SAFFORD — Dispatch services for law enforcement in the Gila Valley will likely remain with Graham County Sheriff’s Office.
During a joint work session of the Safford City Council and the Graham County Board of Supervisors on Monday at the General Services Building, County Manager Dustin Welker detailed the expenses of switching to a regional dispatch service operated by Sierra Vista, known as SEACOM.
Graham County would be paying an additional $526,776 annually, with Safford paying more due to higher call volume. And the communities in the Gila Valley would be hit with an additional $5 million to $7 million cost due to needed upgrades to the transmission towers from digital to 800 MHz, which is used by Sierra Vista.
A number of unknown costs are also associated with a switch, including how much would be needed to separate the reporting system among different agencies, and who would be responsible for maintaining the system and towers.
Welker added that exploring the SEACOM system showed areas in Graham County’s dispatch system in need of improvement, and those issues are being addressed in the 2025-26 budget.
Switching from Graham County dispatch to Sierra Vista was previously suggested by Safford City Manager John Cassella, who said during the work session it looks like a switch might be “problematic.”
Dispatch was one of the agreements he was tasked by the Safford City Council in January to review and possibly renegotiate. Others included the library, animal control and the golf course.
“If you’re going to throw the library on the table and say the county needs to help fund that, we need to look at things we’re doing that we could use help funding, too, that are used by Safford residents,” Welker said.
Cassella responded by saying that, “All Safford residents are county residents, but not all county residents are Safford residents.”
In April Safford announced it was terminating its agreement with Thatcher for operation of the golf course, a move that Graham County Supervisor John Howard called “absurd.”
Cassella suggested an annual summit — including Thatcher and Pima councils and staff — to address regional issues, in addition to the regular meeting of the city, town and county managers. However, he said the issues in need of immediate attention are the library and the golf course, with secondary issues being the Boys and Girls Club of the Gila Valley and the Graham County Chamber of Commerce.
Cassella did not elaborate on what the issues are with the Boys and Girls Club or the Chamber.
