County considers changes in E-911 addressing bill

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

BENTON - A final draft for a E-911 addressing ordinance should be ready for the June 27 Scott County County Commission meeting, according to Joe Burton, E-911 administrator,

"We'll shoot for the 27th to make the ordinance official and go into effect July 1," Burger said.

County Clerk Rita Milam said setting an effective date at the beginning of a month will be easier to keep track of in the future.

Burton said he hasn't received any feedback from county residents about the ordinance. "I didn't hear from anybody one way or another," he said. "Nobody had any comment about the ordinance."

Burton said he did get calls from people to confirm their addresses, however. "I actually did find two that were wrong," he said.

The addressing ordinance will prohibit duplicate street names in the future but will not correct existing duplications. "Nobody wants to lose their address," Commissioner Jamie Burger said.

"Scott City really has major problems," Burton said, which is due to Scott City's annexation of Illmo. "They have duplicate numbers and everything -- not only streets, but numbers."

"I know its a pain for voter registration," Milam said of the old Illmo area.

Burger said the addressing ordinance isn't really for emergency personnel so much as it is for the safety of county residents.

"It's for them and their families' safety for quick response in their time of need," he said.

County Economic Developer Joel Evans said Water District No. 1 is interested in taking in some houses just north of its district, presently located within District No. 4's boundaries.

Water District No. 4's board members are considering making the end of this month the cut off to sign up for $150, after which the price will go up, Evans added.

Burger said some people still have not been contacted by the district with information about signing up, however.

Other County Commission action

* The custom "Welcome to Scott County" sign on Interstate 55 south of Sikeston has been moved to an acceptable location.

The sign had previously been put in a location that would have welcomed people to Scott County as they took an offramp onto Interstate 57 leading into Mississippi County.

* Scott County has seen an increase in sales tax revenue over that collected last year by this time.

According to the sales tax report for the first six months, the county brought in $786,496 as compared with the $781,641 collected for the first six months of 2005.

* Commissioners are slated to meet with Missouri Department of Transportation officials at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Scott City to look over the route proposed for expanding the outer road.

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