Do rural numbers right — and soon
KEEPING ITS CITIZENS SAFE,
secure and healthy is one of the basic charges of all units of government.
The rub is that, quite often, that involves expenses — some large, some not so large. Who pays them is frequently a challenge.
That was borne out again last Tuesday when the County Board wrestled with the issue of replacing rural property number signs throughout the county. The board eventually filed an ordinance that would have required replacing all of the number signs with instructions that the Law Committee work with local town officials to come up with an ordinance that will meet with their approval.
When the county adopted the uniform rural numbering system two decades ago, it also required all property owners to post their address number on their property alongside the road. Those white porcelain tile signs are showing their age in many places — numbers falling off or faded away — and are not always easily visible for emergency responders.
The need for visible, easy-to-read signs should be a no-brainer. In emergency situations, when time is of the essence, precious time can be wasted searching frantically for the right address — especially in rural areas where the nearest emergency responders are not headquartered around the corner or down the block, but often miles away.
The problem is that the new signs — which are larger, reflective and have the number on both sides instead of just one — cost about $60 apiece. The county government does not have that kind of money and neither do most town governments.
The ordinance, to many in town government, represented an unfunded mandate from the county, the same sort of thing county officials have excoriated the state and federal governments for doing to them. At the very least, the towns and their officials should have been consulted and informed earlier in the process.
It may well be that the cost of the new signs will fall on individual town residents, or perhaps a cost-sharing solution can be found involving the county, the towns and individual residents. Some solution needs to be found, and soon.
Identifying addresses and rural locations is too critical an issue to be left to chance. The best means possible of identifying addresses needs to be installed — and part of that must be that property owners and rural residents post the new signs where they are meant to be, alongside the road where they can be easily seen by emergency personnel and not across the road, under a tree or in front of a home or barn hundreds of yards from the nearest road.
At issue: Something or other Bottom line: Do something about it
