Vacating of ditch postponed by county

At the request of the county engineer’s office, the Ottawa County commissioners have extended the date they had set to complete the vacating of Otto Pfeiffer Ditch.
Property owners along the ditch were issued notices Aug. 15 of the commissioners’ decision.
After a hearing in May with owners who had signed a petition asking the ditch be vacated from the county maintenance program, the commissioners agreed to their request and set Aug. 12 as the deadline for filing the required paperwork for vacating it.
But the recent sale of a parcel with past due taxes and assessments has resulted in the county engineer asking for the delay in filing his report.
“The request was made because a parcel with past due taxes and assessments recently sold. However, the payment of taxes and assessments has not posted and is not expected to do so until March of 2023,” the notice to property owners says. “Payment of the past due assessments has the ability to impact final assessments for both this petition process and the maintenance fund for the ditch. Therefore, after careful consideration, this board (of commissioners) granted an extension to April 14, 2023. Once the report and schedules are filed with this board, notices will be sent to all property owners of record regarding a final hearing.”
Leona Dupler, a resident of Duff-Washa Road in Carroll Township, filed the petition last December to vacate the ditch that stretches for about 1.25 miles along Duff-Washa to State Rte. 19. Eight other landowners also signed the petition.
The residents were critical of what they see as a lack of maintenance by the county on the ditch and even questioned if the ditch was legitimately placed under the county’s maintenance program.
Ron Lajti, county engineer, said earlier that records indicate the ditch was added to the county’s program in January 1963.
Costs associated with maintaining a ditch are assessed to landowners whose property benefits from water drainage.