County residents will have to wait a little longer before receiving their new addresses.
The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors will meet Monday, but the decision to mail tens of thousands of postcards notifying residents of their new addresses isn”t on the agenda.
“There”s just so much on us right now with redistricting,” said District 1 Supervisor Carl Clardy. “(The re-addressing) is something that doesn”t have a deadline on it so there”s no big push.”
County Administrator Don Posey said the matter may come up at Monday”s meeting.
The post cards, when they go out, will display the current address, new address and a picture of each house in the county. Residents will have one year from the time the postcards mail out to use both their old and new addresses before the old ones are removed forever.
The address system is being changed to eliminate flaws — like addresses appearing out of sequence — and give emergency responders the ability to pinpoint a home or structure via GPS regardless of whether or not the building is clearly labeled. The process has taken two years and cost $150,000 to complete, but Toby Sanford, Geographic Information Systems Manager for the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District, says the new addresses are ready.
Upon mailing the postcards, the GTPDD will notify the post office and phone companies of the new addresses. Phone companies will enter the data and eventually the new address will appear to emergency responders when a home phone dials 911.
Sanford said the new system was sorely needed in the county and would be equally useful in Starkville, but the city opted not to switch to the new system.
“There”s no need to get in a program we don”t see an advantage to,” said Starkville Chief Administrative Officer Lynn Spruill. “There are a few addresses with odd numbers on opposite sides of the road (in city limits). Those are left over from 30 years ago. If we change them now when everybody”s used to them it would cause more problems.”
Starkville Police Chief David Lindley, who is also the former 911 director, said incongruent addresses in the city can be a hassle but haven”t caused any serious delays in response time.
“I know of no significant problems reported to us in regard to emergency response,” he said.
Jim Britt, current 911 and emergency management coordinator, says new addresses would help the city get on the same page with the county in using national standards but aren”t crucial.
“The city department seems to know where the streets are. They just have to remember what”s what. As long as they”re comfortable with it, we can deal with it,” he said.
The GTPDD has performed the address mapping for Choctaw and Webster Counties and will do the same for Noxubee and Clay Counties.
Sanford said standard GPS units available to everyone will contain the new county road information if they”re new or recently updated. Posey said the county is working to put a GPS unit in every county emergency response vehicle to take advantage of the new address system.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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