A drain commissioner is an

elected official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of the ...

county government A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) ''Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denotin ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

who is responsible for planning, developing and maintaining surface water

drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils can prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditions that harm root gro ...

systems under Public Act 40 of 1956. In counties with a population under 12,000, the office of drain commissioner may be abolished with its

statutory A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

duties and responsibilities performed by the county's board of road commissioners. Unlike other county-wide officeholders, drain commissioners were created by statute and are not mandated by the

Michigan Constitution The Constitution of the State of Michigan is the governing document of the U.S. state of Michigan. It describes the structure and function of the state's government. There have been four constitutions approved by the people of Michigan. The fi ...

. Drain commissioners are elected on the

partisan Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...

ballot in presidential election years for a term of four years.

History and reform

The office of drain commissioner dates to Michigan's statehood in 1837, as much of the state's land was

swamps A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

and

wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

. An early bill passed by the

Michigan Legislature The Michigan Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of the Senate (the upper chamber) and the House of Representatives (the lower chamber). Article IV of the Michigan Con ...

was a drainage act, which led to the creation of drain commissioners at the

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

level. In 1897, township drain commissioners were abolished and the position was transferred to county government. Over the years, proposals have been made to reform and even abolish the office. Successful efforts have changed the law to allow individual counties to rename the office to public works commissioner or water resources commissioner. An unsuccessful reform proposal in 2009 was led by the then-drain commissioner of Cheboygan County, Dennis Lennox, who sought to abolish the office in counties with a population of less than 35,000. This proposal was introduced in both houses of the Legislature after being approved by the Cheboygan County

Board of Commissioners A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States. A county usually has three to five ...

. In 2012, the Schoolcraft County Board of Commissioners abolished the office of drain commissioner and transferred its duties and responsibilities to the county's road commissioners.

Duties and responsibilities

It is the only elected office in Michigan that can directly levy taxes and borrow money without a vote of the people. This led one drain commissioner to declare he is more powerful than the governor. While the powers of the drain commissioner are immense, the office has become a

sinecure A sinecure ( or ; from the Latin , 'without', and , 'care') is a position with a salary or otherwise generating income that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval church, ...

in some counties, meaning it requires little to no responsibility. Nevertheless, drain commissioners are responsible for overseeing the county's drains. In Michigan, a drain may be a natural or artificial creek or ditch, or a massive pipe for carrying storm water. The territory served by a particular drain, its watershed, is typically organized as a drainage district and the drain commissioner levies tax assessments and directs construction or maintenance of drains and culverts on behalf of each district. Drainage districts are public corporations, with legal rights similar to other political subdivisions of state government. Counties typically have dozens even hundreds of drainage districts.

References

{{reflist

External links

Michigan Association of County Drain Commissioners
Local government in Michigan Water law in the United States Government occupations Land management in the United States Water management

History and reform

Duties and responsibilities

See also

References

External links