Commission approves agreement for dispatch center

Leaders in county, city say dispatch changes shouldn't impact residents

BERNALILLO — City of Rio Rancho and Sandoval County officials say the transition to the coun…

BERNALILLO — The Sandoval County Commission voted May 14 to approve a joint powers agreement with several communities for the county’s new dispatch center.

The agreement includes Corrales, Bernalillo and Santa Ana Pueblo for dispatch services overseen by the county’s dispatch center, which is set to go online July 1. County Manager Wayne Johnson and Mayor Gregg Hull confirmed in February that Rio Rancho would no longer be the fiscal agent nor part of the JPA, establishing that the city would rely on its own dispatch services and the county would focus more on the rural areas.

“It is the new governance structure that’s in place, and it will create a governing mission and a operations board. The governing commission would be composed of the chair of the County Commission, a designee and/or mayor of each of the towns and the governor and/or designee from the pueblo of Santa Ana, plus one additional member that will be the chair of the operations board,” Johnson said at the May 14 meeting.

The operations board will also include fire and police chiefs from the included entities.

Bernalillo and Corrales have approved the agreement, with Corrales being the last to approve it at its May 13 council meeting. Santa Ana’s approval is the only missing piece.

Commissioner Katherine Bruch recognized the presence of Santa Ana Gov. Myron Armijo at the commission meeting and thanked him for being there.

“We know that we have been good partners in the past, and we hope to be very effective with this government’s design, and I’m just grateful for everyone being on board and us moving forward with this. I think we’re going to be really successful,” she said.

Chair Mike Meek stated at the end of the approval that he believes the new dispatch center will be a better product for the county.

In February, Hull stated the city of Rio Rancho will provide dispatch services until the county’s is up and running. He also said the city’s dispatch would be getting some upgrades in the process.

Both Hull and Johnson say the transition should be “seamless” and that residents wouldn’t really notice a change.