Addressing

NECOMM is the addressing authority for rural Lewis, Marion, and Ralls County addresses and has also been designated the addressing coordinator for the Cities of Hannibal and Palmyra.  The time it takes to issue a new address can vary from one day to several weeks depending on the level of coordination involved with the address.  Factors like private roads, subdivisions, new commercial developments, existing address coordination issues, and inclement weather are all factors.

Generally, if we receive a request for a third or subsequent inhabitable structure on a single driveway, it will have to become a private road and all structures will be readdressed with the new road name. There are several reasons why this is important:

  • All three counties are addressed using a grid system that calculates the address based on where the driveway meets the road.
    There are only a certain number of addresses per mile of roadway.
  • Trying to squeeze several addresses into a single point can throw off the addressing scheme, especially if there are already neighbors nearby and there is not enough range left to accommodate the request.
  • Many responders, parcel delivery companies, and citizens use some type of GPS device to locate addresses they are not familiar with. Squeezing three, four, or five, addresses onto one driveway point causes geocoding issues.

If a private road has to be designated, the resident(s) will have some input on their road name with a couple of exceptions. In Lewis County when the road runs straight east-west or north-south, the road will be issued an address following the coordinated road numbering system.  In Ralls County, a selection of choices in line with the naming theme of roads in that part of the county will be provided and the resident(s) will get to decide which name is used. In all other cases, we often ask our point of contact for the newly designated road to come up with two or three distinct name choices, taking into consideration the following criteria:

  • Must not be the same or almost the same as an existing road in that location’s ambulance district
  • Road names cannot include the words “deer”, “river”, “creek”, proper names, or anything profane
  • Road names cannot be overly complicated to pronounce or spell
  • Marion and Lewis County dead-end roads must end in the suffix “LN” designating them a lane. Ralls County dead-end roads must end in the suffix “TRL” designating them a trail.
  • NECOMM will ultimately choose the name and may reject all names proposed by residents if an appropriate name cannot be otherwise negotiated.

The road name criteria are designed to prevent confusion by avoiding duplicate or sound-alike road names in the same jurisdictional boundaries and avoiding road names that could be overly difficult to understand from a child caller or relay via radio to responders.  Our goal is to work with residents as long as they are willing to continue coming up with different name ideas in order to settle on something everyone can be happy with.

Address requests are handled by phone.  Requests we handle will be directed to a member of our administrative team and you may have to leave a message for someone to call you back.  See the list below to determine who your addressing authority would be:

LEWIS COUNTY MUNICIPALITIES
Inside city limits of Canton: Canton City Hall – (573) 288-4413
Inside city limits of Ewing: Ewing City Hall – (573) 494-3497
Inside city limits of La Belle: La Belle City Hall: (660) 213-3418
Inside city limits of La Grange: La Grange City Hall – (573) 655-4301
Inside city limits of Lewistown: Lewistown City Hall – (573) 215-2582

MARION COUNTY MUNICIPALITIES
Inside city limits of Hannibal or Palmyra: NECOMM Addressing – (573) 600-9148

RALLS COUNTY MUNICIPALITIES
Inside city limits of Center: Center City Hall – (573) 267-3770
Inside city limits of New London: New London City Hall – (573) 985-4041
Inside city limits of Perry: Perry City Hall – (573) 565-3131

Outside city limits in Marion, Lewis, and Ralls County:
NECOMM Addressing – (573) 600-9148

Please note: The person calling to request the address should be familiar enough with the location to provide detailed directions on how to get to it. For rural addresses, knowing the GPS coordinates of the driveway is helpful but not required.

The US Postal Service does not issue addresses in Lewis, Marion, or Ralls County.  Generally, the addressing authority will notify the US Postal Service of the new address via letter or email.