COMMISSION ADDRESSES ADDRESSING

JACKSON - The Cape Girardeau County Commission agreed Thursday to seek proposals from companies that will provide street addresses for parts of the county that do not have them. The action is part of the transition to an Enhanced 911 emergency telephone system.

Voters in Cape Girardeau County approved a surcharge on phone bills in November to provide the 911 service on a countywide basis. The system will provide the name and address where an emergency call is coming from; before that can be done, all parts of the county need addresses.

Most rural residences in the county have a route and box number, and some smaller towns like Delta have post office boxes but do not have many streets with names.

"We want to get the addressing process under way as soon as possible because it will take about a year to complete," said Brian Miller, chairman of the committee charged with implementing the emergency phone system.

"This is the first big step in implementing 911," said Miller.

The committee prepared specifications to be sent out to addressing companies for the county commission to consider. Proposals will be opened at noon on March 30.

Miller said the committee is hoping a firm can be hired by May 1.

Ron Andrews, data processing director for the county, told the commission the request for proposals "defines the scope of what needs to be done in the addressing phase of 911. A major part of this effort will be directed at rural areas."

He pointed out that route and box numbers are "not as meaningful as they could be" in providing information on where a residence is located.

Andrews and Associate Commissioner Leonard Sander stressed that on county roads, existing road numbers would be used. In subdivisions or towns where streets are not named, they will have to be named as part of the process.

Andrews explained that information on the police, fire, and other emergency services for each address will be fed into the computer.

"I think the big job is coming up with all the housing and driveway locations in Cape County," noted Andrews.

He added that the city of Delta is in the process of naming streets and developing addresses for the system.

Once the addressing process is finished, Andrews said a verification mailing will be necessary. In addition, the system will need to be updated in future years.

Miller stressed the panel is committed to having a system in place and operating by November 1993.

The specifications were developed after the committee met with several companies that do numbering.