West Walnut St. drainage concerns longtime residents

Having dubbed their yard “Snider’s Lake” following any rainstorm of significance, a Greencastle couple is asking the county for a solution.

Hal and Linda Snider appeared before the Putnam County Commissioners Monday morning regarding their property on West Walnut Street just west of the Greencastle city limits.

The Sniders’ property, technically located at 1319 W. CR 125 South, is situated at a low point several properties west (and downhill) from the CSX Railroad crossing that marks the western edge of the city.

Ever since the Sniders moved to the property in 1995, any big rain causes the yard to flood, causing them to lose multiple trees and other plants and flowers over the last 25 years.

Several years ago, the county attempted to fix the problem by installing a drain in the yard. While this works for a while, any flow of water carries with it leaves, sticks and dirt that inevitably clog the drain.

The Sniders added that they have also had issues with getting responses when they’ve attempted to contact the highway department or commissioners.

“I haven’t had a good experience with anybody getting back with me any time I’ve called,” Linda Snider said.

Asked what he plans to do to address the issue, County Highway Supervisor Mike Ricketts said longer term he has a bigger plan.

“It’s kind of a bigger issue in that you kind of need a curb and storm sewer,” Ricketts said. However, Ricketts added that this sort of solution would require federal aid funding, which is not obtained overnight.

“It’ll be an expensive project for that section right there but that is my dream to take care of that,” Ricketts said.

In the meantime, the Sniders are wanting something that can alleviate the problem sooner.

“I’ve heard this before, ‘We’ve gotta do something, we’ve gotta do something.’ I want to know something before summer,” Linda Snider said. “I’m not trying to be difficult, but I want to see you do something, even if it’s making the drain bigger.”

The couple expressed their disgust at having dealt with the same problem for more than 20 years, having purchased the house unaware of such an issue.

“The really bad part is, if we wanted to sell our house, we couldn’t. Nobody would buy it,” Linda said.

Sharing his mobile phone number with the Sniders, Commissioner Rick Woodall said he would work with the highway to try to come up with a solution.

In other business:

• After reviewing the various bids, the county will purchase six new dump trucks from Palmer Trucks at a total cost of $1,182,132, which is $197,022 each.

The next step will be to obtain financing to lease the vehicles. As such, Ricketts has reached out to banks in the county for their financing options.

The commissioners plan to choose a financial institution during their March 16 meeting.

• Other highway business discussed included the current ditching work by the various highway crews.

Ricketts said the ditch work is more than halfway done, but when it is too cold or too wet, crews are instead spot patching gravel roads.

Asked by Woodall about Bridge 45 on the Hendricks County line in Jackson Township, Ricketts expressed his confidence the bridge would be reopened this year.

Ricketts also expressed his hope that the county will hear back on its Community Crossings application later this month.

• Woodall reported the field of applicants for Putnam County EMS director has been narrowed to four candidates.

He hopes to conduct interviews before the end of the week in order to move forward.

The fledgling county-run EMS service, which took over for non-profit Operation Life on Jan. 1, is currently without a director or deputy director following the resignations of E.J. Claflin and Joe Carnagua.

Claflin has continued to assist as needed from his new home in North Carolina since departing in January.

Woodall is hopeful to have a new director in the coming weeks.