County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

Good morning, everyone. I'd like to call this meeting of the Hancock County Board of Commissioners to order. Today's date is July 21st, 2026. This meeting is being recorded and streamed for public viewing. By participating, you acknowledge that your image, voice, and comments may be captured and made publicly available. This meeting has been properly noticed in accordance with Indiana Code 5-14-1.5. Let the record show that a quorum of commissioners is present and the commissioners are open for business. We will now proceed with the agenda. At this time, I invite all in attendance to stand and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I'll make a motion to approve the minutes for the Board of Commissioners meeting on June 25th, 2026, as well as the executive session on, oh, that was an executive session, the meetings minutes for 6-30-2026 and July 7th, 2026. Second.

There's a motion and a second on the floor to approve the minutes from 625-26 and then executive sessions on 630-26 and 77-26. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Motion carries.

I make a motion that we recess for the drainage board. Second.

There's a motion on floor to recess for the drainage board meeting. All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Motion carries. I'll call to order the July drainage board meeting. Can we get a motion to approve the June drainage board meetings?

I make a motion.

Go ahead.

Okay. I make a motion that we approve the June drainage board minutes.

All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes.

I'll second that.

We're moving fast.

I don't.

Where are we going?

All right, let's start with number three on our list here. So this is Filtered Sugar Creek. This is Caroline Road, Carroll Road, 800 West, just south of 52, subdivision down in that area. Mr. Buchanan, Ken, and I think he's here. in the back, is wanting to put a fence up on his property. In the back of his property, there is a 25-foot pre-preservation easement in the back here, and then there is a 30-foot drainage easement that's back here. And I'd like to put his fence, which would encroach into that 30-foot drainage easement, 13.3 feet at its biggest point. to go up around his property where he's at.

So we're 30 feet from the tile and you want to take it down to less than... We're not moving the easement.

So he wants to be able to put his fence in the easement. And then if we ever have to work on it or anything like that, he would have to remove it. But he would like to be able to put his fence there to utilize his property as he can at this time. So that way he has access to that area that's back there.

What's the staff recommendation?

As I look at things like this, when they do these lots and things like that, if there's a hold harmless and those things, I mean, a fence like that is temporary for where it needs to be. You can move it out. I'm not saying it's easy, but we have a hold harmless on it. It's on them. If we need to work on that tile to move it out, it allows them to use their property for how they need to use their property. We can still get in and work on what we need to work on.

And if we didn't reduce the easement in the beginning, we wouldn't have this problem.

Well, there is no reduction here.

Before.

No, this one doesn't reduce. This is a subdivision. So this is how this was platted.

Oh, okay.

So this is how this was platted in the subdivision. So there was a 30-foot regulated drain easement on the subdivision when it was created. And so that's 30 feet off the back of his property line for what's there. And there's actually a tree preservation easement, which pushes it a little bit more, which you can't get into. So this allows him to kind of use his property a little bit more, but also understanding the caveat of who would be getting their work done. You know, he's responsible for that fence. And it's not going to hurt the integrity of the tile. Is the tree easement right on the tile?

Is he removing any trees?

No. Okay. Not removing any trees as he's coming through there. No, the tree preservation easement is actually...

It's hard to tell.

It is very hard to tell. And the way the GIS sets up and the way that the PLAT sets up, it is very difficult to tell. But no, the tree preservation easement is right off the backside of these properties here. And then the regulated drain easement comes up a little higher. Where the dotted line on here is not exactly where that regulated drain is. Gotcha. It's a little bit closer, a little bit further to the south for where it's at. So it would be my recommendation that he could do that with the hold harmless.

And your county hold harmless.

And there is the new fees that we have for the encroachment.

Then I'd make a motion that we approve it with county hold harmless and the $325 fee. Second.

It's been properly moved and second we approve an encroachment fields at Sugar Creek into the easement with the standard county hold harmless and the standard county fees. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes.

All right so next I'd like to go to number four. So we have Haven Ponds. So we're still staying on the west side of the county but now we are Up in McCordsville. So we are... Traverse the county. We will do that here today. We'll move around a little bit. We are up here at Haven Ponds. This is on the Jonathan Stansberry regulated drain. This location... Let me get up on this map here. They are going to put a pedestrian bridge. They would like to put a pedestrian bridge over the drainage drain. There are pictures here for you. Development plan shows the pedestrian bridge is down here on the south side. Up here is County Line Road North. Up here, the Jonathan Stansberry runs down through here. Pedestrian bridge here. A trail system in the pedestrian bridge sits above the ditch to go over there to allow to connect the trail system that they have there as it works through. There are profiles and plans for the bridge.

You don't see any problems with it, do you?

I do not see any problems with it. Am I missing anything here?

Standard County Homes.

I think the courts will want to have a big... Yeah, yeah, it's important to get through. Yeah, state or county hold harmless, you know, if we need to get into a dredge or whatever. But, yeah, just kind of how it works down through there. Is there a fee? For a crossing, there usually isn't a fee. They just have to get permission. The hold harmless is the important thing there because legally they're allowed to cross there. They just have to get permission because they have to have access to what they're going to do.

Make a motion to approve it. Will the standard county hold harmless? Second.

It's been properly moved and seconded that we approve a crossing at the Jonathan Stansbury regulated drain for a pedestrian bridge as presented with the standard county hold harmless. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes. Yep.

All right. Let's jump to number six. We're just moving around the county here. So now we're on U.S. 40. This is out by Charlottesville. This is for Mr. Joe Hollis. He has a minor subdivision here off of 40. There's a three-lot minor sub next to Grandison Road. and Ruggles arm comes through there, but what they are what he is looking to do here is There's a natural swale that takes things water and stuff through there He was going to install eight inch tile to each of the lots that are there, but they found a six inch for the one lot The first lot that is there I have three screens. So he has an existing six inch tile that runs down through here for this lot. He would like to be able to tie into that six inch for his perimeter for his septic to go there and for a variance there. I don't see an issue with it. distant clay tile that's running through there and runs down to the natural water course down there as it goes to the bottom of the hill.

I make a motion that we approve the variance to use a six-inch tile from the Joe Hollis Minor Subdivision at US 40 West of Grandison Road.

Second.

And the fee shall be? $450.

It's been properly moved and seconded that we approve a variance to use 6-inch tile at U.S. 40 in Grandison with a standard $450 fee. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes.

All right, so let's go back up to number two. I want to save number eight to the end because this will be a little longer discussion, but let's jump back up. So number two, approve of claims. We have three sets of claims there as we run through. We've got some on the Hiddle and the Thomas Barrett, Briney and the Steele, the Hollis, the Reasoner, Mary Webb, a number of blowholes, some beaver dams, log jams, a lot of different things as we work down through there. We sent Hampton County for Hampton Cove, their assessment money. So moving along, getting things fixed and getting things done.

I'll make a motion to approve the claims for 617 for $2,002.85 and for 7-8 in the amount of $7,590.70 and for 7-22, $5,956.31 as presented. Second.

It's been properly moved and seconded that we approve claims paid as presented. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes.

All right. Well, let's take care of number five. We have to approve the drainage board pay for the first half of 2026. each person for the number of meetings they were here through June. I think Steve missed one, Eric missed two, Bill was here, and Gary was here for all, Janine missed one, and Steve Ellsbury was here for all of them. I'll make a motion.

We approve the first half of 2026 drainage board pay as presented. Second. Second.

Been properly moved and seconded that we approve the first half of drainage board pay as presented. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes.

All right, number seven. So we got our spring settlement in. So this is a list of the ditches that owe some money and the money that came in for them. So on your second column in on those, that is how much is brought in yearly for each one. So half in the spring, half in the fall. And then on the left is the actual current balance of each ditch as it is today. The amount in red obviously is the amount that is owed on the ditch. And then the column to the right of the amount owed is the one we are looking to pay back from the current balance that is there. And at the end, it'll show how much is currently remaining on those. And so this would pay off one, two, three, four, five, six, six of the ditches that we have. And then after the fall settlements, we have a couple more that we will be able to take care of. I didn't want to pay them off at this point just because I would put the fund right back down at that precarious situation where if you get one repair, then you're back over where you're at. So that's kind of the nature of the beast right now as we work through these and try to... figure out what we need to do with the rising costs and everything that we have. But getting the ones paid off is good. It gets those six back into the black and then slowly progressing on to the others. So the total amount of payback is $41,555.80, which leaves the remaining of $176,819.63 remaining to be owed.

Need a motion for that? Accept them?

Yes.

I move to approve the table of transfers after 2026 spring settlement as presented.

Second. It's been properly moved and seconded that we approve the table of transfers from the drain maintenance fund to the general improvement fund. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes.

All right, so let's go to number eight, last one that we have here. So this is Hunter's Chase. So back over on the west side of the county. 300 north the commissioners will know hunters chase it sits across from a Couple of developments that have come in here recently blue tank and different ones like that But this is a different issue. So it sits on the Heinrich Heinrich ditch that runs through the property that's there There is a swale that is on the backside here of Hunter's Chase. So it's back here on lots 32 through 38 as that easement, or 32 through 40 as that easement runs back down through there. And the swale and the tile, the tile that runs down through there takes the water from the perimeter tiles, sub pumps and things inside the subdivision and runs it to the ditch. It was designed, there's a swale on the backside of that which catches the surface water off of the property to the south. So the property to the south, it's always been a little bit wet ever since I've been here, but its water drains through there to the ditch. And so when the subdivision was created, there was a swale in the back there that allows that water to go down to the backside there and go to the ditch. And it is a substantial swale. I'll show you here on the plans that I have for that. And so on that swale detail that you have here at the bottom. It's a three to one ditch, and it's about four four feet deep at certain points as it goes down through there Where it starts and then when it gets back down through there, so it carries a good bit of water as it gets down through there, okay? What has happened over time is that in the back there in that subdivision? Not only has that swale kind of filled in in different spots, but some landowners have kind of move some of the dirt that's back in that area. And it has created an issue back there where that water now does not continue down that swept. It doesn't get down into the ditch where it's at. And what happens is it backs back up into these properties, and then it gets into the 8-inch tiles, if it doesn't sit on their properties, where the landowners had created areas where they have allowed that water from that swale to get into that tile just because there's no other way for it to get to. Now they want us to fix it?

What's that?

Well... I'm bringing this, there's a couple people here from the subdivision, and I've went out and looked at it for what's there. I would recommend, there's been a number of people through the years in these houses where the blockages or hindrances are at who've transferred ownerships. So a lot of the issues that have happened have not been done by the people that are there currently. And the people who have been there for a long time are not the ones who've done this. There are a number of landowners who have been there from the beginning. And so It would be my recommendation to the board. It's not something we typically do, but to go in and kind of reshape that part of that soil to get that to where it needs to do. So it gets back to functioning where it needs to get to. There is money in the ditch to do that to to get that taken care of. There are some structures. that are within that easement. I am not recommending that we remove those, but we would still shape that swale for where it needs to be to get to where it's at. So some things would have to be moved and done from that standpoint to get it so some of that water would flow through there. I do have a landowner from the subdivision who would like to speak. Hang on real quick.

Can you even do the work right though, those structures?

I think we can. I think there's enough room for where it's at. The structures are there within the easement. They're not actually in the swale, but some of the dirt and things that they've moved into that easement is there. So we would have to kind of move some of that stuff back. for where it's at to get into there. I think we could...

Primarily mini barns and things like that?

Yep, some of them are old mini barns and I would almost be afraid to move them if we tried to move them for where they're at. There's some landscaping and some things that are in there that probably are, I know are for where they need to be. But there's also a couple areas where the buildup is just buildup. They just haven't, it hasn't continued to be maintained by the landowners and traditionally in a subdivision. when there is swales that are in there, those are maintained by the landowners. The swales, we take the ditch, we take the tile that runs through there, but the swale that is in there is maintained by the landowners as they mow it and do different things. That's a tricky thing, right? Most landowners don't have the opportunity if there's a lot of water that runs through there, so there is some silt that runs down through there through time. If it doesn't stay exactly on level, some of that will build up and then you know, as water stops and whatever, then people move things over. And part of it's ignorance. Part of it is the movement of time. But I know it is affecting a number of landowners up the way. And it's affecting most of that side of that subdivision. And I just think it would be a good usage of the money that is in that ditch to alleviate that issue. That is up to the board. But it would be my recommendation. That we would go in and try to do that from that standpoint, but it's completely up to you But I don't know if you want to hear from the landowner first or if you have a question Are we looking at structure pre-existing structures here like the the riser and is there a French drain through there?

What are we looking at as far as all these drawings?

Okay, so let me I'll pull that back up So on the development, so this is the the original development for fields at Sugar Creek And so if you go in down here at the bottom, these are all hand-drawn. You're going to love those from wherever I am. So there are like these risers that are here. Here's a riser on lot 34, a lot on 36, a lot on 38. They are on the north side of this swale. So they are not affected by the swale. Okay, because the swale, the hill for the swale, if this is south and this is north, okay, the swale is here, our tile is running through here, and the swale is here. And so you have this here that goes up to the property line, and then our tile's on this side. But this is all still within the drainage easement. So what's happened is this swale that's over here, as water comes off of this from the east and comes through this into the subdivision from the lander to the south, it gets into this swale so it doesn't get over and overload these systems. It gets into this swale and then comes down to the ditch, keeps the two sets of water separate. What's happened now is this swale now is filled in. So this water backs up to the top part of the swale and at the top part of the swale becomes a lake in people's backyards because obviously it can't get through. Well then that bleeds over into the system that is the eight inch system. Some landowners have actually tried to cut holes in the swale where it is able to do, where it's backing up just because they can't do anything downstream and it's putting water into that system. So when you have all this water from the surface that is supposed to run through this swale to the ditch is now in this eight inch tile system, it's overloading this system now which is backing up perimeter drains, sub pumps, things in basements. So things are a lot more wetter and a lot more opportunity for problems for the landowners in their homes and it should be separated for where it's at. So I'm just looking at taking this swale that's here that has buildup in it to not... Clean it out. Not make it where it was when it was originally intended, right? I'm not going back to pristine. I want to create an area where that water will continue to flow.

Do you have a cost estimate?

I do not have a cost estimate at this time. This came up last week. I wanted to get it to the drainage board. I can bring it to the next drainage board and get a cost estimate. That's fine. The board has the choice of how they want to handle that as they go through there, but Right now, to me, this would be the easiest and the best fix as it goes through there. I understand the money's for the whole watershed, for everything that's there. The people that live there are the ones who create the issue. I get that. I understand that. But a lot of those people are no longer there.

The only issue I see with it, it's our responsibility to maintain the outlet, the drain, the town, everything. How the water gets there is on the landowner.

Correct. And so the swale that's there, correct, that swale that is running through there is actually affecting our tiles and things because it's not working. And it's in the easement. And so that's the only reason I'm proposing it because it is in actually the drainage easement. So that's my pitch, I guess, for that from that standpoint.

Do you have enough in the account to pay for it?

I have enough in the account right now to pay for it.

And that's what it's supposed to do, isn't it? To maintain it?

Well, it's for the drainage of the area that is within the easements that we maintain. It's correct. So you don't know how much it's going to cost, but you're sure? I can still do that. We got a meeting in two weeks. I can get an estimate from that standpoint to verify that we're there from that standpoint. But I do have a landowner here who would like to come up and speak. Go ahead and please state your name for the record and your address.

I'm Ray Haggard. My address is 7319 Deerfield Drive in Hunter's Chase Addition. I live, there's eight homes on our side of the street. I live almost at the East End third house.