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CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com)After what was described as a painful two year struggle on where to relocate the Public Service Answering Point system, the Barnes County board of commissioners voted to move the dispatch center into the basement of the Barnes County Courthouse Tuesday on a 3 to 2 vote. Commissioner John Froehlich and Phil Leitner voted against the motion citing the cost of the move.

Commission President Eldred Knutson along with Commissioner’s Cynthia Schwehr and Rodger Berntson believed it was important to get the dispatch center out of the city location being it’s in the flood plain.

Dwight Stewart, Southeast Regional Coordinator for the state Department of Emergency Services believes the county should get PSAP out of the flood plain.

But Barnes County 9-1-1 Advisory Committee member Dwayne Didier said space at the courthouse is at a premium. He advocated moving the dispatch center inside the new home of the Barnes County Sheriff’s office building just off Winter Show road.

The current contract with the city expires on July 16. The county will ask the city if they can lease the space monthly after commissioners learned that it may take 6-months to move the equipment.

With only two months to go Barnes County Information Technology Director Jason Thiel asked Stutsman County Emergency Manager Jerry Bergquist how long would it take to move dispatch equipment. Bergquist answered about 6 to 8 months.

The county is also working on entering a joint agreement with Stutsman and Richland counties to share services. In addition the county is working with vendors to replace the older dispatch center equipment.