Tuscola County Drain Commissioner

News

2013 Summer Hours:

Beginning May 28, 2013 thru August 30, 2013

Monday-Thursday: 7:00 am-5:00 pm

Open during lunch and closed Fridays

The Importance of Michigan's Drain Commissioners

About The Drain Commissioner

Please contact the Drain Commissioners office if you are building a home within 500 feet of an inland lake, stream or drain for the proper Right of Way width, which currently exist on all county drains. We all welcome the chance to serve you.

The Drain Commissioner is responsible for all established drains for storm water runoff, drainage and water quality according to the Michigan Drain Code, Act 40 of 1956 as amended. The Drain Commissioner is responsible for legal proceedings and hearings for open or closed channels, dams, dikes, levies, water and sewer projects, lake level control structures, pumping stations, and for the implementation of the Soil Erosion and Inland Lakes and Streams Acts. The Drain Commissioner requires that the proper size culverts are placed within the drain and that no obstructions will impede the flow of the channel. The Drain Commissioner has jurisdiction and responsibility over inter-county drains (drain into more than one county, or where the watershed boundary is in more than one county). The Drain Commissioner is required to keep in his/her office, a full financial statement of each drainage district, and complete record of such proceedings and legal documents as follows:

• Application for laying out and designing a drainage district
• A petition for construction of such a drain
• The minutes of survey (route and course)
• Releases of right of way
• Order of determination of necessity
• First and final order of determination
• Contracts
• Computation of cost
• Apportion of benefits
• Calculates the assessment of rolls for all drain work

Each drainage district or watershed is a separate infrastructure, with the Drain Commissioner having applied for and received numerous grant monies for various projects, which total well over $1,000,000 to date that would otherwise not have been received.

 Tuscola County Drains

There are 554 established drains of which 75 are inter-county drains under the jurisdiction of the Tuscola County Drain Commissioner, which total approximately 1,259 miles and drain approximately 827 square miles. The Drain Commissioner is a member by statute of the Department of Public Works Board, or may be elected to the office of Public Works Commissioner. The Drain Commissioner sits on the Parks and Recreation Board and usually sits on the Planning Commission Board as well as the Mosquito Abatement Board if appointed by the Board of Commissioners, and as statute requires.

Staff

• Bob Mantey- Drain Commissioner - Elected November 2008
• Patricia Witkovsky - Deputy Drain Commissioner - Appointed in 2009
• Dara McGarry - Account Assessment Specialist - Hired March 2009