VANDERBURGH COUNTY

DRAINAGE BOARD

APRIL 10, 2007

The Vanderburgh County Drainage Board met in session this 10^th day of April, 2007 at 3:55 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Bill Nix presiding.

President Nix: Good afternoon. I would like to call to order the Vanderburgh County Drainage Board for Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at two, or excuse me, 3:55.

President Nix: I will entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Musgrave: Second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Nix: Good afternoon, Mr. Jeffers.

Bill Jeffers: Good afternoon.

President Nix: How are you, sir?

Bill Jeffers: Fine. How are you today?

President Nix: Good. Thank you.

Bill Jeffers: I was waiting for the engineer for this drainage plan on the Christian Fellowship Church expansion, and he was in the Commissioners meeting, but we don’t see him now. So, I think I’ll skip forward to the next item on the agenda, if that’s okay? Which is the Surveyor’s report on Sonntag Stevens ditch study and evaluation that’s being done by J.Q. Morley and Associates. Darrell Helfert is here today to present a six or seven minute Power Point presentation to bring you up-to-date with their findings and recommendations. This is a preliminary report, and it will be followed by a hard copy report that will give us concrete recommendations on what we should do on Sonntag Stevens and Keil Ditch. This runs through the industrialized area north of Lynch Road, between Lynch Road and Baumgart. It drains that entire industrial area, plus the residential areas of Knob Hill and Melody Hills. While we have limited funds, I think the final report is going to give us, say, a five year recommendation, or five year recommended program to utilize our limited funds to bring about some recommended changes. I think you’ll see the need for the improvements as Darrell presents his Power Point.

Darrell Helfert: I’ve just given you a copy of what you’re going to see up there. So, that if you have any ideas or questions later, you’ll be able to refer back to that, I hope.

President Nix: If you can, for the record, state your name.

Darrell Helfert: Oh, I’m sorry. Darrell Helfert with Morley and Associates.

President Nix: Thank you.

Darrell Helfert: We’ve been working on this project for a little while, and, so, Bill asked me to give you kind of a brief overview of where we’re at so far, and what we are hoping to accomplish in the long run, I guess. Go ahead. As the goals were laid out to us, obviously, there’s a lot of problems with some of the legal drains in the county. So, we were going to look at structural conditions as far as bridges and culverts, and even the channel itself, looking for problems that need to be addressed. We were looking at trying to come up with solutions to improve the conveyance and stability of the drains themselves, so that there won’t be problems later down the road. Looking at possible types and sources of storm water pollution, which is becoming a bigger issue these days. In this area there are an awful lot of industrial complexes out there. Then depending on what kind of pollution we find, we would be recommending what kind of best management practices to be instituted in the field. Then, as far as looking, like Bill referred to, a long range plan, so, we identified the deficiencies, make recommendations, look at the permitting requirements, which will obviously be a large factor in this project, and then come up with some estimated costs. This is the basic study area, it’s bounded by 41 to the west, St. George Road to the north, Lynch Road to the south, and Oak Hill Road to the east. For you not familiar, Keil Ditch runs along the railroad tracks just behind Whirlpool. Then, Sonntag Stevens runs from behind Whirlpool and then heads, basically, east up to Oak Hill Road. We’ve broken the study area down into five different sections. I won’t read those off to you, but, basically, the first section is the residential area by Oak Hill Road. The next two sections are the main stretch from there down to the confluence with the other section of Sonntag, just west of Garrison Avenue and Hitch Peters. Then, section four is the section that runs from the Keil Ditch confluence to Lynch Road, and then Keil Ditch. To start the project off, the first thing we did was looked at the resources we had available, which included; aerial photography, U.S.G.S. maps, the county topographic maps, information on the county GIS website, and information within our own office as far as other resource materials, soil survey books and what have you. After we’ve established what we might be looking for out there, then we went out in the field, looked for problems with drainage structures, identified their locations, looked at the channel itself looking for problems with the stability and conveyance possibly. We’re looking at the vegetation within the channel and adjacent to the channel to see if there are any particular problems with erosion or invasive species at the present. And, particularly we were looking at the potential sources of pollution, point sources which would be like pipes and culverts, and non-point sources which would be like grass swales. Then, once we had gone out in the fields and identified these, our survey crews went out and actually located them so that we could map them accurately. After we did that, we were doing more office type work, which meant that we had contacted a lot of the companies out there to see if they had plans on site for controlling potential spills, or addressing pollution problems. Some of them have storm water pollution prevention plans in place. Also, there are still prevention control and confinement, containment plans in place, but not too many of them. They are available for review at an appropriate time. We also reviewed, again, the mapping that we had available, looking also again at National wetland inventory maps to see if there were any wetlands in the area that might be identified. Looking at the flood insurance rate maps, and then the assessment maps on the county GIS site. As I said, we were looking at the structures, in particular, and the ditch in general to see if there were any structural failure problems that could be easily identified. We’re also looking at areas where there might be insufficient conveyance; undersized structures, or places where the channel has become clogged with debris or brush or what have you. We’re looking at bank failure, erosion problems, sedimentation, again, vegetative cover, and possibly invasive vegetation, which would not necessarily be harmful, but could cause problems because it doesn’t provide adequate stability. Then, of course, areas where there might be pollutants being discharged into the channel. The next several slides are basically kind of examples that we found out there already, structural failures are the type there, the pipes are coming apart. Insufficient conveyance, this is the bridge at Hitch and Peters Road, which to the naked eye appears to be grossly undersized, and it probably is. Bank failures occurring in a number of places out there. Erosion problems in the bottom of the channel and along the channel banks. Sedimentation is generally a problem in structures, especially if they’re undersized, because the sediment, you know, the water slows down and that and the sediment drops out. Some places where there’s not much vegetative cover, and, again, that’s asking for erosion problems. There are areas where there are some types of vegetation which are not desirable, and they probably need to be addressed at some point in the future, and replaced by better cover. Then, like I said, there’s a number of industrial sources out there where there are some obvious areas where there are pollutants being discharged. Others probably not so obvious, and they can’t be addressed until we really put in some kind of sampling and testing program in place. So, as far as our preliminary recommendations, at this time, the residential area which is section one, very few problems observed there. Some minor erosions here and there to be fixed, a few culverts that probably need to be cleaned of debris and sediment. Section two, which is from that point, sorry Charlie, from the residential section east to the concrete plant that’s on the site in the area, again, erosion problems, there are some invasive vegetative species out there that should probably be eliminated. A lot of the pipe outlets out there have erosion occurring around them, so there should be some kind of an armoring put in place to prevent that from occurring. Then, again, like I said, there are places where pollutants are probably being discharged, we should have some kind of sampling program put in place so that we can do some testing to determine what needs to be done for that. Section three is very similar to section two, other than the fact in this section there are a number of railroad crossings, there’s a Hitch Peters Road crossing, so, design calculations should probably be done to determine whether these structures have adequate capacity. The Hitch Peters Road just, like I said, to the naked eye appeared to be grossly undersized, so, that probably will need to be replaced in the near future. Section four, again, similar to sections two and three, the biggest problem that we saw in this section is what appears to be an abandoned crossing just south of Garrison Avenue, the pipes are coming apart. There is tremendous overgrowth of vegetation there, and it’s an obvious impediment to conveyance of storm water. So, that’s probably something that should be investigated as far as completely removing that crossing, if it’s not needed. Section five, which is Keil Ditch, it’s a fairly straight, clean ditch, but it’s right next to Whirlpool, so, there are some problems probably with pollutants in that area, but, nothing that was really obvious. The biggest problem there was the sedimentation and debris that was around some of the culvert crossings that should probably be cleaned out to improve their capacity. Again, probably look at the calculations to see if they’re actually big enough to be there. Like Bill said, when we get the report together, hopefully within the next few weeks, we hope to have kind of a summary of the costs, and we will probably try to categorize the things that probably need attention first, and give you kind of a breakdown based on the revenue that’s available on a yearly basis, and try and give you a schedule that might be appropriate for addressing these problems over a five to ten year period. Just a quick note, we were doing this in conjunction with a company in Indianapolis, Williams Creek Consulting, they’ve done a lot of the work kind of geared toward the pollution aspect of things, and they’ve done a real good job working with us on this. So, I guess, that having been said, if there’s any questions in particular anybody has?

President Nix: Questions? Thank you, Mr. Helfert.

Darrell Helfert: Thank you.

Bill Jeffers: Okay, I want to thank Darrell Helfert and Williams Creek Consulting for putting that together for us. It’s a part of the County Surveyor’s annual report to the board on the conditions of, in this case, Sonntag Stevens and Keil Ditch.

Bill Jeffers: Now, I would like to move back to Christian Fellowship Church expansion. Give us a moment to get that photography up for you. Okay, you’re probably familiar with the church itself. It’s located inside the yellow square shown on the aerial photograph on Millersburg Road, northeastern Vanderburgh County, between Oak Hill Road and Green River Road. The church has been there quite some time. It has a large parking lot, as you can see, and then off to the west of the church and the northwest of the church is a large, open area of land that they own and maintain with Furlich Creek running along the western edge of that land, where you see the words Christian Fellowship Church. They have already constructed a large lake that receives storm water run off from their hard surfaces and detains it before it’s discharged into Furlich Creek. That was part of their previous plan. Where you see the yellow circle, up in the northeast corner of their property, they would like to place a crossing consisting of a square box culvert, I believe the size is an eight by twelve concrete box, so that they can access that farm ground to the north, which they’ve recently purchased. There’s a farm house and some barns and other buildings there that they are going to use for storing their equipment that they use, their maintenance equipment, along with other supplies, and to utilize the farm for whatever purposes. It may be athletic fields, or whatever purposes they have. As I said earlier, their engineer is Steve Hahn, he’s here, he was over talking with Mr. Duckworth about some County Highway issues. He is here now, in case you have any questions. However, the County Surveyor has reviewed the plan, it comports with all the parts of the drainage code that are applicable. The County Surveyor recommends approval of this box culvert for a permanent crossing of the ditch that you see along the north line of the property, just north of the lake.

President Nix: Mr. Jeffers, as far as maintenance on this, on-going maintenance, how will that be handled?

Bill Jeffers: The maintenance will be the responsibility of the property owner, in this case Christian Fellowship Church for as long as they should own it. It does drain a substantial area of residential subdivisions, and it is sized, that’s why we’re reviewing it, because it is sized to handle the same flow as if it were a commercial or residential project.

Commissioner Musgrave: I’ll make a motion to adopt the Surveyor’s recommendation.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

Bill Jeffers: Thank you, Steve, and thank you, board.

Bill Jeffers: Now we move to bid letting of the recommended ditch maintenance contracts for 2007. You opened these bids last week. They were taken under advisement and reviewed by the County Surveyor’s, in particular Chief Deputy Surveyor, Linda Freeman, who has prepared these two spreadsheets for you. One, the legal size sheet that runs portrait format shows you each ditch that your board and our office is responsible for maintaining. It shows you the annual assessment that will be collected in 2007 in the first column, after the name, the acreage that’s in the watershed, the rate per acre, “R” means rural and “U” would be urban rate. You can see the difference there. The current balance as of March 31^st in each account, the low bids for each ditch are in the next column. That was the lowest bid submitted by a responsive and qualified bidder from all of those that you opened last week. Then, an estimated balance that Ms. Freeman has determined will most likely be in the account at the end of the year after all of the claims are paid. Okay, on the sheet that you have in front of you that’s landscape format, you will find a list of ditches that we recommend letting a contract on. The first column, of course, is the name of the ditch; second column is a category of maintenance that corresponds with the special provisions, that’s more or less technical stuff there, and then under description, the third column, it tells you what the treatment will be; broadleaf and brush herbicide, mid-summer mowing, dormant spray in the winter to kill woody vegetation, etcetera, on down through there. That’s pretty self explanatory. It tells you the lineal feet of the ditch that we are treating or maintaining or repairing. It may not be the entire ditch, it may just be a portion. So, that’s why we give you the lineal feet, so you can tell. The bidder who was the low bidder, and then the per foot bid, the total bid. Well, it’s bidder “A” and bidder “B” there. So, you can see if there were two bidders who was lower, and so forth. Now, I would like to give you a final report, which you will find in the three page packet I gave you behind your agenda. Basically, it’s the County Surveyor’s recommendations for ditch maintenance contracts to finish out the Surveyor’s annual report that is due each year at this time. It reflects the maintenance repairs and other work that I feel are required to keep or restore the appropriate condition of our regulated drains within the available funds that we have at this time. So, what I’m recommending, basically, on the east side is to clean out five large culverts on Hirsch Ditch, along Morgan Avenue. You’ve seen that report from Structure Point, American Structure Point Consultants where they recommended that we clean those culverts and restore the flow line of that ditch so that they’re more fully utilized. That drains the entire area of development west, it should say east of Green River Road between Morgan Avenue and Lincoln Avenue, including the county’s TIF district. We propose to clean Bonnie View Ditch along the south side of Target Greatland to better drain Plaza Meadows, Wilson Square and the other neighborhoods in the Plaza school area. The Storm Water Task Force is looking at making some improvements in that area that depend on Bonnie View Ditch operating in top condition. We received a request from the City Director of Transportation regarding Nurrenbern Ditch between Eagle Crest Boulevard where it enters the Dunn development area, and north to Division Street on the other side of the Lloyd Expressway, near the Town and Country Ford dealership, essentially to remove potential obstructions that have accumulated into the ditch where it passes under Vectren property and state INDOT right-of-way. Again, the Storm Water Task Force in this case has identified some problems draining the neighborhood served by Nurrenbern Ditch, and we want to insure that the problem is not in our drain. We also propose to clean Stockfleth Ditch between Lloyd Expressway and Virginia Street where several potential obstructions have been discovered, mostly including things like shopping carts, which are crammed up underneath the Virginia Street bridge at this time, some fencing and construction material that’s been laid across the ditch by people who want to create a shortcut from the apartments on the east side of the ditch to the shopping areas on the west side of the ditch, and then to remove some woody vegetation before it becomes large trees. That’s a result of several complaints mainly from Regency Development, they like to keep their apartment project looking top notch, and they’ve experienced some flooding in the parking, not in their apartments, but in the parking lots, and when we went out there we discovered that these shopping carts people had thrown in the ditch to hop across the ditch on had washed up underneath Virginia Street bridge and requires heavy equipment to remove them at this time. We also have a large surplus of funds in the William Ditch account. If you look on your sheet you’ll see about a little over $11,000 has accumulated in that. The County Surveyor has offered to transfer that money to the Warrick County Drainage Board whenever the Warrick County Surveyor completes some needed repairs along that county line ditch, especially south of Lincoln Avenue where the condominium lake embankment has been compromised by excess storm water run off from new development in Warrick County, and that also along the north side of Lincoln Avenue to the large culvert under I-164. Along this section a fenced storage yard in Warrick County has prevented proper maintenance of the drain for years, and now that is adversely affecting the condominium lawns across in our county, and it’s adversely affecting the ability of the Dunn development area to drain into the ditch. So, we are encouraging, kind of like a carrot on a stick to Warrick County. They’ve already started with their project, and this would be another $10,000 or $11,000 that would help them complete it, if it benefits us. In Armstrong Township we have some ditch projects, including embankment repairs on Barr Creek, Maidlow Ditch and Rexing Creek. In Union Township bottoms we have some additional maintenance we would like to perform on Cypress Dale-Maddox, Helfrich Happe, and Kamp Ditches to remove silt accumulation and woody vegetation. What I have mentioned above is in addition to the regular annual application of herbicides and mechanical mowing. Taken all together, the recommended contracts that I’ve put on your desk today represent the lowest dollar bid by a qualified, responsive bidders. The work to be accomplished will leave our drains in the best serviceable conditions for the funds we have available to spend. I did receive two unsolicited bids, one on Pond Flat Main and one on Buente Upper Big Creek, and while I thank the bidders for submitting those bids, I recommend not to let the contracts on those two ditches in 2007 due to a shortage of funds in those two accounts to accomplish what we want to accomplish in the next couple of years. So, basically, I’m laying back and letting surplus accumulate. The March 2007 balance that I’ve shown you is $381,448. The total contract recommended at this time, on your desk is $100,101. So, that’s covered. The estimated income for 2007, via ditch assessments, is $181,633.31. So, we have more coming in. Remaining claims to be paid for 2006 contracts that you entered into last year, but are not quite complete at this time, $173,700. So, our projected year end balance, without additional contracts beyond what I’m asking for today will be, $289,280.39. We do anticipate some additional projects over the course of 2007 for work that may be found to be needed, and for which we will develop specifications, especially related to East Side Urban Drain improvements that are under study at this time, and for projects associated with neighborhood flooding. At this time the County Surveyor recommends that the board let contracts to the respective bidders for the amounts shown on the spreadsheets in front of you for work to be completed in 2007.

President Nix: Thank you, Mr. Jeffers. Any questions from the board? I’ll entertain a motion.

Commissioner Tornatta: Move approval of the Surveyor’s explanation of contracts for the 2007 ditch repairs.

Commissioner Musgrave: Second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

Bill Jeffers: I do have one claim to be paid that’s laid on your desk in front of your recording secretary on behalf of American Structure Point Engineering, Indianapolis, Indiana, for, it’s a progress payment on their study of East Side Urban drain.

President Nix: Okay, any other–

Bill Jeffers: I recommend payment of that as well.

Commissioner Musgrave: Move approval.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Nix: Any other business?

Bill Jeffers: No, sir.

Commissioner Musgrave: Motion to adjourn.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

Bill Jeffers: Thank you.

(The meeting was adjourned at 4:20 p.m.)

Those in Attendance:

Bill Nix                                      Troy Tornatta                            Cheryl Musgrave

Bill Jeffers                                 Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          Madelyn Grayson

Darrell Helfert                           Others Unidentified                   Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

DRAINAGE BOARD

Bill Nix, President

Troy Tornatta, Vice President

Cheryl A.W. Musgrave, Member

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.)