don't it's it's under the competitive bid threshold. So, I like to just have that flexibility to not just publicly put it out to any any potential bidder, but we can just send it to one's local one's reputable contract or the handful um and and try to get somebody under contract and get the work done this this summer.

Bill, I've got a question. Yes. If if if they decide to do the improvement today um at the hearing, which you'll set the hearing to make the final decision and maybe have more land owners here. This is the hearing. Oh, it is the hearing. I I thought on the thing it said that there was another hearing set the I'm sorry then that might be never mind. Yeah, never mind. This one is court and schedule a formal hearing. It says at the bottom of your report. Oh, so when I do the report, like it's dated February 12th. Okay.

So that's when I wrote it and then I give it to the board of supervisors. And so that's the instruction for that time to schedule this this hearing. Okay. And then we send out notices and publish it in the newspaper and everything to get to this to this point. Okay. Thank you. Y

thank you. Yeah. So, I as far as a repair or improvement, I Yeah, I guess I could see it personally going either way. I know the petitioner had read in the first report. You know, that tile is the main tile is dramatically undized. Something needs to get done about that at some point and the ditch will need to be deeper to accommodate that. might as well just do that at the same time. I know that's where where he was coming from with with the petition, but like you said, we I don't know when or if something will get done with that tile. This would just be kind of getting getting ahead of that, making preparations, something that we don't know when or if it will happen. Okay.

But on the one thing too, I guess maybe an additional comment to put about that doing an improvement isn't a lot of additional cost. Um, and you know, I've talked about it as primarily being for this to accommodate this tile, but digging it a little deeper isn't going to hurt anybody else. If anything, it'll help. And so it has some value that way. It'll it'll help anyone that's along that mile that is dredged out. Yeah. And it won't be a a a deep dredge, will it? It'll be right. At the very upper end right now, there's three feet of silt in there.

Yeah. But some of that was eroded out and then it kind of tapers off as you get further and further south. So there'll be more excavation at the very north end. Plus we're getting a foot deeper than that if we do an improve. But towards the very south end by 125th Street, it's not going to be much. just just a little bit of a taking a little bit out. Okay. And then if we do the improvement, we'll need to reclassify.

Ask a question. Is there any other comment about this? I I just have a quick question before you get in. So if they're going to if you were to make the improvement, right? And then let's say moving forward with the water flow, how much of that improvement would prevent another wash out? Is it going to help prevent another wash out where it would constitute, you know, the board spending any money? So it really wouldn't in that sense then. No, because the the wash out is more about how surface runoff enters the ditch. And right now,

you know, if you've got land up here and the ditch is down here, how do you get it right to there? It's just dumping it. It gets going really fast over the dirt and then cuts. Okay. And so if we put rip wrap and stuff there, we're trying to solve that issue that way. So, the improvement is kind of a separate thing, but we need to at least dig out some of that silt because the tile right now is buried under under the silt. It's it's filled in enough of the ditch at the top end that that tile outlet is submerged in it's under the ground basically now. Okay, that makes sense. Thank you for the clarification.

If there's nothing else, I'll move to close the public hearing. and ask the board what they want to do here. Typically, when we have an improvement, we hear a lot of yay or nay. I guess we get a lot of feedback. I don't see a lot here. I see I see a couple letters that are for it. I've talked with some folks that are for it. And with the difference in cost, I'm always in favor of digging those deeper if we can and cleaning that out. So, I would like feedback from the board, but I guess I'm in favor of proceeding with the improvement.

Yes, I'm I'm in favor as well. I also am in favor of the improvement. Uh, anytime you improve drainage, it it give people an opportunity to get rid of rid of more water and uh take better care of their properties. So yeah, with the the lack of of negative toward the improvement, I'm I'm for the improvement as well. Okay. I will make a motion then, Mr. Chair, to continue on with the improvement for DD6. I'll second it.

Thank you, Mr. Wormerson. Thank you, Mr. Dollar. Further discussion. Do you need any part of that action to include the reclassification or is that already It's built into the report. Okay. And we've already approved that. So yeah. Okay. Good question. If there is no more discussion, Kim I Mr. Bers I Mr. Clark. Hi, Levi. Hi. And Billy. Thank you, Colin. Thanks, everyone. Thank you, Colin.

Our next item on our agenda is approval of the March 10th board meeting minutes. Anyone see anything else?

I had a question about that. I may have a earlier report minutes than we haven't been put out since. But on the first three item, two items on there, it shows roll call, but there's nothing behind it. I remember they were all

I just didn't feel like putting it on there. What's that? I just didn't feel like putting it on there. I'll get those out then. I don't recall exactly. Weren't they all with the changes. Yes, I will. I'll get those added. Okay. Do I hear a motion then? Motion to approve the minutes from last week's meeting. Mr. Clark moves. I'll second. Levi seconds. Further discussions hearing. None. Mr. Clark. I. Levi. I. Mr. Dollar. I.

Kim. Hi. and bill aside with improvements. The minutes are approved. Okay. Number five is drainage claims. We have none this week. Uh number six is the approval of Dylan Barren as a Westport Township trustee. Is Mr. Barren here? No. I'll make a motion to approve Dylan Barren as Westport Township Trustee. I'll second.

M is moved. Mr. Clark is seconded. Further discussion hearing. None. Kim. Hi. Mr. Clark. Hi. Levi. Hi. Mr. Dard. Hi. Mr. Lee. his eye. He passes. Uh, item number seven is discussion of city of Spirit Lake development of Lee Seaman property. Tony, I believe that's you.

I'm Tony Weber, 15193 215th Avenue, also known as Weather and Subdivision. I've been a lifelong resident of Dixon County. Recently, the city of Spir annexed approximately 40 acres of ground located west of Indian Hills Golf Course, south and east at 215th Avenue and north of Highway 9. This property is known as 15190 215th Avenue and it's also the Lee Seaman property. Currently the property has just a single family residence with uh a number of outbuildings. However, the new owner wishes develop this into single family housing developments. The preliminary phase one of this development is going to be 47 single family homes. But eventually as the development expands, it may get up to as much as 115 homes. The engineer and the builder are still working on final details. So the plans I gave you are preliminary, but uh that's what they're working on now and they're looking to move forward. This development will affect Dixon County quite a bit because the only access to this property is off of 215th Avenue. 215th Avenue is a county blacktop road. Um it's already heavily used and it's u in disrepair right now. Updating 215th Avenue is not scheduled until approximately 2030. Um and since the development is in the city of Spirit Lake, there's no tax dollars going to the county to help maintain and upkeep 215th Avenue.

The drainage in this property naturally flows to the northwesterly direction and it passes under 215th Avenue um through several culverts in the and discharges into West Lake Okaboji across private property. The proposed phase one development um has a number of holding ponds, but they're also looking at discharging water from those holding ponds to the south, which is not the natural flow and discharging that water into the ditch of 215th Avenue. In 2015, the county did major grading along um 215th Avenue. And what happened is they eliminated some of the ditches and therefore the water that comes off of 215th Avenue is dumped directly onto private property causing uh damage to those properties. Um this work that was done by the county increased the flooding that occurred in weather in second subdivision. um weather and lots association met with the county supervisors and the county engineer on May 5th, 2015 to discuss the flooding problems and the work they had did um and the resulting damage from excess flooding, but no action was taken. I'm concerned that this proposed development could increase the problems with drainage in the area. I served on the Dixon County planning and zoning board for 20 years and I know subdivisions must provide storm water management systems to adequately serve the area and comply with the statewide

urban design specification. The city of Spirit Lake states that storm water drainage comply with section 2.4.12 of water quality management. This proposed development is going to be done under the um horizontal property act which is a state code chapter uh 499B. Um so it won't be developed as a subdivision. Um, the city of Spirit Lake, their 2010 subdivision regulations has a lot of detailed regulations that need to be followed and public hearings and final approval by the um, planning and zoning and by the city council, but because of the horizontal U property act, that's not going to be done. So some of these regulations um might be might not be followed or even done accordingly. Um I feel that the it's important that the county work correctly with the city to make sure that the rights of the citizens of Dixon County are protected and that the assets of the county are protected as well. Uh the engineering for this development happens to be Beck Engineering. He is also the city engineer. Um I would really feel it's very important to encourage the city to hire an independent engineer to review the development plans, the drainage plans, and to protect the neighboring properties um and protect the water quality of West Lake Okabodi. Since all this water directs runs directly into uh Lake West

Okaboji, I so I encourage the the board to do what they can to work with the um city and the county engineer to work with the city to make sure that everything is protected. Any questions? new and old. Yeah. The sewage system runs out there. What would this all be?

Um, it is. They are going to install a new lift station uh because the sewage is of course limited. They only have about 55 access uh currently. So, they're going to put in a new lift station and take all the sewage uh east toward Spirit Lake. So, they're not they will not use up the capacity of the sewer because they're going to be going into Spirit Lake. So, they're putting some major expense there. Um, which is good, but it's it's really the drainage of the water um coming off that needs to be stay on there. This the storm water. they are going to put storm sewers and and but the problem is is they are trying to direct it quickly over to the county ditches and that county ditches basically don't exist. There's along the south side of 215th just opposite Monarch Cove there's no ditch that runs right straight onto private property. Um farther down um there are some coverts that were added when the county did improvements and they eliminated some ditch there and there's some areas where um the drainage the water just sits in the ditch and then there's farther down particularly on my property there's no ditch so the water is coming off the road and all the gravel and the stuff that comes off 215th Avenue dumps directly onto my property. Um, so there is a major concern and it's important it makes that storm water can really get directed all the way down to the very norththeast corner near the current holding pond which they are going to do some improvements on but all the way down there where it enters a covert. That cover goes under 215th, runs through a open drainage ditch until it gets to the Quants residence, uh, which just is a new home that was built. They redid the

tile and that tile goes under their property out into the lake. I have had discussion with um Jeff Rose about this so he knows what's going on and so he's aware of that. Jeff, do you have any comments? Yeah, I kind of agree with Tony. Uh the biggest concern is the drainage. They're changing the drainage path. Instead of going to the northwest like Tony stated, they're bringing all south to 215. The only concern I have is the increased traffic load on 215 street.

I concur with the the the traffic flow um on 215th is going to increase exponentially and as Tony stated this is going to be an exclusive Spirit City, excuse me, I apologize. City of Spirit Lake development. And so if there could be an agreement entered into them for improvements for that road since that is going to be the only access uh currently. I don't know if they've chatted with DOT and whether or not an entrance off of Highway 9 would be appropriate or not to help access this development, but the road is going to take quite a bit of abuse between construction and then ultimately once it the the build out uh and the citizens coming back and forth along that road.

They have not talked to the DOT as far as I know. I mean that was a discussion but until phase two or three where they move to the north all of this is in the very uh north or southeast corner of the property and as they move north they may look at trying to get access but I sort of question whether DOT will give them one since they've got an access to Indian Hills golf course and access to the storage buildings um north 40 storage buildings there um in phase one, they're probably going to be adding probably 70 to 80 vehicles on the 47 houses, but when they get to the 215 houses, they could be adding up to 200 additional vehicles in that road. And because of Monarch Cove and the development in the area, there's just a lot of traffic. And traffic's way too fast. speed limit in there is 30, but I see people going by at 50 and 60. Um, I've had mailboxes knocked over. I've had cars in the ditches. Um, so it is a not a very safe road. And we have school buses there. We have there's children that get on school buses. So that's also concern. And I know we've the residents have talked to the sheriff's office about it and the sheriff has talked to the um city of Spirit Lake uh police department about it. So there's um that concern is there as well.

Is that a shared road with uh the city? Right now it's all county, but is is there any provision to make that a shared road with the city? I've not been nobody's talked to me about it. Uh could that be a started approach from our end? You know, if they're if it's going to be annexed into the city, shouldn't they be responsible for, you know, part of the cost on that road for, you know, ma maintaining and and upkeep and so on. Could be. I believe the annexation just went to the property line, didn't it? It did. Yeah. It did go to the center of the road. Okay.

And I know um Mr. Mark had a meeting with the city uh last week and they anticipate coming to the supervisors in 6 to 8 weeks in regards to a tiff and some discussion at that point in time. Um maybe this could be entered into that agreement as well since that is a public infrastructure. I'm not sure. I'm not super wellversed in TIFF, but if that would could, you know, be incorporated into those funds that could be something we could look at. I know that it was mainly going to be for um the sewer upgrades to send it east and that was wonderful that the city has you know decided to go that direction to allow at least the county a few units at the Tribbo lift station. So I do appreciate that um immensely from the city of Spear Lake but maybe that could entered into that agreement as well. But the reason for the uh presentation today is the resoning of the property is taking place tonight the city of Spirit Lake at 5:15. And so it was annexed into the city and an R2 district and they are looking to go to I believe it is an R3 um district according to the public notice. Yes. And the the difference between an R2 and an R3 is the bulk regulations in R3 change the size minimum size a lot changes some of the setbacks but it also allows for multifamily condominiums which is what the horizontal property act is about and that's a state code so I don't know um so they basically can ignore the subdivision ordinances they have. I mean the Dixon County there our subdivision or is very strict and you got to go through a lot of steps and but there's but now once they after

tonight's meeting once they change the R3 that's it there's no more pre presentations there's no more public hearings so that's why I feel it's very important for the county to get involved and try to make sure that one the cost of maintaining that road is important um and they don't have any plans for phase two, three, or whatever phases they go to yet. All they're working with is phase one is which is 47 houses. And they are single family homes and they are middle to upper end homes. They're going to be from 1,600 square ft to 3,200 square ft. Price range from 600 to a million. So there it's not lowcost housing like the city originally said they were going to do when they went to the city development board in De Moine. Thank you for your time.

Uh as my my understanding of Iowa drainage laws, you can't change the natural drainage. Correct. So that's something we'll have to be very cognizant of because if they want, you know, like you say, if they want to change it from draining to the north to where it drains to the south, uh you know, that has to be accommodated according to Iowa drainage code. That's correct. Okay. And and the ditch, there isn't any ditch when they first dump it in, there isn't any ditch there because that property as it comes along the south side of 215th right there by Monarch Cove that was regraded and that dumps right into Tom Mlin's right onto his property.

Good.

So, and it and there's no coverts under his driveway. So, it runs down and eventually goes through a couple of different culverts to get eventually get down to West Lake. a number of calls from obviously property owners along that road are very concerned about drainage, about road maintenance, about all the things that you're talking about. So, I think we need to have those things better defined to us because there's a lot of property owners in the county along there that are very concerned and I know they're going to have holding ponds, but you're right, Tony. If they start changing those things, it changes a lot of things. And that's a concern that I think we at least need to have addressed.

As a homeowners association, we have met with Beck Engineering and expressed our concerns and I think they've taken some of the concerns and but I don't know because again, the plan's not final. As you see, the plans that I gave you are just preliminary sketches. There no final engineering on it and so we don't know exactly what's going to happen. So hopefully uh we'll be able to work with the city and make sure that this is done properly. Has the OPA been informed about this?

Well, tonight I know what's going to happen tonight. They're going to change the zoning to R3. I mean I I don't think there's and there's nothing I mean I've attended the city board meeting or city development board meeting down in De Moine when they first went they were turned down because when they were going to to do the annexation you have to have a congru congruent property and of course Indian Hills Golf Course stands between the city of Spirit Lake and this property. So originally they were going to run a 5-ft strip all the along Highway 9 so they could make it congruent and the city development board turned them down. So then they went back and did a 50-foot strip to make it so it's condu congruent. Um, you know, it's still sort of flagpole annexation, but that's they approved it. So that's the the you know, it's going to go ahead and and I know they're going to approve it tonight. I don't think there's any question about that. But the citizens that live around West Lake, are they cognizant of the water that's going to be dumped into the lake? I have notified and worked with the Poji Protective Association um and made them aware of it and they've uh one a representative came out and we did a walk through when this was first happening before it ever got annexed. Um, so yeah, they're aware of it, but you know, unless they want to buy the property out and totally, there's nothing they can really do to control that because that's where the water naturally goes. But of course, minute you get a development with 115 houses, that's a lot of fertilizer, a lot of yard waste, every and and more concrete, so the water runs off faster. Right now, it's other than the house and four accessory buildings and a swimming pool, there's nothing there. I mean, it's all grass. So, the runoff and the runoff is still

pretty strong. I mean, we we get flooding all the time in the subdivision. Um, and we're just trying to make sure it doesn't get any worse. And technically by state law the postdevelopment runoff cannot be greater than a pre-development runoff. But if you check with any engineer, oh we we've never monitored that. And how do you um you know a 100redyear flood is described as a seven and a half inch rain. I've lived through four of them already. 100year floods. So, as we know, climate change is is affecting these storms, and I think we're going to see more drainage issues throughout the county. I mean, it's not just not just this, but it's particularly concerning that all that water is going to be rushing down into West Okaboji.

Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you for your time and attention to the detail. Appreciate it. I I I have a question. Is there anything the county can do besides going and and saying you oppose the change in zoning? Don't think so, but that'd be up to our

I'm not sure I heard your question. Um, so it it sounds like this project and and the way they want to zone it will be detrimental to the the county property, the road and to the citizens in the county. So I mean besides going and saying at this meeting tonight that you oppose the zoning change and you want them to maybe develop this as a subdivision. So, they have to go through all the steps. Is there anything else the county can do? Not that I can think of off my head, but I can certainly study it if they ask me to.

I mean, the meeting's tonight, right? Meetings tonight.

5:15. You know, we certainly can challenge that, Bark, to answer your question. We certainly can challenge it and I think there are a lot of things we need to have answers for, but I think the decision was kind of made when the state approved it, like Tony was telling us when they got the the 50-foot okay to do it. That's the very first step with the challenge because the state approved that that could be done. And so I I'm not sure what challenges other than we can obviously have we have to have clarification on a number of things I think before this is all said and done.

But Kim, did they tell the state they were going to reszone it? That Megan, you're No. Well, when they when you go into a annexation, it's automatically annexed as an R2, right?

So, it was just going to be an R2, but and I'm sure they had no intention of being an R2 if they were going to do a horizontal regime uh development. Um, and what that means is property. If you buy a house, the land you're sitting on is you own just a percentage of the whole development, which would include the gymnasium, the swimming pool, the existing storage buildings, the existing residence. They all will own a portion of that. And as they go into phase two or three, whatever it is, eventually they'll all just own a share of that. Um so those amenities that are already there will be part of the amenities to the development. Um you know one of the reasons that they wanted to go to city of Spirit Lake is the county couldn't offer some things that they said that they needed. one was recycling,

curbside recycling, and um the sewer was an issue and we're glad that they're going to the development of a I mean they're putting in a huge lift station and taking everything into the city of Spirit Lake which is a major expense and we appreciate that because otherwise there would been no opportunity for anybody in the Tribbo Beach area to ever add a hookup because they would have taken all the hookups.

It would have stifled development in the county. Uh all the streets will be city-owned streets within the development. So they are and there going to be curb and gutter um and storm sewer that will take the water into these holding ponds. Has DNR been involved at all about the runup? I don't know. Typically not. They'll eventually storm water discharge permit. Do you mean that you say

they'll eventually need a a discharge permit from the DNR for the storm water? Especially going to West Lake. It' be an individual permit. What's the timetable on this, Tony? They would like to start model homes within the next 30 days.

They wanted to start homes before it was annexed. So, they've got three model homes planned um right up in the very uh southeast corner before they even get streets and curb and gutter and all that. And they want to get model homes going so they can start doing sales. Um so, it's going to go fairly fast after tonight's meeting. Um as you can see, there's no engineered plans. Um, and I'm not sure how far they're going to get into engineered plans because they don't need to because it's not a subdivision. And I don't know their process, but since it's going to PNZ first, shouldn't it have to go to the council second? That's how we operate. Do you know what?

Since it's going to PNZ today, should it not have to go to the council for final approval? I don't know how the I don't know. I don't know either. I think probably once once they do it, it probably go to the the city council city to stamp it. Okay, that's how it would us PNZ is a recommendation board to the supervisors. Megan, I have a question for you. Under the horizontal property act, since that's state code,

can anything be over c can you override that? It's pretty it's only about four pages in the state code and it doesn't say much. which talks more about um insurance and ownership of property and divided property. Um but you know to in my opinion it should still go through a subdivision even though it's even though it's not um going to be done as a subdivision. So if this were to be done in the county it would have been a planned unit development with units um versus a subdivision. So that that was kind of where your horizontal property regime comes in for the county. I can't speak for the city and I I didn't see anything in the cities about it either about that,

but yeah, a PUD in the county actually is is a very high threshold because it goes through all three of my boards. It would go to PNZ, Board of Adjustment, and Board of Supervisors. So Megan, what's the difference between a PUD and a subdivision?

Planning unit development. So think of Bridges Bay versus an actual subdivision versus with lots. So every kind of like what Tony was describing, everybody owns a share and you theoretically have boundaries, but you there's not lots. So you don't own your lots. Everybody owns a share in that area. So East Lock Estates 2016 down here, that was going to be a PUB. So everybody owned a share. So, and there's in our ordinance there's a whole there's like three pages or maybe four pages and it's a conditional use and so there there it's like I said it's a very high bar to meet in the county. Okay.

Does does the county do subdivisions or it's all planned unit if we can if you can. Okay. Um we've had we've been approached recently in regards um to three one has dropped out and so I would love to use our subdivision ordinance. Okay. Sorry, I we but we have but I would love to every time we tried to do something a city would come in and annex it

Bridges Bay Arnold Park came in a minute after we approved what they were going to do there. Arnold Park came in and annexed it. Um, so we lose control and as soon as the annexation comes in, you know, we do not have a countywide zoning ordinance uh that includes all the municipalities in the county, which I think we really should have because we're not individual communities. We're all one big community, but because the way things are set up, each city has their own ordinance and their own requirements. And so we don't have that luxury of having one big lump sum uh overseeing everything

and and the county has legally the county has no say in whether or not they I mean can they deny an annex? No, that's done through the city development board in De Moine, which is a state organization. And so any application for annexation has to one be approved by a city council or whoever and then it has to go down to city development board and it's a standard board decides

and they and they approve or disapprove. And what they're trying to do is make sure that there aren't small municipalities out trying to grab land away from other people. It's happening right now in the De Moine Ankeny area. Um Anken is trying to grab land from Elcart or I don't I mean that so what that said city development board is to really protect um land grabs and you know this was I I mean they assumed this was somewhat reasonable and of course the city of Spirit Lake said they were in desperate need of housing you know which is sort of ridiculous you see what's how much is going on in the city of Spirit Lake and the apartments but

I think probably our Best option to have any input on this is on the the water the discharge of of the of the water and the well and and the road and the you know the road as far as actually affecting the subdivision itself. You know, we aren't we don't have any say there, but we have say on the road and we have say on on how they discharge the water from their uh storm drains and stuff. Correct. county write an objection letter access to the room. No,

the best we can do is I mean I'm going to be at the meeting tonight and do the same thing I did today, but that's the best I think we can do. I have a question. So, kind of what uh Mr. Clark said with the Iowa drainage code not being able to change the the direction of the drainage uh wouldn't there I guess it's different but would the plants have to be fixed? Yeah. And there I mean to get approval.

We had a big meeting a lot of the homes had a big meeting with Beck Engineering and and expressed our concerns and recommended that that all the wa storm water stay on their property until it was ready to cross 215th and be discharged into an open drainage creek and and go into West Lake. Um and I think they listened to us. But I you know again this was this meeting was last week that we had with them where we expressed our concerns and they listened and we had the builder was there as well. Um so I think they are probably going to make some change but I mean actually they're going to have to make changes because um if they don't I would recommend that the county sue the city of Spirit Lake for changing drainage.

Yeah, that would be an option. Yeah. you know,

but I think the best thing is to is due diligence to make sure that they're doing it, you know, that they do the plan right and uh and that the builder follows the uh engineering plans. You know, we've we've always had a conflict in the county with um engineering firms also being a developer engineer engineer for the development, but then also the engineer for a city or municipality. And so there's there isn't there's a conflict and you need an independent engineer to review all their plans. But since it isn't a subdivision, they don't have to submit the kind of plans you do. I mean, in Dixon County, if they were going to do a subdivision, it's a huge process. I mean, it's a four or five pages worth of requirements they got to meet to even submit. And so, Spirit Lake has that too, but since it's not being done under a subdivision. Um,

so the meeting tonight is just about the reason about the reszone. Yes. And as I say, it's probably if I wasn't if there wasn't some county residents going to attend the meeting, which I'm sure they will, uh it would just be a rubber stamp as far as I'm concerned because they want they want this nice big development with 115 houses. And I think just keeping the com the communication lines open with the city and inviting them to present what is being proposed and how they're going to address it is probably the best route. Um so that way we're all fully informed and how they're going to address the drainage and can we talk about the roads and what type of maintenance is going to be required moving forward.

Yeah, it seems like we have this immediate issue that we have to contend with. But the bigger issue is how do we get the county and the city or cities working together on these things so when these issues pop up there's time to address them before a five o'clock meeting on the same day. There seems to be a need to have some sort of collaboration on this going forward. And maybe the land use study will help this out and help point that, you know, if if we have parcels that we're going to be directing that it can highlight that and get people working together. I don't know. But there needs to be a process. It seems to me agree. you know, for the 20 years that I was on the PNZ, we talked about how we could do a joint effort. In fact, probably 30 30 years ago, um the supervisors and all the various municipalities within Dixon County had a meeting to talk about this and have a joint and all they did is talk and then they went their ways and you know, it's a tough it's a tough thing because they all have ownership of their

their ordinances and their development. Um, you know, a comprehensive land use plan is important, but each city, each, um, the county, they all have their own comprehensive land use plans. And granted, when you do a comprehensive land use plan, you go ask the various municipalities and everybody, all everybody involved, um, what are you looking at? And so, you try to coordinate them. But that changes, you know, those are just that's just a working document and it changes on a regular basis.

Anything else on this subject? We just have to watch, you know, keep our I I think I think the drainage is going to be the big thing, you know, make sure that that's done correctly. And what kills the idea for me is the discharge into one of our lakes. Well, that's Well, you can't change that because that was a natural flow.

Yeah. you know, when when the county did the regrading along the basically the shoulders of 215th Avenue, uh the county engineer then went back to a plan from 1937 and said, "This is where the water goes." Well, in 1937, that was a corn field and my parents had not bought the property that is weather in subdivision. They didn't buy that until 1946. And they said, "Well, this water runs this way." And so they made all these changes, put in new coverts and really forced um water directly onto us onto our subdivision where in 1985 the county dug out the east side of 215th Avenue and ran the water all the way down to the main covert that goes under the road. Um well, when they when that when the county redid it in 2015, they filled that ditch back in and forced the water right across the road into uh private residence.

Okay. All right. I'm not expecting a a solution here because it's it's a tough one. Yeah. Well, it is. But I that's why I wanted to open the communication. That's why I met with Jeff so he was aware of it because of the road and the drainage issues that could really have some major effect. But we appreciate your diligence on this. I'm not like Mr. Clark says about all we can do is watch it.

I don't know if we could ever put an injunction on it. I I think if they uh try to uh avoid Iowa drainage law, it's in Iowa code. You know, we do have some standing there to enforce that issue.

At this point, communication with them is the key. We just have to continue to let them know where we stand. And I know Megan's doing that. I know Jeff will. And Tony, I'm really grateful for all the work you're doing with the association. Uh, I just appreciate it. There's a conflict with the engineer, the same engineer that's engineering for the property owner versus overseeing all the other issues that go with it. independent engineer would say would be the best way.

I don't think that's an issue we can force though. I don't either. You know, we can we can suggest it to the city, but I don't think it's an issue we can force. Yeah, it's that's a problem. The best thing we have is our county engineer saying, you know, if this is what you're going to do, you can't um you know, and and work on the drainage issue, but I'm convinced that in a week or two they'll come back with a revised drainage plan, but I don't know. So, is there actually a drainage plan in existence? No.

Well, they got this a they got a little sketch. We're going to put holding ponds here and we're going to let the water from those holding ponds run into the ditch to the south. But then there's no place for it to go. That's not an official plan. No, it's not. And it's not an engineered plan. It's just sketches concept.

So, can you help us bird dog the plans as they come along? Yeah, we're supposed to have additional meetings with Beck Engineering, but you know, after I made this pres presentation to you, he may not be very willing to give me information. But yeah, we're trying to stay on top of it. I mean, the the people in Monarch Cove were very concerned, too, because all of a sudden, you had all these people that are going to be they think are going to wander down to the lake and use their facilities and and we have the same thing as a as a association where we've got uh private dock and ground that people might think is a public park.

I'm just saying it's hard for us to Yes. oppose something we don't know what it is.

Yep. Well, I know and that's it. We don't have much right now. I mean, we have some preliminary sketches and that's it. And I assume they'll get they have to be more detailed because in order to do a horizontal property act, they got to survey and say this is this chunk of ground is 147th of the development or whatever the number of units they have. So, they have to do that because they have to be able to give title. um they don't give title the property but they have to describe what property that particular individual is the share of his of the development. So they do have to have more detailed plans. They can't just go by a sketch they've got now. But they've got house plans and everything done preliminary.

Well thank you. Yeah. Thanks for your work on that Tony. keep us informed. I will.

I'm I'm still gonna ask the question. Wouldn't it be best for the county to put their concerns in writing and send them to the city so that if they change the drainage, you've got it in writing that you've already warned them that this is an issue. and if they screw up 215th and if they flood the properties in Withering Heights and and Monarch Cove that you've got it in writing and you can say we warned you and now you're going to have to pay. I don't think that would be necessary for tonight's resoning meeting, but when they go when they start going ahead with the plans, that would probably be a good idea to have, you know,

the be another opportunity to do that. Well, I suppose you can always just send the city a letter. Yeah. Okay. That really wouldn't have anything to do with changing the zoning. You know, they've already annexed it. Now they're going to change the zoning, but when they start development, but with changing the zoning, they get to skirt around all of those subdivision rules,

so you won't have those kind of same opportunities except for just sending a letter. I mean, I guess I guess you could get it I guess my point is tonight, if you send a letter for the meeting tonight, you get it read into the record to the zoning board. Other times you don't get it right into the record. Yeah, you're correct. That probably not a bad approach. I mean, the only I think it's a great idea. I'm not opposed to that idea at all. If if we have something drafted with our concerns, that's it can't hurt anything. John, is that something that could be handled yet today?

I think so. Okay. If I I'm hearing you right. Yeah. No, I would have I think that it'd be a good idea effect any any effect at all, but it can't hurt anything. Correct. You know, you can get it help me get it to the right people once it's drafted. Yeah. I think you just give it to the Greg Owens of the city of Spirit Lake and have and then you he directs it to the Z I think. um who's in uh Vice is now in head of PNZ because Clyde resigned, retired. Uh Keith Brockmire. Keith Brockmire.

Keith Brockmire. Yeah, Keith Brockmire is head of the PNZ.

Okay. Do we you want a motion on that? Yeah, that'd be good. Okay. I would make a motion that the county send a uh letter stating what our concerns to the city of Spirit Lake are on this proposed development uh concerning the road and drainage in the future so give it to the meeting tonight that they're having. I'll second. Moved by Mr. Clark, seconded by Kim. Further discussion.

Can Can I ask that that letter include an independent engineer? Include what? An independent engineer to study the plans. Review the drainage. I don't know if that's our business. Well, but the drainage is your business. The drainage is That's part of what he's asking in the letter. Uhhuh. I think stating our concern, I think the import of the letter is going to be that we're we don't know what your drainage plan is, but we're concerned and we're going to watch it. And hopefully you can work with us on it. Same with the road. Yeah. Same with the road. Yep.

So, I I don't I don't know how helpful it would be to our own engineer to do a study on something that we don't know what they're going to do, right? That's part of the problem. We're not exactly sure what's going on. Maybe you could address that. Ask for more indepth that we be notified on all these issues. Could they say, "Well, it's none of your damn business. This is

Sure. That probably goes far enough, you know, to voice our objection based on those two criteria, right? That's as far as even with DD22 though, they have a separate engineer working on that for the reclassification with that because of Beck being their engineer. Okay. And that's a current project. Anything else? If not, Mr. Clark, hi. Kim, Levi, I, Mr. Beller, I,

and Bill. I Right. Item eight, approval of amendment number four. Going 61, branch 399W. I believe. Yeah. He had a a different arrangement he had to leave for. So he just said that he wanted approval just kind of putting or approval of the amendment to include the pros and cons of our discussion natural pipeline.

Yeah. It's the amend amendment that he sent to us all. It really doesn't change anything, but it it highlights the con the conversations we've had with the pipeline company and and the concerns that they raised and right the possible down the road effects. So, and it also leaves the door open to not do anything. Yes, it does. So I would uh make a motion that we approve amendment number four for G joint drainage district 61 branch 399 west. I'll second

Mr. Clark move seconds. Further discussion hearing none Mr. Clark I Mr. Dollar. Hi, Levi. Hi, Kim. Hi. And Bill.

Okay. Uh, next up, county engineer.

Great. I just have one item there I have in front of you. So discuss an update with information regarding the public height for DD45 across West Bush Harbor property. The contractors provided the plan sheet which I provided has a copy of it. The pipe from the new structure to the west to the DOT rideway will be replaced with a new 72 in CMT pipe and connect to the box with DOT Fox Culbert. and 700 to assess the eggshaped pipe prior to spin casting uh the east leg of the pipe which is right next right between the two houses out to the outlets. Um

there are no plans for removing the partially blocks ended with pipe harbor. Both Mike Hugh and Ivan Simpson have expressed concerns to me regarding the pipe and asked me to provide the boards with an update. Okay.

So you can see there's a little box right here. It's got a a square with a circle in it. That's the new structure they put in for access. From there going west towards the highway. They're going to put a new pipe in there. And then the items that's hashed the single back slash towards leg is be cast. I expressed my concern to the concerns to contractor because the invert is starting to be damaged that pipe as well. They're going to do invert repair before this been casted. As for the blockage at the at the end at the at the boardwalk, there's no plan for that. But I might want to bring that you guys to attention.

So they're going to leave the blockage in place there. Yes. How much is that restricted water flow? I think from what Ivan has told me, I haven't personally seen it myself. He said about the top 25% is blocked. Uh, of course you can't flow a pipe 100% full. You float about 80% flow

or 80% full. So, is it going to restrict it? That's hard to tell because by the time we get to an open outlet like that, the wire is going to basically disperse anyway. It will not stay the full shape of the water. So, it could cause blockage. It could not cause. So, like I said, Ivan and Mike want to be giving you guys an update where things are at. And so, I'd like to work all over the spring once the weather allows. Okay. Spring is gone. That's all we can all we can do is watch that and and you know, see if it gets any flow back up.

Back. Mike's concern is if it backs up east to the south, they'll back up and go down to his property. That's what his concern is.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you for your work on the roads of Yes. Okay, we're number 10, general discussion, board and committee reports. Tim, I know I had a hunger coalition meeting. The pantries are busy. I think Steve attended and will be able to give the numbers of those places. I also know that there's a lot of discussion from the board on new ways that we can can make an impact on um hunger issues in the county. So they are diligently looking at ways to make a difference. I had a local emergency planning committee meeting with Northwest Iowa Planning and Development. At that meeting, we talked about funding and use of grant funds. We always have to stay ahead and show show how we're using grant funding for training and most of that's about hazard mitigation. That's what I have.

Hey, thank you. You're welcome. See you next week. One more. One more. Yeah. Mr. Dollar. Is it Is it warm there? Uh, today it's only 60, but it's been 85. Only 60. Low is me. Yeah. Too below when I got up. You're tough, Steve.

On the 10th after the meeting, I we had the hunger coalition in the afternoon. And uh one of the issues that they're still working on is uh a greenhouse for where they can do produce here around and and they have issues where they're going to discussions where they're going to distribute that to and so forth. And uh the first selection spot that they had for the greenhouse was uh was wasn't acceptable the to the conservation commission. So, they have another location uh that they're looking at picking and it looks like it might be a good uh location for them. Uh they've we discussed uh Okabuji summer meal program uh where they're going to uh look at providing uh serve hot lunches and probably breakfast five days a week. So that's that's a pretty healthy issue. It's

if they ambitious is indeed. Okay. They they also handed out new uh information for the different pantries uh for uh how how people can sign up for SNAP if eligibility stuff and uh all a bunch of other issues that decide describe where all the pantries are at and contained. Uh that was the flyers and so forth that they handed out. And they also want to they're trying to get surveys for the food different pantries uh to get a certain number of pantries uh to uh get people to uh ask for what how they feel their p not only how their pantry is doing but but how uh what other issues and things that they would like to see so that they can try and meet those uh commitments and so forth. The Lake Park uh food pantry had uh served 62 households. They didn't have any numbers for that. Uh Milford was uh 45 households. Uh 65 to 65 people. Upper De Moines served 104 families for the They're back right about steady where they were before. Spirit Life Pantry was uh 46 households and 72 74 people and then they had a couple of other places that did not uh respond with the numbers. All right. They're looking also at some issues with ultrarocessed foods and different things and that's where the the a lot of produce is wasted. So, they're looking for that's one of the issues with the greenhouse. They're

looking to start turning away from so much processed food. Uh met with uh upper de mo opportunity and uh they're going to be closed for uh May, June, and July for their service for one week. and Spirit Life Fellowship is going to pick up that uh issue handing out their food and stuff. They have a a new deal like with the Milford uh and Quickstar where they're they take their sandwiches and stuff that they have out and uh when it gets to the end of the day they package those up and freeze them and they're going to give those out at they've been giving them out at distribution for upper de mo and so that'll be one of the things that that uh we'll have to coordinate with for Spirit Life Fellowship. I met with the you and I met with the vets board on Wednesday and uh we had a discussion with Lisa and Diamond Concrete uh and discussed plans for the sidewalk plus the veterans memorial and it looks like we're finally starting to make some progress there. We met with the county attorney and and the auditor after that. I'll let you get into the details of all that. Thanks. they appointed new members and and and they're have several applications out for grants. Uh on Thursday I went to another one of the uh meetings with Upper De Moines on uh and their strategic planning objective and they're trying they're narrowing the focus way down now and uh trying to uh determine who's responsible for what area and how they could measure

that their success for the next three years. Um, and then, uh, they've also, Upper De Moines's also had a couple of resignations, one resignation from from the board, the overall board, and, uh, and then one of their directors for family services has accepted a position for Webster County. So, and that's about all I have.

I think you had quite a bit, Mr. Clark. Uh Wednesday I spent the day at the cap in De Moine. Met with John Wills. I sat in Lakes Regional Hospital board was down there representing the Lakes Regional Hospital on hospital days down there. Uh they they were they were their own lobbyists, the hospital association presenting ideas to uh to all the state legislators. After that, uh, the Beck engineering staff was down there promoting their, uh, executive training program that they have, uh, with Representative Wills. It was interesting to listen to them. Uh, uh, I visited with a couple of ISAC lobbyists about some of the bills that would have direct effect on Dickinson County. Uh then later on that afternoon at 5:00 I attended the ISAC legislative repres re reception talked with uh a few other representatives besides uh representative Wills and a couple of the uh senators from surrounding areas as Dave wasn't there. uh also talked with uh few people that were running for office and uh candidates throughout the state. Uh Thursday I had uh presentations that I attended and uh one was on the uh both the house and senate bills to take the sighting regulations on solar wind generation data collection and bitcoin mining facilities away from the counties. that is uh still being aggressively pursued. Uh neither bill is really acceptable to the counties. In fact, none of the three the

governor's proposal or the two bills that the legislature has put forward neither none of them are really acceptable to the counties, but they're being pushed. Uh the Senate bill is the most restrictive. Uh some counties said they could live with the house version because it has an opt out in it, but that is not in the final version yet. You know, that's the house's house is bill and they have to uh meet and talk it out and decide which uh how things are going to come f in the final if it gets there. Uh, I'm afraid that the passage of this bill to take the sighting regulations is just another another crack in the in the door and open it a little bit wider for the state to reduce the power of the counties in what directly affects the counties. And it's all being done in a plan to please large large corporations, increase their profits. That's, you know, it's if you chase the money far enough, it's always all about the money. Uh, another hot item is to do away with uh township clerks and trustees and put that burden on the board of supervisors and then the supervisors would have to manage all the uh local cemeteries and and counties and stuff like that. Uh, I don't know if that one's going anywhere, but it's it's also, as I understand it, in that bill, uh,

it works well with drainage districts.

Oh, yeah. It'll work really well with drainage districts. Uh, then I attended a session on the government efficient efficiencies panel. uh they really didn't talk much about you know the the reports out there for everyone to read. The one thing that they did have to say is that when it comes to us supervisors dealing with uh legislators more more gets done if we're a little more proactive than just complaining and whining all the time. If we can come up with with positive plans to present to them or uh show them direct results of what would happen in our local areas because of the the things that they're talking about uh they did a really good update on uh it uh and and there's Uh I believe 70 no 60 counties have asked for tech support. There's 74 counties that do have IT programs. Uh but a number of those only have one person. Uh our uh our IT department got kudos from the committee putting that on. Uh they said uh Alyssa and the team have been doing a super job up here. In fact, they're going to help with uh the upcoming visit with Oola County, which would be great for us to see if Oyola County could kind of get on the same level as we are for Zoom meetings and stuff like that. The communication would be much better. uh in the they're doing some software updates

uh something called REGGV. It's a development program in ISAC that helps counties navigate new IT situations uh that will be presented to the counties at a later date. And uh Tyler who most of us Tyler company who most of us use for our programs and stuff they're uh uh up updating their tier one support. Yeah, they've asked uh 60 counties that that need analysis on that. I believe we're in real good shape, but that's one of the things they worked on. Uh property tax was a public health first. There were proposals for the counties to form districts of uh me of public health similar to what the state has done with mental health. We all know how all that's working. That's just a proposal, but you know, it's something that's being talked about out there. Um they do have a bill in each the House and the Senate. The House bill keeps the existing ECI system as it is now. the Senate bill turns it into regions. You know, we don't know where this is going. Uh it seems like the downsizing of uh local government is uh really important to the state at this point in time. Uh on property tax, we have three plans being melded together. The Senate plan is tax reduction. the House plan and the governor's plan would be both both be true reform in property tax. Uh, of course, we all know that by the time that they they pass one in the House and one in the Senate and then they have to have conference and who knows how it's all going to end up. Uh, one interesting thing that I

took on the uh, took away from that discussion on property taxes that tiffs are under great scrutiny. They think that tiffs have been used sometimes in areas they shouldn't have. They've been used for areas they weren't designed for. So there may be some changes in how tiffs are accepted and approved by state code and also to institute supplemental taxes in the county. And a lot of counties have supplemental. We're very fortunate we don't have, but uh they want both the the Senate and the House want the uh uh the general basic and the rural basic in the county maxed out before you could institute a supplemental tax. Uh I think that's a small change from what it is now, but it is a is a change. uh investments in public trusts puts a a cap on funds invested in in IP IPAT uh which is just an investment company or firm that we can uh the counties can invest in it you know puts on how capital each county can put in there uh they're looking hard at the structure of county government now nobody Nobody enumerated on that, you know, or they didn't expand on that fact. They're just looking at the uh the structure of home of county government. Iowa is a home rule state, which I knew. I had never heard of a Dylan rule state, but it's all in code 331.301 of the Iowa code.

And what it says basically is a county can set regulations more strict than the state but not less strict. And they're uh it also states that counties are structured differently than businesses. uh counties are uh structured so that leadership is structured horizontally between the board of supervisors and all the elected officials not vertically like in a a big company or a corporation. Uh you know we have to listen to the uh elected or the all the elected officials not just to ourselves. you know, it's it's a it's a horizontal type of government. Uh, another thing that came out of that is uh some of the salary regulations that have been prescribed in the past. We're very fortunate. There were a couple counties there that talked about their increased sher sheriff and sheriff's departments 30 to 50% increases in the last two years because of the back the blue regulations and the counties have no choice but to follow it. That's in the state code. So, we're fortunate, you know, our our sheriff and deputies are are are paid according to that and we haven't seen that huge increase. There's some counties that it's uh causing a real hardship on on their budgets and stuff. Uh there were a couple other issues that they talked about. Probably the most interesting to me is that any outside council that the county hires

should be projected and voted on at the first of the year for the entire year. And and I'm kind of thinking to myself, how how do we do that? We don't need know if we're going to need outside counsel. Now, we do retain or not really retain, but we have uh Mr. a good one on on call for that we can use for drainage issues and so on, but to approve, you know, unless we did a blanket approval of hiring outside counsel if necessary when the time arose. I don't know how that would work. Uh it it seemed kind of clunky to me that that they would put that on there, but it was something that was put on there. Uh that was what I did on Friday. Uh on Thursday, Friday was a morning session. I'll bring that to you next week. It got kind of long. Yesterday I had a Zoom call with Tim Whipple with the co coalition fighting the carbon pipeline imminent domain action and they kind of brought us up first up up to date on everything. you know, uh, it was filed with the Iowa Utilities Commission on in 2021. The hearing was in 2023. The final permit and order were issued and that's the one that said that they had to have approval from South Dakota and North Dakota. Well, uh, now they've filed for remand and changed. They've possibly changed the destination of the carbon from North Dakota to Wyoming, but they won't come right out and say it yet. Uh they haven't given specifics. One thing I thought was interesting, the IUB in their last ruling, they failed to require road crossing permits from the

counties. Some wants road crossing permits from the state that will cover all the counties. as if no if the counties don't have individual problems with their roads. U they want they also want to combine phase one and phase two to reach a quicker resolution. Phase two is uh the changes where they're going to have bigger pipes and they want a wider uh access well you know wider area that they can access to put their pipelines in. Uh that's meeting within a lot of increased landowner resistance. The basically what Tim said yesterday at the end of the meeting is that if Summit loses on the safety issue of phase one, which is being reviewed in court again, it it'll probably all be over, but the judicial ruling on that could take up to another 18 months. So, hurry up and wait. If it goes does not lose on the safety issue in phase one, phase two will also be in probably 18 months. So it could be up to to three years before we find out anything. So, uh, the biggest thing that we've got going for us is that some of the supposed large investors are getting pretty nervous about the time delay and the the money output, you know, and hope hopefully they would just say, "Well, this isn't going anywhere. We'll just get up while the getting's good and take our lick our wounds and try later." But uh just never know on that. And lastly, I received an email from the Iowa Envir

Environmental Council. Can you bring that up, Jordan, for everybody everybody to see? And I get these quite often, but this is a map of the impaired waters in the state of Iowa. and uh get over here and I can you know that's the whole state and then if we go up here to uh northwest Iowa to our area you know we can see all the you know right in our lakes area what they consider impaired waters and I just wanted to bring this to everybody's attention and say that you know this is why we need to keep on top of the water quality and things like the drainage from uh developments on in in Spirit Lake on annexed ground and stuff. Uh you know, this is the livelihood of a lot of people in our area, the lakes area. There's a lot of rural and egg too and stuff, but you know, this is the this is a lot of the livelihood and we don't want to lose that. We need to protect that. uh you know it includes includes Spirit Lake, you know, clear up in all the outlying lakes, you know, that filter into the lakes area drainage. And uh I just wanted everybody to be aware that the uh environmental council is keeping track of this. And uh it still remains a a high priority for the county to to help protect these waters. What's the definition of impaired?

Uh it's impaired if the maximum total daily load reaches a certain level and that's of nitrogen and phosphorus and sediments and it's different for all three of them. I don't know exactly what it is, but uh you know I I know they monitor all the waters or most of the waters in the in in Iowa to see what those load levels are. You know, you can see on Westlake, you get up to the north end and it doesn't show what impaired but show that is impaired. It shows uh you know some of the bay areas, you know, probably where the collection points are. I'm not sure, but uh I just I I just got this and I haven't looked into it, you know, any further than that, but I thought we should should bring it and let everybody see it that it's it just kind of a gentle reminder that we need to uh continue on our path of u water quality. That's all I have.

Okay. Question. Yep. When you were visiting with the legislators, did they bring up anything that is helpful to the counties? Really not. Okay.

You know, I think what would you know all the legis you know legislators say the same thing. I think on their level it's this, you know, what's what's good for the state and hope they hope it trickles down to the county. Uh I know that they do not care for always people that are always complaining to them. They they they said, you know, well, bring us good ideas, you know, bring us an idea of what what we can do to, you know, to change it that will have a positive effect. But they really didn't, you know, express anything in in the works that was particularly good and aimed at Dickinson County. When they talked about property tax, did they mention inflation?

No, inflation was not mentioned a bit. They're talking about a 2% cap on property tax increases per year. That's a hard cap. Uh it does not take into account any inflation that we might have for uh buying equipment or buying paper for the offices or anything like that. They were talking about a 2% hard cap on the tax rate on on counties and uh they didn't seem to to inflation. Evidently, they don't have inflation down in De Mo.

Thank you. Very good report,

Levi. Uh Wednesday last week I had my board of health meeting and we were introduced to the new director of public health uh Randy Larson and um like Mr. Delard had mentioned they had talked about or brought up the possibility of a greenhouse for um sustainable year-round produce and uh which was very exciting to hear for me um because I don't know for the life of me why we continue to pump UPFs into our food pantries but that's what we do and and so the possibility of having sustainable produce year round is is very exciting and and definitely a need. Um so that was encouraging. Friday we had our trails meeting and um they're getting ready for their uh as the weather turns here. Well, as it was turning and turned back and turned back and so we've got uh projects that they'll be starting maintenance um improvements and things like that. They made a few decisions on some aesthetics at the trail heads. Talked about when they're going to open up some of the trail heads as well. Um, as far as that for the uh summer season, um, Thursday this week, I have my Northwest Iowa housing meeting and um, as Mr. Clark had mentioned, there was some discussion with the ECI at at the legislation. And so, even though our board has been dissolved, we're going to meet on Friday and to see what kind of options we can have to service the Lakes region yet um, just to make sure that needs are being met. And so, that could be an interesting discussion. Not sure how long um they have planned for that, but I'll have something to report next week.

Okay. How large are these green houses to be? I don't know if we're that far along with the with the the planning, but I know they're talk working with conservation board or conservation commission to to find the locations and stuff. I think they'd have to be pretty large if you're going to grow carrots for

I would assume so. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. As Mr. Dullard said, Wednesday we had a veterans meeting and I can honestly say it's the first meeting I walked out on with a little hope. Uh they seem it's like they're at the top of the hill and now they're just barely starting to go down to get things done. Uh, one of the things that we discussed or I asked uh Kevin to look into was do the veterans own that plaza because if they do then they won't have to put out bids unlike their concrete and that would be very helpful. Uh, as Mr. Dullard said, Mr. Madigan met with us. He's really thought through a lot about what it's going to take to get the concrete in, get the monuments moved. Um, you know, if we could, I would have said, "Yep, you got the job." However, that's going to have to be put out for bids because it's it's going to cost a good amount. But, uh, they're moving. Finally. Finally, we're moving. And we got a couple new members on the board. Uh, one of them's John Anderson, which it's nice to have a younger person on there. I mean, everybody's my age or older. Uh, and he had some good ideas about the construction, what kind of rebar would

be used, things like that. Uh, Thursday, I have both Northwest aisle planning development and rides. And that was about it for me. Bill, I got one other thing I just got. I'm gonna make Kim's day. I just got an email from Lee Sorenson and he has offered the roadside manager job to Charles Vdall and Charles has accepted. So now they have to get a new RCC manager that's to work in the county to work with your uh recycling situation.

Can't imagine why he took that job. So just a little add in now you can ask the public. So okay does the public have any comments on anything we discussed? Go I just had a I uh just quick question for Mr. Clark. Hey first off awesome today. It was very informative on the water quality. Did I thought I read something about a bill at the legislature uh reducing the funding for some of the water quality testing to the state. Have you seen anything on that? I have seen that, but I uh when I talked to a couple of the reps down there, they don't think it's going to go anywhere. Okay.

Uh but yeah, there has been talk of trying to, you know, here again cut spending at the state level and uh that bill has been introduced, but I don't know if it'll go anywhere. Awesome. I just want to get yours. Thank you.

Um first of all, I'd like to thank you for for sending that letter to the city of Spirit Lake. I think I think it'll just help help get the concerns of the county brought forward to them right away. Um, Steve, you mentioned townships. One of the things to think about if they try to bring townships into the county is that if any of our townships, and I don't know much about our townships in in Dickinson County, but if any of them have any debt, that becomes county debt. Yes.

Correct. So, you know, so it's something something to consider. Um, with 2580 where that's the that's where they're trying to take the local control away from cities and counties. And with the opt out in there, I think that opt out option just makes it easier for these outside big corporations to have a have more ability to sue us,

right? Uh, and of course the the I got the same same answer from about four different reps that I talked to was well this is what we intend but until the regulations are written we if they pass it we won't really know. It's kind of like you know you have to pass the bill before we can can understand it. Yeah. Yeah. So, I would urge everybody to keep, you know, keep on their toes about that because

and and this is something I mean, they dropped it in the House this year. Normally, it was a Senate. It's a Senate bill also, but they dropped it really quick in the House and ran it through. But Senator Cleh has vowed that he will reintroduce that bill every session until it's passed. So this is going to be a that's regulating the IUB or that is taking No, that's taking away the local control on sighting at Okay.

Yeah, that's this this this current bill that's trying on wind, solar, batteries, and I hadn't heard the crypto which is very noisy. Uh well, and as I understand it, Alona, Cass County has just approved a crypto mining facility in Alona. I saw that. And you know, these outfits that uses a lot of water and Yeah.

Now, they say it doesn't because they can recycle it, but they haven't got a proven way of recycling and cooling the water and reusing it again. So, it's it's not closed systems, you know, they're still pulling out of the ground and then putting it back in somewhere else. It's it they are not closed systems like they uh present to everyone. Yeah. Because they can't cool the water. They can't cool it fast enough. Yeah. Yeah. And they use a lot of power. Yeah. Too. Um, and that that's why there's this this push for for solar and everything, you know, is we got to have more power,

but but that's intermittent power, which does not which which these these systems can't have. You you and I understand that, but uh you know, solar doesn't work at night very well. Uh then solar uh battery banks are a big thing in that also. Yeah. where they can build battery banks and and put them on your, you know, in in your county and and uh I don't know if we have any provision in in planning and zoning to regulate those. You know, it's something new all the time. It is. It is. And then um on our the water maps, it's it's kind of interesting that most of those spots they had marked are kind of our ecoli areas.

Yep. there. I'm sure that's what what's you know c certain times of the year when they test those waters the ecoli gets pretty high. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Good meeting today even though it's longer. Any other comments? If not, I take a motion to make a motion. Second. Thank you, Mr. Dollar. Further discussion I Mr. Beller Hi Mr. Clark. Hi Kim.