ZELIENOPLE — Borough council voted unanimously to change the after-hours callout service during its meeting Monday. The service, currently provided by Pittsburgh Telephone Answering Service, handles emergency calls that deal with the street, water or electric departments.

The borough is required by Butler County to have one phone number for residents to be able to call after regular working hours in case of a public works emergency, such as a downed power line or a power outage, according to borough manager Andrew Spencer.

“Over the last five years, (the Pittsburgh Telephone Answering Service) has not been the greatest,” Spencer said. “Their services are very lacking.”

The borough voted to move forward with contracting with Cooperative Response Center Inc., based out of Minnesota.

“They specialize in electric utilities,” Spencer said. “But they also understand water and streets and other things that municipalities do.”

The borough decided to make a change after recurring incidents of slow response times, said Chad Garland, the public works director.

The transition could take “two to three” months while the new dispatch center starts to integrate its system, but it should not have any effect on residents, Garland said.

“We’ll notify residents through a newsletter and let them know there there’s going be a change,” Garland said. “If anything, they’ll notice the improved quality in response time, but we don’t anticipate anything negative.”

The service will cost almost double, according to Spencer.

“Although the (Pittsburgh Telephone Answering Service) is half the cost,” Spencer said. “I doubt we’re getting half the current services from them.”

The startup cost is estimated to be around $1,850, with a $1,600 setup fee and a $250 associate member fee.

The current dispatch service charges $1.47 a minute, the new service will be an estimated $2.60 a minute, according to Spencer.