MADRAS — Jefferson County law enforcement officials are gearing up to move 911 dispatch services to a three-county call center in Condon.

The county’s commissioners Wednesday approved the purchase of $93,027 worth of equipment needed to connect police, fire and ambulance radios with Tri-Com, the dispatch center that serves Gilliam, Wheeler and Sherman counties.

Sheriff Jim Adkins said he plans to close the local dispatch center and transfer 911 services to Tri-Com by October. The consolidation is a cost-saving move aimed at reducing overhead and sharing resources. Just how much it would save is yet to be seen as the contract is still in the works, Adkins said.

Growing salaries and other personnel costs are driving up the cost of operating Jefferson County’s dispatch center. Those costs would be passed on to user agencies, like the Madras Police Department and Jefferson County Fire District No. 1, and could be the difference between keeping an officer or a paramedic, Adkins said.

Consolidation also would provide more call coverage, Adkins said. Currently, there is often one dispatcher on duty to cover all of Jefferson County. With Tri-Com, two or three dispatchers would be on duty at least 20 hours a day to take 911 calls from the four counties.

The state is pushing for local agencies to consolidate 911 dispatch centers, said Madras Assistant Police Chief Tanner Stanfill.

Stanfill said he was initially concerned about working with dispatchers from outside the area who aren’t familiar with local roads and officers. But there’s no reason dispatchers in Condon can’t effectively direct emergency responders in Madras, he said.

“The days of ‘take a left at the green barn’ are gone,” he said. “A lot of it now is done by GPS.”

The combined population of the three rural counties covered by Tri-Com is only a fraction of Jefferson County’s, so Tri-Com dispatchers are working in Jefferson County this week to get a feel for the heavier call load, Adkins said. Five jobs at Jefferson County’s call center will be eliminated. The dispatch manager will be absorbed by Tri-Com and the remaining employees can apply to work there, Adkins said.