Oxford Township officials last week voted 7-0 to approve a one-year contract with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office for dispatching the community’s fire and emergency medical calls.
Under the contract, Oxford will pay $45,005 for services beginning April 1 and ending March 31, 2015. The cost is based on the Oxford Fire Department’s three-year average of 1,767.66 calls and the county’s price of $25.46 per call.
Although $45,005 is the contract amount, the actual cost will be slightly less as the switch from the Oxford Village Police dispatch center to the county won’t take effect until Monday, April 21.
The contract must still be approved by the Oakland County Board of Commissioners at its Thursday, April 17 meeting.
The village center will continue dispatching all of the fire department’s calls until the switch is made.
Once the sheriff’s office takes over, its dispatch center in Pontiac will receive and dispatch all of the township’s 9-1-1 calls for police, fire and emergency medical services.
All 9-1-1 calls originating in the village will still be answered by the village police dispatch center, however, if they’re related to fire and EMS, they will be transferred to the county for dispatching.
The only calls the village center will dispatch are those for its police department and the Lake Orion Village Police Department, which began a three-year service contract with Oxford in January.