STARKVILLE — Oktibbeha County is still working through 911 readdressing issues.
During the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors meeting Monday, Starkville postmaster Elijah Abel asked the board to finalize the list of street names to help the post office accurately deliver mail.
Abel told the board the post office has experienced issues while processing mail and delivering it because of roads that have been renamed multiple times or have had a cardinal direction added. Additionally, some roads that have compound names have been renamed.
“All of our mail is run on an automated process,” Abel said. “There are 1,500 variations of every alphabet letter. Adding west and east is slowing the process down. I’ve got customers saying they’re waiting on the postmaster, but the sooner I can provide them with a definite street name the better.”
About 9,000 Oktibbeha County residents received change-of-address cards in August as part of the county’s three-year process to improve emergency response times.
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. 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.
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.
Getting people to change the number on their boxes has been a challenge, but renaming roads because of duplicates has extended the process.
The board, which must adopt all new street names, will hold a work session on Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. to finalize more than 100 new road names.
Board President Marvell Howard said the board is waiting on a final list of streets that won’t require changes in the future.
Golden Triangle Planning and Development District Geographic Information Systems Manager Toby Sanford said issues arose between county and city roads that have the same name, like Hartness Lane off South Montgomery and Hartness Street in the city limits. In an emergency situation, street or lane might not get mentioned, he said.
The board is responsible for name changes being forwarded to the National Road Registry, which is used to set GPS maps. Sanford will also have to inform phone service provider AT&T so it will show up when a 911 call is placed.
Some roads will receive new names altogether.
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