Address numbers complicate 911 system

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February 14, 2012

By Jake Palmateer Staff Writer The Daily Star Tue Feb 14, 2012, 02:30 AM EST

ONEONTA _ An E-911 readdressing program in the city of Oneonta has been halted while the Otsego County Sheriff's Office examines ways to improve its implementation.

About 70 addresses have been affected so far, according to Code Enforcement Officer Robert Chiappisi.

City staff are not directly involved in the readdressing but Chiappisi said his office has kept track of what the county was doing so that it could have accurate records of properties. He said he is meeting with county officials at the Otsego County Public Safety Building today to discuss the program.

The sheriff's office took over administration of the county's E-911 in November.

"This has been going on for awhile," Sheriff Richard Devlin said.

The readdressing was occurring because addresses that had dashes between two numbers or that were enumerated by the ½ percentage were causing incompatability problems with the 911 software system, according to Chiappisi.

Properties adjoining those with dashes or ½s in their addresses were affected as adjustments were made on whole blocks.

The dashes are common in multi-unit buildings, according to Chiappisi.

Chiappisi said hew was aware of a few complaints, while Devlin said his office has received a "handful" of complaints.

The address change meant people had to notify utility companies, banks, credit card companies, publications and the state Department of Motor Vehicles to get the their driver's licenses changed.

"You are disrupting people's lives when you have to make a change," Devlin said. "That's why we are looking into it."

The readdressing was placed on hold and the county is looking at ways to better implement changes in the system, he said.

The county began 911 services in 1999. The sheriff took over administration of the county's 15-person Emergency 911 Center in November after the sudden resignation of short-time 911 coordinator Michael Schwartz.