Union County officials hear from resident on address changes

EL DORADO — Approximately 4,500 residential and commercial addresses around Union County will be changed as part of an ongoing effort to help improve delivery services, particularly during emergencies.

The Union County Quorum Court recently heard from a resident who will be affected by the change.

David Wood of Ripley Road opposed the change during the quorum court’s regular meeting on Sept. 15.

Wood said it would affect only seven addresses in the area where he lives. He expressed concern that the change would cause undue hardships on senior citizens who are affected by it and he asked county officials to table the matter.

County Judge Mike Loftin and Robbin Osgood, the county’s 9-11 coordinator, said the effort is state-mandated and has been ongoing for more than 10 years.

Wood said he had checked with surrounding counties about the matter.

“They knew nothing about it,” he said.

Osgood said Union County was one of the first counties in south Arkansas to institute a 9-11 system.

“Surrounding counties were fortunate enough to have digitized mapping when they set up their 9-11 systems,” Osgood said. “We did not have digitized mapping.”

At the time, Osgood said she completed the mapping on a large, paper map that she spread out on the floor and by going out and using a tracking device to measure the roads.

Loftin said a grant is assisting with the GPS project in Union County and he said 300 addresses have already been changed in Mount Holly. Osgood said that she has not heard about any problems with the Mount Holly transition.

Loftin said the project got underway with his predecessor, former Judge Bobby Edmonds.

“This is the next batch,” Loftin said.

He also noted that there are block ranges or grids within city limits, but since the rural county areas are not within those block ranges, the GPS system measures distance in terms of feet.

“So every 20 feet (of road frontage), there’s a new address,” Loftin said.

Osgood said later that the GPS equipment follows the center line of the road to measure the length of the streets.

She said some streets have changed since she first marked the initial floor-map system in the 1990s. Also, some roads have been extended.

Osgood also said human error factored into the original mapping system.

“There are some places where the odd numbers were on the side of the street that should have been even,” she said.

Osgood said the GPS system relies on coordinates.

“They will put in the coordinates and if you have a (locator app) on your cell phone in the woods and you’re in the woods, it will ping that cell phone tower and give the coordinates,” Osgood said.

Added JP Johnny Burson, “It’s latitude and longitude.”

Loftin asked Sheriff Mike McGough how the sheriff’s office responds to 9-11 calls.

“They usually give an address,” McGough said.

“That’s why you have

match the addresses up with the coordinates,” Osgood said.

Osgood said contractor EFS GeoTechnologies of Monticello is working on the project.

She previously said that the county is working closely with the United States Postal Service and with utility companies to make sure the transition runs as smoothly as possible.

Union County Clerk Shannon Phillips said county voters who are affected by the address change must call her office at 870-864-1910 to update their information.