The Ripon Emergency Dispatch Center is getting six new Mercury Standard Dispatch Consoles.

No discussion was necessary as the Ripon City Council approved the purchase from Watson Consoles at the Aug. 6 meeting.

The cost is $102,48 of which $59,188 will be reimbursed to the City of Ripon from the cities of Escalon and Lathrop. Both cities are under contract with the local emergency dispatch services – Lathrop police made its debut earlier this summer after years with the San Joaquin County Sheriffs.

Ripon, meanwhile, will take care of the $42,860 balance via the City of Ripon General Department Capital Fund, according to police Chief Ed Ormonde report.

He noted that the current four dispatch consoles were installed back when the police department was renovated and expanded in 2006.

“Since that time the consoles have become operationally unreliable, with parts and additional consoles no longer available,” Ormonde said.

It became necessary to reconfigure the dispatch area with added services for two additional police agencies.

Couple that with the need for increased personnel to provide these services for critical incidents, special enforcement operations, large-scale events and training.

Ormonde added that the dispatch center would eventually require additional dispatch consoles to perform regular dispatch duties in the near future.

“The dispatch center currently has four dispatch consoles. With the need to accommodate additional staff and to isolate transient noise due to increased telephone and radio communications, it has become necessary to reconfigure and expand the dispatch center to six work stations, adding two additional dispatch consoles.

“The original consoles will not fit into the proposed reconfiguration of the dispatch center,” he said.