Upcoming election January 17, 2026
The annual election is the third Saturday of January (January 17, 2026.) Polls will be open from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at 2965 300th St, Dickens, IA 51333 (Gerdeman residence.) Absentee ballots may be requested beginning December 28, 2025. Your participation is greatly appreciated!
Rod Dillard’s 3-year term is coming to an end. A lot has happened in that period of time, and we are so grateful for his dedication and service to DD#37/Pickerel Run. Thank you, Rod! Rod has graciously agreed to run for another term. If anyone else is interested in running, a Petition for Trustee and Affidavit of Candidacy must be completed and submitted to me on or before December 24, 2025 in order to be included on the ballot.
Drainage District #37 Meeting of Private Trustees
10:00 a.m. June 19, 2025
Clay County Administration Board Room
The June 19, 2025 meeting of the Drainage District #37 Trustees was held at 10:00 a.m. in the Clay County Administration Board Room.
In attendance in person were trustees Bill Gerdeman and John Metcalf, clerk Connie Swan, and guests Candace White and Steve Swan. In attendance by phone were trustee Rod Dillard and guest Linda Carter.
Bill called the meeting to order at 10:00.
The minutes of the May 8, 2025 meeting were approved as presented and will be emailed to the distribution list and posted on the pickerelrun.com website.
The following bill was presented:
- Iowa Drainage District Association $239.49 for annual dues
Rod moved to allow the bill. Second by John. Motion carried.
New Business
US Fish & Wildlife has been assessed as a landowner of acres in the district. As a federal entity it has not and will not pay its portion. This issue was addressed previously at the June 21, 2023 meeting:
US Fish & Wildlife has been assessed as a landowner of acres in the district, but as a federal entity it has not and will not pay its portion. The auditor’s office suggested that the amount due be abated. Rod moved to abate the amount due from US Fish & Wildlife. Second by Bill. Motion carried.
The issue was revisited at the October 11, 2023 meeting:
At the June 21, 2023 meeting of the Trustees a motion was made to abate the amount due from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the 2022 levy. Under advisement from the Clay County Board of Supervisors, Bill moved to rescind that motion. Second by Rod. It was discussed that this will provide the option to pursue unpaid apportionments in the future. Motion carried.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has since reiterated that property owned by the United States Government is not subject to taxes. The Clay County Treasurer and Clay County Auditor asked the trustees to consider abatement of the amount due. Doing so would not necessarily establish a precedent for future assessments. John moved to abate the amount due from US Fish & Wildlife as of June 2025 in the amount of $1,849.69. Second by Rod. Motion carried.
Reclassification
Bill spoke with Aaron Rutter about what would need to happen in order to reclassify the land in the district. There is a possibility it could be done for between $12,000 and $15,000. A hearing would be required. John moved to table the conversation regarding reclassification to a future meeting. Second by Rod. Motion carried.
Tabled from last meeting
Summit Carbon Solutions has approached the trustees about the proposed CO2 pipeline that would cross district tile lines and the drainage ditch if the project is approved. Supervisor Barry Anderson informed Bill that Clay County has refrained from signing a resolution on behalf of the other drainage districts in Clay County. There was discussion regarding the sample resolution received from Summit. According to Collin Klingbeil of Jacobson-Westergard & Associates, several other counties have signed a similar resolution. One strategy would be to wait to see if the project will actually happen. Another is to sign a resolution with a sunset clause, and receive funds for the district, regardless of whether the project is competed or not. The proposed amount is $10,000 per district tile crossing. From initial map comparisons, it appears there would be eight tile crossings, plus Pickerel Run. Concern was expressed regarding private tiles, which could impact the district. Connie Swan will try to get information regarding what other counties have done. Discussion was tabled for a future meeting.
Repair project updates
The repair to the district tile on Jackie’s Farm has been completed but no bill has been received.
There was a plugged tile on the Batcheler Farm in Sub District 2. The tile was jetted. The bill has not been received, but will be assessed to Sub District 2.
Matters/questions from owners
At the May 8, 2025 meeting:
Rod moved that district tile outlets emptying into the ditch be schedule 40/dual wall metal tile. If the landowner opts to use plastic for the outlet and it is destroyed, by fire or other means, then it is the landowner’s responsibility to replace/repair the outlet at no cost to the district. Second by Bill. Motion carried.
The trustees have learned that Timewell Drainage Products in Sibley, Iowa is a distributor of aluminum culverts, which would not burn and would have a longer life than other options. Bill will research to learn what the maximum size is.
The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 31, 2025 at 10:00 a.m.
John moved to adjourn the meeting. Second by Rod. Meeting adjourned at 10:43 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Connie Swan, Clerk Bill Gerdeman, Chairrdeman, Chair
Spencer Daily Reporter: Controversial drainage repair completed
by Nick Lowrey, Staff Writer
June 7, 2024
After 5 years, 2 lawsuits and almost $1.5 million spent Drainage District 37’s major maintenance project is complete. By unanimous vote, trustees of Clay County’s Drainage District 37 approved the completion report for major cleanup and repair of its century-old main open drainage ditch on June 6 and marked the end of a five-year-long legal drama. The trustees’ vote came during a special board meeting and after a hearing on the project’s completion report presented by Collin Klingbeil of Jacobsen-Westergard and Associates, the engineering firm hired to oversee the nearly $830,000 project. Later, during the board’s regular meeting held the same day, the three trustees, Allen McGranahan, Bill Gerdeman, and Rodney Dillard, also voted to settle an unfinished lawsuit related to the project and approved a tax levy of $843,930.10 to be assessed to Drainage District 37 (DD37) landowners. The series of votes marked the end of a yearslong saga. It began when a group of local landowners originally filed a lawsuit against the Clay County Board of Supervisors in 2019. In 2018, landowners in DD37 asked Clay County to investigate the tile drainage lines in DD37, located in eastern Clay County about 2.5 miles west of Lost Island Lake. At the time, the County board of supervisors was responsible for maintenance in the district, and the 100-year-old main ditch wasn’t draining efficiently. In 2018, the Clay County Board hired the engineering firm Bolton and Menk LLC to investigate the drainage issues and recommend a potential fix for any problems found in its investigation. Ultimately, Bolton and Menk engineers proposed a $3.6 million project that would remove trees and other vegetation and deepen and widen the ditch. The project’s cost would be covered via a tax levied on landowners in DD37. The district’s landowners, McGranahan, Gerdeman, and Dillard among them, found the project’s cost to be too high and the scope of work to be too broad. They filed formal objections to the plan. The County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing about the Bolton and Menk plan on Jan. 14, 2019. They found that the objecting landowners didn’t own enough property in DD37 to stop the project under Iowa law and voted to move forward with it. Iowa law requires that at least 50% of landowners owning at least 70% of the property in a drainage district must file objections before a maintenance project can be stopped. In February 2019, DD37 landowners Robert Swan and David Wyatt, with backing from their neighbors, appealed the board’s decision to the Clay County district court. They argued that the county had miscalculated the amount of land they owned and that the project wasn’t necessary, desired, or feasible. In a summary judgment dismissing the case, the court ruled against the objecting landowners. The court found that despite some miscalculations on the county board of supervisors’ part, not enough landowners had filed objections to the project. On appeal, the Iowa Court of Appeals found that the objecting landowners didn’t own enough land in DD37 to stop the project. However, the appeals court also found that the case shouldn’t have been dismissed outright because the objecting landowner’s claim that the project wasn’t feasible or desired hadn’t been answered. That portion of the case was sent back to Clay County’s district court. In May 2019, 75 DD37 landowners signed petitions calling for an election to allow private trustees to take over management of the district. The Clay County Board of Supervisors denied the petition, claiming that some people who signed it only had fractional interests in their land, so they couldn’t be considered landowners. The petitioners appealed the county board’s decision to the Clay County district court. The county board’s argument didn’t hold up. Both the Clay County district court and the Iowa Court of Appeals found that if someone has a fractional interest in a piece of land, they are indeed a landowner and are entitled to the same rights as any other landowner. Landowners in DD37 held their election, took over management of the district, and elected a three-member board of trustees in 2021. In taking over the district’s management, the new board also took on all the costs associated with the Clay County Board of Supervisors’ actions on behalf of the district. The costs amounted to about $600,000 between legal fees and the Bolton and Menk contract. The DD37 board of trustees approved a tax levy to cover the costs and an extra $50,000 for maintenance in 2023. In September 2022, the DD37 board of trustees hired Jacobson-Westergard to evaluate the district’s main open ditch and devise a less costly maintenance plan. During the June 6 Board of Trustees meeting, McGranahan described the Jacobson-Westergard plan as the bare minimum amount of work needed to ensure the ditch continues to function. The new plan consisted of removing large trees from the ditch and adding new access lanes for future maintenance. The DD37 trustees accepted a low bid for the new project of $828,376.50 from Reutzel Excavating Inc. of Burt, Iowa. Reutzel finished its work in April 2024. All told, DD37 landowners will collectively pay about $1.49 million, less than half of the original project’s $3.6 million price tag.
Below are photos of the rip rap project that was completed in December 2024 along Pickerel Run (the drainage ditch) on the Wyatt property.
Note from the contractor and trustees: While in the photos it appears there is a lot of bare dirt, there is a significant amount of concrete under the dirt.
