Emergency Management will make 911 address signs for public

Residents who live outside the city limits in Gonzales County and need a new 911 address sign can get one from the County Emergency Management office for a nominal fee, Emergency Management Director Jimmy Harless told commissioners last month.

The blue sign with reflective white numbers can be posted at the entrance to a driveway. A one-sided sign can be purchased for $25, while a two-sided sign is just $30, Harless said. Purchasers will need to bring address verification so the department can make sure the address number is correct.

“In the past, ESD 1, which is our EMS folks, provided a service for addressing for folks that that needed an address on an entrance to their property but they had gotten away from that,” Harless said. “The most logical thing would be for that to come out of the emergency management permitting office, because we require them to have a physical 911 address, not only for our septic permitting, but for driveways.

“We purchase the plates and the numbers and we just do it at cost. It's not a profit-making thing. We’re doing it as a community service to the folks that come in and when they get 911 addresses, we give them the option to purchase a sign.

“In all fairness, they can go out and get their own or they can make their own,” Harless said. “They can do whatever you want to do, but this would just give them an option when they come in to get a permit.”

Harless said having a sign out at the entrance to a property is also a benefit “to our first responders, to the sheriff's office, on the addressing side, to EMS, and specifically to our fire folks.”

He added that a similar program has been very successful in neighboring Fayette County and that while “I'm not looking to do a lot of extra work, I think that this is probably extremely important.”

Harless said it is not a requirement for residents to put up a sign, but it is a requirement for all residences to have a physical 911 address and the presence of a sign shows that requirement has been met and makes it easier to find in case of emergency.

Signs can be purchased and picked up at the County Emergency Management office, located at 1811 Water St., Gonzales. For more information, you can also call the office at 830-672-6209.

Harless also encouraged residents to sign up for the county’s Hyper-Reach emergency notification system, which can alert individuals to hazardous conditions in the area and give information about how to keep safe. To sign up for Hyper-Reach, go to https://signup.hyper-reach.com/hyper_reach/sign_up_page_2/?id=112702.