In the heat of August and with more than 20 landowners present the Greene County supervisors, acting as trustees of Drainage District 2, backed away from a decision to reclassify the district. In the cold of December, the supervisors made a decision not to reclassify the district, and they also decided not to proceed at this time with installing cured in place pipe in the Sunset Drive area.
“Classification” sets a complex schedule that determines cost share of any work done for the landowners. The calculation is based on benefit received from the drainage structure. Under the current classification done in 1956, owners of ag land pay a significantly higher share than residential property owners because they own so much more land.
A reclassification proposed in a study done by Bolton and Menk would have balanced that out more, with a much higher rate per acre levied against property owners in the Sunset Drive subdivision.
A public hearing on Aug. 29 lasted two hours and was ultimately continued to Dec. 5. That continuation meant the $70,000 cost of cleaning tree roots from the drainage tiles in the residential neighborhood, done earlier in the year to solve a significant problem with flooded basements and standing water, would be assessed against the entire district.
The supervisors also decided in August to proceed with an open ditch clean-out in another portion of the sprawling drainage district.
Click here for the post about the August hearing in the GCNO archive.
On Monday, the supervisors ended any discussion of reclassification. “At this point, with the feedback we’ve had, I’m very hesitant to move forward with any of this (reclassification) until we’ve had more education for all of us,” board chair John Muir said.
Muir said the engineering report was done “to satisfy curiosity.” The report will be considered valid for 10 years. The supervisors could at some time take up discussion of reclassification again.
A motion was approved for the record that a reclassification was not done.
Bids will be received Jan. 9 for clean-out of the open ditch in the north portion of the district and removal of tree roots near the Union Pacific railroad track.
