Dennis Fields of Gore, newly-appointed member of the Sequoyah County 911 board of directors, reported to the county commissioners at their meeting Monday that the board was hoping to distribute new address books to all fire departments in the near future, that about 100 road signs still have to be installed before the road renaming project is complete, and the board was seeking part-time call takers.

Fields and Rick Jobe of Sallisaw were appointed to the 911 board after Charles “Chuck” Wyckoff of Sallisaw and Dana Tracey of Gore resigned. The third board member is Larry Vinson. Sequoyah County 911 serves all telephone exchanges in the county with the exception of the 427- exchange, which has its own 911 service.

Fields reported that the board wanted to get the book of new addresses to all the fire departments as soon as the road renaming is complete. Renaming the roads, to match the state‘s road grid, has been underway for several years, and was slowed by a project director at the Eastern Oklahoma Development District (EODD) in Muskogee, and then a change in project directors. EODD personnel were doing the renaming of the roads, and when that project is finished and new addresses assigned, AT&T has said they will take over data base updating.

Fields said Sequoyah County 911 is advertising for part-time call takers.

“We are looking at college students who need part-time work,” he explained.

The 911 board is also working on a job description for a 911 coordinator.

“When we confirm the criteria then we will advertise for a coordinator,” Fields said.

The coordinator will run the 911 system, taking much of the work off 911 volunteer board members who are not paid for serving on the board.

The commissioners noted that if any road signs are destroyed or stolen, the employees at the county barns have the materials to replace them.

In other business Chris Keathley, Sequoyah County Emergency Management Director, reported he has compiled a list of damages and work done during the freezing weather the county suffered during the holidays. Keathley said that, beginning on Dec. 24, county officials recorded over $200,000 in damages and necessary work. That $200,000 is the threshold needed to be included in the disaster designation Gov. Brad Henry is seeking for the entire state.

Keathley explained that an end date has not yet been set for the disaster designation because the hard freeze followed by the quick warm up has damaged water lines and roads, which will be added to the damage cost. Keathley said the monetary damage amount will be well over $200,000.

If the state gets the disaster designation, then the Federal government will reimburse county governments by 75 percent of the estimated damages. The remaining 25 percent must be provided by city, town and county governments and is most usually calculated as labor done by employees.