Updating county addresses is a continual process

Lincoln County Commissioners met with the company under contract for the enhanced 911 system Wednesday morning.

GeoComm representatives discussed the current status of the plan to update addresses within the county to make the enhanced 911 system more efficient. In order for the enhanced system to be accurate, GPS readings must be taken on addresses within the county. In the event of an emergency the address and phone number would immediately be traced with the new system, thereby making the response time to an emergency faster. GeoComm has been in contract with Lincoln County since February 2005.

The project began with data collection in areas north of U.S. Highway 2. Since that time, the company has continued data collection and measurement of mile markers within the county. In May 2007, the postal coordination process began with address lists compiled by the participating parties. Preliminary notifications were sent in the beginning of August 2007. Of the 7,000 affected Lincoln County residents, GeoComm received approximately 1,500 returned address change notifications due to inaccurate addresses or other misinformation, according to Greg Murdock of GeoComm. Of those 1,500, 700 were returned because the notifications were sent to a physical address rather than a P.O. Box address, Murdock explained. The other 800 recipients will be contacted by telephone calls, he added. They have established a staff of six people to make the calls until 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. They won't be making calls before 10 a.m. on Saturdays and if they must make a call on Sunday it will be in the late afternoon, Murdock specified. The addresses will be updated in a database and GeoComm is hoping to update 70-75 percent of the addresses in the initial contact, Murdock said. They are hoping to have 95 percent of the updated information by the end of September. What is proving to be difficult is the inaccuracy with mile markers, according to Mary Klinkam of the Lincoln County Planning Department. Some mile markers are .7 miles apart and others have been measured as 1.1 miles apart, said GeoComm's Craig Prisland. GeoComm employees are reading the mile markers distances with a GPS rather than an odometer and more accurate readings are registered with this method, Prisland said. "We were surprised how many addresses need to be changed," commented Lincoln County Commissioner Marianne Roose. "This is not a decision made lightly, it was time to do it. It's been a learning process every step of the way."Roose also mentioned the frequency emergency dispatchers change due to the high stress level of the position. With the influx of various dispatchers, confusion is easily reached when attempting to find an emergency call. Many people are also moving into the area and things are constantly changing within the county, Roose added. New equipment for the enhanced 911 system will begin to be installed in October. Tentative targeted cutover dates for equipment is Oct. 25 in Libby, Nov. 8 in Eureka and Nov. 29 in Troy, according to Lincoln County's Bill Bischoff. The systems are tentatively planned to be operational by November. It will cost approximately $300,000 for the new equipment, with much of the funds coming from a surcharge added to telephone and cell phone usage. A source of contention, many residents have complained about the cost to change their addresses. The commissioners have fielded over 200 calls from residents questioning the mandatory address change. "For most people, there's absolutely no cost except addresses on business signs and numbers engraved on rocks," explained Lincoln County Commissioner John Konzen. "It's inconvenient, we understand that because we're going through the same thing."This is the most contentious issue in my eight years as commissioner," Konzen said.