Buckley City Council voted Tuesday night to purchase emergency dispatch services from the city of Fife.

In August, the council voted to shut down the Buckley Jail and dispatch center by Dec. 1. Jail contracts with Puyallup, Fife and Enumclaw were approved with relative speed in October. Drafting dispatch contracts took more time, in part, because of the expedience of signing up with a South Sound 911 member.

Buckley was one of several Pierce County cities that turned out majority voter approval for Proposition 1 in Nov. 2011. Proposition 1 established a sales and use tax to improve the county 911 center and consequently establish a county-wide radio system making up South Sound 911. All member cities will attach their services to South Sound 911 when it is ready to launch; a dispatch contract with a South Sound 911 member, while not immediately necessary, would allow Buckley to make the change on schedule alongside the contractor.

Enumclaw and Puyallup were considered and ultimately not recommended because they are not members of South Sound 911. Enumclaw is a King County city and therefore not eligible to be with South Sound 911, and Puyallup is in negotiations with South Sound 911 to graft its own dispatch system into the network, rather than become a subscriber.

“Fife’s contract prices is $99,000, $101,970, (and) $105,029 over a three year contract,” Arsanto wrote. “They are willing to take two of our (dispatch employees) and offer a three year contract which is extremely important in our precarious financial times. They also made us an exceptional pricing and contract for Jail Services now that our jail is closing as well.”

The price of the fire dispatch contract is $31,981 for 2013, increased by 3 percent each subsequent year, according to the contract.

More on this story soon.