MC phonebook foul-up fixed

After years of incorrect Madison County governmental phonebook listings, it seems the foul-up has been fixed.

“It’s finally right,” Madison County Emergency Communications Director Robert “Radar” Finks said of the listings of various Madison County government offices included in the 2009 Verizon Piedmont Virginia phonebook.

The current phonebook – which was delivered to residents earlier this month – includes revised numbers of various county departments. In addition, there are about three times as many local government listings compared to the 2008 version – including previously excluded numbers for the commissioner of revenue, registrar, commonwealth’s attorney and facilities and maintenance department.

County officials say they have been working for years to correct the governmental listings within the phonebook. Finks had previously told The Eagle that the phonebook problems had been occurring since before the county hired him in 2001.

Last year, county officials said they had attempted to contact Verizon to fix the incorrect listings, however, a Verizon representative disputed that.
When asked why he believed the company finally corrected the listings this year, Finks said he believes it was due to an article published in The Eagle in June 2008 regarding the phonebook errors.
“Somebody saw [the article] and we finally got in touch with the right people,” Finks said.

This past year, Verizon representatives sent Madison County officials a proof of the numbers to be included in the 2009 phonebook and county representatives were able to correct any mistakes and add any numbers mistakenly omitted, he said. The opportunity to view a draft of the listing and provide any revisions had not been provided to county officials previously, according to the Madison County emergency communications director.
Although the numbers included in the phonebook’s government pages are correct, the book’s main section still includes a few incorrect numbers listed under “Madison County Of.”

There are other smaller phonebooks and phone number search listing Web sites that residents can also use to access county departments’ phone numbers.

Those who have a phone number that is listed incorrectly in the Verizon Piedmont Virginia phonebook can call (800) 878-0478, which is a toll-free hotline that allows residents to change, delete or verify their information listed within Verizon’s phonebooks.