SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - The Minnehaha County Commission took the first step today to repeal and replace its drainage ordinance and dissolve the drainage board.
County Planner Scott Anderson says drainage permit requests are low now because commodity prices are low. He says producers aren't willing to bear the expense of tiling land with low crop prices. Anderson says when prices were higher, ten years ago, the county was doing up to 200 requests a year and some were appealed to the drainage board.
Kersten Kappmeyer with the State's Attorney's Office says that whoever prevails in a drainage dispute before the commission, or drainage board, "basically gets the county to step in and assert the litigation on their behalf. If that's appealed they don't have to bear their own costs, they're basically having those costs and that burden borne by the county as an entity. So it's the other private landowner and the county that then are litigating."
Kappmeyer says an analogy would be if he took a case over to the circuit court and the judge issued a decision in his favor and it was appealed to the supreme court, he could tell the judge to get a lawyer to defend his own decision.
Kappmeyer says the county is not required by the state to have a drainage ordinance.
There will be a public hearing at next Tuesday's Minnehaha County Commission on a replacement ordinance that will offer some tweaks to the system.
Some commissioners felt the body is still too involved in what should be a civil matter between landowners.