Marble Hill residents question addressing project

MARBLE HILL, Mo. — Since the city of Marble Hill announced it was going to stay consistent with Bollinger County’s 911 addressing project and renumber addresses in the city, residents have questioned that move.

On Monday night, Myra Underwood, who owns property in Marble Hill, brought her concerns to the board of aldermen. Underwood said she was confused by the decision.

“This has been discussed at least a year now,” she said. “There was discussion at the courthouse that the city would not have to change addresses.”

City administrator Don James said former city administrator Ron Lutes “was dead-set against changing the addresses, but the more we worked on it, the more problems we found. We need to be consistent with the county.”

Underwood said she has researched other counties that have gone through a 911 remapping and found communities did not have to be re-addressed.

“It makes no sense to me,” she said.

James said for the sake of consistency with emergency responders and the city’s water system, Marble Hill had to rename some streets because of duplication, and some streets never had been named.

It affects about a third of the city streets, he said, and it didn’t seem logical to rename and renumber only a portion of the city’s streets. He offered to speak to Underwood privately and show her the city maps, but she refused, saying she had already looked at the maps with Ronda Elfrink at the courthouse.

Underwood said she understood the reasoning behind the change, but she wanted the city officials to know she did not agree with it.

“It’s just a difference of opinion,” she said.

Pertinent address:

Marble Hill, Mo.