The Town of Fountain Hills is moving toward a transition of fire service management near the end of this calendar year.

Toward that end, the council has unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the City of Mesa to participate in its regional fire dispatch center (MRDC).

Fire Chief Dave Ott outlined that program for the council at its Sept. 19, meeting. In way of background there are two regional emergency dispatch operations serving the Valley: They are the MRDC and the Phoenix regional center.

Ott said the MRDC would be a better fit for Fountain Hills with its East Valley location, and it would be a lower cost per call. He also said Phoenix, which handles the bulk of the Valley dispatching, was hesitant to consider a new member. Estimated annual cost for MRDC is approximately $190,000 compared to $220,000 for the Phoenix center. The service is billed monthly based on number of calls. Fountain Hills Fire Department responded to about 4,700 calls for service during the past fiscal year, according to figures provided by the town’s Community Relations Office.

Fountain Hills will also need to obtain membership in the TOPAZ Regional Wireless Cooperative (TRWC). That membership is pending the next meeting of the TRWC directors in November, according to Ott. He said there is no opposition to the town’s membership. TOPAZ provides the radio and wireless communications infrastructure for dispatch.

Not all emergency dispatch is through one of the regional centers. Rural/Metro, where the town has had a contract for fire and emergency medical service, operates its own dispatch center.

“Dispatch through a regional dispatch center improves communication between public safety entities is a relatively seamless manner,” Ott stated in his report. “This allows for increased safety for large-scale events as well as day-to-day operations.”

While the vote to approve the agreement was unanimous, two council members who were not part of the council when the decision was made last year to terminate services from Rural/Metro, expressed concern. Councilmembers Allen Skillicorn and Brenda Kalivianakis both said they believe it will ultimately cost the town more to operate on its own.

Mayor Ginny Dickey said with the current Rural/Metro agreement expiring within two years, the town is anticipating a significant increase for services. Also, Ott said that Rural/Metro is currently up for sale, with no guarantees contract fire service would be available to municipalities. The company has been sold several times in recent years.

Remaining items for council consideration in the near future for the fire department are a vehicle maintenance agreement with the City of Mesa, radio maintenance and repair, also with Mesa, and the TOPAZ agreement.

Ott said the goal is to begin testing the systems in early December with the objective to go live by the end of the year.