The Chelsea Police Department is looking for new dispatching customers, and adding new customers means adding new equipment.

At last week’s town board meeting, Chief Dustin Chadwell made his second request for approval to lease/purchase nearly $40,000 in the latest dispatching equipment. The decision was passed to the board’s next special meeting later this month.

Currently, the department provides dispatching services for Oologah and Talala police departments and Oologah-Talala Emergency Medical Services. Now the department has provided a bid for dispatching services to other emergency service entities, including Northwest Fire Protection District.

Northwest’s board tabled the decision to award a dispatching contract which will become effective in July. Northwest’s board is set to award the dispatching contract to either Chelsea Police Department or Mercy Regional of Oklahoma, Owasso, at a special meeting Tuesday night. There were only two proposals submitted to the fire district.

Currently, dispatching for Northwest is provided through EDS in Foyil, but that will end come June 30 as the company is going out of business.

Updated equipment that was requested by the department would provide dispatching customers recorded emergency phone calls and increase the department’s phone line capacity.

“We want this in anticipation of the service growing,” Chadwell said at the April 14 meeting. “We’re almost maxed out on the system we have now because it’s so old.” New phone equipment would cost the town approximately $8,000.

According to dispatcher Brandi Chadwell, the department’s phone lines are in desperate need of updating.

“We’re still operating on the same phone system the department used when my mom dispatched and it was installed in 1980,” she said.

The equipment would be purchased through a lease/purchase agreement where the department would be able to make monthly payments over a period of time. Funding for the monthly payments will be available after the next two — and final — payments are made on the patrol cars which is just over $1,000. The monthly payments on the lease/purchase agreement are under $200, according to Chadwell.

In addition to new phone equipment, the department is asking for a $30,000 dispatch console.

“The company will provide the training and everything,” Chadwell said. “It’s a touch screen dispatching console. We could dispatch someone in Illinois with this system if we wanted to.

“We want to bring in those new customers, so we want to be able to tell them this is what we’re planning on doing and getting a verbal commitment.”

Pending the outcome of the outstanding bids to the four potential future customers, the board will consider approving the request at the special meeting later this month.