LINDEN &8212; Poor communication with the 911 service has caused numerous problems in the Jefferson community recently. This was the charge of Betty Bates, who spoke before the County Commission at Tuesday&8217;s meeting.

According to Bates, the system of addressing used by the 911 service is not based on house numbers, as one might think. The system is based on the number of feet between permanent structures.

This along, with other issues, has caused problems with the Jefferson Fire Department being able to respond to emergencies as they happen. Bates said the Emergency Response Numbers, or ERNs, required for them to locate the emergencies are not being given to them by the 911 service.

Bates also said after checking numerous places in their coverage area, out of just one street with 19 addresses, five of them were wrong according to the records given by the 911 service.

Commissioner Freddie Armstead asked Bates if this issue should be brought to the 911 Board. Repeated attempts by Bates to get a certified letter to the board were returned and refused, she said.

In response to Bates&8217; remarks, the County Commission agreed to hold a special meeting on Sept. 18 to discuss the matter further.

Bid openings

As part of Tuesday&8217;s meeting, the Marengo County Commission opened bids for county materials including fuel, plastic, corrugated and aluminized pipe and other building materials used by the county.

Fuel

Parr&8217;s Chevron, Pruitt&8217;s and Dozier Oil all submitted bid bonds on bulk quantities of 500,000 gallons of super unleaded fuel, which is used by the Marengo County Sheriff&8217;s Office; 500,000 gallons of unleaded fuel and 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel.

The County Commission voted on the lowest bidder, Pruitt&8217;s, which bid at a cost of $447,710 for the super unleaded fuel, $109,190 for the unleaded fuel and $291,025 for the diesel fuel.

Plastic Pipe

Rush Enterprises and Harvey Culvert submitted bids for 15-inch, 18-inch, 24-inch, 30-inch and 36-inch plastic pipe. The County Commission voted to accept the lowest bid, which was made by Harvey Culvert.

Corrugated Pipe

Rush Enterprises, Harvey Culvert and Hansen submitted bids for corrugated pipe based on a discounted rate they could offer the County on lengths of pipe and beveling services. The County Commission voted to accept the lowest bid, which was made by Rush Enterprises, offering a 53 percent discount and $1 per inch of beveling.

Aluminized Pipe

Rush Enterprises, Harvey Culvert and Hansen also submitted bids on aluminized pipe based on a discounted rate they could offer the County on lengths of pipe and beveling services. The Count Commission voted to accept the lowest bid, which was made by Harvey Culvert offering a 50.2 percent discount and 70 cents per inch of beveling.

Liquid Asphalt

Hunt Refining and Ergon submitted bids for liquid asphalt and Vulcan LLC asked to put on the bid list, but made no bid. The County Commission voted to approve the lowest bid, which was given by Hunt Refining for $106,641 for CRS2 asphalt and $14,077.60 for prime asphalt.

Be Ready Marengo Expo

Jakki Phillips, director of the Black Belt Chapter of the American Red Cross spoke to the commission about the upcoming &8220;Be Ready Day&8221; to be held at the Demopolis Wal-Mart Garden Center on Sept. 29 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Phillips said the project came out of the need for more disaster preparedness in the area.

The last major event to hit the county, the tornado occurring in Demopolis last fall, was an eye-opener for many people in the area, she said. Phillips said there was not nearly enough communication between the appropriate departments.

Both parties said they were going to work together to ensure for future disasters the right channels are reached for assistance.

In other business, the commission:

Adopted a contract from the Department of Youth Services.

Accepted a resolution suggested by District Judge Wade Drinkard and Circuit Judge Eddie Hardaway concerning alternative corrections measures.

Accepted a letter of resignation from Mitchell Snipes requesting not to be reappointed to the 911 Board.