Currently, when a Washington County resident dials 911, only the phone number appears on the dispatcher's computer screen. With E - 911, the name of the resident, address and special instructions will also appear. The installation of the system became possible by the addition of a surcharge to telephone bills in 1995. Money raised by the surcharge has been used to pay for the manpower to implement E - 911, road surveys, the purchase of new signs and a computer for the dispatchers and the creation of a new county map. The map is 95 percent complete.
Road numbers start in the northwest corner of the county.
Address numbers start in the southeast corner of the county. One thousand numbers have been assigned for each mile. The most time - consuming portion of creating the new map, Cook said, was naming the private roadways. The county decided to invite landowners to name their own lanes. Out of the 150 private roads named, only seven had to be named by the county.