November 8, 2007
City of Caliente on Addressing System

By Dave Maxwell

The City of Caliente is being asked to participate in the new E911 address numbering system being put in place by Lincoln County. County Planning Director Clint Wertz and Lincoln County Information Technology Specialist Tracy Lee, spoke at the regular meeting of the City Council November 1st, explaining the reasons why Caliente should participate.

Lee said the County does not wish to dictate to the City what they should do, but hoped they would be able to work together to establish some parameters that would make Caliente’s already well-developed system compatible with the county’s system. However, it will be necessary for the City and the County to combine their already existing data to make the system work. What he thought would be needed is the City’s system to be “tweaked a little bit,” so it could mesh with the County’s addressing system.

The new E911 system, as outlined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, will enhance the county’s 911-telephone system, making it able to display a physical address of any location where an emergency call comes from. Emergency services can then be quickly dispatched to that location, even if the caller is unresponsive.

It order to do this, Wertz and Shannon Simpson, of the Planning Department, have been working to create a grid for every part of the county that assigns an address to every dwelling and building in all communities. In the case of vacant land, an address would be assigned, Wertz said, “when someone pulls a building permit.”

This also means that current addresses in any given community are probably going to have to change. In Caliente’s case, because their addressing grid is already quite well developed, changes may not have to take place; but in other towns, changes are very likely. At the same time, Wertz said, they hope to be able to retain the current street names as much as possible, but some changes may be necessary.

In speaking to the Caliente City Council, Wertz stated that one of the best reasons Caliente should participate is the upcoming 2010 U.S. Census.

Wertz presented three options for Council members to consider. First, maintain the present system in Caliente. Second, develop a new grid within the city themselves. Third, use the Meadow Valley system which places a zero-zero point somewhere between Panaca and Caliente. Clint said, “It would give that whole area addresses off of a common system.”

Wertz said if Caliente does not participate in the county’s E911 system, there is the risk of emergency dispatch not being able to verify that an address of a caller displayed on the computer screen is truly the correct address.

Lee also reviewed for the Council how an address to a given location is determined. For the county’s plan, street numbers will have to be made uniform, so that even numbers will be on one side of the street and odd numbers will be on the other. In most instances, he said, it is this way now, but not always.

Over the past week, Lee stated, the final touches of the E911 system that can digitally display addresses were completed and after a brief period of testing, the system will become effective countywide. This also includes calls made from cell phones. “Now the need begins,” he said, “for creating a Master Street Address Guide, which is an inventory of streets in any given community in the county. Without a Master Street Addressing Guide,” he said, “it is not possible to validate the address or phone number on the dispatch display screen, is in fact the address where emergency services need to respond.”

The Lincoln County Telephone System will also be tied into the Master Street Addressing Guide, he noted.

Lee said that the Planning Department hoped the City would discuss the matter in future meetings and decide to add Caliente to the County’s Master Street Addressing Guide.

County Sheriff Kerry Lee, stated that whatever the City decides to do, it was his request that numbers be placed on the front of every dwelling, especially those outside of the jurisdiction of the City. He said that, "If deputies from Alamo have to come to Caliente to work a case, they don’t have any idea as to the street names and numbers in town.” Being able to clearly see the numbers would be of immense help. The same need applies countywide.

In other action, the Council approved submitting a request for CDBG grant money to do an electrical study for putting in new lines and services to the Bredero-Shaw property in the Meadow Valley Industrial Park. Incorporated cities in the state are allowed to submit one grant request to CDBG this year apart from what their own county is allowed to do. Councilman Tom Acklin said the City has the support and backing of the Lincoln County Regional Development Authority for the study as well.