FINDLAY, Ohio — In 2014, the Findlay Mayor's Office asked the Hancock County Engineer's Office to submit a petition to get the ditches along Howard Run.
Neil Clark, 89, of Neil Farms, says he's been doing farming work his whole life. He owns 1,600 acres of land and said he's never been asked to pay as much for a ditch cleanup as a recent letter estimated: $4,278 and possibly an annual $213.93 to maintain it.
"I'm not against it, but I think it's a little bit excessive," Clark said. "Somebody called and told me about it first and I thought holy smokes, this must be a mistake. Well, the letter came several days later, and I realized it wasn't a mistake."
The mayor's office put the petition together to start maintaining the ditch, which is currently maintained by individual residents.
The Hancock County Engineer's Office says the cleanup will do a lot for the community, like reduce damage from floods and remove any water conditions that might jeopardize public health.
"Unfortunately, we're playing catch up with getting these under maintenance," said Findlay Mayor Christina Muryn.
While the petition was put together by a previous administration, Muryn said the work is important.
"I'm not aware of any specific issues that are occurring," Muryn said. "It's more so we need to be maintaining these long-term and the cost is only going to continue to go up the longer we wait."
At Tuesday's Findlay City Council meeting, resident Dan Delong asked the city to help pay for the cleanup and consult the county on it.
Council members and the mayor said they'll look into what their options are for the cleanup. But Delong said it's a start.
"At least talking to the commissioners about it and letting them know there are questions and alternatives to maybe paying for the ditch," Delong said.
For Clark, that's at least a silver lining for his more than two square miles of farmland.
"I'm for anybody that wants to give us some money," Clark said.
The meeting to finalize the cleanup effort in Hancock County is Thursday.
At the request of some council members, Muryn said she's going to speak with the engineer's office to see if there are options to help residents.