Baxter E-911 in effect

BAXTER -- Baxter's new E-911 addresses went into effect Monday.

Last week, Baxter residents received their new Enhanced 911 address notification letters in the mail, said Baxter GIS/IS Coordinator Todd DeBoer. Residents officially have one year before they need to change over to the new address, but are encouraged to begin using the new address as soon as possible.

If residents are having problems updating their address with certain companies, it is most likely due to the company's address matching software not being updated yet. The national database where the address matching systems get their data should be updated shortly.

In February the Baxter City Council approved readdressing the city because of problems with the existing address system. Baxter chose to use the Crow Wing County address grid to provide a continuous system that would be consistent whether in the county or within city limits. The same address system is used throughout all of Crow Wing County, except the cities of Brainerd, Crosby and Ironton.

In Baxter, each road was designated as either an east-west or north-south road. Because of where Baxter is situated in the county addressing grid, east-west roads have four digit addresses, while north-south roads have five digit addresses.

New street maps are available on the city's Web site, www.ci.baxter.mn.us, with the new street names and address grid.

E-911 addresses are assigned by using Global Positioning System to locate every driveway. The address assigned to a property is based on where the center of the driveway intersects with the edge of the roadway. When a resident calls for help, the emergency dispatcher will see a map with the precise location of the driveway, directions and the associated name and phone number for that property.

Street signs and the blue-bladed house number signs have been ordered. A few street signs will be installed by the city this month on streets with entirely new names. The remaining street signs and blue blade address signs will be installed by the city in the spring and summer of 2004.