Todd,
I haven't found what I'm really after...which is a database driven method for assigning an identifier separate from the OBJECTID. I'm not a DBA and don't want to be, so I'm not researching advanced methods with the DBMS. We have recently updated our DB server to SQL Server 2014 which can use sequences, but again, that's out of my realm of understanding.
We have found a work-around that is ArcMap driven. By using the Attribute Assistant tools, we can create GenerateId rules which will sequential number features in a feature class and/or table. The Attribute Assistant is part of the Water Utility Network Editing tools. There are several other ways the Attribute Assistant tools can be used, are really are very handy, but they are only available inside an ArcMap session.