John Mangalonzo, Abilene Reporter-News (Texas)

With a population of 1,247, four full-time police officers and a volunteer fire department, the city of Tye now will be getting its emergency dispatches from the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office.

The county’s Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved an interlocal agreement between Tye and the sheriff’s dispatch services.

Sheriff Ricky Bishop told commissioners the agreement was penned after several meetings between the two entities. Tye has agreed to pay $10,000 a year for the service, he said.

The Taylor County 9-1-1 Board will pitch in another $10,000 to pay for a part-time dispatcher, according to the sheriff.

“It used to, during the day their (Tye) secretary at the office took care of the calls, we’d transfer 9-1-1 calls to them and they handle their dispatch from there once they take the call,” Bishop said. “After 5 (p.m.), the calls were transferred to an answering service and (the service) handled the calls from there.”

Bishop said that with the agreement, Tye’s 9-1-1 calls would go through the sheriff’s office “and we’ll handle the 9-1-1 from there and dispatch the proper services.”

The sheriff also told commissioners that Tye gets a little more than 700 calls each month for 9-1-1 assistance.

Copyright © 2013 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.