STARKVILLE — About 9,000 Oktibbeha County residents are getting new addresses, as part of an effort to make the 911 system more efficient.
The last batch of change-of-address cards for Oktibbeha County residents were mailed today as the three-year process to improve emergency response time starts to wind down.
Nearly 3,000 of the total 9,000 cards were mailed Friday with the remaining batch hitting mailboxes today, said Golden Triangle Planning and Development District Geographic Information Systems Manager Toby Sanford said.
The address cards, part of the first phase of the county”s comprehensive plan, inform residents of their new address based on the new system, what changes will take place at the post office and changes they”ll need to make on their property.
The new system brings Oktibbeha County up to the 911 national standard. Now, addresses are assigned fluidly on each road, as odd numbers are on the left side of the road and even are on the right, beginning at the at the western or southern end of a road. And each address is a measured distance from the start of the road. For instance, if a home address is 5000 Highway 82, it”s exactly five miles from the start of the road.
“It was pretty bad before we started,” Sanford said. “We were using a grid scale and had a lot of chances for duplicates. On Sturgis Maben Road, there were opportunities to have the same address on opposite ends of the road. It would take 17 miles to get to the other address if you went to the wrong one first.”
The revamped addressing system is already complete in Choctaw and Webster counties. Sanford said GTPDD, which serves seven counties in the Golden Triangle, is in the process of readdressing Noxubee and Clay counties.
The system will allow workers at the Oktibbeha Enhanced-911 center to see what the house looks like and where the closest fire station is. Emergency responders also will have information about people with special needs, like a resident who is on assisted breathing.
“This is going to be very beneficial to residents in the county,” Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors President Marvell Howard said. “We won”t run the risk of duplicate addresses, and we don”t have unidentified roads anymore.”
Residents will still be able to receive mail at their old address for another year, County Administrator Don Posey said. The response to having to change addresses hasn”t been met with enthusiasm for some residents, he said.
“Most people don”t like change in anything,” Posey said. “You”ve got to change your magazine subscriptions, bills and things of that nature. Knowing things will be safer doesn”t seem to soothe some people.”
Street names weren”t altered, though the county had to name approximately 150 previously unidentified short roads and driveways on which three or more homes are located. Naming new roads and installing new signs slowed the early stages of the process.
GTPDD entered into a contract with Oktibbeha County for $225,000 to create a comprehensive plan in 2009. The previous board voted to issue the contract with GTPDD in 2007. Residents have voiced concerns over the direction of the comprehensive plan and what the next phases will be once the 911 address updates are complete.
Howard said the board will have a public hearing about the direction of the comprehensive plan after county elections in November. Through the public hearing, residents will be able to have input about the final phases.
“The mapping portion was the most time-consuming and most critical,” Howard said. “Going forward, we”ll move at a measured pace. People in the county are a little more laid back.”
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