VANDERBURGH COUNTY

DRAINAGE BOARD

MARCH 13, 2007

The Vanderburgh County Drainage Board met in session this 13^th day of March, 2007 at 4:47 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, Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 4:47.

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

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Musgrave: I’ll second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Nix: Mr. Jeffers, good afternoon to you, sir.

Bill Jeffers: Good afternoon, Commissioner Nix. Last year we employed Wessler Engineering to take a look at Kolb Ditch and give us an evaluation of its condition, and produce some recommendations for its improvements. That’s not the map on your desk, that may be a later discussion, but, today we have Brian Mundy, who’s a civil engineer from Wessler, who will give you a five minute quickie on the evaluation of Kolb Ditch and some recommendations for its improvement over the next several years.

President Nix: Thank you.

Brian Mundy: Thank you. I’m Brian Mundy with MD Wessler. We were hired about nine months ago, like Bill said, to evaluate Kolb Ditch. The goals of our evaluation were to take a look at the structural conditions of Kolb Ditch from Covert Avenue to the Ohio River levee system down by Angel Mounds, to propose some conveyance and stability solutions, to propose some best management practices, or BMP’s, for improving water quality and removing sediment from the drain, and then to develop a long range plan to implement our recommendations, and then to also look at cost implement requirements. We broke this project down into five areas starting out, because we knew that we wouldn’t be able to fund the whole project at one time. So, area A goes from Covert Avenue to Seasons Ridge Boulevard, which is basically the entrance to Price Park. Area B goes from Seasons Ridge Boulvard to the entrance at Eastland Estates, which is, basically, through Price Park. Area C goes from Eastland Estates, through Audubon Estates, and terminates at the spillway into Audubon Estates lake. Area D encompasses just the lake itself. Area E is Audubon Estates lake to the Ohio River levee system. This photo here shows the general condition of the drain. This is looking northwest from Seasons Ridge to Covert Avenue through a farm field. You can see this is, this was taken in, I would say July of 2006, and you can see there’s water standing there in a relatively dry period of the year. That’s typical throughout the drain. You can see there’s been sediment build up and that sort of thing. This is looking from Seasons Ridge across through Price Park, and you can see that the ditch is wet through there, there’s been water standing, there’s been complaints of mosquito infestation through this area when the kids are out there playing soccer and things. This is looking at Eastland Estates Subdivision, just a typical culvert under one of the subdivision streets. You can see there’s sediment build up at the entrance to that culvert, which is typical throughout the entire drain. Area D is the Audubon Estates lake. This is one area that we took a hard look at. As you can see, the rip rap there, the top, depicts about where the high water line used to be years ago. Now, what has happened is, we think the lake has started to leak through the bottom, and it’s going down. There’s been people that have built docks. This is kind of a temporary dock, but around the lake there is sort of permanent docks that are now unusable because the water is, you know, six or eight feet lower than what it used to be. This is the lake outlet into the box culvert that goes under I-164. As you can see there is quite a bit of erosion through there. What’s happening is during, whevever it actually rains, as flat as it is out here, because this lake is down so far, water is actually flowing backwards into the lake and causing this to erode out. There is also, up to the, back to the north you can see that ditch that’s coming in there at the top of the picture, there’s, some water was diverted when the interstate was built, because the subdivision was split in half, and there is a lot of water that’s coming down that ditch there that’s turning and actually coming into the lake because of the lowered elevation of the lake. This is just, this photo here is just a picture of Area E, which is off of Pollack Avenue. There’s another farm field there with a lot of sediment that’s getting into the ditch and clogging it up. This is just a look at the culvert that’s coming under Pollack Avenue. This is between Pollack Avenue and the levee system. You can see the typical sediment build up throughout that area also. Also, just to show you, we took a couple of photos when we had the big storm back in 2006. We went out there, and this is some typical flooding that you saw along the ditch. Of course, all the streets in the subdivision were flooded also. Probably, no matter what we do to the actual drain itself, we’re not going to eliminate flooding in this type of a rain, but, I thought it was a nice photo to show what it looked like out there. This one here, if you remember the boat dock with the paddle boat from the previous slide, this is what the lake looked like that day that we had all the rain. Actually, it’s up about two feet or so higher than what it should be, but the lake does fill up during a high rain event. So, some of our preliminary recommendations, Area A, which is from right at Covert Avenue, we recommend grading that to flow back to Covert Avenue and into the City of Evansville storm sewer system, which is the way it appears that it was meant to be in the beginninng. Then, install a filter strip along both sides of the drain to help catch some of that sediment before it gets into the drain, and, hopefully, keep that open at an estimated cost of $25,500. Recommendations of Area B, we can grade a portion of that through Price Park to flow northwesterly back to Covert, which is about halfway through Price Park. The remaining area will drain on through Eastland Estates and into the lake at Audubon Estates. Then, also, we recommend installing a storm water pond at Seasons Ridge Boulevard, between Park Street and Seasons Ridge to serve a couple of purposes, to remove sediment from the water, and to, it serves as a best management practice for mosquito control. Area C, reset the culverts under Glenmoor and Ridgeway. There’s a couple of culverts through those subdivisions that when they were put in, they weren’t put in at a proper elevation, and they are adding to the problem. You have very little fall through this entire project area, and it’s important to have these culverts on the right grade to allow the water to drain out. Also, we looked at putting in (Inaudible) retention areas which are just aesthetic areas to help remove sediment out of the storm water to enhance the look of the area, to maybe give the residents something to want to take care of, rather than put their yard waste and things in. The estimate for that area, Area C, is $104,500. Then the big thing, the lake, we looked at two things in the lake, to seal the lake and bring it back up to the elevation that it was when it was constructed. There are basically two methods we looked at sealing the bottom using Bentonite. One method is called the sprinkle method, where you basically go out in a boat and sprinkle the Bentonite across the entire surface and it falls down to the bottom and seals the cracks, hopefully. The other method is called the mixed blanket method, where you actually drain the lake, we go in, we take out all the sediment and then we mix the Bentonite in with the soil. That will provide a really good seal. As you can see, the sprinkle method is $95,500, where the mixed blanket is $131,900. So, there is a substantial cost increase to draining the lake and doing the mixed blanket. Then, Area E, we looked at that area, and, basically, all that really needs to be done through there is it needs to be regraded. We need to install a filter strip through the farm field to take the sediment out, to help keep it from clogging up. Then we recommend putting another storm water pond between Pollack Avenue and the Ohio River levee, just to give a little bit of extra storage through that area. The estimated cost of that section is $89,100. So, basically, what we’re looking at for the entire project, using the....keep going, keep going, keep going, there you go, using the sprinkle method in Area D, the entire project you’re looking at about $392,700, where the mixed blanket method you’re looking at about $429,100. So, we’ve put all this together in a preliminary report that I’ve delivered to Bill for his review. Then, once he finalizes it and gives me his changes, we’ll be putting it together to deliver to you for your reading enjoyment. So, that’s all I have. If you have any questions, I would be happy to try to answer them.

President Nix: Thank you.

Brian Mundy: Okay.

President Nix: Questions?

Commissioner Musgrave: I do have a question for the Surveyor Jeffers. So, how much of this do we have funding available for? I mean, what’s the level of funding that we have?

Bill Jeffers: Our level of funding at the present time, and before I tell you what that is, let me reinforce that the way we have assessed since I came to work in 1981, was based on how much it cost to spray the bottom of the ditch and sterilize, kills the cattails, and so forth, spray herbicides on the side banks to keep the horse weed down and that type of thing, and send a mower through there once or twice a year to mow satisfactory at the end of the season, to mow down all the noxious looking weeds, and because it’s a residential area, keep it somewhat groomed. And, at this point in time that costs us in the neighborhood of $8,000 a year. So, our total assessment for the year is $9,000 every year. The reason, and because we are very frugal with our applications of spray and mowing, we were able to accumulate a surplus in that account sufficient to hire a consultant to come in and give us some ideas about what really is needed to convert this regulated drain into a properly operating drain. I’m sure, as we went through the slides you saw areas that had been the subject of many complaints over the years from the Audubon Lake Owners Association about the condition of their lake being five feet too low, all the pipes that come in from the street system are caving off, and there’s erosion all around the lake. We’ve spent about $20,000 on that lake in the last ten years. Actually, the lake itself, our entrance into the lake, where our drain comes into the lake and leaves the lake is our responsibility. The lake itself is the responsibility of the homeowners association, and we are just trying to assist them with an evaluation of what it needs. I was working as Chief Deputy Surveyor when Audubon Estates was approved for drainage plan, and we recommended at that time that the lake be Bentonited and sealed, because it’s a huge sand pit that was used as a borrow pit for the construction of I-164. Our recommendation was not followed, and the lake now leaks, and that’s the result is what you see. So, I guess, what your question is, how long will it take us to to accumulate $392,000 at $9,000 a year? I’m sure, you have a calculator up there and can tell me that answer. What I would like to point out is that several of the recommendations that are being made by Wessler, which have been enumerated by Brian today, are recommendations that we probably should enter into partnerships with the Parks Department to complete in Price Park, with the homeowners association in Audubon to do their lake, and so forth. That a lot of his recommendations have to do with water quality, and when we establish our storm water, I don’t know what you guys are going to do about the Rule 13 stuff, or you may have a storm water utility in the future. Or you may have assessments for that in the future, like other communities have. Some of the money could come from there. Additionally, some of the culverts that need to be reset are in Price Park, and the Parks Department contractor set them too high. Then there are others that over a period of time need some adjustment that may fall under the Bridge Fund, I’m hoping. So, I think it will be a combination of funding, some creative funding, maybe some grant, seeking some grants, maybe some partnerships with other entities, state, federal and local to get some of these things done. I just wanted to put in front of you what we feel is what’s really necessary over the next ten years to bring the entire system into a better condition.

Commissioner Musgrave: I’ve heard discussion that came up as a result of the hearings that the city is holding talking about the southeast side flooding, and there are some comments made by folks who are suggesting that the city will implement a, some sort of taxing district to deal with those problems. Would these costs be appropriately included in such a taxing district?

Bill Jeffers: To some degree with this particular ditch, I think so, because it drains Audubon Estates, I mean, Arcadian Acres, excuse me. It drains some areas of Arcadian Acres that had been subject of the Storm Water Task Force planning. But, not so much to the same degree as say Eagle Slough, which drains the entire southeast side. I would be going after funds for Eagle Slough from federal funds, or whatever funds are available, because that drains more of the area of the city that’s adversely affected by flooding.

Commissioner Musgrave: Would you inquire with, I don’t know who’s leading that task force, whether or not they are considering a taxing district for water issues? And, whether or not it will be asked to be joint in anyway? Because if it is, then your $9,000 a year will never address this problem, and I’m not sure how else it would get done.

Bill Jeffers: Okay. I’m on that task force, I’ll eventually have the chance to broach that subject when they start talking about funding.

President Nix: One question, and I know unless it’s all completed it’s probably not going to do us a whole lot of good, but the culvert or whatever structure is underneath 164, is it in decent shape? Or is that, because, I mean, that kind of turns into a state issue, doesn’t it?

Bill Jeffers: The culvert itself is in decent shape.

Commissioner Nix: Okay, so that, there’s not necessarily a problem?

Bill Jeffers: But, what the state did, what INDOT did by diverting the water in such a way, they are, they have reversed the flow of water into our system in such a way that it has damaged us. We just need to get something worked out down there. I would like to include them in the discussion. I had hoped when I started all this, there was a bill in front of the legislature that if we could determine the viability of a drain over a 20 year period, and then determine how much money was needed to bring that drain into total operating condition at the end of that 20 year period, we could then set the assessments based on 20, I mean, 20 one year increments to pay for that. But, that bill has now been taken out of consideration. So, it’s not, it’s no longer an option this year.

President Nix: And, once again, that’s a long term deal there.

Bill Jeffers: Right.

President Nix: I mean, because–

Bill Jeffers: Right, and it’s not available at this time–

President Nix: Right.

Bill Jeffers: –because they took that off the table.

President Nix: Okay. Thank you , Mr. Jeffers.

Bill Jeffers: Thank you.

Bill Jeffers: You had asked for a report on Broadway and Johnson in response to a citizen complaint. John Stoll has that for you at that time, if you wish to receive it.

Thank you, Brian.

Brian Mundy: Thank you. Take care.

Bill Jeffers: This is a report that John sent to me (Inaudible). I will give you a hard copy, in case. Do you need an extra one?

John Stoll: One of the things that will need to get resolved out there is just legally what the county can and can’t do. There are a number of problems with a structure that is located off the city’s right-of-way for either, for both Broadway and for Johnson. It’s located on private property. I’ve provided you with a copy of the most recent survey that was done out there, and it does show that the concrete block and timber structure is located outside of the right-of-way. The County Attorney will have to just give us some guidance as to what the county’s obligations are, what liabilities we have, and things like that. The Beam Longest and Neff inspection report does recommend replacement of the Broadway structure for next year. I believe they estimated 380 something thousand dollars, 386. So, that will be a number we would have to put in next year’s budget, but that does not include all the off right-of-way issues that have to be resolved. As far as Johnson Lane is concerned, it’s a dead end road, and that will dictate, we’ll have to do something quickly as far as getting the new structure installed. That’s why we were looking at pre-cast box options. The American Consulting report for the Carpentier Creek watershed had evaluated a 20 by eight foot box culvert. That caused 1.75 foot drop in the upstream flood elevation, so, there is a significant improvement. The question then becomes how to deal with everything that is located off the city right-of-way for Broadway and for Johnson. That’s what I’ll have to get with the County Attorney on, to see where we go from here.

Commissioner Tornatta: Real quickly, we did talk about the major influx of water is when the river rises, and at that point you have no gain.

John Stoll: Right, you would have a gain for upstream waters coming down, but when the river comes up and nothing is flowing, then you really aren’t going to improve things substantially.

President Nix: John, do you know about what level the river has to be at before that takes place?

John Stoll: Off the top of my head, no, I don’t.

President Nix: Okay, I didn’t know if that, because there’s a way we could look and see how much time of the year that would actually occur then.

Commissioner Tornatta: I think that’s the issue, as it stands is, it’s not necessarily the fact that the river comes up at any certain times or what have you. Obviously, this would help out to alleviate some of the waters, but it is the fact that when it does come up, you’re at a crisis situation. What we don’t want to send out is that we’re going to alleviate this problem, because the river dictates the problem.

John Stoll: Another problem too is, the culvert under Johnson is significantly smaller than the next culvert up, actually, the next structure upstream is a bridge on Rollet’s Lane. So, it’s passing quite a bit more flow, gets to Johnson Lane and then it’s choked down. Once that culvert can’t handle it, it’s my understanding that water then goes out of the banks and down Johnson Lane. We can increase the size of the Johnson Lane culvert, subject to what happens off the right-of-way, but then once that continues to the east, it then makes a, basically, a 90 degree turn to the south, and that ditch is not in good shape either. So, there’s not a whole lot on right-of-way that can be done that can resolve these situations.

Commissioner Tornatta: Which brings us to the point, then do you excavate the ditch to a certain point to Bayou Creek in order to keep those levels as low as possible?

John Stoll: I didn’t put all of the American Consulting recommendations in that hand out. I can get you everything, but the dredging of Bayou and Carpentier Creek was a multi-million dollar project, if I remember correctly. Another option they had recommended was cutting a new channel out to the river, rather than trying to upgrade the existing one, simply because the cost for the dredging, as well as the environmental permit issues that would come into play were substantial. So, I can get you the rest of those options, they just aren’t included in what you’ve got there.

President Nix: Would there be a way to tell, like when you’re looking out, I don’t want you to spend a lot of time on this, but, to tell that three months out of the year the river is at a certain height anyway, and when it rains there’s no place for the water to go? I would like to have that understanding that, or, I mean, is it just at a certain point? I mean, I’m sure at a certain elevation, when it rains, everything is full and there’s no place for it to go. Is that once a year, twice a year? Is it for two months? Is it–

John Stoll: I’ll have to look through that report again and see if it addresses anything like that.

President Nix: Because it seemed like when the neighbors were here, was it, I guess, a month or so back, it seemed like it was a whole lot worse when the river was up. I think one of you two addressed that at that time, that, you know, you can’t make the river go down to let the creek, to relieve the creek. I mean, it’s not possible.

John Stoll: Even separate from that issue, I mean, even though the river will control the drainage, but we’ve got two sub-standard structures out there, one on Johnson Lane and one on Broadway. So, we’ll have to replace those anyway. So, independent of how much drainage improvement you’re going to see by replacing those structures, those structures are in bad enough shape that they were recommended for replacement. So, we’ll have to replace them, it’s just how much drainage benefit anybody will see out there. So, we’ll have to do some work regardless. It just may not provide the benefit the residents are wanting to see.

President Nix: Okay, fair enough. Thank you.

John Stoll: You’re welcome.

Bill Jeffers: I’m going to say something briefly before I go, I forgot earlier, when Commissioner Musgrave asked me, and you guys probably already know this, but for those viewing at home, the $9,000 we collect per year on Kolb Ditch is a drainage assessment for the spraying and mowing and maintenance of that ditch. That comes from the individual parcels that drain into the ditch. So, if we were to raise that assessment, every parcel would have to pay a proportionately higher amount. It’s a user fee. So, that’s why we’ve kept it very low, and just kept the spraying and mowing our main focus. When we get into something that’s going to cost several hundred thousand dollars, you can see that the five dollar assessment that a parcel pays every year, for the $9,000 total, that five dollar assessment could be $50 or $100, or $300 or whatever, depending on how high we went. So, I wanted to throw that out there. As far as dredging the tributary from Broadway down, I put a map on your desk, aerial photograph, at the north end is Broadway, at the south end is Bayou Creek, and it shows that there’s a total of about 5,000 lineal feet of that creek that would have to be dredged. Most of it, well, all of it is in the flood plain, most of it is inundated when you get up around 372 or so. I’ll have to check and give you a figure on the river stick, in other words whether that’s 38 feet or 42 feet on the river guage. That’s what you’re wanting to know, and that’s what I’ll have for you next week.

President Nix: Yeah, in relationship to elevations up there.

Bill Jeffers: I’ll have that for you next week.

President Nix: Alright, thank you.

Bill Jeffers: In the meantime, I want you to consider that 2,600 feet of that is in the city, that’s from Broadway to Nolan, and 2,350 is outside the city, the remainder that goes down from Nolan to Bayou Creek. So, you have approximately 4,950 feet, or I’m calling it 5,000 feet, by the time you do your blending. The entire creek is tree lined, as you can see from the aerial photograph, and it has limited access for equipment to get in to do the dredge work. Both banks are tree lined and present severe access and working area restrictions. Once you’re in there, you can’t swing your bucket, because there’s a tree right here and there’s a tree right there. So, you can reach out and dip the silt out of the ditch, but you can’t swing your bucket to get rid of that bucket load of silt. So, I did a tree count using that aerial photograph, I zoomed in and there’s approximately 30 trees for every 100 feet that would require removal to provide work space. So, every 100 feet out of that 5,000 feet you would have to remove 30 trees, which comes out to a minimum 1,500 trees would have to be removed just to be able to get in there and swing your bucket. Some of those trees have fallen down, so I was able to measure them using the, you know, the digital measuring stick, because they are laying flat on the ground, the shortest tree I saw was 30 feet tall before it fell, and the tallest was 110. So, we’re talking about some mature trees would have to be removed, you know, up to 100 feet tall. So, I’m estimating minimum tree removal at $100 per tree, just going in there and sawing them up and grinding them up and letting them haul the fire wood out, it’s still going to cost you $100 a tree.

Commissioner Tornatta: Now, where’s the good news?

Bill Jeffers: Pardon me?

Commissioner Tornatta: Where’s the good news?

Bill Jeffers: The good news is it’s only $150,000 to remove those 1,500 trees. Then your sediment removal I’m estimating at ten dollars a foot, dipping it out and then being able to deposit it on site. Not hauling it away. Hauling it away would be $20 a cubic yard. So, just taking it out and moving it and spreading it right there on the bank, I’m estimating ten dollars a running foot, or $50,000. Coincidentally, that comes out to $200 an hour for five, 50 hour weeks. Which, I think is about right for that kind of work. This doesn’t include any easement purchase, because there are no easements in the county for this ditch. It’s not a regulated drain. It’s a private creek. Doesn’t include any crop damage that someone might pursue, erosion control planning that the state’s going to require, maintenance of erosion control efforts, permits, mitigation. You’re working in a wet woodland, you’re going to have to mitigate the loss of those trees. Then the seeding of the banks, etcetera. So, it would be a substantial project, and if I could just go out and do it with no permits and none of today’s type of restrictions, I could do it for you for $200,000. But, as you’ll find in American Consulting’s report, the environmental considerations and mitigation and everything is going to be considerable.

President Nix: Okay. Thank you.

Bill Jeffers: The only other item of business, and I will get you that figure on what the flood water does next week. I have no other business except for claims for work that’s been completed on regulated drains. Your recording secretary has the paperwork in front of you, and I would ask that you approve those claims.

Commissioner Musgrave: Motion to approve the claims.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

President Nix: Any other business?

President Nix: Anyone here from the audience that would like to speak to the board about items pertaining to drainage? If not, I will entertain a motion to adjourn?

Commissioner Musgrave: So moved.

Commissioner Tornatta: Second.

President Nix: All in favor?

All Commissioners: Aye.

(The meeting was adjourned at 5:20 p.m.)

Those in Attendance:

Bill Nix                                      Troy Tornatta                            Cheryl Musgrave

Bill Jeffers                                 Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.          Madelyn Grayson

John Stoll                                  Brian Mundy                             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.)