Bradford L Miner, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE (Massachusetts), Staff

BARRE: The voice answering the 911 call may be unfamiliar, but other than that the move today from local to regional dispatch should be seamless, Police Chief Erik Demetropoulos said.

As of midmorning yesterday, a test call made from a landline in the police station to 911 was answered by a dispatcher at the regional dispatch center in Rutland.

The police chief said a similar call made from a cellphone was routed through the Massachusetts state police system to the Barre dispatch center, but that a glitch was being dealt with by personnel from the Massachusetts State 911 Department.

The dispatch center in the Henry Woods Building was buzzing with activity yesterday morning as technicians worked to complete the transfer while local dispatchers provided redundancy and answered calls coming into the non-emergency police and fire numbers.

In addition to Barre, the regional dispatch center also serves Rutland, Oakham and Hubbardston.

Costs savings were put forward as a driving force this year when selectmen voted unanimously to join with Rutland.

Selectmen and Finance Committee members said this was one move the town could take in anticipation of the closing by 2015 of the Martone Commercial Landfill on Depot Road and the loss of more than half a million dollars in annual tipping fees to the town.

Chief Demetropoulos said local dispatch would be active likely until midnight to ensure that no calls were missed during the transfer period.

“What will be new is the fact that the Henry Woods Building will be locked during the weekend,” the chief said.

Town employees and residents who needed to drop off forms or payments were buzzed in by dispatchers on duty in the past when the building was closed.

Chief Demetropoulos said the transition started at 8 a.m. with representatives from State 911 and Verizon on hand to oversee the transfer of hardware and software.

The chief said radio communications with officers in cruisers, EMTs in the ambulance and fire personnel would not be an issue.

“If the local dispatch center can hear police, rescue and fire from any point in town, then Rutland can hear as well,” the police chief said.

In line with federal regulations, he said, police, fire and ambulance would be on a new wireless ultra-high frequency band by Dec. 31 that was not dependant on telephone lines.

“This will mean that never again will we have to worry about a storm of any kind taking down the phone lines and leaving us without communications,” he said.

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