Commissioners approve memorial sign naming part of 80 Ninth Road "Ellis Lane"; board raises concern about future road-name requests

Suwannee County commissioners voted 5-0 Feb. 18 to add a brown, memorial sign identifying a portion of 80 Ninth Road as "Ellis Lane" to honor the Ellis family. Several family members and supporters attended the meeting and spoke in favor of the addition.

Longtime resident Douglas Udell described the family’s local contributions and asked the board to approve signage recognizing the Ellises. "These people are worthy of this memorial in honor of their father, their mother, and their brother," he said.

The board approved the sign by motion (Commissioner Motley moved; Commissioner Perkins seconded), but members also discussed concerns raised in a written note from the county communications division. The communications director warned that adding or renaming road signs outside the county’s official addressing system had previously caused confusion for 911 dispatchers and could delay emergency response. The memo said, in part, that it was "not in the best interest to rename the numbered roads in the county as a whole" and recommended relying on the county’s official addressing scheme.

Commissioners said they would accommodate the Ellis family request but asked county staff to consider an ordinance change limiting future name-change requests so that the county’s numbering-based dispatch system is not undermined. The approved sign will not change the official 911 address numbering; it will be displayed on a brown sign beneath or adjacent to the existing numbered-road sign.

The motion to approve the Ellis memorial sign passed 5-0. Commissioners asked staff to prepare any future ordinance language limiting renaming requests for consideration at a later meeting.