9-1-1 Mapping: Work Not Yet Finished In Approving, Distributing New Addresses In Ripley Co.

Friday, May 31, 2019

(EDITOR’S NOTE: While the groundwork for the 911 mapping project in Ripley County is completed, the process of approving new addresses and notifying all residents in the county is not finished. This has led to some confusion and numerous phone calls to county officials from residents who have not yet received notification of their new address. The following information was provided to The Prospect-News by the Ozark Foothills Regional Planning Commission to clarify previously published information.)

The new 911 mapping and addressing have been completed in Ripley County, and the United States Postal service (USPS) is working hard to approve and enter all of the new addresses into the USPS system.

Only after the approval process is complete can Ripley County finish mailing out new addresses to residents. The USPS processes these addresses on a route by route basis. Some routes in Ripley County have already been approved and notified, while others are still awaiting approval. The USPS delivers mail in Ripley County on 20 different rural routes out of ten different ZIP codes.

Address notification letters have been mailed to rural route customers on the below listed routes. If you receive mail on one of these routes but did NOT receive a letter in the mail from the Ripley County Commission containing your new address, or if you believe your address is in error, please call 800-238-1911 Extension 1 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

As call volume is high, please leave your name and call-back number if prompted and you will be called back as soon as possible.

USPS Ripley County Approved and Notified Routes as of May 31, 2019:

HC 7 Doniphan

RR 9 Gatewood

RR 2 Poplar Bluff

HC 67 Fremont (Handy area)

HC 6 Gatewood

HC 4 Doniphan

RR 81 Neelyville

All Ripley County residences, businesses, schools, churches and government buildings will be given new 9-1-1 addresses, whether or not they get mail on a rural route. Letters to residents with post office boxes or out-of-county mail will be prepared and delivered later this summer.

The Ripley County Commission elected to keep road names on private roads if they were already posted, appropriate and not duplicated elsewhere. Private roads that did not have a posted name were named according to a quadrant system.

The county was divided by Highway 21 and U.S. Highway 160 into four quadrants. Private roads in the northwest are named for trees, in the northeast for birds, in the southwest for flowers and in the southeast for fish.

The county has received a grant through the Ozark Foothills Regional Planning Commission for signage. New signs will be posted on all county and private roads during the next year.

Some residents have received a post card from the regional USPS office with their new address. This post card is not sent for all routes, and is not an official address notification, though it will contain the address given your property.

Post cards may arrive before your official notification letter from the county commission. This official letter arrives in a window envelope and has the Ripley County Courthouse return address on it. Please save the letter when you receive it as proof of address.

“We are making great progress on the countywide addressing project and ask for your patience as we allow the USPS time to process the addresses. The county and planning commission need time to prepare and mail the estimated 5,700 notification letters,” said Felicity Ray, executive director of the Ozark Foothills Regional Planning Commission.

“Address changes affect all rural residents in the county as well as county and city offices, and all are working diligently to complete the project as quickly and as accurately as possible,” she said.

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