These postcards will begin arriving in the mail at the end of the week for people who will need an address change.
E-911 has been a lengthy and meticulous system overhaul that will ultimately streamline addresses and road names for emergency responders, mail deliverers, and phone companies.
“It’s been quite a challenge to say the least,” said Bell County Judge Executive Albey Brock, who helped manage the effort. “It’s been difficult technically on our end, but it’s been even more confusing on the public’s end.”
By late July or early August, the E-911 project will hopefully be set in stone and, most importantly, anyone experiencing an emergency situation can dial 9-1-1 and responders will know their exact location.
Ben Barnett, Bell Co.’s 911 Coordinator, said the process has been very complex and laborious. He mentioned the reason why Middlesboro road Parker Lane is changing — which struck home the necessity of this road system overhaul: Five houses had the address, 214 Parker Lane.
“That’s a big problem,” said Brock. He said that the addition of more houses to a single address has “created this mass amount of confusion and upset with the people.”
Brock said that, while it has been an arduous process, the payoff will ultimately be worth it.
“I plead with [the public] to have some patience with us while we try to provide them with a service that will help them,” said Brock. “There are going to be growing pains associated with it... At the end of the day, it’s going to save somebody’s life.”
Brock said that Bell County is one of six counties in the state of Kentucky that does not have E-911 established yet. He noted that Lee, Claiborne, and all of Bell’s neighboring Kentucky counties have the system.
Over 5,000 addresses will change of the roughly 12,000 addresses in Bell Co. After approximately June 1, 2010, the post office will no longer send mail to the old addresses.
Brock said that there a couple of different ways he and Barnett can help if you don’t like your road name.
If you live on a road with just a few homes on it and everyone is in agreement to change the name of the road, you can get it changed relatively easy. If you live on a county road that has multiple homes on it, the process is a little more difficult. Brock and Barnett said that, in order for the road name change to occur, a petition must be filed and signed by 80 percent of the residents.
On county roads that are a mile or longer with a lot of spreadout houses, Brock said it would not be a quick process to change the road name.
Barnett said that landlords who own rental property that do not have mailboxes attached to them should look for E-911 address cards in the mail corresponding to those addresses. He said that if the houses are together, it might be confusing which address goes with which house. He advised anyone with questions to call him at (606)337-5897 for clarification.
Barnett said that it was not necessary for residents to fill out a change of address form unless told by Bell Co. Emergency Management to specifically do it. Postcards with address changes and specific instructions will begin arriving at the end of this week.
Brock and Barnett both stressed the importance of residents to ask questions should they be confused. Brock said staff members have been added to take the calls. He said that if you’re not getting your mail, talk to the post office; if you have a problem with the name of your address, call Barnett at (606)337-5897.
“Public safety is the reason we’re doing this,” said Brock.
“The bigger scheme here is to provide an essential service for first responders so that when [someone’s] mother may fall in her home, and all she’s able to do is dial 911... we’re going to know where she is at. We’re going to be able to get an ambulance and save her life,“ said Brock.
Stephen Woodward is a Staff Writer for the Daily News. He may be contacted at swoodward@middlesborodailynews.com.
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