Page 3 - Mississippi 811 Magazine 2022 Issue 1

from the desk of
Sam Johnson
Welcome to the first issue of the 2022 Mississippi 811 magazine. Who would have thought that we’d still be threatened by COVID going into the 3rd year of disruptions. Meeting schedules have been impacted, canceled or held virtually just because we’re making every effort to stay safe. I’m not sure any of us have gotten used to it, but we’ve adapted, as have you.
In spite of the challenges of COVID, Mississippi 811 reports another record year for call volume. We had a total incoming volume of just under 500,000 tickets, while providing almost 2.4 million notices to our membership of proposed digging. This
is another significant increase in volume as compared to 2020, which was also a record year.
The Mississippi Damage Prevention Summit held in Biloxi at IP was another huge success. Thanks for your continued support and participation. It is probably not too early to mark your calendar for the 2022 Summit. It is scheduled to be back at IP and the date is November 2 – 4. I hope to see you there.
Another significant event took place in 2021. For those of you who were familiar with our 811 Board of Directors, you certainly would have been familiar with Steve Pitzer. Steve represented the power industry on the board and served on the Board for 30 years, the longest serving board member to date. Steve recently retired from Coast Electric and stepped down from his position on the board. He served with the greatest of integrity and acted in the best interests of those he served and brought much value to all of us. We wish him much happiness in his retirement, and I assure you, we’ll miss his leadership on the board.
Thanks so much to those of you who have supported this magazine, some of you from the very first issue. Because of that commitment, you have made it possible for us to communicate the very important message of safe digging to the damage prevention professionals across the state.
While this first issue focuses on pipeline safety as a theme, there are other very informative articles about Mississippi enforcement and Mississippi Damage Prevention Champions. Check it out and let us know how we can do a better job for you
We look forward to a busy and exciting year of working with you to protect our families, communities and vital infrastructure. We’ll have a chance to monitor how well positive response is being utilized and as the year progresses, I’m confident we’ll have much to report as to its effectiveness.
As you know, the infrastructure bill passed congress which almost assuredly means there will continue
to be record call volumes for the next several years. It is staggering to read the minimum state funding projected for Mississippi over the next five years. $429M for water, $3.3B for highways, $225M for bridges and $100M for broadband.
I’m just saying, “It’s going to get busy in Mississippi!” Make that call and dig safe! Stay tuned...
Sam Johnson
President Mississippi 811
2022, Issue 1
Mississippi 811 • 1