By LOIS THOMSON

"Let's get it up and running," said Ohio Township Police Chief Norbert Micklos. And with that, Ben Avon Council voted unanimously to authorize the chief to enter into an agreement with the One Call Now System on behalf of the borough.

The idea behind the one call service is to keep all residents apprised if an emergency occurs in the community. Participation is voluntary, and council voted to give all participants the option of receiving automatic notification by phone (land lines), text message or e-mail.

Ben Avon officials had been looking into the system for several months and learned the initial cost would be $2,500 for the borough. However, by teaming with other communities and having at least 3,000 participants, the cost would come down.

The Ohio Township Police Department stepped in and got commitments from Ben Avon, Ben Avon Heights and Kilbuck, and, along with Ohio Township, the result is more than 3,000 members. Micklos also presented the idea to Emsworth officials, who are considering it, and Emsworth and other interested communities can be added to the agreement at a later time.

The calls can be specialized, meaning that Ben Avon residents do not have to be notified of an emergency taking place in Ohio Township if it will not affect them; or the calls can be narrowed to include, for example, just one street.

By taking charge of this, the Ohio Township Police will pay for the invoice from One Call and then bill each community separately. In joining with the others, Ben Avon will now pay $972, rather than $2,500, for the one-year contract.

Three licenses come with the service, and they will go to Mayor Robert Jones, council president Lloyd Corder, and emergency manager coordinator Mike Dufresne. They will be the ones who receive the emergency calls and decide if the calls should be sent to Ben Avon participants, and to which ones, as applicable. Council members were clear clear that they do not want the calls to be used in non-emergency situations, i.e., to announce a community event. The service could start as early as June.

Council member Brian Tokar was absent from the vote.