County updated on flood control

Who is responsible for the portion of Millers Branch that runs beneath Portland to the Salamonie River?

Is it the city?

Or is it the county?

A 2017 engineering study concluded the Millers Branch is a Jay County legal drain, which would bring it under the supervision of the county drainage board.

But county surveyor Brad Daniels believes the county’s responsibility ends at Pearl Street, the area on the northeast side of Portland where the branch goes underground into a 72-inch storm sewer that carries its water to the river.

“We’re just saying that needs to be locked down,” county flood advisory committee secretary Barry Hudson told Jay County Commissioners on Monday. “At some point, we’re going to have to have a legal opinion.”

Commissioners agreed.

County attorney Bill Hinkle, who also serves as city attorney, will seek out independent counsel to research the matter once and for all.

“It sounds like we really should look into that,” said commissioners’ president Chuck Huffman.

“It would be nice to know who’s legally responsible,” agreed commissioner Chad Aker.

Hudson and fellow committee member John Moore briefed the commissioners on the group’s often frustrating dealings with the Army Corps of Engineers.

The city signed on to have the Corps perform a feasibility study aimed at mitigating downtown flooding problems tied to the Millers Branch in times of heavy rain. Flooding downtown has been caused by Millers Branch storm water coming up through downtown catch basins, while the Salamonie River itself stays within its banks.

That city/Corps agreement dates to Oct. 30, 2017, for a three-year period, and an extension is unlikely.

Cost of the feasibility study — which has not yet been received — was $308,586. Of that amount, the federal share was $154,293, with Portland Redevelopment Commission providing $77,000, the city $47,293 and the county $30,000.

“To my knowledge we’ve never seen that study,” said Hudson.

The Corps proposed building a 40-foot wide open ditch across Jay County Fairgrounds, land owned by Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Association and adjacent farmland to route storm water from Millers Branch to the Salamonie east of Portland.

That proposal has been rejected out of hand.

“The committee is saying what the Corps is proposing can’t be done,” said Hudson.

It’s unacceptable to all of the property owners involved.

A proposal from the committee to take a less-invasive route and install an underground storm sewer was rejected by the Corps because of the costs involved. Because the federal government would be expected to provide two-thirds of the construction dollars involved, the Corps is focusing solely on the lowest cost option.

Given that stalemate, the committee has proposed taking another look at creating a dry detention pond north of the Great Lakes Native American Culture land as originally outlined by a Butler, Fairman and Seufert in an engineering study prepared for the county in 2018.

But now, said Hudson, the Corps has said there’s not enough time to examine that option between now and the expiration of its contract with the city.

“They’re saying there isn’t enough time for a change,” he said.

Commissioner Mike Leonhard said he still believes it would be a mistake to route storm water to the Salamonie east of Portland and that the water should be sent west of the city instead.

“That’s been asked time and time again (by the committee),” said Hudson. “They say, ‘We have hydrologically engineered it out, and that works.’”

Any potential solution will inevitably involve refurbishing the 100-year-old section of storm sewer underneath the city, said Moore.

“It does need some work,” he said. “It does have some issues.”

And that, said Moore and Hudson, is why it is imperative to determine whether such work would be a county or a city responsibility.

“At some point the county’s going to be asked to participate,” said Hudson.

Moore said Jay Emergency Management director Jessica Ooten has been in contact with the National Weather Service to add a forecast feature to a gauge on the Salamonie River. Currently, the gauge just records observations. Most such river gauges also provide forecast information on flood stage and duration, said Moore.

Also Monday, Commissioners agreed by consensus to maintain the current by-appointment-only, masks-required situation for county offices until July 4 after hearing an update on the local impact of the coronavirus pandemic from Jay County Health Department environmentalist and administrator Heath Butz.

Butz said the current count for the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is 58. Thirty-eight of those patients have recovered. Eight have been hospitalized, and only one was on a ventilator. There have been no deaths locally.

He said increased testing shows that the largest age category for those testing positive was the 40 to 49 group.

“A lot of your at-risk population is being mindful,” said Butz. “We’re seeing a lot more positives in younger age groups.”

He continued to stress social distancing.

“You look at distances, you look at time (of contact), you look at barriers (like face masks) when assessing risk factors,” Butz said. “The idea is to protect the whole community.”

In other business, commissioners:

•Agreed to transfer a couple of parcels of land in Dunkirk to the city so that they might be developed.

•Agreed to divide the $5,000 that had been slated for the Jay County 4th of July fireworks at the fairgrounds between Dunkirk and Redkey. The fairgrounds event has been canceled because of COVID-19, but the Dunkirk and Redkey fireworks are still going ahead as planned.

•Scheduled an executive session for personnel evaluations for 8 a.m. Thursday.

•Learned that county auditor Anna Culy and community developer Ami Huffman are proceeding with an application for CARES Act reimbursement from the state for COVID-19 related expenses.