Commissioners seek more info

County officials want more information before taking any steps to resolve a pesky drainage issue at county roads 600 West and 700 South.
Meeting in their role as the county drainage board, Jay County Commissioners directed county surveyor Brad Daniels to shoot elevations on all sides of the area near the intersection so they can get a better grasp on a solution.
Drainage questions surfaced near that intersection after Cy Schwieterman Inc. did extensive contouring of adjacent farmland owned by Dick Lavy.
Mike Schwieterman of the drainage company told commissioners earlier this month he had spoken with county highway superintendent Ken Wellman and got approval for a new, large tube to be installed under the road.
But Wellman acknowledged he didn’t have the authority to approve the work since it affected drainage.
“I overstepped my bounds,” Wellman said earlier this month.
Daniels said flatly Monday that if the project had come to him it would not have been approved “because he (the contractor) is channelizing the water” by contouring the field and installing a large tube sending surface water onto adjacent property.
One adjacent property owner had been informed of the work, but others had not been and experienced problems during times of heavy rain last fall.
“You have several different issues here,” Ron Zimmerman, who farms the affected land for the property owners, told commissioners Monday. “It’s going to cause an economic problem and possibly an environmental problem down the road.”
“What are our options?” asked commissioner Doug Inman.
Those boiled down to removing the tube that had been installed by Schwieterman, restricting its flow or doing nothing at all.
“I don’t know what the best answer is,” Daniels said.
Commissioners agreed that getting more information, including specifics on the elevation of different parts of the area in question, made the most sense.
“It’s not imperative that we take it out right now,” said Daniels. “We can video (the area) after a big rain.”
Commissioners agreed to revisit the issue by April 1 so any planting won’t be delayed.
County engineer Dan Watson also suggested the drainage board meet at the site with all of the parties involved in order to sort it out.
“I think everyone that’s affected needs to be involved,” said Watson.
In other business, acting as the commissioners, Faron Parr, Jim Zimmerman and Inman:
•Agreed to send a cover letter with an application for a bicycle and pedestrian planning grant from the Indiana State Department of Health. The grant would be up to $20,000, and commissioners said they would recommend up to $10,000 from the county’s infrastructure fund as a match. Additional match funds would be needed because the match is on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
“It is a cover letter, not a blank check,” said John Moore of the Jay County Trails Club, which is submitting the grant application.
•Authorized Watson to move $15,000 from the highway department’s cumulative capital fund to pay for a new oil furnace, which provides overnight heat in the highway garage, and a truck lift.
•Learned the Indiana Bicentennial torch will be making its way through Jay County sometime in September 2016. Indiana celebrates its 200th year as a state in 2016.