Mississippi One-Call System, Inc. Membership Information

The fee structure is set by the board of directors each year. The following are some statements of general knowledge about MOCS:

1.         The utility owner/operator must furnish and maintain an automated method of receiving the line location information by Email or FAX.  After-hours emergency contact information must also be provided.  The methods used must be accessible 24-hours a day.

2.         The utility owner/operator will be responsible for supplying MOCS the database (service areas in which buried lines or facilities exist) and for keeping the database updated (additions/deletions).  Membership cannot be activated until database has been submitted.  The database will be used by the MOCS computer system to determine if a member is to be sent a locate request message.  In order for us to build your service area you will need to provide us with a digital copy (ArcView, AutoCAD, etc.), GPS readings or a paper map that has been marked to show all roads and/or areas where you have buried facilities.  The service area is then created by putting a minimum 400-ft. buffer around the area you have provided as your underground lines.  Please understand that there will be times when you will receive a locate message from the call center where excavation is taking place within 300 ft. of your service area.  This is due to the fact that our system has a built-in 300 ft. buffer around our excavation marking tools.  This has been built into the system as a precaution, due to possible inaccuracies in the map or an excavator supplying incorrect driving directions.  However, if you feel that you have received a locate request that does not meet this scenario, please notify our mapping department.  An annual update of each operator's underground utility lines or underground facilities is mandatory.

3.            Membership Fees: The first year's membership fee will be paid upon joining on a pro-rated basis from the month of becoming a member (i.e., joining in May, 2008, the fee would be 6/12 of the operators estimated call volume since there are 6 months left in our billing year). Annual billing is in November for the next year, based on the locate message history of the current year.  (I.e., if the fee structure is $1.50 per message, a member that received 250 messages in a given year would then be billed $375.00 for the coming year.)  For the 2008 billing period, the current rate per ticket is $1.41.

4.            Beginning about midnight each night, the MOCS computer system will send your company what we call an “Audit” or “Good Morning Report”.  This report is sent as a double check regarding your locate request messages because it lists the locate request number of each locate request that was sent to you the day before.  You will need to check and make sure that you did receive all messages that were sent to you.  If you did not receive a particular message, then you may notify us that you need it re-transmitted.  This report will take place regardless of whether you did or did not receive any messages for the day before. 

5.    “Working day" shall mean a twenty-four-hour period commencing from the time of receipt by Mississippi One-Call System, Inc., of the notification in accordance with the law, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays.  Upon receiving a locate request from MOCS, you will be required, by law, to mark your underground facilities that are in the excavation area, indicated on the ticket, using stakes, paint, or other clearly identifiable materials.  This is to show the field location of underground facilities in accordance with the current color code standard of the American Public Works Association. You may also uncover or expose the underground facilities so that the excavator may readily see their location.  Some situations may require pointing out to the excavator of certain aboveground facilities such as, but not limited to, manhole covers, valve boxes, pipe risers and cable risers, which indicate the location of underground facilities.  Markings must be accurate in one of three ways: (a) within eighteen (18) inches measured horizontally from both of the outside edges of an operator's facility; (b) a strip of land eighteen (18) inches either side of the operator's field mark; or (c) mark the width of the facility or line plus eighteen (18) inches on each side of the marked width of the facility or line.   The markings provided by operators shall only be valid for a period of ten (10) working days from the proposed starting date provided to the nonmember operator(s) or Mississippi One-Call System, Inc. 

6.            Every person owning or operating underground utility lines or underground facilities shall, upon receiving advance notice of the commencement of excavation, make an investigation within two (2) working days from the time notice is provided to determine the approximate location of its underground utility lines and underground facilities in the area of the proposed excavation.  All owners or operators shall either: (a) mark the approximate location of underground utility lines and underground facilities in or near the area of the excavation, so as to enable the person engaged in excavation work to locate the lines and facilities in advance of and during the excavation work; or (b) advise in writing or by telephone or electronic means that it has no underground utility lines or underground facilities in the excavation area.  In lieu of such marking, the operator may request to be present at the site upon commencement of the excavation, so long as the operator complies within two (2) working days of the receipt of the notice.  When an excavator, upon arriving at an excavation site, sees evidence of unmarked underground utility lines or underground facilities or encounters an unmarked underground utility line or underground facility on an excavation site after excavation has commenced, where notice of intent has been made, that excavator must immediately contact Mississippi One-Call System, Inc.  All operator(s) thus notified must contact the excavator within four (4) hours and inform the excavator of any of their known underground facilities, active or abandoned, at the site of excavation. 

7.         Your company is not a member of MOCS until the enclosed application and setup forms are completed and returned, database has been submitted and your company has approved the completed service area.  Once we have built your service area, we will send you a copy of the service area along with a database agreement to sign.  Once we receive your signed database agreement, we will activate your membership and call your company by telephone to confirm the activation and to verify that you have received a test ticket.

8.         If your company chooses to receive locate requests by email, you will need to complete the enclosed “Authorization to Transmit Information by Email” form.

We have attempted to address questions that you might have regarding the fee structure, the one-call center operation and your membership responsibilities.  However, please feel free to call Jessica Causey or Fred Johnson at 601-362-4322 or Amanda Russell or Donna Germany at 601-368-1150 should you need additional information or if we can be of help in any way. We look forward to having you as a member of the Mississippi One-Call System, Inc.

[NOTE: You might ask yourself one question - "How much does it cost to repair one break?]

Click here to download a complete copy of the Mississippi Excavation Law.