Butler County will be part of an advanced 911 network that should be operational later this year.

Steve Bicehouse, director of county emergency services, said in an interview Butler should be the first of 11 counties linked to the system.

“We want to get ours on first,” Bicehouse said.

The network enables participating dispatch centers to receive 911 calls rerouted from each other, which becomes essential if one center’s operations go down.

Among the transferable data would be the exact location of where a cell phone call originates.

The county commissioners on Wednesday approved a contract with the network Western Counties Regional Emergency Group, or WestCORE.

Other counties involved in the network are Allegheny, Armstrong, Cambria, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Mercer, Somerset, Venango and Westmoreland counties.

Other capabilities of the network include reception of cell phone texts, e-mails and video transmissions.

However, Bicehouse said those functions won’t be used initially. The network’s immediate impact would be cost savings for equipment maintenance.

Only three 911 transfer switches would be needed for the entire network of 11 counties.

Butler County would cut its annual equipment maintenance costs by more than half, from $23,000 to $10,700.

The $85,000 cost to join the network is funded through 911 fees added to cell phone and land line bills.

Bicehouse said the original implementation schedule was delayed due to contractual issues among the various counties, which affected Butler.

“It pushed our timetable back,” he said. “We’re hopeful to have everything installed by the third quarter of this year.

The commissioners’ contract approval is contingent on the other counties doing the same.

Once everyone is on board officially, the county 911 dispatch center at the Sunnyview complex in Butler Township will be connected to the network.

Although Fayette County has backed away from participating, it and other counties can join the network later.

“If they jump on board, our dollars go down,” Bicehouse said.

The WestCORE network was made possible by the creation of the Emergency Services Internet covering Pennsylvania Region 13.

The federal Department of Homeland Security funded the $6.2 million cost of activating the ESI.