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Flooded highways earn disaster funds

Published 12:00pm Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Otter Tail County will receive disaster funding to cover the entire costs of eliminating the standing water on closed highways 24 and 30.

Otter Tail County commissioners congratulated county Highway Engineer Rick West on finding the funding Tuesday.

The county will receive $1.3 million from the state aid highway funding’s disaster account. West said the funding will cover the entire cost, even if the costs go higher than $1.3 million.

Commissioner Doug Huebsch pointed out that the disaster funding will save the taxpayers’ money because the county has no choice in completing work on the highways.

To receive the funding, West needed to show there was a situation of hardship. West said he approached it by showing the county has dealt with high water on those roads for the past five to six years.

County state aid highway 30 travels over Lake Olaf west of Pelican Rapids. The county is planning to create a ditch as an outlet to Lake Olaf to reduce the high water.

County state aid highway 24 is closed two miles east of Rothsay. To reduce the flooding on the road, the Highway Department is planning to pump the water into Ditch No. 56, which then will travel into a crick and Wilkin County.

“This is water for Fargo,” Commissioner Lee Rogness said.

Also during Tuesday’s county board meeting, the board was scheduled to set a fee to be paid to the ditch system to allow the county to pump the water into Ditch No. 56.

However, county Attorney David Hauser pointed out that law requires the property owners who benefit from the ditch be notified about the county’s plan and hold a public hearing. The fee would then be set at the hearing.

Rogness wondered about the timeline and if the solution to the problems could be kept in motion while the county holds the hearing. Commissioner John Lindquist said the county should do whatever it takes to complete the work quickly.

Huebsch wondered if there was a clause in the law for emergency situations because if the county doesn’t pump the water off soon, it will have more problems.

The key, according to Hauser, is if Ditch No. 56 can handle the additional water.

Ditch Inspector Randy Wasvick told the commissioners that the ditch can handle the water due to the ditch being cleaned about four years ago. West agreed, saying it was one of the county’s better ditches.