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E-911 update
• Some not in compliance By SUE WATSON
Staff Writer  | Photo by Sue Watson
Stacey Reed talks to the Marshall County Board of Supervisors, including Keith Taylor and Eddie Dixon. |
Enhanced
911 director Stacey Reed reported to the board of supervisors recently
there is a problem with compliance to posting 911 addresses in some
areas of Marshall County. Some homeowners who add more mobile homes to their lot will not accept new 911 addresses for the added homes, she said. Some homeowners make up their own addresses for additional residences by adding an A, B, or C to their address, she said. “Only
the county has the authority to send out someone to make them post new
911 addresses,” Reed said. “Postmasters are refusing to deliver to some
addresses that will not comply.” There is a street in Byhalia where none of the residents will post their 911 addresses, she said. Addresses
are to be posted in four-inch letters at the entrance to a residence or
on mail boxes or mailbox posts. However, many residents are using
three-inch letters because they are the size available at stores. Reed
asked for the board to pass a resolution to send to Internet vendors
that are providing VoIP (telephone) service over the Internet. The law
requires a $1 a month charge to land lines to residents and a $2 charge
to business land lines on phone bills, she said. As
customers begin to replace their land line phones with VoIP through
bundling of services, Reed said vendors like Vonage are paying 911 fees
but some are not. She wants to request other vendors comply with the
law, she said. Another matter of money was
brought before the board by Ken Jones, with the county administrator’s
office. He is working to recover delinquent garbage bills, many times
left when a renter leaves and does not pay his bill. Counties
may flag the registration tags of property owners in Marshall County
who live in another county, he said. When renters refuse to pay for
garbage collection, the law states that the property owner is liable
for the debt. Jones said he continues to go after
those large accounts such as one who owes $2,700 from the delinquent
accounts of a number of renters. “I have come to realize we can flag in any county, if they owe the county money (for garbage service),” he said. Board attorney Kent Smith said he would send due process to the property owner. “I
am asking for a form letter from the attorney so we do not have to come
in with a request for a letter in each case,” said Jones. Zoning
director Conway Moore said her office attempts to determine if
individuals are up to date on their accounts before authorizing mobile
home permits. Jones added that there is another individual who is $800 behind on his bill. “We are going after them any way we can,” he said. Moore
added that sometimes people give a false address when doing business
with her office, so she is checking the addresses with 911 to verify
them. “On 911, I am out there checking more than she is,” Jones said. Moore
said there was a fine to not have a 911 address up and now her office
is checking to assure the addresses provided to her office are correct. Smith added he is making an effort to get the fines stiffer for refusal to post 911 addresses. Supervisor
Willie Flemon added that some of the elderly say they have no means to
put up a 911 address and others just don’t want to put them up. “Having the numbers on the mail box or on the post in place is the biggest thing,” Jones said. Supervisor Ronnie Joe Bennett urged action on the matter of enforcement. “We need to nip it in the bud,” he said. “Lots of folks don’t want it.” “R.E.S. cannot deliver a can without an accurate 911 address,” Jones said. Smith
said there are issues with collecting delinquent bills when a person
has filed bankruptcy. When someone files Chapter 7, the debt cannot be
collected, while if a person files Chapter 13, the county could attempt
to recover its losses through the bankruptcy court. In other business, supervisors: •
learned that KP Vinyl has added 70 jobs bringing the workforce at the
plant to 160 employees - made possible by a $200,000 job protection
grant from the Mississippi Development Authority. KP has said last year
it would close and its 90 employees would be laid off without the
expansion, said Bill Mobley, executive director of the Marshall County
Industrial Development Authority. • discussed a complaint about an alleged case of animal negligence in District 3. •
approved the process to gather data necessary for redistricting of
supervisor districts next year in case of unavailability of 2010 Census
data in time for the candidate qualifying deadline of March 1, 2011.
Smith advised that a committee be formed to get to work on the
collection of data in the county that could be used to support the
redistricting plan required to be filed with the U.S. Department of
Justice prior to next year's elections. • heard
two options for spending available State Aid funds for striping of 53.1
miles of roads. Option 1 would have State Aid striping 48.1 miles and
the county paying about $30,000 to stripe five miles of road, according
to Larry Britt, engineer. Option 2 calls for the county to stripe 21.1
miles at an approximate cost of $6,000 a mile. State
Aid contracts will use higher standards such as setting reflectors in
the center line - a measure that makes driving on dark roads at night
safer for motorists. Britt added that some expected monies may be cut pending a possible 15 percent across-the-board cut of budgets in Jackson. |
