Delta County delays countywide addressing rollout, recommends Round Lake pilot

Delta County Board of Commissioners on May 6 heard that a countywide addressing initiative will not be completed immediately and that staff recommend using Round Lake as a limited pilot before expanding countywide.

County staff described the work as time consuming and said the team does not have the capacity right now to complete the project across all townships. The staff member leading the project said it requires reviewing each parcel and aerial imagery to identify structures that previously were not required to be addressed and that the process is “literally going each individual parcel.” The staff member said the addressing team expects to resume larger-scale work in the fall and recommended starting with Round Lake, which has fewer permanent residents, as a test of the procedures.

The issue matters because the countywide addressing change will affect township budgets and emergency response. Multiple township representatives told the board they are unsure what to budget for the coming fiscal year because they do not yet know the final plan or the timing for sign installation. Commissioners and staff discussed who will pay for replacement or new signs for existing properties; one participant said the township association maintains a fund they estimated at roughly $64,000 but the exact balance was not confirmed during the meeting.

Commissioners and staff discussed options for next steps: continuing the current approach, holding a committee-of-the-whole meeting that includes township officials to agree a universal process, or pursuing the Round Lake pilot now and evaluating results before wider rollout. Staff cautioned that bringing additional volunteers or an ad hoc task force would not necessarily speed the work because people unfamiliar with 9-1-1 addressing rules would require training and that inexperienced helpers can slow the process.

Townships also raised operational questions about how new street names and address signs will be handled for existing properties, camps and seasonal sites, and whether new signs would be purchased through townships or reimbursed by the county. Staff said some townships purchased signs already and that could lead to duplicate purchases. Funding and cost-allocation remain unresolved; staff said some funding sources and prior fundraising had been discussed but did not present a definitive county funding commitment.

The board did not take a formal vote to change the project timeline at the May 6 meeting. Commissioners suggested a committee-of-the-whole conversation with township officials to resolve funding and process questions and directed staff to proceed with plans to pilot Round Lake if feasible and to return with a clearer schedule in the fall.

The addressing discussion came during the departmental updates and project reports portion of the session; commissioners asked that staff continue to update townships and return with a timeline and recommended next steps.