Council approves revised dispatch contract from township

A revised five-year dispatch contract retroactive to Jan. 1, 2004 was unanimously approved by the Oxford Village Council Tuesday night.
The contract to provide fire/EMS dispatch services to the Oxford Public Fire and EMS Commission was a revised version written by township attorney Chris Kaye, according to village President Steve Allen.
It contains the same language as the existing dispatch contract with the only changes being those specifically approved in a Dec. 17, 2003 resolution approved by OPFEC.
Those changes include lowering the annual dispatch cost to $50,400 for 2004 with 3 percent annual increases thereafter.
Another change dictates the dispatch cost will now be paid by OPFEC via a percentage split in which this year the township will pay 83.01 percent and the village 16.99 percent
Instead of the township paying 100 percent of $67,000 per year for dispatch as under the existing contract, it will now pay (for example this year) $41,837 while the village will pay $8,563.
The township also wanted it to remain in the contract that it can withdraw from the agreement provided it gives four months notice.
On Dec. 30, 2003, the township board rejected a revised dispatch contract drawn up by village attorney Bob Bunting and approved by council Dec. 23 because officials claimed it contained significant changes to the language that were not part of the approved OPFEC resolution.
Township officials then directed their attorney to revise the existing contract with only those changes spelled out in the Dec. 17 OPFEC motion.
Allen said he anticipates the revised contract will be approved at the Jan. 14 township meeting.