The owner of a Manning fish hatchery has filed a petition in District Court for Carroll County that claims the City of Manning and its contractors caused significant damage to his ponds. According to court records, James Blankman, individually and doing business as Aquatic Resource Management, filed the petition Tuesday, Oct. 16. Blankman names five defendants in the petition: the City of Manning; the Manning Betterment Foundation; J&K Contracting, of Ames; Dirt to Turf, LLC, of Marshalltown; and Concrete Technologies, Inc., of Grimes. The petition states the city started a project in April of 2017 in the 300 block of Industrial Boulevard to develop and enhance commercial lots for sale near Manning’s Industrial Park. Blankman asserts a large amount of runoff triggered by a significant amount of dirt work and construction killed large quantities of fish, buried fish eggs and caused him to incur corrective costs. The counts against the defendants include negligence and nuisance and/or trespass. Blankman has requested the issue be decided before a jury.
