Washington County seeking weathered residence markers

WASHINGTON — Emergency management officials say they’re trying to tackle a widespread problem of rural residence markers falling into disrepair. To do that, Dispatch Supervisor Cara Sorrells said homeowners should contact the county over any issues with the small blue signs.

“Public safety responders rely on those signs to find your residence quickly in an emergency,” she said. “The firetrucks coming in the middle of the night, we want them to see your number quickly, to identify your residence.”

The push to identify which markers need repair began after the county’s efforts to go through the area one road at a time proved too ambitious. Sorrells estimated at least 30-40% of the markers in Washington County needed replacement.

“It’s a big project,” she said. “We’re going to reach out to the public so we can start making a list, so we can reach out to the people that have some urgency … as opposed to waiting for us to come find you.”

Common problems with the markers include fading colors, peeling paint and plastic, or more obvious physical damage like being knocked over by a snowplow.

As a rule of thumb, Sorrells said any difficulty reading a sign at any time of day was a good enough reason to get it replaced.

“It doesn’t just benefit us at emergency services,” she said. “A lot of people, let’s say they’re getting Amazon packages, and they give them their address. If they can’t find your address, that’s a problem too.”

Fixing a run-down marker is easy enough. Sorrells said property owners need only to call the county, (at 319-653-2107,) which will schedule and complete a replacement free of charge, using money from its 911 surcharge-based addressing fund.

“We’re trying to get on top of it, and encouraging people to let us know,” she said. “There’s no cost, I’m not going to send them a bill.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com