Marathon County is set to release its first batch of Uniform Addresses in anticipation of the project’s expected April 9 start date.

In late March 2018, Marathon County’s Conservation, Planning, & Zoning (CPZ) Department will begin sending a staggered mailing of Official Notices to residents, landowners, and business owners whose addresses will be changing as a result of the county’s Uniform Addressing project. The project will assign each location a unique, six-digit address — which will be unmistakable for another — aiding Marathon County emergency services in their goal to provide the RIGHT SERVICE to the RIGHT PLACE at the RIGHT TIME.

Official Notices will be mailed in a series of batches between late March and November 2018, beginning on the east side of the county and moving west. A few weeks before sign installation is projected to begin in a given municipality, Official Notices for that town or village will be mailed, informing recipients of their new address, as well as other details of the project. Recipients should keep the Official Notice for their records, as they may need it later as proof of their address change (e.g., for updating licenses/certificates).

Following each mailing, the county will update a Sign-Installation Progress Map at www.MyMarathonCountyAddress.org, indicating which municipalities are completed, in progress, and next in line for sign installation. At the same time, the county will post cross-reference spreadsheets of the old/new addresses for the next municipalities scheduled to have their address and road-name signs installed by the County’s contractor: Lange Enterprises. Additional address cross-reference tables will be uploaded to the website at specific intervals throughout the year, in sequence with the mailing of each batch of Official Notices.

These downloadable spreadsheets will be essential to businesses, utility companies, schools, and other nonprofits that will need to update their customer, client, and member databases with the address changes as they are released over the next several months.

“It’s important for organizations that do business in Marathon County to update their client databases with the new address changes in the CPZ’s Excel files available at www.MyMarathonCountyAddress.org,” said Dave Eckmann, President and CEO of the Wausau Region Chamber of Commerce. If you’re a business that can utilize address ranges (e.g., delivery drivers), an address range Excel file for 15 participating Eastern towns and the Village of Elderon is now available for download at www.MyMarathonCountyAddress.org. Address ranges for Western towns and villages will be posted later in the year.

Over 20,000 properties will receive new addresses, and more than 600 roads will be renamed as part of the county-wide project, which is expected to be completed by November 2018. First, Diggers Hotline will be requested by Lange to spray-paint lines on the property to mark where it’s safe for workers to install the signpost. In the weeks to follow, a blue, flag-style address sign will be installed on the side of the driveway for most properties. Property owners will NOT have to be home during spray-painting or sign installation. At the time of sign installation, old signs and signposts will be removed by Lange workers for recycling.

A small number of properties are slated to receive a black-and-white, building-mounted address sign. Lange Enterprises will mail selected property owners this new address sign when workers are in the corresponding municipality installing any flag-style signs. Recipients should use the instructions included to hang the new address sign on their home or building as indicated, so it is visible to emergency personnel.

Property owners can begin using their new Uniform Address AFTER their flag-style sign is installed in the ground or they receive their building-mounted sign in the mail. For safety reasons, the new address should NOT be used until after the date of installation/delivery, when E911 services will be synced with the new address.

Marathon County is partnering with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to automatically forward any mail sent to former addresses for a period of one year from the property’s address-activation date, so property owners do NOT need to file a Change of Address with the USPS. Marathon County will also take care of notifying the following of all address changes: Marathon County E911 Communication Center, local fire and police departments, municipal officials, Marathon County Clerk (elections), Marathon County Treasurer (tax bills), and other Marathon County governmental departments.

Property owners and businesses will NOT be charged for a County-issued replacement address sign, as the Marathon County Board voted to commit funds to cover the cost of replacement road-name signs and address signs related to the Uniform Addressing project for participating towns and villages.

The project was first approved by the Marathon County Board of Supervisors in February 2016 in an effort to improve public safety county-wide. Marathon County is one of only four counties in Wisconsin without a Uniform Addressing System.

To keep everyone up to date, the Marathon County CPZ Department created a dedicated Uniform Addressing website — www.MyMarathonCountyAddress.org — with project updates, cross-reference spreadsheets, maps, address-change checklists, frequently asked questions, and quick reference guides with tips and tools for those affected by this project. NOTE: The Road Name List was updated in February to include more road names that will be changing, so those who checked the list posted online before then may wish to check again to see if their road will be getting a new name. Nearly all information on the site is easily translated into Hmong or Spanish via a button on the homepage. Residents can also call the Marathon County Public Library (MCPL)–Wausau Headquarters Reference Desk at 715-261-7230 with questions or visit any of the nine MCPL locations for one-to-one assistance or a free paper copy of the quick reference guides.

As of March 15, 2018, the 41 municipalities participating in this Marathon County Uniform Addressing project include: Bergen, Berlin, Bern, Bevent, Brighton, Cassel, Cleveland, Day, Easton, Eau Pleine, Elderon (town), Elderon (village), Emmet, Frankfort, Franzen, Green Valley, Guenther, Halsey, Hamburg, Harrison, Hewitt, Holton, Hull, Johnson, Knowlton, Marathon (town), McMillan, Mosinee (town), Norrie, Plover, Reid, Rib Falls, Rietbrock, Ringle, Spencer (town), Stettin, Stratford (village), Texas, Wausau (town), Weston (town), Wien.

As of March 15, 2018, the 21 municipalities NOT participating in this Marathon County Uniform Addressing project include: Abbotsford, Athens, Birnamwood, Brokaw, Colby, Dorchester, Edgar, Fenwood, Hatley, Kronenwetter, Maine, Marathon City, Marshfield, Mosinee (city), Rib Mountain*, Rothschild, Schofield, Spencer (village), Unity, Wausau (city), Weston (village).

Application of the Uniform Addressing System in the Town of Rib Mountain is currently being reviewed by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

The Marathon County Conservation, Planning, & Zoning (CPZ) Department administers the County Uniform Addressing System. The Addressing System contains locational data and mapping information that CPZ maintains and provides to the Marathon County Sheriff’s E911 Communication Center. E911 dispatchers utilize this information, which is essential in providing a rapid response to emergency/incident scenes by officers and other emergency service personnel.