The Portage City Council has agreed to join four other Kalamazoo County authorities in taking steps toward a county-wide 911 dispatch system. The 7-0 vote at a council meeting Tuesday night comes after years of skepticism from various Portage governments about consolidated dispatch.
Portage would join Kalamazoo Township, which has approved the plans; the WMU Board of Trustees, which will consider the plan September 30; the City of Kalamazoo, set to vote October 6, and Kalamazoo County, where commissioners will cast their vote October 7.
After the vote, Portage Mayor Pete Strazdas praised the decision and said Tuesday was “kind of an historic day for Portage.”
A previous version of this article stated that the Kalamazoo City Commission would vote on the dispatch plan the same week as WMU. In fact, the Commission will not vote on consolidated dispatch until October 6.
