Page 3 - MS811

from the desk of
Fred Johnson
As I sit at my desk to write this for the last issue of Mississippi 811 Magazine for 2023, I catch myself reflecting
on this past year. It has been an especially hard year for Mississippi 811. We were saddened by the retirement of our founder and longtime (39 years) President Sam Johnson in March. Then we were saddened once again with his passing in June. We have lost three of our long-term Board Members, this year, due to retirement: Mike Morgan with AT&T retired in March, Al Davis retired from Boardwalk Pipeline Company in June, and Sammy Jordan retired from the City of Pontotoc in November.
I have always heard that with every door that closes, another door of opportunity will open up. With Sam’s retirement, the Mississippi 811 Board of Trustees honored me by asking me to step into Sam’s shoes. After Mike Morgan retired from AT&T, I asked him to come on board and replace
me as the Operations Supervisor for Mississippi 811. The Board approved Kerry Parker with Boardwalk Pipelines to fill Al Davis’s unexpired term and
Nick Babineaux with AT&T to fill Mike Morgan’s unexpired term. Our membership elected Cole Fesmire with the City of Olive Branch to fill the Municipality representative slot that was vacated by Sammy Jordan.
I’m happy to report that we have weathered all these changes and have been able to maintain our focus on providing the best of customer service to our membership and constantly work toward the goal of protecting our underground infrastructure and keeping Mississippi a safer place to live and work.
We had some good success with the legislative efforts of the Mississippi Damage Prevention Committee (MDPC). We were able to add an additional day for the utility locators to locate their facilities, created a category for impending emergencies which allows contractors and utilities to plan and deploy resources more efficiently for less urgent emergencies and made false emergencies enforceable offenses under the Dig Law.
We have also had five MDPC meetings across the state for the purpose of bringing all stakeholders together for discussion of upcoming legislative needs. These have been very productive and will result in some additional needed legislation being presented in the upcoming 2024 legislative session.
We also had one of the best and most productive Mississippi Damage Prevention Summits, ever. Our sincere appreciation to the exhibitors, presenters, and attendees.
Happy and Safe Holidays to all from me, our staff, and the Mississippi 811 Board of Directors.
Fred Johnson
President Mississippi 811
2023, Issue 4
Mississippi 811 • 1