Williams Commissioners Talk About Drainage Ditches

At Monday’s meet­ing of the Williams County Com­mis­sion­ers, a review of exist­ing county drainage ditch peti­tions resulted in about 20 prop­erty own­ers show­ing up to talk about it. The review, accord­ing to the Bryan Times, is required by law every six years. The six-year reviews of exit­ing ditches are sep­a­rate from peti­tions for new drainage ditches. The county recently began con­duct­ing sur­veys of ditches and prop­er­ties using a new com­puter pro­gram that is designed to be much more accu­rate than the old hand draw­ings. Prop­erty own­ers are accessed a main­te­nance fee for ditch clean­ing, expan­sions and other asso­ci­ated work based on the acreage within the drainage water­shed. Those funds are then deposited into the spe­cific ditch main­te­nance fund. When work is required, funds are with­drawn from the fund to pay for the main­te­nance. County offi­cials met with prop­erty own­ers after the meet­ing and made arrange­ments to meet with sev­eral other prop­erty own­ers to address ques­tions in greater detail.