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After $8 million was paid to a company hired to complete the state's E-911 addressing, mostly in rural areas, the State of WV fired the outfit last week.
Now, the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety is stepping in to try to help finish the long-awaited project to map and address the entire state.
Calhoun's 911 Director Dave Johnson said the company likely completed about 25% of the county, with at least two employees leaving the project.
Repeated delays, missed deadlines and problems with inaccurate data have plagued counties since they began the project about three years ago.
The project was designed to give 911 centers and emergency responders better information to track and answer emergency calls more quickly.
The project was to be complete by the end of this year.
About $15 million was provided by communications giant Verizon in a deal the company cut with state officials after they overcharged customers.
An effort will now be made to salvage work that's already been done and finish collecting and verifying data necessary to move the project ahead more quickly.
Counties, including Calhoun, have been waiting for months to see finished data about addresses, and they've been working to re-address places with only box numbers or with no physical address and to call residents and verify that addresses and information on file are correct.
Some counties still were waiting last week for the contractor, Vermont-based MicroData GIS, to finish collecting that information.
Now that the company's contract has been terminated, 911 directors said they're concerned about how they'll get their data and how the project will move ahead in a timely fashion.
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