East Lansing’s dispatch currently services the city for police, fire and ambulance services and also handles dispatch for Meridian Township and MSU’s campus, Ingham County Deputy Controller John Neilsen said.

On April 17, about 14 employees who currently staff East Lansing’s dispatch operation will begin work at a new, $5.6 million facility currently under construction in south Lansing on Jolly Road, Neilsen said.

Construction is scheduled to finish in mid-April, Neilsen said.

By transferring employees to the new center, East Lansing expects to reduce its public safety expenditures from about $18.8 million this year to about $17.8 million for the 2012-13 fiscal year, according to budget documents.

City Manager George Lahanas said at the meeting the consolidation is another effort to address East Lansing’s increasing public safety expenditures.

“Costs are still rising essentially even though we’re doing our best to control them,” he said.

The new employees will work with employees who currently staff Lansing’s dispatch center.

Each dispatch location currently uses the same methods to contact emergency responders, Neilsen said.

Neilsen said the new center will operate much the same way as each individual center did in the past, with the dispatcher sending out notice of an emergency to the closest possible responder depending on the location of the emergency in terms of county or township.

Neilsen said by joining the centers, the county is planning for about five fewer employee positions.

Neilsen said every worker who currently is employed with either center has been guaranteed a job at the new center, but if the center has more employees than necessary, it will reduce the number of new employees it hires later to meet the planned reduction.

“We’ll just have to see who’s actually going to want to come over,” he said. “If we do have more, the county is committed to keep the positions.”

East Lansing resident and Pinecrest Neighborhood Association president Ralph Monsma called the consolidation of both facilities “a great enhancement” that will allow the two municipalities to work together more efficiently.

Monsma also said employees of the consolidated center should undergo specific training regarding East Lansing’s geographical layout in order to shorten response times of emergency crews.

“I think time will tell as to what happens,” he said.

East Lansing resident and Tamarisk Neighborhood Association secretary Charlene VanAcker said she is aware of the move’s benefits, but also is wary of issues that might come with moving the dispatch center away from the city.

“If it’s going to have any problems because you’re covering a larger area, that’s a concern for me,” she said.